Camp Crocodile Mongu: Nakamai Golf Open

On September 25, 2009, In African Safari Tours, Zambia, By Sandy Salle

The following blog is written by my brother, Graham Hill, who is married to Meredith my partner and other half at Hills of Africa Travel.  This blog continues the boys African safari vacation to wildest Zambia to help my dad with crocodile egg collecting.

Nakamai Golf Open Contestants

Nakamai Golf Open Contestants

Today is Nakamai Open day with a grand prize 1000 Zambian Kwatcha (20 us cents). This consists of two, 10 hole rounds of Frisbee golf, lowest net score is crowned champion. This is followed by a traditional roast chicken dinner and a few rounds of alcoholic beverages. Seeing as our resupply came in two days ago with a few ice blocks, this meant that at least the champion’s celebrations included some seriously cold beers.

Nakamai Village

Nakamai Village

This championship is dedicated to Mr Nakamai who is the 2nd Village Headman of the village that we rent our piece of paradise off. Being as it is one of the last stands of large Acacia trees still in existence here, we are lucky that it is an uninhabited spot giving us some respite from the hot African sun. Mr Nakamai is a constant visitor to the camp, can be heard from great distances with his booming voice and is an absolute character. One of his favorite pastimes is to stand on the riverbank shouting abuse at all the dugout canoes that come past.

View across the Zambezi River

Our point of the river is a crossover from fairly deep water to the shallows on the other side. The shallows are easier to navigate in canoes as there are fewer waves, the current is slower and the paddlers can use their long paddles to pole the canoe, which is far more efficient. I imagine, as I only understand a few words in Lozi, that he is belittling the strength of the paddlers, hazing the amount of time it takes to cross, advising on the risks of attempting the crossing during high winds or simply informing them of the latest Premier League scores. One’s imagination can sometimes run a little wild!

Oh! Mark was the victor of the inaugural Nakamai Golf  Open.

Kabila, one of our egg collectors

Kabila, one of our egg collectors

After our lazy Sunday, the work now starts again!! We sent 10 boxes with 495 eggs back to the farm with Kabila and the coxswain. Most of them have had a few days in camp to settle down which hopefully means that they will transfer well. I never like having them in camp too long, 4 days at the most, as the sand tends to dry out a lot in this hot weather we are having at the moment. Jack is tasked with maintaining moisture content of the boxes and the sand around the boxes. Twice a day we spray the sand inside the boxes and the holes around boxes with a virukill mixture. Hot dry conditions are not ideal for the egg and as much moisture as possible needs to be applied. We also pour buckets of water, with a small mixture of virukill, into the sand around the boxes. This lets them soak up some water through the holes in the bottom of the box and generally keeps a pretty humid environment as long as we cover them up with a shade netting of some sort. I have been trying to train Jack so that when we leave he will diligently nurse those eggs with as much motherly fussiness as I have for them!!

Kabila taking eggs back to the farm

Kabila taking eggs back to the farm

I want to try and put across how big a problem HIV/AIDS is in this part of the world. Last year during egg collection, our most experienced employee was diagnosed with HIV. Unfortunately he had left it too late and by the time drugs, in the form of an antiviral cocktail, were administered, his immune system was far too weak and he died a few months later. It is an awful disease and affects way too many Africans. This year, one of our agents on the river, Kabila, who is normally a strong little guy, will walk miles without the slightest of complaint, carrying a fully loaded box of eggs, probably a good 70lbs, for 5 miles without batting an eyelid, showed the same symptoms. Very hollow cheeks, skinny body and low energy levels. In previous years, every spare minute we have had on the river, he asked to take us fishing and was eager to fish himself. This year he spent most of our downtime sleeping or sitting around camp. It was to the point that he could not even pull start the boat motor or carry an egg box for more than 10 meters. His wife had died just after child birth back in May, too weak from the effects of HIV so Kabila should have taken a 2 hour test and started a course of anti-virals, which in Zambia, like most Southern African countries, are free to anyone and will considerably prolong life expectancy. (I am informed by my father that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the main financier of anti-viral drugs in Zambia.) For his sake we have sent him back to Mongu today so that he can get to a clinic, take an HIV test and get some treatment. We need Kabila, he is an integral part of the team, however I do not want to look back on this year and think to myself, “if only I had made him go…”, and I just hope that we have caught it in time.

We have visitors in camp for the next two nights. My father’s brother and sister made the trip out from the UK to visit him and decided that a trip to the Zambezi was a must as well. David was immediately sent, with Jim, to extract a crocodile nest. He had not been in camp for more than a few minutes when a couple tribesmen walked into camp, announced that they had a nest and wanted it picked up as soon as possible.

Recent thoughts:

-         It looks like early rains this season

-         Fishing is pretty scarce

-         Too many hungry people on the river

-         There is evidence of many more fishing villages

-         The Mongu – Zambezi toll is a good deal this year

-         Inversion layer creates some of the most beautiful sunrises one could imagine

-         Jim is not only a handy man with a Leatherman, he is also a fantastic bush cook!

We would love to hear your comments about the Mongu area in Zambia.  Has anyone been there or driven the 8-hour journey from Lusaka to Mongu?  Have you visited the Zambezi River near Mongu?  What were your impressions of the area?

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Camp Crocodile Mongu: Eggs, eggs and more eggs…

On September 16, 2009, In African Wildlife, Zambia, By Sandy Salle

Well we are still here at Camp Crocodile Mongu in Zambia enjoying our wild African Safari Vacation (not really a vacation, although our wives would like to think so). Look for us on Google Earth, GPS co-ordinates are S15 16.0074 E22 56.3351.

Location of Camp Crocodile Mongu on Zambezi River

Location of Camp Crocodile Mongu on Zambezi River

Collecting crocodile eggs is not the most difficult task, however it is tedious and one has to be careful with the eggs. Most of the nests we are picking up are not more than a day or two old, still have the hatching mucous and are very slippery. We start by making sure that there are eggs in the nest. Once that has been established, we wash our hands with an antiseptic water mixture. This helps remove any toxins, such as petroleum fuels etc, from our hands before we handle the eggs.

Crocodile Eggs in Nest

Next we start marking an X on the top of the eggs and transferring them into our Styrofoam box which has a layer of wet sand in the bottom. The natural nest is very moist and humid, moistness comes from the mother returning periodically to urinate on the nest, and the humidity comes from our extremely hot days combined with the wet soil, hence our need for wet sand in the box. Also, wet sand assists with the transportation as the eggs will not be able to move in the box.

Moving eggs

Crocodile eggs are very sensitive and need to be transported and packed into the incubator almost exactly as they were found in the wild. Any wild movement, turning the eggs over or dropping them will produce an infertile egg. Eggs where there are cracks or dents seep are rejected. We have found from past experience that they rot in the incubator and are not worth taking back to the farm. Each layer of eggs is covered with sand until we have transferred all the eggs. We then put a strong board under the box and it is ready for transportation to the boat. The finder of the eggs has to transport the eggs to the boat to get paid and in some cases this means a 45 minute walk with a box in his head.

Aston our Chief Egg Collector

We received word of 2 nests south of Lundai, 50 mins from camp. Mark, Jim and Chief Egg Collector Aston set out at 08:50hrs for collection, Graham heading 50kms north for 2 more nests. If we average 50 eggs per nest it is considered a good average. The river is calm today and a hippo has taken up residence on the opposite bank from camp. This must be a lone bull as we located a pod of 5 further south, cruising rather too close for comfort resulting from a  basic English to Lozi translation error. Hippos provide a vital service to the health of the river, so it is fantastic to see them make a comeback on this section of the river. We also saw our first crocodile sunning herself on a river bank. Being reptiles, crocodiles have to regulate body temperature by sun bathing during the day. Their metabolism speeds up the warmer they are. Between mating and laying her eggs, a mother crocodile hardly eats and therefore does not have to sun herself that often, so seeing a crocodile on the sandbanks indicates that some laying is occurring.

path_to_nests

We missed our rendezvous with our spotter but Aston, using co-ordinates from last year managed to find two nests which were a 30 minutes walk through reeds and swamp. The swampy areas are almost like trampolines with a foot or so of reeds growing on 6ft or so of water. One has to keep moving or a plunge into the water below is inevitable. Aston felt it would be easier for himself to collect these nests and left Jim and Mark on a river bank to play some unique beach volley ball. Our main court line being drawn from a crocodile tail track while crossing over from the river to the swamp.

terrain at Camp Crocodile Mongu

Aston managed to pick up a third nest on his way back to the boat so all in all a successful morning. Returned to camp and repacked one of the boxes as the sand was very dry and then sprayed virukill on all nests. The embryo develops from the top center of the egg, spreading down the sides first and then along the length of the egg later in the process. When one looks at a freshly laid egg, there are no bands as the embryo is still a small pin prick at the top of the egg. After two days of so, the bands appear. The bigger the band the older the egg. The nest we collected today would suggest it was a week or so old.

Leatherman Jim, our Head Chef

Time for lunch, it is good to have Jim (Leatherman Jim & head chef) back, two days off with food poisoning (Yes, it does beg the question…) laid him flat with the rather uncomfortable ailing phase endured through 100 degree weather and sub par ablution facilities. Our toilet at the moment is a toilet seat strapped onto an old beer crate.

One more nest after lunch then off to meet a supplies delivery at the “pontoon” a simple ferry point 20 minutes up river. Drinks, ice, and fuel, cold beers tonight.

One more nest on Saturday  in Lundai, Mr Yeta Sisi proving to be our main contributor again this year, averaging one nest a day. He is a very dedicated individual, constantly rising at 5AM to do his rounds checking on the nest sites he knows about and scouting any new sites. Last year he provided 7 nests for us, this year he is confident of up to 15 nests. When they find a nest, his partner, Brian, stays at the site to protect it from legavons and other predators.We spent the rest of the day playing Frisbee golf readying ourselves for the Sunday tournament.

readying for the tournament

Do you think you would like to join the boys at Camp Crocodile Mongu in 2010?  We’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

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Camp Crocodile Mongu: Arriving at Main Camp

On September 12, 2009, In African Safari Tours, African Wildlife, Zambia, By Sandy Salle

Herewith an update from the boys on their wild African safari vacation in Zambia collecting crocodile eggs.

Leaving the farm for camp proved to be quite an ordeal. Our convoy of pickup trucks arrived at 10:30am on the dot, however it would only be 5:00pm before we set off on the Sefula armada of  fishing/egg collection vessels.

Sefula boats ready to leave for the Zambezi River

Sefula boats ready to leave for the Zambezi River

The normal 20 minute drive from the farm to the harbor took 2 hours in the first vehicle, however it would be another 6 hours before the truck with the motors arrived with a broken fuel pump. Mark and Jim used the time wisely though and did some last minute shopping for ice, vegetables and phone/data cards…phone cards being integral in the collection process as ‘scouts’ locate nests and report back to main camp for a lucrative bounty. Data card, purely for “if the phone works maybe the internet will as well”.

Mongu Harbor

Mongu Harbor

The harbor is not the place to be sitting around for 5 hours (as Mark & Jim found out) and a huge fire in the distance made one wonder if we were ever going to make it to Main Camp.

Fire near Mongu Harbor

Fire near Mongu Harbor

At last all boats and equipment finally made it to the harbor and we set of for Main Camp, roughly 20 miles away or 2-3 hours on the boats (normally). Today however instep with the rest of the day it would take us four.  We optimistically gauged the sunset to occur at 7pm (more like 6) so Mark & Jim got their first experience of the Mongu channel and the Zambezi in pitch darkness. We arrived at 9:00pm  a little frazzeled but happy to be on land again. The river being very low for this time of  the year produced countless sandbars which we all had turns trying to maroon ourselves on. We readied camp as much as we could, unloaded the boats and turned in for the night.

Main Camp

Main Camp

Wednesday morning we continued setting up camp, sent one of our collection agents down river for a few days to spread the word that we were collecting crocodile eggs and then were treated to a delicious meat pizza expertly designed by Leatherman Jim.

Pizza for dinner

Pizza for dinner

We also set up our water heating unit being a 4 x 20 foot strip of black conveyor belt, which had been discarded after years of use up in the mines at Kitwe.  We rolled the belt into a concave curve and molded it together to hold 80 litres of water.  We then dug a huge hole and covered the “new water unit” with plastic to minimize evaporation and sand getting in from the wind.  The logs are to hold the plastic down.  A day of sun beating down on Jim’s invention gets us a 130 degree 10-minute shower every night.

Our solar powered water heater

Our solar powered water heater

With our home for the next 10 days sorted out, the past two days have been spent dropping business cards up and down the river and fishing, which is crucial for dinner and to supplement our smallish cooler box of meat.

Thursday 10th September

Today saw the return of Aston (who went down river on Tuesday) with two boxes of collected crocodile eggs from today, and one from yesterday. We have word that there are four more nests 3-4 hours upstream and Graham and Jim will collect those tomorrow, as well as taking a visit to the ferry to collect more supplies.

What the boys have been doing, besides looking for crocodile eggs:

  • We set up a 5 holes frisbee golf course
  • Jim has been handing out shoes to the local African children that his daughters collected from school.  You should have seen their bright smiling faces, it gives me immense pleasure giving them something they would never have if we weren’t in the area (no one comes to this part of the world)
Handing out shoes to the African children

Handing out shoes to the African children

Please leave us a comment and let us know what game you think the boys are going to be making up next.  Golf Frisbee is their first, what’s next?

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Camp Crocodile Mongu: The beginning of the wildest African Safari Vacation adventure

On September 9, 2009, In African Safari Tours, African Wildlife, Zambia, By Sandy Salle

This post is written by my brother, Graham, who is married to my partner, Meredith Hill.  The boys, Graham and my husband, Mark, are in Zambia helping my dad collect crocodile eggs.  Every few days I will be posting updates on their African Safari vacation adventure.

Well everything arrived in Zambia!! There was a lot of hilarity in our family last week when Mark and I were packing our bags. We had a small generator weighing in at 56 lbs, a huge cooler box stuffed to the brim with all sorts of tools, fishing gear, skinning knives, bungee cords, yeast, pumps and many other odd and sods that weighed in at 69 lbs, our clothes bag weighed in at 48 lbs and lastly a small fishing rod holder. Virtually everything is left on the farm after the trip, either to use the following year or to be used by the old man on the farm. Clothes and shoes are given away to the locals, so we travel very lightly on the way home. I never really expected to see all our luggage arrive in Lusaka, especially as we had a fairly tight connection in Joburg, but there it was a bit battered but safe.

It took us 2 days to get to the farm, Charlotte to Atlanta, Atlanta to Joburg, Joburg to Lusaka, overnight in Lusaka and lastly a 7 hour drive to Mongu in a rental car. That 15 hour flight from Atlanta to Joburg was not the most comfortable, Delta must have the most uncomfortable seats in the world. My bum was numb an hour into the flight and 2 days later I still feel the effects, so not looking forward to the return leg now.

Crocodiles in the small pens

Crocodiles in the small pens

Dad was moving the yearlings from the small pens to the grower pens, so we got to help out. The process goes something like this, carefully catch a crocodile, put it in a bag, when there are four crocodiles in the bag, walk it quickly to the grower pen, hand the bag across to a handler in the pen, open bag and let the crocodiles into the water. Generally this is a very smooth operation, but once in a while they escape. Jim, our American outdoors expert, better known as Leatherman Jim, got to test his reflexes catching an escapee, getting it safely into the bag. Not to be outdone by a Yank I decided to catch one myself and promptly registered my first eve crocodile bite. How am I ever going to live this one down!!

Moving the crocodiles to the grower pens

Moving the crocodiles to the grower pens

I would say that the length of them averages out at about 1 metre and they are born about 30 cm long, so that is fairly decent growth in 9 months. The temperatures at the moment are 30° Celcius during the day and 20° at night. They have been used to a constant 32° so this will stress them out for a few days at the most until they get used to their new environment and temperature variation.

We do try to give them a calmer for 5 days before the move which does help stop the piling up in the corners.

Crocodiles in the grower pens

The grower crocodiles have grown a lot in the last year, however it is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them are almost 1.75 metres long, while others are not much bigger than the yearlings we have just put out, which means almost no growth this last 12 months. It is really disappointing to see the smaller ones, however now that it is heating up they should start growing rapidly.

The next big project day is taking on is to move the 300 biggest crocs to a retirement pen. They will have their teeth clipped, put into a pen with very smooth concrete ponds and left for a month or two to allow any cuts, scratches or disease to heal.

The boats are ready for the Zambezi River

The boats are ready for the Zambezi River

Today has been dedicated to packing for the river where we go tomorrow. Yeta Sisi, one our agents on the river, walked in from the river, 20 miles away, to report that the laying has started so we need to get there quickly before we loose to many nests to the water monitors and other predators. Leatherman Jim, ably assisted by Mark, fixed the water pump on the Johnson, Dad fibre glassed the fuel tap on the generator which we found broken, damaged on the journey, and I pottered around setting up our shower and light fittings, moved the rod holders on the boat, fitted in-line water fuel separators on all the outboard engines, made lists and packed a few boxes for the river.

We are ready and leave for the river at 10 am.

Beautiful Zambia sunset

Beautiful Zambia sunset

A few thoughts…

….The full moon is playing havoc with my star gazing

….The bright red sunsets are out of this world

….Fiberglass will fix anything

….Cane spirit should be consumed with caution!

….Everything in Africa takes a little longer than anticipated.

Do you think this could be a trip you would enjoy?  How do you feel about visiting Camp Crocodile Mongu? I’d be interested to know your thoughts.

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Camp Crocodile Mongu: African Safari Vacation at its wildest

On September 7, 2009, In African Safari Tours, African Wildlife, Zambia, By Sandy Salle

This post is written by my brother, Graham Hill, who is married to my partner, Meredith Hill.  The boys, Graham and my husband, Mark, left for Mongu, Zambia on Thursday 3rd September to go crocodile egg collecting for three weeks.  Every few days I will be posting updates from the boys on their journey.

Sunset on the Zambezi River near Mongu

Sunset on the Zambezi River near Mongu

Well it is time for the annual pilgrimage to Mongu to collect eggs for our crocodile farm. I call it a pilgrimage because in a sense it truly is. I grew up in Africa, spent all my informative years there and would dearly love to spend more time there. Once Africa is flowing in your blood, it is very difficult to ignore her constant calling. It is the one time of the year that I can go to the  “bush” and get back to my African roots.  No responsibilities as a husband or father, no TV, Blackberry, iTouch or e-mail, no fast food or Seven-11 and no corporate America for 2 whole weeks.

Crocodile Mongu Camp Site

Crocodile Mongu Camp Site

Instead, I get to camp on the banks of the mighty Zambezi River, catch a lot of my own food, soak up the unique smells of Africa, sit on the river bank sipping a warm beer (not much ice out there) while watching the most gorgeous sunsets during makoro (dug out wooden, canoe) rush hour, gaze into the star filled skies at night trying to find my beloved Southern Cross, eat delicious food cooked over a charcoal fire and bathe every day on a Caribbean-esque, sugar white, powdery sandbank. Ok, there might be a lot of dirty work to do during the day but that pales in comparison to the primitive beauty of the place.

Our dinner caught from the Zambezi River

Our dinner caught from the Zambezi River

Mongu is the provincial capital of the Western Province (also known as Barotseland) of Zambia, roughly 400 miles due east of the capital Lusaka. The local inhabitants are Lozi and their King is called the Litunga, King of Barotseland, has his palace a few miles down the road. The Western Province is relatively poor in natural resources, is very undeveloped with virtually no industry of any sort, no commercial agriculture and very few opportunities for job creation. There has been a major seismic survey by the oil companies and reports suggest that there might be oil in the region, however this is still many years away from production if substantiated. A few years ago, a diamond firm dredged the river, again reportedly found diamonds.  However, we all suspect that they were, in reality, blood diamonds, originating from Angola, a short distance away. The local chief who we lease our farm from reliably informs us that the rivers on the Angolan side of the border are full of rough diamonds.

Mongu Harbor

Mongu Harbor

My father has built the farm from virgin bush into an operable business in a little over 3 years. This is my 4th trip there.  Every time I go, it is an inspiration to see what can be achieved despite an extremely limited budget, large distances from any manufacturing center and the huge disadvantage of not being able to amble down to the local Lowes to purchase supplies.

Crocodile pens at Camp Mongu

Crocodile pens at Camp Mongu

Everything either has to be imported or sourced in Lusaka, a good 400 miles away or 8 hours by vehicle. If something needs to be built and there is no part, the African way is to “make a plan”. A fairly decent example of this would be fencing that surrounds and partitions all the croc pens. For our first set of grower ponds, we installed diamond mesh fencing. Well, crocs being curious little things, started piling up at the separator fence, digging under the fence and pushing their way through the fence to get across and play with their neighbors. It ruins the fence, causes a lot of damage to the skins, kills a few who get caught and stresses out the crocs who then stop eating. Dad found out that some of the mines in the Copperbelt were throwing away old conveyer belting and asked if he could take it off their hands. This material is basically rubber, is about a meter wide and 2 inches thick, no croc is going to see through it, dig through it or cut their bellies on it. “Making a plan” in this instance, halved our fencing cost and improved the grower facilities dramatically.

Crocodile pens at Camp Mongu

Crocodile pens at Camp Mongu

Egg Collection is done on and around the Zambezi River which is a straight line 10 miles from Mongu.  However, our route along the Mongu Channel and Little Zambezi makes for a hazardous 20 mile trip. This will be explained in a subsequent blog.

Sunset at Crocodile Mongu Camp

Sunset at Crocodile Mongu Camp

Our camp is a mile upriver from the confluence of the Mongu Channel and the Zambezi. We camp under virtually the only cluster of trees for miles around which gives us some respite from the sun and wind. Camp is pretty primitive at best. We use a long drop, have very limited power (although this year I went against my “green” roots and purchased a small generator), our shower is powered by a small 12V pump attached to a car battery, drinking water has to be purified by either chlorine (basically diluted chlorine) or a fancy reverse osmosis hand pump, our refrigeration is a resupply of ice every 3 – 4 days and a lot of our food is caught an hour or so before supper.

Our friends who visit Crocodile Mongu Camp

Our friends who visit Camp Crocodile Mongu

There is virtually no wildlife around except for the wonderful birdlife and the odd hippo that has not been chased away. We do get some domestic “wildlife”, pigs and cattle, frequenting our slice of paradise from time to time. Normally, it is because the little local boys want to sit around checking us out, pointing out our fishing deficiencies and hoping for a piece of candy or two. Second village headman, Mr Nakamai, also likes to put in an appearance to update us on the English Premier League Soccer scores. What a character he is, however it is about time to end this chapter and enlighten y’all about his endeavors in a later blog.

Crocodile Mongu Camp

Camp Crocodile Mongu

Do you think you would like to join them in 2010?  Please leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts.

Thanks!

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