In Search of a Latter Day Dodo

 

To the North of Zambia is a vast, watery wilderness known as the Bangweulu Swamp. It was to this area that Barbara and I returned in April. It should have been a couple of hours flight up from Lusaka but, because of late rains, the government had closed the bush airfields. So instead of a couple of hours flying we had to endure three days travel in what looked like an ex-army truck. It turned out to be the vehicle for the job, as the road on the third day deteriorated into a rutted, pot-holed track with grass growing either side, in places as high as the vehicle, and sometimes in the middle of the road as well. At every village we passed by, and we passed by a lot, all the children would run out screaming, shouting and waving.

We eventually arrived at the airstrip we were to have landed at, only to get the vehicle stuck in the swamp up to its axle. We abandoned it there, took off our shoes and socks, rolled up our trousers and paddled the 150 yards to a waiting boat. We had to do this about three times before we had transferred all our baggage. The going was comfortable to the feet as the grass was lung and soft and the water, nearly up to our knees, was warm. Once aboard, the boat had to be poled through channels between the sea of reeds and papyrus to an island which was where the camp had been established. This journey took about an hour. The island turned out to be a small patch of land a few inches above the surrounding water.

"Why all this effort to get here?" you are no doubt wondering. Well, the Bangweulu Swamp is the home of a prehistoric looking bird that looks as if it is related to the extinct Dodo. This bird is the Shoebill, the object of this expedition, and the imaginative name of the island we were camped on.

Next morning, the object of our visit was spotted, perched atop a small bush on a nearby 'island'. It was off with shoes and socks again and we all set off wading through the swamp. The 'nearby' island turned out to be an ambitious aim and, after half an hours laborious effort, not getting noticeably closer, we abandoned the idea. Instead, we packed some lunch and returned to the 'mainland'. Here, there were thousands of Black Lechwe to be seen scattered across the plain, as far as the eye could see. These antelope are accompanied by there own species of fly, in fact millions of them. Fortunately they did not bite humans. One bonus of this little expedition was to see Stanley's Bustard, also known as Denham's Bustard. These are large, long-necked birds (33" to 40") that live on open, grassy plains.

Shoebill pictureThe next day, a Shoebill was spotted again. This time we took a boat and made our way by devious channels to get as close as we could without disturbing it. Over a period of an hour or more, we completely lost track of time, our boatman gradually manoeuvred the boat closer and closer, the film manufacturers making a fortune by the minute. The last move proved one too many and our bird flew off. But everyone was satisfied that we had achieved our objective. The cost was high though (apart from the amount of film used) as we all suffered masses of mosquito bites. Another 'hazard' around the camp was ants. Returning to our tent in bare feet, I thought that I had trodden on a thorn, only to find when I went to remove it from the sole of my foot that it was a large black ant.

Regardless of all the discomforts, we considered our journey to the Bangweulu Swamp as a success as we were very happy that we had managed to see this weird and wonderful bird.

For the Bird Watchers

Shoebill or Whale-headed Stork (Balaeniceps rex) 150cm (59") Very large, dark grey, stork like bird with a huge, pale, shoe-shaped bill and short tuft-like crest. Found in Central Africa in Papyrus swamps. These are very local, often obscure, and occur singly or in pairs.

For the Historians

The Bangweulu Lake to the North of the swamp was discovered for the Western world by Dr. David Livingstone in 1868. He later died on its Southern shore in 1873 and his heart was buried, not far from there, in the village of Chief Chitambo. On our journey we passed close to this village.

For the Geographers

The Bangweulu Swamp is fed by six rivers and drained by one.

Rex Harvey

 

Uploaded with permission of the author. Copyright © 1997.