Goodbye to a great flatmate

A top weekend for a good friend and a wonderful flatmate. It was a busy few days and for me both happy and sad times with Andrew leaving Maz and Zambia, though it was the right time for him to go before working at the Council drove him mad; I may feel the same about DATF in a few months time. In honour of Andrew we finally got around to playing a game of Frisbee. A mixture of us volunteers and some of our Zambian friends charged around a field chasing after a flying disc with a Canadian flag on it, which was lots of fun and something we should have done sooner given how many of us were red faced and knackered at the end. Later on Saturday night there was plenty of the usual tasty food, a few games of pool, the Champions League final and on Andrew’s insistence we visited a local nightclub in Maz called Afrikana Fiesta. This resulted in the usual over attention and close, in your face dancing from the locals so we did not stay too long.

The goodbyes continued on Saturday and Sunday with lots of people visiting to wish Andrew well and also hoping that he would change his mind and stay a little bit longer. To my surprise the Council managed to organise themselves and did Andrew proud with a good send off of speeches, food, presents and amusing (or silly) dancing. It all showed that he will be missed by many including me.

After the fire

Then this is what happens after the burning on the sugar estate which is somewhere around 10,000ha in size; lots of growing, burning and slashing to meet our sugary needs.

Fields on fire

I could have written this entry any time from a few weeks ago or even over the next few months as April to September is sugarcane cutting season. When I first witnessed the fire last year you wonder what is going on, whether it is out of control and how close it will get. From what I have been told, and before the slashing can begin, the sugarcane needs to be burnt, which makes it easier to cut and also to kill off any snakes lurking in the fields. So this was the view from our house where the fields of sugarcane start around 100metres away.

Chobe

Chobe was Chobe. As I had been there before little was new to me so it was more wonderful wildlife spotting by boat and safari vehicle, which is a great contrast. First by boat, and as the afternoon sun began to cool, we watched more and more elephants heading down to the water’s edge for drinking and cooling off. There were hippos everywhere, most barely visible with eyes and nose hovering just above the water, though a few did display parts of their huge bodies now and again including the massive, open wide yawn. Slightly further away on land we could see plenty of giraffe and different types of antelope. The following day we got very lucky as within minutes of entering the park by car our guide spotted a couple of lionesses hunting. We observed them for a while before there was an onslaught of tens of other safari vehicles trying to get in on the action. Not too far away we came across the lion cubs that the mothers had left behind, playing happily with each other, and therefore somewhat exposed if any larger prey came along. So for a one night trip across to the border to Botswaa these were pretty good highlights for me.

More from the Falls

Given how much we managed to do in Livingstone and the fun we had, here are few more photos including the delicious selection of desserts from high tea at the Royal Livingstone.

Treats and cruising in Livingstone

To put it mildly our time in Livingstone was busy and anything that we did I would happily do again, and hopefully Mum, Dad and Tom would say the same. It all kicked off with Mum’s birthday on 16th which was celebrated in style with all of us being soaked by the spray from Victoria Falls as we crossed the Knife Edge Bridge; fun though the pictures in wet clothes may not be too flattering! We relaxed, got fat and bloated enjoying high tea at the Royal Livingstone. For the record Dad beat us all in eating the highest number of savouries and sweets. We continued the eating by going on the Lady Livingstone boat for a cruise along the Zambezi river, which from the top deck involved minimal effort with tasty cocktails, a few courses of canapés, watching the sun go down in one direction and then turning around to see a full moon rise over the Falls. We also spotted a few animals - crocodiles and hippos. Despite a few reservations Mum (with Dad and I too) was persuaded that she should climb on board a helicopter for an aerial tour of the Falls, which was spectacular. Tom took a different flying route and went on a microlight, flying lower and closer to the water.

Lighting candles for HIV and AIDS

So we travelled onto Mazabuka - the highlight of the trip! First we had to spend a good few hours waiting at Lusaka’s inter city bus station after the bus company had sold our tickets; though we did arrive a bit late. A white family of four perched on a bench drew a few interested glances but little more attention. In Mazabuka it was a case of meet the family of friends that I have been very fortunate to get to know here which meant plenty of entertaining over meals, braiis, beer and wine, and few frustrating games of darts (getting a double to win can prove difficult). We wandered around the town, showing off the highlights of Mazabuka which did not take too long, greeting many friendly people long the way who often were particularly interested and confused about how similar my brother and I looked like. The market at Nakambala proved fascinating from sampling exotic fruits to buying chitenge fabric for back home. Stella, much more than just our cleaner now, was a wonderful guide for them.

I had deliberately chosen to be in Maz this weekend as it meant the family could visit an open day at Barbara’s School for the Blind http://www.malaikha.com which will soon be up and running with its first children. Then on the same day it was one of the commemoration events for HIV and AIDS – the International Candle Light Memorial. The event was bigger and better than last year with around 300 people attending so the family got to experience what commemoration events in Zambia are like including the signing, drama, speeches and the lighting of the candles. They were placed on the ‘high table’ and introduced as guests of honour from the UK.

More on magical South Luangwa

And here are a few of those special animals

Glorious South Luangwa

A long time planning, a long time since I had last seen the family and then they were here (Mum, Dad and my brother Tom) at Lusaka airport; looking a bit tired but with smiley, happy faces. And so their speedy, non-stop tour of Zambia began. They had barely got off one plane before I pushed them onto another as we flew east to Mfuwe and specifically to South Luangwa national park. For all three it was their first time in Africa and also their first time on a safari, and the smiles (in my mind anyway) seemed to get bigger the more we did and the more they saw during their two weeks in Zambia.

So a few highlights from our time at South Luangwa. Flatdogs camp definitely did live up to, and exceeded, its reputation as a great place to stay. The luxury safari tents were very much upper class, the food wonderful, exotic and sorry pretty non-Zambian, the guides friendly and enthusiastic, as was everyone else at the camp. The location was pretty good too as Dad saw elephants trampling through the camp during the day and at night hippos came on land and noisily ate away at the plants around our tents. We went into the park four times, two mornings and two evenings, and each time was a different experience. On the walking safari we saw very little but heard lots of sounds that you miss when high up in a safari vehicle, and inspected lots of animal dung too. On different evenings our car followed a beautiful male lion walking through the bush looking powerful and menacing, and also heard hyenas crunching bones before watching one hyena run off holding a buffalo’s head in its mouth. Wildlife viewing can be wonderful.

Driving test of sorts

So my international driving licence had expired and after various form filling, photos, handing over money and some waiting around, the day of my Zambian driving test arrived. Not being too sure what to expect and thinking of course I can drive I was a tiny bit nervous. There was little to worry about, however, as before the test had even begun the test plates, on instruction from the examiner, were removed from my vehicle because I had a UK (yeah!) licence. As well as the examiner getting into the car, his young son also jumped in so my driving test ended up consisting of driving around Mazabuka town to drop off the boy, a quick stop at a bank for the examiner, a chat about HIV and AIDS, and then back to the test centre. I paid out some more Kwacha and got my paper licence; all nice and easy, and just in time for driving around my parents and brother who are flying out next week.

Some of my favourite things

I remember liking this time of year first time around and now it is back again! Winter is slowly on its way here with the evenings getter colder where now a blanket is needed to sleep at night, though not quite the extra layers and socks that will be required come August. The days are still warm but as I wander around town going to various meetings now I don’t arrive drenched in sweat. This season is also great for the local fruits and vegetables on sale. The avocados (locally called cotapela) are huge, deliciously creamy and cost only around 40 pence. The small bananas are plentiful and sweet to eat, and the satsuma like green oranges (called manachi) are also in abundance. A good time to be in Zambia.