Living Luangwa

I’m in Lusaka at the moment having a bit of a break from the bush. It is a shock to be in the city after seeing hardly any people for 6 months! The road out of Lion Camp is still not graded yet so we had to walk out part of the way to the nearest camp and drive from there. It is good to get away but I am already looking forward to returning - the Luangwa is certainly an addictive place! I hope to be back by the end of the week.

The photo is of a Citrus Swallowtail taken in Mfuwe.

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On a walk early this morning I came across this beautiful insect hanging onto a Senna pod. It is an adult antlion from the order Neuroptera and is a fascinating insect. The larvae are predatory and live in sand, lunging out and grabbing their prey as they pass by. The better known antlions build a funnel shaped pit in the sand which their victims slide into and can’t climb out. The antlion then grabs them in its powerful jaws and sucks them dry!

Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography

This is a close up photograph of the beautiful Green-veined Emperor butterfly. My photography is still in macro mode at the moment as the river is too low to get around by boat.

There is still plenty game around with some nice big herds of elephant feeding fairly regularly in front of camp. The antelope disappear in the long grass though with often only the tips of their horns showing! I haven’t seen any lions for at least a month now although we do hear them most nights…..

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I’ve seen a lot of these guys around the camp recently (although this photo was taken a while back). They are also known as “cotton stainers” and are a major pest in the mfuwe area where there is a lot of cotton farming. They damage the seeds and transmit a fungus that stains the cotton yellow. They are pretty cool looking though!

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The Luangwa river has unfortunately dropped right down again in the last week. We are still able to get around by boat but it is a little hair-raising as the river is stiff with hippos (when the water gets deeper they will move off into the tributaries). As a consequence I still haven’t been able to do much photography from the boat and have to stick to anything I can find in and around camp.

I have been using my macro lens quite a lot as there are plenty of interesting insects around at this time of year. This is just one of the beautiful moths that I haven’t seen before. It has some very distinct markings but I am unable to identify it from any of my books. So if anyone knows what it is please let me know.

Content Copyright Patrick Bentley Photography