BIG GAME: The couple flew into Lusaka, where they met Linda's daughter and were picked up by their driver. ''All of our lodging was in game reserves or national parks," Deschenes said. ''We spent two nights in Kapishya Hot Springs and two nights in Buffalo Camp, both run by Mark Harvey, grandson of the legendary Sir Stewart Gore-Browne," a prominent figure in the history of what was until 1964 Northern Rhodesia. Harvey is ''quite famous in the country," she said. ''I called him Crocodile Dundee squared."
CAMPING OUT: Buffalo Camp, where they stayed in North Luangwa National Park (on the Malawian side of Zambia), ''is one of the greatest wildlife sanctuaries in the world," Deschenes said. They stayed in one of four tree houses. ''It turned out to be our favorite place because of the ruggedness of it," she said. ''It was hard to sleep because you hear the lions, the baboons screeching, the hyenas. One day on a walk for eight miles we had a warthog follow us for several miles. You're always with a guide and an armed guard. You're bushwhacking through very high grass, and over hillsides and we walk single file."
IN THE DARK: A night ride from Kapishya Hot Springs was fascinating, she said. ''We went out for an afternoon ride because the animals come out at dusk. Then we just stayed out while it got dark. That's when you could see the hyenas, and you could hear the lions. We were with Mark Harvey in the car, with his rifle, going through rivers, over mountainsides, straight up. It was pitch black. We drove through a herd of water buffalo. With our spotlight, we saw a boa constrictor, a spitting cobra. We saw so much activity. You could hear everything. We'd been on safari in Kenya. This is different. This is rough and tough."
