SAFARI - Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism - page 151

wilderness without seeing a lion or, even worse, finding myself in a traffic jam of Land
Cruisers and vans searching for one. I wasn't going to a park that specialized in luxury tents
rather than elephants. Zambia is still wide open, with more than a hint of the Africa that
the Europeans fell in love with a century ago.
As soon as my Land Cruiser drove through the welcoming park gate of the South
Luangwa National Park in northern Zambia, I knew I had made the right choice. All
doubts disappeared. This wilderness area of more than 5,600 square miles of the Luangwa
River valley—about half of the size of the state of Massachusetts—truly is in the middle
of nowhere. My first animal sighting was a clutch of hippos cooling off in the shallow end
of the Luangwa River, small birds pecking their backs for insects. The river is described as
the park's lifeline. Its waters attract the sixty species of mammals that find sanctuary here.
Farther up the road, elephants were munching on the trees, and just before we turned into
the Mfuwe Lodge driveway, two young puku bucks stopped to stare at us, then leaped into
the bush.
The Mfuwe Lodge, with its thatched roof, high ceilings, open-air dining space and
African fabric covering pillows and couches, was evocative of the wilderness without fall-
ing into the kitsch trap of trying to duplicate the set of Out of Africa . What caught my
eye, though, was the deck that led straight to the edge of a lagoon. Baboons were climb-
ing down the opposite bank. Herons and egrets were padding through the marshy banks. I
couldn't believe it and blurted out, “Look, baboons.”
“You'll see more baboons here. They sleep in the trees at night around the cabins,” said
Deborah Phiai, the receptionist who checked me in. She is a twenty-four-year-old gradu-
ate from City College in Lusaka who majored in tourism and immediately took a position
at the lodge here. Three of her classmates also were hired for what she said are coveted
jobs. She walked me to my room and continued telling me about her career in tourism.
“Working at the lodge, I saved enough money to build a house in the village, and now two
of my sisters are living with me. My father is very proud,” she said.
I found it odd to receive an unsolicited endorsement of the lodge from Deborah. It took
a while for me to understand that while Zambia's tourism industry provided as much as
5 percent of the jobs in the country, few pay well enough to allow local young people to
better themselves like those at the Mfuwe Lodge and bush camps. Ms. Phiai was simply
grateful.
On the short walk to my cabin she gave me two basic instructions. After dark, walk only
with a guide carrying a flashlight. Animals are everywhere. Second, watch out for the tiny
frogs that love to hide in water jars and showers. They are harmless but alarming when
they leap up in your face. Naturally, when I opened the water thermos in my room, I
screamed when the precious pale-emerald-colored frog leaped into my glass. Now know-
ing better, I waited at the dinner hour for the rap of a guide to escort me back to the lodge
for dinner.