un sabbatique fantastique en Afrique

This is not a story about a fumbling 1980s adolescent romance in tropical waters (for those that remember Brooke Shields in her early career). Unsurprisingly, Blue Lagoon is not a unique place name, and this particular one is a National Park not far from Lusaka, in Mumbwa province. It was close enough for an easy weekend trip, and was billed by different websites as good for birdwatching and an ‘undiscovered gem’. I had also wanted to visit because my father had mentioned a loose family connection: it had once been a cattle ranch run by a friend of my great-uncle, Colonel Critchley, and his wife Erica. My historical curiosity was piqued, both by this link and the thoroughly colonial-sounding moniker. I imagined a man in khaki, a large moustache, perhaps a monocle and an attitude to match. The reality was in fact much larger than life, and the caricature my mind had drawn. Lieutenant Colonel Ronald (‘Ronnie’) Critchley had come to Zambia – then Northern Rhodesia – after WW...

Soon after arriving in Lusaka, and before school started, Frankie and I took to the nearby streets each day for a little explore. We quite randomly came across Lamu restaurant where we discovered what has been hailed ‘the best fish in Africa’. Lamu is fronted by the lovely Evonne who promptly invited Frankie for a playdate with her granddaughter Emmanuella, who was getting horribly bored on school holidays. So impressed with the fish, and the prospect of Zambian playdate, we returned the following week for a play and lunch. We’ve been back a further 4 times and Frankie is now well known to the establishment.   Just in case you’d like to find out how to find your own BFIA, here’s a handy how-to guide: 1.        Go to Lamu restaurant on Tito Road. 2.        Pre-order the fish (Bream from Lake Kariba) 3.        Return 30min later after fish has been adequately fried 4.   ...

More bugs.

Let's face it, the classic stare-down-the lens animal portrait is so overdone. There are many neglected aspects of photographic safaris, not least of which is the magnificent aesthetic potential of African bottoms. We did not spend our safari scaring animals away and just watching their retreating rear ends in the dust. I just developed an appreciation for the derrière, with its shapeliness and range of decoration. The zebra has a natural advantage, with such clear markings (Crawshay's zebra lacks the brownish shadow stripes of other sub-species) and both individuality and repetition. Impala, a common feature of the grassy plains as well as a leopard's lunch stash, also have a distinctive stripy backside and fantastically wiggly tail. Waterbuck deserve a much better picture than this one, as their target-shaped markings form a fine feature of their nether regions. Those that I met tended to be a little camera shy however. Another one...

We promised ourselves a safari experience. Four weeks into our stay here, I am delighted to say that Zambia has well and truly delivered. And as we also promised to deliver on the photography that inevitably accompanies it, here we go. There are a certain set of connotations that I'm sure many people have with the word 'safari'. From the Arabic via Swahili, the term was used for any kind of journey, or travel. This encompassed trading and slavery expeditions, as well as hunting and exploration. The 20th century colonial style familiar from films and literature, involves much canvas, khaki and regaling each other with tales of derring-do around the fire after a day of brisk marching (with plenty of local people to carry all the luxuries of home for you).  I did, though, discover that khaki has a purpose. Firstly, elephants are rather blind, and an angry elephant chasing a person on foot can be fooled by a fairly camouflaged figure standing still (this was not fr...