Bengweulu Wetlands, west of Luangwa – and not exactly a popular destination. It is a grueling five hour drive to the community camp. Five hours to cover about 85 kilometers and most of it through little villages where everyone is waving at you and you are expected to wave back. Jim says waving and saying hello passes the time. I notice that houses look more prosperous since 2008. People are well-dressed and some are wearing eye glasses, yards and gardens look nice and children are for the most part wearing their school uniforms. It appears life has improved for this very rural community; it is heartening to see change for the better even if the road hasn’t been upgraded in the slightest.

The community camp staff takes excellent care of us (we are the only ones there) and arranges a guide to take us to the Shoebill. Two years of drought have brought water levels way down in the wetlands and the mokoro ride we took previously is not an option. So we walk into the reeds, thickets of tall plants with vicious pointed leaves. Over dikes, through mud, past fishing huts and small settlements, we follow the guide. Coming to a halt on a muddy rise, we look across and there it is. The enigmatic Shoebill, a breathtakingly beautiful bird, tall and stately. His bill is shaped like a dutch clog, giving him a smile and if it can be said that a bird looks happy this bird does. I know I am happy to see one so close. He poses for a while and we take some snapshots and then we leave him be. I’ve fallen in love with him and I have seen Shoebill Stork stuffed animals around – I may have to have one.

The wetlands is a peculiar landscape with islands of palms and trees rooted in termite mounds surrounded by grasses. In the wet season two feet of water cover the entire area. In this the dry season the grasses support tens of thousands of Black Lechwe, found only in the Bengweulu. The multitude of water birds I’d hoped to see are further away in the swamp but 50 pair of wattled cranes are here. There are Denham’s Bustard and ground hornbill, brown headed kingfishers and white fronted bee-eaters. Stopping to pick up a few feathers, I am startled by this strange creature – now this is a real “grass” grasshopper! No doubt scores of other insects are to be found. We will have to come back. Maybe the road will improve in the meantime.