LIWONDE NATIONAL PARK

We were very sad to hear, after we had got back, of the death of the British soldier who was trampled to death by an elephant while deployed in Liwonde on an anti-poaching exercise.  A reminder of that elephants are magical but can be very dangerous.



For us, Liwonde was a terrific spot (once we got used to the 'luxury' tents - luckily it didn't rain too much).  



First afternoon, we took a boat-trip on the Lifupa river
  
and saw a huge herd of perhaps forty elephants, at their usual spot, calmly eating reeds



From the boat, we could get quite close




Here are the other, gorgeous inhabitats of the river...



but there were some brave souls who still fish on the water...


with hunters lurking on the shoreline


as the sun went down




 Next morning, a drive around the park (rather soggy but lots of life...)


















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE SILK ROAD - SEPTEMBER

Image
We're following the Silk Road (popularly known as the trade route from China through Central Asia and Northern Africa to Constantinople).  We're on just the part that passes through Uzbekistan: Tashkent (the capital) to Samarkand, then Bukhara, and Khiva.   Stopping off at the end in the biggest city in Kazakhstan, Almaty (capital until 1997) , and an overnighter (when our flight times home were changed at the last minute!) in the new capital Nur-Sultan (until recently, 'Astana'), as we're flying with the national carrier, also 'Astana'. Quick quiz before some facts about the Silk Road and Uzbekistan: name the other 5 '-stan' ('land of...' by the way) countries, alongside Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan... The Silk Road (or Route) seems to wander about between China (some even say Japan) and Turkey, depending on what period you're looking at and whom you believe.  Some routes go north via Russia, others dip into...
Read more

TWO MORE ALMATY NIGHTS

Image
After a good nigt's catch-up sleep and hearty breakfast, it's a short walk up to Central Stat e Museum, one of the largest in Central Asia, established in the 1930s and contained within this building since 1985.   The museum houses the most significant collection of Kazakh historical, archaeological, and modern cultural and political artifacts.  A few highlights...     And a nice cafeteria in the basement for chicken+veg lunch  It’s a 1 mile walk to the Kok-Tobe cable-car which feels rather like an out-of-season seaside town with horrible piped music, sad-looking golden eagle for costumed photos; good view of town though, the mountains and tall Almaty Tower The Ferris wheel gives that little extra height       but the 'Beatles'(!?) statue is quite bad Coffee and view-admiring until sunset   ...
Read more

SECOND TRAIN JOURNEY - SAMARKAND AND ARRIVAL IN BUKHARA

Image
And so onward for our next train trip (post-Soviet but notice the identikit station design!?)   Bukhara ('Buxoro') is Uzbekistan's fifth-largest city (300k inhabitants) but I reckon that number must by doubled by all of the tourists.  The area has been inhabited for five thousand years, with the present city existing for about half that time, serving as a centre of trade, scholarship, culture and religion. Our cab drops is in the Lyabi-Haus area, a plaza built around a pool in 1620 (Lyabi-Haus means 'around the pool' in Tajik) which is one of the tourist centres... and to give you an idea of what I was looking at and the surrounding architecture And, yes, the obligatory bridal couples in search of a picturesque backdrop As well as pools, until the 1900s, Bukhara was watered by a network of canals where people gathered to gossip and wash.  As the water was not changed very often, the city became famous for plagues and water-borne...
Read more