The Bat Migration of 2009

by Andy Fritz
Every year in Zambia’s Central Province is the single largest mammal migration on the planet. Millions of bats (around ten million this year) congregate in the caves and trees at Zambia’s Kasanka national park. They stay there from early October to early January which is the first few months into the rainy season. Ashlee and I planned on going with a group of volunteers form our province, but were waylaid by the beginning of the rainy season. The first heavy rains blew out a window in our house and poured through our roof in buckets(literally). Since I had planned on seeing this phenomenon last year, Ashlee sent me on my merry way to see the bats with a few other volunteers while she stayed in Mansa with a few sick volunteers and to keep an eye on the temporary rain protection I had put in place.

Those of us going down were able to hitch a ride with the Peace Corps truck on its way to Lusaka. They dropped us at our campsite for the next few days with all our food, gear, and bicycles for both Grayson (our nearest volunteer neighbor in Mansa) and I. Over the next few days we saw the bats numerous times and amazing wildlife. We had a park guide walk us around some of the park and point out some things, including hippos. While we didn’t see other major game, their tracks were everywhere in the morning when we woke up. Elephants passed right by our site in the night and we were not even aware.

We huddled together many times to wait out what were incredible storms, but by the last day the sun was shining. Grayson and I woke up at 3 am packed our bikes and made our way to the Guides’ camp by four. Our guide from the day before said that Grayson and I were free to cycle the 25 kilometer (15 mile) out of the park without a guide. So that began our 285 kilometer ' (171 mile) bike ride back to Mansa. Unaccompanied for an hour of bush riding through a national park with lions, crocodiles, hippos, and lord knows what else.

By midday we had crossed into Luapula Province via the largest bridge in Southern Africa. We rode continuously taking short breaks in the shade until close to dusk. With no hope of making it to our nearest volunteers house we set up our tent in the back of a farmers cassava field hidden from from view, ate a pile of food, and passed out hard. We woke the next morning to find we were less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Mansa. After a brief stop for a rest at a new volunteers house we were back on the road and in Mansa before late afternoon. While the national park was a great time, the two days on bike was equally fantastic.