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Reviews
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Masuku Lodge A perfect little spot to unwind, put your feet up (or down if you feel like birding and bushwhacking), is the recently opened Masuku Lodge in the Choma area. It's also an excellent stop over if you don't feel like driving to Livingstone from Lusaka in a day - ideal, in fact, if you're leaving after lunch. It will take you about four hours to get there from Lusaka. The Lodge, which is situated in the Nkanga Conservation Area on land leased from Ian Bruce Miller, is owned by Bill and Sue Somerset. Bill spent 30 years with the British Foreign Office and the couple have had postings around the world, from Outer Mongolia to the Seychelles, with Ghana, The Ukraine, The USA and Lusaka in-between. They loved Zambia, and on retirement in 1998, decided to return and "set up Lodge". Masuku is situated about 15 km along a well maintained dirt road 3 km from Choma on the main Lusaka Livingstone Road. The six chalets nestle in a spacious, butterfly filled indigenous garden and there's a small dam close enough to walk to where one can while away the hours watching a variety of birds, including nobbies, saddle and open billed storks a variety of kingfishers, dikkop's, grey heron and if you're very lucky, the endemic Chaplin's Barbet, frolicking in the trees. A bird count was done by local ornithologist Pete Leonard recently and he confirmed that there were as many as 439 bird species in the Nkanga Conservation area. Over the years, Bill and Sue have counted 180 different birds just around the Lodge. We didn't see game while we were there, but game drives and walks can be arranged and sable, zebra, duiker, kudu, oribi, wild pig and warthog, and if you're in luck, leopard, can sometimes be "spotted." If you're spending the weekend at Masuku and want to drive in to Choma, the Museum with its excellent displays on Tonga culture, is definitely worth a visit. So too is the craft centre, which is also housed in the same building. Very reasonably priced Tonga baskets in all shapes and sizes are on sale at the Centre. There is a great "home from home" atmosphere at Masuku. Meals are tasty, and thoughtfully prepared and one is guaranteed a good nights sleep listening to the little Skops Owl prrrruping quietly in the huge winterthorn tree outside the chalet. |
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© Masuku Lodge 2003 |