Three's a charm

Central Zambian lodges offer intimacy with wildlife and wilderness

- Teagan Cunniffe

Old Mondoro, Lower Zambezi National Park

It was mid-November, and we were deep into a seasonal heatwave. We lay with damp kikois spread over us and the fan on full blast. At some point a malachite kingfisher had flown into our room and now sat above our mosquito net, panting, beak slightly ajar.

With no fences anywhere in camp, Old Mondoro is a study in honouring boundaries. The wild animals that live here – waterbuck, baboons, buffalo and elephant being the most common – occupy the space just as much as the camp and guests do. Each chalet has a bath that doubles as a plunge-pool – and occasionally, a drinking hole – as well as an outdoor shower. Sleeping only 10, the camp sits alongside the Zambian side of the Zambezi River. An open-sided sitenje (dining area) looks out across the full-bodied grey river – over snorting, sunbaking hippos, and elephant crossing between river islands – towards the far bank and Zimbabwe.

We could neither see our neighbouring country nor hear the vocal hippos from where we lay, but the view through our chalet’s wide reed windows was just as captivating: a movie-worthy backdrop of lean winter thorn trees that slipped into a distant blue monochromatic haze. From this setting, a swell of a hulking elephant made their way through to the camp, passing the buffalos wallowing in the water hyacinth filled channel just in front of us.

One large bull continued onwards, disturbing an African jacana as he climbed the bank to reach our chalet. There, eye-level with our roof, he gently lifted his trunk and searched for fallen seed pods, studiously ignoring our silent elation less than 2m away.