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Few guides in Africa are able to impart their knowledge as passionately, sensitively or willingly as Robin Pope and his team. Robin and his wife Jo don't just love the bush; they belong there and have spent the past 26 years living and breathing it so that they can pass on their expertise to fortunate guests. Their home amid the Luangwa Valley at the end of the Great Rift Valley, is one of the last unspoilt wilderness and wildlife areas in Africa. Having trained in the area with the legendary guide Norman Carr, Robin has been there almost since the park began and it shows in his choice of camp locations.
Accommoadation is in any one of the following; Luangwa House, Robin’s house, Nkwalki, Tena Tena Camp, or Nsefu Camp. It is also possible to fly camp.
All the camps as well as Robins House and Luangwa House are on magnificent stretches of the Luangwa River, characterised by oxbow lagoons, ancient ebony trees and snorting pods of hippo; each one is distinct: the elegant tented Tena Tena, with its chic wooden beds, ethnic rugs and colourful throws; the homely Nkwali with woven bamboo walls; and the colonial Nsefu, Zambia's first safari camp, with solid thatched 1950s rondavels and wooden shutters.
While all camps are luxurious with wonderful food and spacious bathrooms, it is the guiding which most guests return for: the chance to get close to the continent's Big Five as well as more than 400 species of birds. When creatures are spotted there is no rush of Landrovers and walkie-talkies. There might be a stop-off to examine a termite mount being attacked by giant ants, or a lesson in the little five (ant lion, rhino beetle, buffalo weaver, elephant shrew and leopard tortoise) or, on one sojourn, a botany lesson from a tracker about local aphrodisiacs.
There are a large variety of activities as well as day and night game drives, and walking safaris. Robin or one of his experienced guides can take intrepid explorers on six night mobile safaris deep into the bush, accompanied by porters who not only make up proper beds at the end of a day, but cook three course meals over a campfire.
In late November experience the incredible phenomena as over a million "straw-coloured fruit bats" converge upon Kasanka National Park as the fruits of a local tree ripen.
Bailey Robinson
The Courtyard, Hungerford
Berkshire, RG17 0NF
t: +44 (0) 1488 689777
f: +44 (0) 1488 681973
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