ALL PICS: KAFUNTA SAFARIS
Once the rains have gone seasonal camps spring up, welcoming guests for six-nine months before being carefully packed away again when the storms return. There are many such facilities in Zambia, including Three Rivers and Island Bush Camp in South Luangwa National Park, run by Kafunta Safaris. Both are open only between 25 May and 1 November each year. A seasonal camp does not necessarily mean everything has to be completely taken down when it closes, though. At Three Rivers the main structure and tents remain in place, while Island Bush Camp (which is made of a lighter structure of wood) is razed to the ground each year. At season’s end, the furniture and dismantled structures are stored in a huge container at Three Rivers, while the soft furnishings, kitchen, bar and restaurant supplies and equipment are loaded onto trucks and transported to storage facilities at Kafunta River Lodge, which lies outside the park and remains open yearround.
During close season, a team of watchmen remain to safeguard the site, while the staff go on leave or work at River Lodge. Monthly trips are made out to the camps, which can be a bit of an adventure — the waterlogged roads nigh on impassable at times — to check on the state of the area and to take supplies for the guards.