Evening game drive
21st October 2025
Afternoon game drives start in the late afternoon as the temperature starts to drop, include a sunset (on the days where there is one) and in the case of Kafue include a drive back to camp in the dark looking for night animals using a large, portable light. They are shorter than the morning drives and so generally take in an area closer to camp.
This is a small river but at this time of the year you can see how low the water levels are. This was our first sighting of hippos on this trip. The photo reminds me of the golden light of this time of the day. I also like the contrasting textures on the ground. Just around the corner another hippo was starting to leave ready for his overnight feeding.
You can see it is causing a bit of a stir with the egrets! But they don’t fly off when it moves… they just adjust their position.
We could hear guinea fowls so sought them out. Sometimes it is because there is a predator about – but not on this occasion. But the sight that greeted us was mind boggling! There were at least 50 of them all milling about and feeding. It is normal to find them in flocks but I had never seen such a large flock.
We also saw a pair of Bateleur in a tree, a Saddle-billed stork, Lechwe, waterbuck and Puku on this drive. But I think the highlight was coming across some Kudu. We gave them plenty of space and were very quiet so we had a chance to observe them properly. They are often quite skittish.
I have left the photo uncropped so that you can see the context – the surrounding terrain – but if you click on it or zoom in you can see the beautiful face markings and huge beautifully marked ears. Side on you can see the fine white lines that mark its body and the tuft of hair on its upper spine – almost like a mane. With the sunlight behind it it’s almost ginger! The kudu in the background has an oxpecker on it.
A key landmark in the immediate area of the camp was an old Baobab Tree. They look as if someone has pulled them up, turned them over, and pushed them back in the soil! The branches look more like roots than branches but they produce lots of leaves and even flowers.
We always stop and get off the vehicle for a sundowner – safari tradition. But this evening these was a sunset.
