Beware the HippoMcBrides Camp is the newest addition to the scattering of tourist establishments that have defied logistics and set up camp in the far-flung corners of the Kafue. The camp is named for its resident lion researcher and his wife, Christopher and Charlotte McBride, who have lived in the African bush for most of their lives; from Timbavati to Savuti, Kwazulu Natal to the Kafue.
Driving unawares with our windows down into the Kafue National Park, we manage to collect a small swarm of tsetse fly whose painful attentions soon have the driver in paroxysms at the wheel, trying to avoid snapping an axle or splitting the sump, and being eaten alive while doing so. Or you could fly in to the nearby air strip.
We finally arrive at the lodge in the dying rays of the day. We are greeted by a kaftan-clad Charlotte with a handshake followed by sundry swattings, slappings and a spray-down with dettol and water, our hostess's tried-and-tested tsetse repellent. Fly-free, we sit back in folding chairs and share a welcome cup of tea while sizing up the hippo-infested Kafue River. No sooner have we sat down than we are given an earnest warning about wandering outside after dark.
The camp is built around existing hippo paths and at night, it belongs to the hippo. They wander through at will on their way to their midden and graze around the chalets in the dry season. To illustrate her point, Charlotte tells us of a guest who had stepped out for some night air to find a hippo bull spraying his verandah territorially. Apparently, there had been lion in camp the night before.
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