Ian began the meeting with the sad news that Sheila Reynolds had passed away. An enthusiastic member of the club, Sheila was very popular and will be missed by a great many.
Zoe and John Sampson were the presenters for the evening and Ian introduced them to the audience which included members and several guests.
Zambia, South Luangwa and
a “Little Bit More”
Zoe and John flew first into Zambia to link up with old friends and get the holiday off to a great start with a catchup as well as a bit of golf!
A couple of weeks later they transferred to the Mfuwe lodge in South Luangwa National Park.
As you can see from their website Mfuwe Lodge welcomes visitors from all over the world as well as the occasional “local”. Although Zoe and John did not have an elephant over for a drink in the bar, Zoe did have a close encounter with one whilst taking a “comfort break” on one of the twice a day outings. (She assured us that she didn’t frighten the elephant!)
Zoe told us the story of the Baobab tree which revolves around its branches looking like roots. The tree was too vain and arrogant so in the end the creator pulled it up and planted it upside down to teach it humility. As a tree its unique in its ability to store water and survive both droughts and fires as well as living for many hundreds of years.
The second venue for the holiday was Chikunto safari lodge and we saw several photos of how rough and wild it was with full cooked breakfast and elaborate lunches. I guess if you have to get up and out for sunrise the staff know that there has to be some compensation. Joking aside it all looked breath taking and a quite few of the audience were making a mental note to find out a little more.
The normal outings at 5.30 am and 4.30pm were also supplemented with some outings after dark. Many of you will have seen the photo of the leopard and its prey that John entered for this years exhibition. “Needs Must” was awarded the Catherine Cup by the appraiser for the best overall colour photo and it was also very popular with the public that voted for their favourites during the exhibition.
The story behind the photo was a trip after dark to where the guide thought they would see some interesting wildlife. However, having arrived at the spot they needed to switch all the lights off and wait in the dark, listening for any sounds that might suggest wildlife nearby. Switching some light back on gave them the shot(s) and also time to observe the Leopard who took the carcass up into a tree away from other predators. Coming back in the daylight the leopard was still up in the tree picking over the remains.
The photos displayed here are only a tiny fraction of the evenings images. Zoe and John had taken several hundred during their holiday and then selected a wide variety to fill the evenings presentation. Many of the audience know how much time it takes to put on a show like this and the audience were very grateful both for the superb images and entertaining stories that kept them enraptured. Well done and many thanks Zoe and John.
The final display of the images from the exhibition (including “Needs Must”) will be at the coffee morning in Castleton Village Hall September 26th.