Mvuu Lodge - Newsletters

The Zambezi Valley is rejoicing at the arrival of December as it brings the long awaited rain. The rainy season is short - December till February/March - but a lot of rain falls in this time. The run off water from the Chirundu Escarpment makes rushing torrents of the normally dry rivers as it finds its way into the Zambezi River. Most of the Lodges in the Valley close over this period as access along the dirt road becomes too difficult.

Mvuu Lodge has had a very busy and successful year realising the completion of our 10 chalets and staff quarters. The wooden dining room deck has been removed and replaced with flag stone and even my kitchen has received some attention. Still a few more improvements up our sleeve but we will tackle those in the new year.

The Solar Eclipse was our first Big Event, and Johan and my first Eclipse. We were privileged to have been able to have the likes of Glen Schneider and his group of very learned friends, to talk us through and show us the ropes of this truly magnificent event.

Mvuu Lodge staff and facilities were a bit stressed over this period as we had just grown from a 5 chalet lodge to a 10 chalet lodge and apologise for any problems the guests may have encountered. This did, however, prepare us for the fishing season which made the Eclipse rush feel like a splash in the ocean.

However, thanks to this Solar event taking place in our area I became friends with an extremely knowledgeable Astronomer, Michael Gill from the U.K. . Michael made me aware of what an attraction our beautiful night skies are due to our geographical positioning and the lack of urban pollution.

He compiled for me a brief list of astronomical phenomenon or celestial targets that can be seen from Mvuu Lodge: Zodiac Light, Gegenschein, Sagittarius Star Cloud, Large Magellanic Cloud, Small Magellanic Cloud, Southern Milky Way, The Coal Sack, Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, The Jewel Box, Eta Carinae Nebula.

He also did a brief write up on each of the above that I would gladly pass on to anyone interested. Michael ended his e-mail to a self-sufficient amateur astronomer (i.e. owning a portable telescope with knowledge of the sky) "Mvuu is a superb place"...... Come see for yourself.

From August, the serious fishermen/women started trickling in until end September when we became very busy right through until end November. A lot of fish, story telling, beer drinking, nonsense and laughter filled the days but did not interfere with long, hot hours of very serious fishing. A lot of fish were caught this year with the most common being Tiger, Nkupe, Chessa, Vundu, Cornish Jack, Mud Sucker and Bream.

The average Tiger caught weighed 3.56kg and the record this year was 7.5kg. A big THANKS to all our fishing guests for adhering to Mvuu Lodge's strict "catch and release" programme.

John and Jo Wilson spent a few nights at Mvuu. John is the fishing Guru from the U.K. and is a very well known author on fishing so hopefully he went back overseas with a few good words to say about Mvuu and the Valley in general. Another celebrity was Bill Steele and his wife Christine. Bill is the author of "African Fly-fishing Handbook" which has sold in excess of 17 thousand copies. He is busy updating his book and I'm very proud to say that Mvuu Lodge will be included in his new publication.

With the help of some very knowledgeable guests, I have been compiling our own Mvuu Bird Check List, which is already quite extensive. If any of you have kept listings of the birds you have seen in the area, I would be most grateful if you could forward them to me. Mvuu Lodge has recently joined the Zambian Ornithological Society so will soon be able to supply guests with all the knowledge they need with regard to birds and birding in the Valley. The animal sightings in and around the camp have been absolutely wonderful this year, but the Elephants stole the show.

A small breeding herd have spent months on our property and have given our guests hours of pleasure, amusement and photographic opportunities but the most rewarding was that the adults felt comfortable enough to bring their babies into the camp on several occasions. Herds of up to 50 elephants were often seen playing and bathing in the river and then there were always the "border hoppers" that were constantly walking/swimming across the river to Zimbabwe and back.

The butterflies around our camp are beautiful and as Bill is an extremely knowledgeable Lepidopterist I asked if he would do a survey to see if I could market our butterflies to fellow Lepidopterists.

He wrote the following: