Pilot's Logbook: Lions and Hippos and Elephants, Oh My!

A couple of weeks ago we got the opportunity to spend several days at a camp in the Niassa Reserve in Northern Mozambique. We met up with some friends in Pemba, a city on the coast north of Nampula. From there we drove for almost 15 hours to arrive at the camp we would spend most of our time at. It was not so much the long distance that made the trip so long, but how slow we had to drive on the rough roads to get there. Dave commented that he could fly from Pemba to the airstrip located where we were headed in just an hour and a half. Regardless, we were in one of the most remote areas of Mozambique.

We crossed here on foot so the car wouldn't bottom out on the logs

The long bumpy journey was worth every minute once we got there. The camp was located on the Lugenda River and was crawling with wildlife. We were greeted by semi-tame serval, who had been rescued when her mother had been taken by poachers.

Serval named Niassa

Where we stayed is not fenced off from wildlife so elephants came very close to the tents and we were awakened by baboons coming across the top of our tent as they headed to the river.

Baboons heading to the river

We were supposed to start our adventure off with a bit of kayaking on the Lugenda River, but our guide Donald had come down with malaria, so we ended up driving and hiking around with Nick, another guide, hoping for some close encounters with wildlife. We were not disappointed. On our excursions we saw monkeys, impala, water buck, elephants, bush buck, zebra, warthog, klipspringer, and kudu… And for a bird nerd like me, I was seeing new bird species every few minutes! While we were out with Nick, he showed us lion and hyena tracks, pointed out the smell of leopard urine where the cat had recently marked the area we were passing through, and pointed out various tree and flower species that were noteworthy.

Water buck

While we were out we had 2 flat tires and got stuck in a rut...the Land Rover got us over some tough terrain!

Lion tracks

Little Bee-Eater


Side-Striped Jackal

Bearded Woodpecker

At one point Nick drove off into the bush to get a little closer to some elephants. We all piled out of the Land Rover and hid behind a bush to watch a large herd of elephants fairly close by. As we watched Nick mentioned that the elephant that didn’t have tusks was probably going to be trouble and to be ready to run back to the car if he told us to. Sure enough, this elephant faced us and began to charge a few steps towards us… you should see how fast I can move when properly motivated. You'll notice that Dave stopped filming while he was running!

When we came back for lunch one day, some of the workers at the camp had come across some honey in the wild and brought it back for us to try (apparently only a few stings in the process!)....YUM! We actually followed around a bird called a honey-guide whose call will lead you to honey if you follow it long enough...we didn't find the honey.

In the evenings he would take us to beautiful locations where we could watch the sunset over the river. As it began to get dark we could hear elephants and hippos (and we’re pretty sure some lions) making noises in the distance. And, there is nothing like looking up at the African night sky in a dark wilderness area.

On our way back to camp, we would spot some animals, including various owls, civet, and even some wildebeest. Bona, our Mozambican guide, was even able to spot chameleons and snakes with his light while we were driving in the dark.

Giant Eagle-Owl

Donald, who was feeling better after a couple of days, then took us out canoeing on the Lugenda River. While we didn’t see any crocodiles (I’m sure they were there somewhere), we did get to see some different types of birds, a monitor lizard, and hippos. When the river was wide, we could calmly watch the hippos from a safe distance as we canoed by. At one point we canoed through a narrower area known for having hippos. After receiving instructions from Donald we stayed close together as we paddled through the area. Sure enough, we would see the ears and eyes of the hippos pop above the water for a few moments and then disappear. The nervous part was not knowing where they disappeared to. It was an awesome experience to paddle through a few mild rapids and in such beautiful wilderness for the day.

Watch out for the hippos!

Saddle-Billed Stork


White-Headed Lapwing

Our last afternoon, Nick took us to a spot where we scrambled up some rocks to look at some cave paintings. On a mountain across the way we watched some klipspringers move there way down.