The dust is finally settling over Zambia, and indeed Mvuu Lodge, after the world wide influx of “Eclipse Chasers”. This was an event that you cannot describe to anyone. People from all walks of life came together (under various conditions) with one purpose in mind, and that was to see and enjoy the Solar Eclipse and see and enjoy we sure did. We had the most wonderful sighting and a bonus was that we were surrounded by the most wonderful and knowledgeable people.

The excitement and tension leading up to this event was something that could be felt in the air. Roads were being graded, chalets built, new boats arriving, shopping done etc. etc. But the excitement only lasted until the end June when all returned to normal and the Lodge owners, Managers and staff could get a bit of well derserved rest.

Building:
The above event forced us to complete the building of the chalets of which, we now boast 10. Four of the chalets will be used mainly for self catering and the remaining 6 for fully inclusive guests. This caused Mvuu Lodge to grow from five chalets one day to 10 the next and brought about its own set of teething problems which were all sorted out with time. With the main building behind us we can now “pay attention to detail” and put in all the finishing touches that we did not have time to attend to before. We are at present busy modifying our dining room deck and have started with the building of a new house for our Manager and his wife. A jetty for all our boats is also high on the priority list.

Animals:
I am not sure what the animals thought with so many people, vehicles, boats and planes in our quiet valley over the eclipse period but it did not seem to have too bad an effect. Johan and some clients saw a pride of about 10 lion in the park and could just sit and watch them undisturbed for as long as they wished. On an evening drive back from the park, our guide with clients saw a pack of 15 or more wild dogs in the road. On a morning game walk, some clients came upon 2 sleeping elephants! The elephants in general, caused great excitement. They were always stopping the traffic along our little road, and coming very close to the vehicles. The common sightings such as impala, hyaena, porcupine, bush pig, baboons etc. were ever present which was great as I was afraid they would head for the hills and only return when the valley was quiet again. The hippos and crocs were a never ending topic of conversation and as the river level dropped they became more and more visible . The lions also played their part at night and could be easily heard while we were all sitting around the fire.

The best however, were the elephants! The day the main eclipse chasers left the lodge the elephants moved in. They tugged at the trees between the chalets leaving footprints in the lawn and huge mounds of dung everywhere. They walked too close to one of the guest’s tents one night, causing them to spend a few hours in the safety of their vehicle. The down side is that they damaged our irrigation system on a few occasions, leaving the water tanks empty when everyone wanted to use the bathrooms in the morning.

The Samango Monkeys are ever present at Mvuu but being a bit shy they keep to the outskirts of the camp. The birding is picking up with quite a few new species being identified – we have had some very keen birders at the lodge of late.

Fishing:
As one would expect for this time of the year, the fishing has been mediocre but the “fishing fever” is building up and our Lodge is booking up wonderfully for September, October and November. The more people practice ‘catch and release’ the better the fishing in our area is becoming and the guests are beginning to catch such a variety of fish which is so reassuring. At this stage we have 4 boats (with another two on order) for fishing/game viewing and transporting guests.

Canoeing:
We can now boast having 11 canoes and our canoe safaris are proving to be very popular. Besides a few small groups, we had a big group of Danish people in just after the Eclipse. They had been on an extended tour of Zambia and their stories were very entertaining. And has just passed his ‘guides’ exam which is great and has started doing guided walks into the Park. This is something he loves doing and his enthusiasm is very contagious.

We are beginning to see a number of familiar faces returning to Mvuu Lodge for their holidays/fishing trips which is very encouraging for us. Being a new lodge we have learned a lot from constructive criticism from our guests which is enabling us to constantly improve our standard of service.