SOUTH LUANGWA PARK...Our favorite guide, Rocky, took us on our last safari.  I couldn't say which safari was the best one, but this one was really good.  Almost as soon as we left the lodge, we saw elephants, giraffes, and buffalo.  I said, "Okay, Rocky, we've seen it all.  We can go back now."  Of course, we didn't.

Once in the park, Rocky was able to find several of the animals right next to the road.  I had to take more close ups of the giraffes and zebras.  We saw the same herd of Cape buffalo.  We were very close to the puku and impala but nothing came as close as the family of elephants!  The bull couldn't have been much more than ten feet away from me.  I had to take off my zoom lens because he was just too close to use it.

Other highlights of this safari were the animals we found when the spotlight was turned on.  It didn't take long to find a hyena -- very close up - in some bushes near the roadside.  It had so many spots that I at first thought it was a leopard.  It was just the first of many hyenas spotted on the safari.  Next on the list was the leopard.  And, we were successful there, too.  We were able to get much closer than the previous sighting.  In addition, this one sat still, planning his attack on some impala.

Probably the best moment of the safari was when we pulled up to a bluff overlooking a lagoon.  Safe on the edge of the bluff, we were able to look down over the hippos and crocodiles.  It was one of the few moments that we were allowed to get out of the vehicle and it was so amazing to be that close to those beasts.  We hated to have this safari end.

As good as the safaris were, they were rivaled by the food served at the lodge and the people who worked there.

Rocky took us to the airport, but first we stopped at the local shop where elephant dung paper was made.  We weren't as successful as I had hoped to be.  The only paper we saw was at the airport for $3.00 a card.  Quite a lot for a pile of . . . er, dung.  I knew I'd eventually just have to collect my own "souvenirs" and make the paper myself.  But, that proved to be a whole other story in another country.