A Riverbank Alive

Some of the best wildlife encounters are with animals you never even knew to look for.

While exploring South Luangwa National Park in October, our guide rounded a corner and brought us to a steep bank along the river. Suddenly, there were flashes of brilliant color everywhere. More than 50 Southern Carmine Bee-eaters were flying around us. I didn't realize it at the time, but we had arrived during the season when these birds gather along the Luangwa to breed.

Until that moment, I didn't even know these birds existed. Their colors were extraordinary, but watching the colony was what made the encounter so memorable. The sandy bank was filled with nesting tunnels they had excavated, while above us the birds continually launched into the air to catch bees, wasps, dragonflies, and other insects before returning to their perches.

I had come to Zambia expecting elephants, lions, leopards, and so many of the animals Africa is famous for. I never expected one of the great spectacles of the trip to come from a bird I hadn't known existed just minutes before. That sense of surprise is one of my favorite things about being in the wild. There is always something new waiting around the next corner.