Livingstone No.2

Again I am standing at the Intercity Bus Terminal waiting for the bus to leave Lusaka towards Livingstone. But this time I am not alone. Marten and Dominique are accompanying me on this trip that turned out to be full of surprises!

Arriving around 12.00 in Livingstone, I learned from my lesson during my last visit and walked to the hostel instead of letting the cab driver trick me again. It felt good to be back and I think Marten and Domi were as impressed as I was when I arrived the first time at Jollyboys!

We left our stuff in the room, enjoyed the sun lying in the pool, went for some grocery shopping and had a lovely dinner at Cafe Zambezi, a local restaurant that I discovered together with Natasha and Philip. Since it has been a long day and we were going to Botswana the next morning, we went to bed "early"; but not without welcoming the group of British students that are staying at our house in Lusaka and also planned the trip to Livingstone the exact same weekend.

The trip to Botswana started early in the morning. A driver took us to the border which turned out to be a little safari on its own since we had to cross the local national park in Zambia for more than 50 minutes. At the border we experienced a totally new way of crossing it.....a speed boat took us and a few other passsengers within a few minutes from the Zambian side of the river to the other side, which was Botswana....within a few minutes we were facing a new culture, another language and fortunately the same timezone. Our Safari guide picked us (2 other ladies joined us for that day) up and together we drove to the lodge from which the first part of our day trip (3-hours boars trip on the Chobe River) started. Serving great breakfast and getting ready for Part 1, the sun started to shine stronger and stronger. Enjoying the shade on the upper deck of the Safarin cruise the upcoming 3 hours were just amazing. Starting with the scenery one has to say that the Chobe river does not only served as the border for 4 countries but also provides tourists with 100s of species and an incredible fauna. Without getting to much in details, we saw crocodiles, Iguanas, several bird species such as fish eagles and coulourful divers, Impalas, Hippos, and elephants. The latter was somehwat unexpected since most elephants come to the shore around afternoon since they get thirsty after spending the whole day eating. But since we picked a really warm day we witnessed around 50 elephants coming to the river getting refreshments, taking a bath and marching along the river. It was just an incredible feeling to see these giants in wildlife. The boat trip ended with a delicious lunch at the lodge and us chatting about what we just have witnessed.


The second part of the day trip was a Game drive in the Chobe National Park. One can also say Elephant park because what we were about to see was just amaazing.....100s of elephants so close  that you could touch them, so calm, peaceful and beautiful, that you can only wonder why people hunt these majestic animals.
The Game Drive was more or less dominated by the scenery and various kinds of animals such as buffaloes, hippos, elephants, giraffs and impalas....All in all it was a really beautiful and adventurous day...and a memorable one for sure!

We got home to the hostel in the early evening and I couldnt wait to throw myself into the cold water of the pool and enjoy a Mosi paddling around.

On Saturday we decided to go to the Victoria Falls. This time I was better prepared and wrapped all valuables and documents into bags and T-Shirts so that they wouldnt get wet. Before entering the Park, we made a little excursion to the bridge that serves as the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Reason for that was Dominique who wanted to do the Bungee-Jump (?). 111 meters of pure adrenaline, witnessed and recorded by Marten and me. I still do not understand why poeople desire to jump from a bridge....well maybe it is just not my thing! :)

The weather was brilliant and by that I mean hot(!!!). Since it was not that windy, one could see much more of the falls than last time I was there. Even though it was the second time at the falls I was again overwhelemd by the power, beauty and seize of the falls. Marten and Dominqiue definitley agreed with me on that. We met up with some of the British and enjoyed a small refreshing bath at the upstream of the falls, though standing 10 meters from the edge of the falls! Adrenaline kick...compensating for missing out the bungee jump!
Other highlights of the day include agressivve bamboons stealing passports and cookies from another group of tourists, did I mention the sun, and of course the peaceful atmosphere at Cafe Zambezi together with Marten and Domi.

Another incredible day in Livingstone came to an end but should be followed by another one! Rafting on the Zambezi river!
Sunday...= Sunny day! We were picked up early in the mornuing and went to a lodge where we would get some breakfast, instructions on how to do Rafting and what to do when we end up floating on the Zambezi River (quiet encouraging) etc. AFter splitting in two groups (Marten, Domi and me joined two germans...a wise decision as it would turn out), we drove 40 minutes to the spot where we started our tour. I thought that rafting would be the most challenging task coming up during that day, but climbing down the rocky path (600 m) to the shore was causing a lot of sored muscles the next day.
Our guide in the boat was very much experienced and told us that he wants us to have a memorablew experience asking wheter we want "to hit the big ones" or leave them out. we all agreed on hitting the big ones (he referred to the waves) but we might have changed our mind when we would have know how big the waves were. The Zambezi river is argued to be one of the wildes in the world, and even though we passed only 20 rapids some of them just catapulted the boat several meters in the air before taking it down into the throat of the river....what an experience....I found myself in the river once, uner the boat trying not to panic and eventually succeeding of getting back in the boat.
We also had some parts where the river was calmer which allowed us to jump into the river and float along the beautiful scenery, listeing to the guide telling us about the history of the river. We could also do some cliff jumping....I was surprised about myself when I climbed the 12 meters rock and jumped into the dark Zambezi river.....Pictures will prove my courage!

Arriving at the final destination of our tour we had to take the calbe car in order to avoid climbing up again....Sitting in the calbe car one had a beautiful view over the whole gorge and the rapids which me mastered!

We were so tired after the trip that staying awake until midnight in order to celebrate Dominique's birthday did not really happen. We celebrated her the next day in the bus on our way back to Lusaka!

A couple of days left now until I pack my stuff and get back to Sweden! Final post reflecting upon my stay in Zambia follows up later this week!

So long....!

Joe
 

I am alive

It has been a while since I last updated you on my adventures in Zambia. That is due to two reasons. First, after my stay in Livingstone there has been very much a routine in my every day activities as well as in my work at the sites. Due to heavy rainfalls are we most of the time without internet at the office which prevents me from uploading pictures, and write reports frequently.

However, the last 2 weeks were not without some highlights to be mentioned

1)    One of the biggest changes that occurred in our house has probably been the installation of a DSTV box which now provides us with 196 TV channels and covers most sport events. Instead of spending many hours and much money at the bars around the corner, Marten and me are very much enjoying watching the games from our couch. Getting the dish on the roof, setting the cables as well as struggling with the impact of the weather was a fight to remember. Marten and I agreed: It was worth it.

2)    I booked another long weekend at the hostel in Livingstone in order to experience African wildlife once again this time with Marten and Dominique. We are going to do a one-day Safari trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana, see the Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwean side as well as enjoy the All-you-can-drink/eat feature at the sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. It is also some sort of finishing up my stay in Zambia since I will have only 4 days left in Lusaka before heading home to Sweden.

3)    In the middle of the night (22.00 – yes I was already asleep since I am working sooooooooo hard) I heard the familiar voice of Andy outside of the gate. It has been only a few weeks since he left, but it was good to see him again. And I think it was very much satisfying to come back to the place he used to live.

4)    Talking about Sasha….this dog/puppy drives me crazy. She is all over the laundry, eats my socks, attempts to eat my Flip-Flops and is hungry all the time. Well I can sympathize with the last point since I do not like to be hungry neither. Anyway, I was just getting some supplies at the corner shop when she decided to jump into one of the garbage wholes of our neighbor’s house. Apparently the food she found there was more important than figuring out how to get out of the whole again. It took me 1 hour and help of 4 other people when I finally gave up and went home. Surprisingly, Marten needed only 2 minutes to say the magic words and to bring her home. I have to learn Dutch since it appears to me very similar to whatever language dogs are speaking.

5)    My work is just going great. I spend hours in the sun with amazing kids, have a great time with peer leaders, and coach handball and basketball teams in the afternoon. The last weeks have been some successful weeks as well. Both boys and girls played at a very high level during school games and finished 2nd and first place respectively. It was a bless to see the long hours of practice eventually work out.

6)    Last Monday Marten invited me to assist in one of his lessons at at school/facility that works with and takes care of children with physical and mental disabilities. This experience showed me once again the power of sports to bring joy into the lives of children as well as how to improve the
skills acquired through sports.

7)    Constant highlight is actually my stomach who decides to be upsetting me all the time. I don’t know what to eat or drink anymore and I started to get used to it instead. Marten has some sort of wonder pills that make my stomach shut up for a minute but I am looking forward to the time when I am back in familiar surroundings. I could give you further insights into the situation in my stomach but I assume that this is of least interest to you.

8)    We went to a couple of markets in town and close to our place. Markets here in Zambia are colorful, entail many different smells, offer the weirdest things to purchase and most often end with me and Marten leaving the market with empty hands. It is however an experience that gives insight into the traditional routines regarding food consumption and production though appears to me, and my stomach, to be an adventure to pass on.

9)     One thing, however, that I would not like to miss out on is the fruits in Zambia. It is such a difference in the quality of taste compared to what I get back home in Sweden. The most recent revelation was the eating of a pineapple which blew my mind. I am still thinking about how to get as many pineapples as possible to Sweden without causing a stir

Next updates coming soon! Have a great week!

Mulenga – Njonka (means “snake” my other nickname since my skin peels off at least once a month due to sunburns   )