I’m back from my game drive, just settling down to check my photos. Suddenly I hear a squeal of terror from the waterhole. A kill! Peering closer, I can make out the gleam of writhing coils: a stripe-bellied sand-snake has just captured a frog and is now stretching its jaws around the still-struggling amphibian. Amazingly, another sand-snake has joined the fray and is attempting to swallow the frog from the other end. The two combatants twist and thrash, sinuous bodies intertwining as they contest the prize.
I say ‘waterhole’. Actually, it’s a bird bath. I’m sitting outside my chalet during pre-lunch downtime at a camp in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park. It’s been a great wildlife day already – our game drive brought elephants, giraffes, even a leopard – but for sheer drama, nothing tops the life-and-death struggle now unfolding in front of me.
Downtime is crucial to any day on safari. After your early morning start and the huge brunch that inevitably follows, you’ve earned your R&R –a chance to catch up on sleep, check out the pool and generally recharge batteries, literally and figuratively. Fair enough. But don’t imagine that just because you’ve switched off, the wildlife show only resumes once you hit the road again. Yes, midday sees a lull in some activities, but there’s always something going on. The relentless struggle for survival does not stop for a lunch break. With a few hours to spare, camps and lodges can be very productive places.
Many look out over water, so if you want to settle down with a book, why not find somewhere with a view and keep one eye open for action? Or take a gentle stroll: camp is often the best place for a closer look at smaller animals such as bush squirrels or tree agamas, that seldom get top-billing on a game drive. Certain creatures – dassies, dikdiks, even bushbuck – can become surprisingly confiding inside a camp, while birdbaths and picnic tables attract a procession of feathered visitors, including some species that are hard to observe closely elsewhere.