Safari pictures

Side view of a Waterbuck


Warthog face off


Our walking Safari group... note the Zebras to the right!


The beautiful scenery around the park

Isaac comes to visit and we go see animals

Hooray! Isaac made it to Zambia... there were some tense moments when his flights were delayed, but we are over-joyed that he made it safe and sound (his bags even made it). As soon as he arrived we got him moving, we played volleyball with the Zambian students at Mapepe Bible College (where we were staying). We wanted to keep him awake to try and get him on a new-normal sleeping schedule. We didn't let him rest much though, the next day we took a bus to Chipata (Eastern Province). We were on the Marks Motors 8:00am bus which didn't fill up which turning into the 10:00am bus which turned into us leaving Lusaka at 11:45am. ugh. To make up time we went super fast around tight curves making us a bit motion sick and they played WWF films which also made me want to gag. It was 8:00pm by the time we arrived in Chipata so we decide to spend the night there and take a taxi to Mfuwe the next morning.

We arrived at Flat Dogs and set up our tent in a tree plat form. That night we took a game drive and saw all sorts of animals: lions, leopard, giraffe, zebra, elephants, hyena. It was amazing... lions less than 10 feet away and a hippo loudly munching on grass under our tent that night! That gets ones heart racing. The next morning we took another game drive and saw more beautiful creatures: water bucks, impala, puku, monkeys, baboons, hippos and more. We decided to take that night off, relax and get to bed early. The next morning we went on a walking safari and learned a lot about the habits of various anmials (Impala make a public toilet) and looked at their poo (you need to keep your distance from the animals when you are on foot). We also learned about the different plants of the area and their medicinal uses. In the night we went out on a drive again and were trumpeted at by an elephant! We also so a mother kudu with her child, an old male buffalo, a honey badger and a fishing owl and all kinds of birds. We also got a flat tire and had to get out in the dark while the guides changed it... just a tad unnerving. The wealth of wildlife is awesome! We also decide to eat out at the camp restaurant that night with some English girls and a German guy that we befriended. We also met a really nice and friendly retired couple form Austin, TX. It was nice to have some meat in our diet.

We then made a marathon bus ride (nearly 24 hours) from Chipata to Lusaka to Mansa this time with Juldan Motors (which was much better). Except on the way from Lusaka to Mansa we had to stop at a weigh station and we were WAY over weight (people packs lots of goods from the capital to take north). So they had almost all of the passengers get out (John and I left and Isaac remained). The bus then went through the weigh station again and then came and picked up the passengers again. I am not really sure why they even use a weigh station. I guess if it is alright "on paper" then its alright...

Now we are settling back into Mansa life and our routine here, though we are a bit tired today. I am going to try and post some more pictures for our adventures.

Field Day

Some Fridays ago (May 15th) we had a field day for farmers in the Mansa area at the ZARI research station. The theme was "Challenges of Change" the participants learned about the projects we have going on here regarding cassava, sweet potatoes, finger millet and sorghum. I was able to present some of our findings regarding the weed research that we have begun here. It was a really good time of exchange and the farmers had lots of great questions. Many farmers were interested in using herbicides because labor is expensive (in some cases about twice as expensive as the chemical options). We still have to take the trials to yield though.

John was a big help, since the field day was a bit disorganized (no one has their own transport so the research station vehicles were driving around picking people up) groups had started the tour before other arrived. Thus there was a lag time when no one was at "my station" and then at the end they were coming rapid-fire. So, John would start the group off by giving an introduction and then he would pass that group on to me for the technical part/questions & answer time and then he would start the next group. It worked out well. John was also able to be a photographer for me too.

I was really excited about being a part of the field day and interacting with the local farmers. I wasn't sure if this was actually going to happen and was happy that it all came together. I think it makes the work I am doing here much more worthwhile.

A bunch of Beach Bums

So you might be starting to think that John and I are a bunch of beach bums... always spending our time at the beautiful lake shores of Zambia (honestly we do work). This weekend we were at the beach again, this time Samfya beach. We went with a group of about 30 youths from church.

The pictures are of the bible study lesson on the beach and the other one is myself "helping" cook the chicken for lunch. I accidentally dropped a piece into the charcoal and we are retrieving it!

It was a good time of fellowship, singing (and dancing), playing games, and swimming in the water. Both John and I swam a bit, but I was sure to stay out of the sun this time. We saw a water monitor in the swimming area which made me a bit wary of getting in. People were shouting crocodile and snake, but it was neither of the two, just a rather large, swimming, lizard with claws. Usually water monitors try to steer clear of people.

On Sunday we went into town for worship services, in between services we met a friendly ex-(white)Zimbabwe farming couple. They are now working for a mining company that a fellow farming neighbor from Zimbabwe started here in Zambia. Its interesting... the ex-Zimbabwe(white) farmers are a close knit group and have quite a story to tell. Basically under Mugabe's "land redistribution" they were forced (at gun point) off their land (they had lawfully purchased the land) and were given 24 hours to get out or else be thrown in jail. These people are Zimbabwean citizen, born there. Basically they now have no country, and have been jumping around sub-Saharan Africa looking for work (they had put everything into their farm in Zimbabwe- and lost it all). Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of Southern Africa, is now struggling to survive... obviously things are not adding up with this "redistribution" idea. I just hope that South Africa and their recently elected leader, Mr. Zuma, do not follow the same path, running that country into the ground. I think race is still a big issue here in southern Africa. There is a lot of fear, mistrust and resentment between races. I am sure there have been wrongs perpetrated by both blacks and whites in the past, but my hope is that forgiveness can rule and in the future peaceful and harmonious communities will thrive.

A few more pictures of our fun at the lake

Here are a few more pictures of us on our trip. the first picture is of us at a small park with water falls that we stopped at on our way back home. We had a nice picnic lunch there and were able to stretch our legs (thankfully!). We hit one chicken on the way up to the lake and two on the way back home. It actually adds humor to the joke "why did the chicken cross the road"!

The second picture is of myself getting ready to snorkel!

The last picture is of John relaxing in a Hammock reading. The hammocks were one of our favorite places to stay. I also enjoyed petting the cats of the lodge, they have three and they are all called tika (tika one, tika two, and tika three)! They looked a lot like my old cat cookie monster, though they had all there eyes. They pretty much looked identical but are troopers to survive. You have to be a tough animal to make it in Zambia.

We borrowed two books from our Finnish friend, Mari, 1) Dead Aid and 2) A thousand splendid suns. I'd recommend both books if you are looking for something to read.

Enjoy!

Lake Tanganyika

This past weekend John and I visited the lake shores of Tanganyika. Wow! What a beautiful and relaxing place. John has been to Tanganyika before, doing research from the Tanzania side. This time we were simple there to enjoy ourselves! It is a LONG and BUMPY 8 hour drive from Mansa, about 540 km in total. We left at about 7:00am on Thursday morning and arrived in time to set up camp before dark. Its a good things the camp site had a little shelter, we set the tent up underneath of it because it looked like it might rain... and it did. The rain brought lots of wind, which was actually nice because it kept the tent cool (we had an old-school one person army canvas tent). In the night I kept hearing strange noises and at one point felt something touch me from the other side of the tent! I gave a little shout and woke up John to go check things out. Later, talking to the owners of the camp,we decided it must have been bush babies. I wasn't scared the next few night after hearing that! Bush babies are so cute with their large eyes!

We spent most of our time relaxing in hammocks and snorkeling. One day we went scuba diving- my first time ever! It was so neat to be breathing underwater! There were so many fish all brightly colored, it was like shrinking yourself down and putting yourself in an aquarium! Beautiful! This has been my favorite place in Zambia so far.

It was interesting talking to the couple that runs the lodge, the women is from Australia and the man is a native-white Zambian. His parents actually own the place, they ran the lodge for some years and then the government nationalized the place (basically confiscated it) and ran it into the ground. When the policies changed and the government decided to privatize it, his family re-bought the place and began fixing it up again. Its a real nice spot, remote and not over-run with tourist (we were the only people there), but they have a steady stream of business. It is also pretty close to the Congo boarder so when the war was going on, business suffered. They actually saw the Congo army/refugees flee across the lake and surrender their arms to the Zambian government. Things are calm now and business is improving. There is even talk of bring electricity out that way.

The pictures are of: one, a beautiful sunrise over the lake on Sunday morning. Two, a over view of the lake from the Zambian side looking out towards the villages. And three, our camp site.I think I will upload a few more pictures for you all to enjoy!