What is Mojo-Zen?

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Mojo-Zen is the collected ramblings of zoologist and cultural explorer, Will Benson.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Nick and Nick at Mfuwe Lodge

I've very lucky here at Mfuwe Lodge, that this fantastic safari destination surrounded by amazing wildlife, attracts some very interesting people who make their living from wildlife and the study of wilderness areas such as the Luangwa Valley.

Two such people I've had the pleasure to spend some time with this last week are Nick Mackman and Nick Garbutt.

Nick Mackman is a wildlife sculptor and artist, who for the past 10 years has been associated with the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, in making one-off clay sculptures as awards for the winning photos. Her brilliantly life-like sculptures have been sold all over the world, and reside in the collections of big names including Judi Dench and John Cleese. She also makes some especially cute clay models of meerkats.Part of the reason she is staying with us now is to hand over three sculptures that Mfuwe Lodge commissioned from her last year: Our resident elephant matriarch 'Wonky-Tusk', an amazing Wild dog pup, and a Warthog complete with bristles.

Other Nick, Nick Garbutt has also been involved in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, as a winner in 2000, with his incredible picture of this Bengal Tiger slinking off into the forest. As well as his photographic awards, Nick is pretty much an all rounder in the field of natural history (thus making him somewhat of a hero to me). He has published numerous books on wildlife photography, put together extensive guides on the animals of Madagascar, lectured all over the world, and also leads small groups of photographers into the deep jungles of Gabon, Borneo and India.

Q: How do you know an elephant has been in your garden?

A: There will be a ruddy great big hole in your fence!

Two mornings ago I was woken at 4am to the sound of crushing wood and snapping branches right outside my window. On peering past my thin curtains into the darkness I could just make out the shapes of 5 elephants, passing about 2 meters from my head.

Obviously this family of elephants had decided that for all of the many thousands of square kilometers of grass to choose from in the Luangwa Valley, that the 5 meter-squared patch outside my room was exactly what they needed at 4 in the morning. Not wanting to be denied the' sacred grass' within by the fence that surrounds my little patch of garden, they simply smashed their way through, leaving a very obvious elephant-shaped hole in it!

Naughty elephants!!!

Sunday 24 October 2010

Bongo beats and schoolastic treats

In yet another exciting week here in the Luangwa Valley, I've been especially lucky in making some particularly memorable trips recently outside the park, into the surrounding Mfuwe area.


The first trip was to Chiwawatala School, which is a local school sponsored by Mfuwe Lodge (where I'm staying). I'm going to be putting together a short film about the school and the success of the Lodge's sponsorship programme, and so was making an initial recce and to meet the teachers and children. The highlight of the trip was when we entered one of the classes and the 70 or so pupils inside broke into the most amazing song. In a few minutes the whole place had erupted in children singing, dancing and shrieking, and as I moved through the musical throng to film it all, I felt very, very privileged to be witnessing such a spectacle.


The second trip I made was to Peter Mambwe's village, which like the school is a short drive from the national park, along the dusty road that connects the gatherings of small huts and shops that make up the Mfuwe area.

Being the local chief and somewhat of a entrepreneur, Peter has started a small enterprise at his village, whereby tourists, travellers and cultural explorers can come and spend the afternoon there to learn about local customs and traditions, and experience some of their dances and songs. On enquiring as to why I hadn't filmed at his village yet, I told Peter that I was waiting to be invited, and sure enough, two hours later we were sat under a big old mango tree as his villagers prepared themselves for the performance.

As we waited expectantly in the shade, the villagers that had gathered around us on the grass mats slowly began to beat their drums and twang their metal instruments to the rhythm. A rustling behind one of the huts, and then appeared a man dressed in a mask made of feathers, flailing and wailing to the drum beat, which was now picking up its tempo.

Unfortunately after the first 30 minutes of what can only be described as 'moving African theater', the battery went on my video camera, and the spare battery had also drained in the heat. So although I didn't get that much footage this time, I think it's a very good excuse to go back again soon and film some more!

Next, following the 'man of many feathers', the women slowly rose to their feet,and winding and swaying to the music, they now entered the circle.
By the point the ceremony had reached its peak, there were men beating drums, women lolling their tongues creating high-pitched cries and shrieking, young children were blowing whistles and beating out the rhythm with their feet on the ground, and younger children still simply looked on in wonder, seemingly nearly as amazed as me. I think it's these moments that makes Africa so special to me, and this was one in particular that I hope to remember for a very long time.

As we left Peter didn't even have to ask me what I thought of the performance, I think the massive boyish grin on my face gave me away.

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Road trips through the bush

As well as the 'hard work' involved with filming and editing wildlife videos in the African bush, there's also plenty of chances for adventure. Mike (manager of Zungulila bush camp out here) has finally finished fixing his old Landrover, and Zillah (manager of Chamilandu bush camp) was out of camp for a few days, so a bunch of us packed a cool box full of drinks and treats and headed off for an afternoon drive in the bush. Given that the Landrover has been wrought with mechanical issues, none of us were sure we'd make it there.... or back, but without any technical hitches we had the most fantastic drive.

We stopped the old Landrover at a spot called Chicheli Hill, a beautiful vantage point over the valley, and enjoyed cold beers in front of (yet another) incredible Zambian sunset. As I've possibly overdone it with sunset pics, I thought I'd show you instead the beautiful 2 seater convertible Landrover that the 6 of us piled in for the ride - she's called Patricia.

Just a selection of the wares available at our 'bush-bar'.


Riding on the back of the old rickety Landrover, over miles of rocks and pot holes, was mildly painful on the bum, but nothing makes me feel more alive than riding on the back of an open truck getting pelted by dust and insects.
This was taken on one of my recent morning filming trips; the guides have named this huge male lion Shakka, as in Shakka Zulu, due to the fact that he's come into the Mfuwe area to push out the current male of the Mfuwe pride. He's a big old boy, and compared to the fairly large female lionesses that we see more regularly, he looks massive.

Outside my room is a small yard of trees, which as well as harbouring snakes, are home to some pretty cool tree frogs. This one is a grey tree frog or foam nest frog, and he sat pretty happily whilst I snapped away.

These crowned cranes flew over in formation one night last week. These birds (the national bird of Uganda in fact) make an almighty racked as they swoop past; to describe it i would say it sounds a bit like a cockney saying 'aaawriiight aaawriiight aaawriiight'.

Thursday 14 October 2010

Hippos, bush camps and a whole lot of feathers

You'll be pleased to read that there have been no more 'near misses' with lions or snakes since I last wrote, and apart from the heat which has racked up to a toasty 47 degrees C, all is continuing well.
The potential dangers of the bush became even more apparent last night, when news came to us over the radio that one of the road workers in the park had been charged by an elephant, and then on his escape into a nearby lagoon was grabbed by a crocodile - luckily he broke free and was in a conscious state when he came via us to the hospital late last night. A striking reminder of the power of the wildlife that surrounds me here, which is useful to remember when I open my door to elephants right outside my room in the morning, like I did yesterday.

At the beginning of the week I headed to Chindeni bush camp to film a fishing party of yellow billed, saddle-billed and maribu stalks and pelicans that were in the lagoon next to the camp; unfortunately by the time I'd made the 3 hour drive to the camp the birds had left, after one was grabbed by a croc. Nonetheless I enjoyed a great stay at the amazing camp, soaking up the incredible sunrise over the lagoon (above), and relishing the chance to be sleeping under canvass (albeit a very very hot tent).


My trip wasn't completely wasted, and I used my time down at the camp to film the whopping raft of hippos (273 in total, according to my driver, Kelvin) that were fighting, yawning, farting and honk-honking in the afternoon sun just along from the camp.


On our return from Chindeni, we stopped to pick up staff and supplies from Chamilandu camp, about 30 km up river. Chamilandu's manager Zillah and I then drove back with the ever smiling Malenga on the back of the land rover, supporting a very fine look in Zillah's sunglasses and his baseball cap - he's clearly the king of cool!


On the subject of cool, the head guide here at Mfuwe Lodge, Peter Zulu, is somewhat of a local hero. When I'm out on safari with him, other vehicles will often stop for the guides to explain to their guests how Peter is the most important man in the area, signified by his AMAZING pith helmet adorned with the various feathers that he's found in the Luangwa Valley. As well as being our head guide, and one of the oldest serving guides in Zambia (he's been guiding for nearly 40 years), Peter is also the chief of the Mfuwe area, and is known accordingly as Peter 'Mambwe', meaning head man.

Wednesday 6 October 2010

The real snake!

So after suffering a great deal of ridicule as a result of my phantom 'snake attack' (which you can read about here), I though I should attempt to reclaim some of my dignity here, and show you a real snake that I found in my room a few days ago.

I thought I saw a tail disappear behind my cabinet in my room one afternoon, and on pulling out the cabinet, sure enough, curled up against the wall was a long dark, spotted bush snake.


After chasing it around my room for a few minutes, and finding myself once again on top of my toilet seat shaking a long piece of wire at a snake (just not an invisible one this time), I managed to herd it out of my room.
Before it departed it paused, head raised in my door way, just long enough for me to get up close and take a few lovely shots of its profile.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Encounters with all creatures big and small

So I'm now into my second month out here in the South Luangwa Valley. The last few weeks have been really exciting, and even though I've been not as efficient as I hoped at updating weekly pictures and tales of adventure, I'll fill you in with some of the best bits here.

As well as my night time encounter with the 'snake', there have been a whole host of wildlife encounters over the past few weeks: Some have been with bizarre and fascinating animals, some have been unwanted guests, and some have been close shaves. The 'close shave' being about a week ago, when I was walking back to my room by torch light and noticed two large green eyes watching me from about 15 meters away. On realising that I was being sized up by a lion, I had to employ every muscle in my body not to commit the cardinal sin of running away and thus triggering the 'prey' switch in the lion's mind. Slowly I edged my way backwards to the safety of the lodge to find a group of the night watch-men to scare off the predator in the darkness.

Below is an amazing little flap-necked chameleon that James, one of the walking safari guides here, caught for me one evening. We named him George, and it happily sat on my hand for about 15 minutes, swiveling its turret-like eyes and making numerous failed attempts to bite me in slow motion - definitely the coolest animal I know.

This was a rather less welcome animal encounter; a huge centipede that made its way across my pillow one evening. As well as being a truly ugly beast, these centipedes also pack a really nasty sting, and so I made sure that he was thrown well away from my room before I tried to sleep that night.

The annual carmine bee-eater migration has made its way to the valley, and at various places along the Luangwa River bank, these beautiful red and green birds can be seen nesting in their thousands. I've spent a few evenings filming the colony; flying in and out of their holes, swooping and catching flying insects above my head. As usual with the great wildlife spectacles that I get to film here, my time is taken up with my video camera and so I seldom have great pictures of what I've been filming - this is a picture of one of the carmine bee-eaters that I took on one of our evening game-drives to give you an idea of what this gorgeous species looks like.


South Luangwa National Park is reputed to have some tamed warthogs. Two brother warthogs called Rocky and Robert were apparently hand-reared 10 years ago or so, and then released into the wilds of the park. The legend goes, that Rocky died a few years ago, but that a very 'friendly' warthog, that is often seen near Mfuwe Waffa (the dry lagoon next to Mfuwe Lodge), is believed to be Robert. I took myself off for a short drive a few days ago and met what I think was the infamous Robert; he seemed to be compelled to walk up to me (most warthogs run away when you come within 30 meters of them), stopped right next to the car, and just looked up at me longingly... He hung about long enough for me to take some great pics of him together with a red-billed ox pecker who came to join in the action. Long live Robert!


The park is mostly comprised of Mopane woodland (either stunted or really tall, scrubby, match stick like trees with green/yellow leaves), but there are also a few huge baobab trees dotted about the place. These distinctive 'upside down trees' can grow to a massive diameter of about 12 meters in some cases, and were used hundreds of years ago by local tribes who hollowed them out into the ultimate 'tree-house'.As I have an interest in all things biological, I've made it my goal to learn as much as possible about the plants, animals, trees, birds, landscapes, people and language of this region, whilst I'm here in the South Luangwa Valley. I've recently become a bit of a 'tree geek' and spent about 30 minutes the other day with one of the guides, trying to work out the reproductive strategy of the Sausage-tree. From what we worked out, these amazing red flowers hold the male reproductive organs (producing the pollen), and the long thin, small green pod that remains on the tree when the flowers fall off, contains the female organs - science aside, these are beautiful flowers, and they smell strangely edible!?

Friday 1 October 2010

Snakes in the night time!

So last night I was attacked by a snake whilst in bed - well, sort of!

I was woken at about 3:00 am, by something long and heavy on my neck. Naturally I freaked out, and in a sudden burst of adrenaline I tried to struggle free of this 'thing' squirming over me. Aware that if I grabbed it, it might strike me, I tried to wriggle away from it, but because I was lying under a mosquito net I wasn't able to get it away from next to my body. I realised then that I couldn't move my left arm or my left leg, and immediately thought that I must have been bitten in my sleep, and that the venom was working its way around my body. In my sheer panic and still half-asleep state, I thought to launch myself out of bed in an attemp to escape the venomous monster, flying about 3 meters across my room, head long into my bathroom door frame, tearing the mosquito net from its fitting as I went.

Now on the floor, I could still feel the creature twisted up with me in the mosquito net next to me. Flailing about with my two working limbs, I fought and shouted to get myself free from this bundle of netting, heart now racing at this point that the snake would take one bite of my torso and finish me off. Reaching out with my right hand I evntually tore myself out of the net, dragged myself across the stone floor, and finally lept up on top of my toilet seat to safety.

The ordeal had lasted about 3 minutes by this point, and as my heart rate began to return to normal, I slowly began to get feeling back in my left arm and leg, and I began to believe that I wasn't actually going to die. Using the long wire that had been previously holding my mosquito net to the ceiling, I probed the net from a safe distance, searching for the offending reptile....but it wasn't there!

Five minutes had passed now, and the snake was still no where to be seen?! As I nursed my bruised head in the mirror, I streched and flexed my left arm and leg to check they were in fact still working, and then it slowly dawned on me just exactly what had happened, and what had led me to throw myself, rocketing head first, into my door frame at 3 o'clock in the morning: I must have fallen asleep twisted up in an awkward position, and in doing so, had cut off the circulation to my left arm and leg in my sleep. As I rolled over in my sleep, my dead-arm must have fallen over my face...I hadn't been wresting with a snake at all... I had been fighting with my own arm!!!!!!!!

I had actually tried to throw my own arm out of bed, and when it didn't go anywhere, I had nose-dived myself out of bed to escape it. Like a crazy person, I had actually been fighting my own phantom limb - and lost!

With a sore head, bruised knees and a my mosquito net in a torn heap on the floor, I climbed back into bed. Safe in the knowledge that there were no snakes in my room, and with a big smile on my face, I laughed myself back to sleep.


The morning after the night before - sporting a door-frame shaped bump on my head.