Seabus commute (Dec. 17/08 - Stone Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania)

Normally, the Seabus we're used to at home is a 12 minute commuter ride between North Vancouver and downtown. Today's Seabus took us across the channel to the island of Zanzibar, which lies about 40km offshore from Dar Es Salaam. Luckily, the boat was an air conditioned catamaran, but the big rollers coming in from the Indian Ocean still made for a bit of a queasy ride. The 2 1/2 hour crossing was effortless thanks to the magic of Gravol, and soon we were walking up the dock into Stone Town. Established in the 18th century by the Portuguese, the old part of town is basically a maze of narrow alleyways bustling with people and scooters and lined with hundreds of shops selling eveything from fabric and wood carvings to spices and paintings. It reminded me of a cross between the markets in Cairo and the locale of San Juan, Puerto Rico. As expected, most of the storekeepers tried to persuade us to 'look for free' in their shops, and sometimes the offer was too tempting to resist. At one point, when feeling a little lost, we stopped the only other person we could see to ask if he knew where we were. Turns out he's from Kansas and has owned a hotel here for 19 years!

We wandered for hours and ended up buying some canvas paintings, a beautiful carved wooden giraffe (small enough to ship home), some spiced soap, and some sarongs. Ken even picked out some funky African patterened cloth to wear as a sarong. He claims he's man enough to pull it off! And he was - it was worn out this evening when we went out for dinner, and other than the goofy shuffle his walk was restricted to, he actually pulled it off.

For dinner, we treated ourselves to an evening at the Africa House Hotel, which is a beautiful old hotel that was once home to the Sultan of Zanzibar. From the rooftop patio, we watched the dhow sailboats cruise across the water at dusk while we ate fresh seafood and Kilimanjaro beer. There is a lot more of Stone Town that we haven't seen yet, but after we leave tomorrow morning for an island tour and then two days on the beach at the north end of the island, we will be back here again for one more night. For now though, we will enjoy the luxury of a real bed and a fan to keep the heat down, and the freedom of not having to check for lions before getting up at night to pee!

To the sea (Dec. 16/08 - Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania)

It occurred to me as we hauled our butts out of bed at 3:30am that since we crossed into a new time zone yesterday, it was actually only 2:30am as far as our brains were concerned. Damn, that's early! It didn't help that the road was so rough that it was impossible to sleep, and every few minutes I would get bounced fully out of my seat and crash into the aisle. Eventually I just gave up and watched the sun rise a bright orange over the surprisingly high mountains ahead of us. The road snaked its way down between them, and we saw our first flat-topped acacia trees - the ones that are stereotypically associated with Africa. With the hills behind us, we carried on and soon came to the entrance to Mikumi National Park, which is the northern tip of the Selous Game Reserve - the largest in Africa. So we went into animal spotting mode and were soon seeing giraffes, warthogs, buffalo, elephants, and impala beside the road. About 50km later, we were out of the park and driving through the town of Morogoro, which interestingly enough was the home town of a guy I worked with a year ago. Field after field of sisal plants spanned both sides of the road on the other side of town. This is a giant pineapple-like bush whose leaves are used to make coarse brown rope. We were treated to a local lunch at a roadside spot in Chalinze, which pretty much marked the start of traffic headed to Dar Es Salaam. Even though we were staying just outside of town, we had to drive right into the heart of the city to pick up ferry tickets for tomorrow's trip over to Zanzibar. The city looked pretty much like any other large African city - loud, crazy traffic, people selling fruit and peanuts and shoes on the street. Being a major port city, the downtown area is right on the harbour, which reeks of rotting fish coming from the beachside fish market. Raymond learned of a new ferry service that takes you across the long, narrow harbour to avoid the nasty 45km drive that we were facing otherwise. It took a couple wrong turns to find the ferry line-up, including a wrong turn into a huge gated mansion that turned out to be the president of Tanzania's house! We found it odd that the guards didn't hesitate to open the gates for a big safari truck just needing to do a U-turn!

The campsite was on the ocean, just a few kilometres from the ferry landing on the south side. With outdoor showers, a nice pool, a beach, and some very friendly resident pooches, it was a great place to stay. The security guards were Maasai men who walked around dressed in their traditional red garments, with the characteristic hairdo and of course the scary stick. We actually noticed a few of these guys wandering around some of the towns we passed through today wearing their traditional clothes. We also notice dthat the people were generally taller and with more slender faces, some wearing turbins or burkahs, and usually carrying their babies on their fronts instead of on their backs. Something like 40% of Tanzania is Muslim, so the abundance of mosques noted today also makes sense.

Tomorrow will undoubtedly be a wonderful day, as we get to sleep in and then make our way across for four days of exploring Zanzibar and its many beaches, markets, and spice plantations. Sounds like paradise!

Into Tanzania (Dec. 15/08 - Iringa, Tanzania)

Today we broke two records: earliest wake-up call yet (3:30am!) and longest drive yet (600km!). It was a long day. Luckily, everyone is so proficient at packing up camp that we were pulling out right on time at 4:30am. The sun came up slowly over the Mozambique mountains to the east as we drove north in the dark - but I only noticed the sunrise briefly, jostled awake by a bump, as we were all asleep. The Tanzania border crossing wasn't even officially open yet when we got there at 6:30am, so it was a bit of a process to get all the forms filled out in the dark. And just when we thought we were almost ready to go, our system failed us. Normally, we have one person stay on the truck to guard our stuff while everyone else goes in to clear customs. When the first person is through, they go back to the truck to let that other person go. Well today Shawn offered to stay in the truck, and presumably he sat ther and watched 13 of us file into the very obvious looking building to clear customs on the Malawi side. He definitely saw us come out, as I was the first one out and saw him watching us leave the building and walk toward the truck. When I got on, he left. The other 12 people eventually finished and came back to the truck. Five minutes passed until someone ased where Shawn was. So someone went backto see what what taking so long, but he wasn't there. They check the washroom too - not there either. There was nowhere else to go! A few more people joined in the search but came back empty handed. The only possibility was that he walked up to the giant gate at the border guarded by armed soldiers, somehow got them to let him through, walk across the bridge, and go into the Tanzanian immigration building on the other side. Suprise surprise, that's exactly what he did. We were dumbfounded (pun intended). Of course now he is told that he actually skipped the Malawi border, as he didn't get an exit stamp. So he had to walk back over the bridge and through the gate to re-exit Malawi. He's lucky, because that could have been a serious mistake to some grumpy official with a big gun. Anyway, we eventually made it into Tanzania, officially. All of us!

The landscape was beautiful - lush green hills dotted with homes and woven into a patchwork of maize and cassava fields, with the larger flat fields housing crops of tea plants and even stands of eucalyptus trees and rubber trees. Now and then, you could see buckets hung from the latter, gathering the syrup that is used to make rubber. Banana plantations were everywhere too, and in the towns you would see mountains of green bananas piled up for sale. Hours later, we pulled over at a viewpoint down onto the town of Mbeya, where we made a quick stop to get money and for Francis to buy some fresh mangoes, bananas, and papayas. We continued northeast, and soon we were out of the highlands and onto lower rolling land that grew more eucalyptus, maize, and cassava. Also of not was the "Florida Beach Grocery Store" in one tiny town and a painted mural of Mr. Bean on the side of a house in another.

Late afternoon, we pulled into Kizolonza Farm House, a lovely quiet campsite south of the town Iringa. The air was surprisingly cool due to the moderate elevation (1700m), and the place was fabulous - nice warm, clean showers and a thatched gazebo hut that housed a bar suited perfectly to Indiana Jones. As a treat, Francis had arranged for us to sample the local fare (again!) in the restaurant. It was so good - even though we think she just didn't want to cook! The original mud brick walls of the farm owner's house had been topped with a high thatched room and decorated with long wooden tables draped with colourful African linens. We were treated to carrot and cardamom soup, spicy meatballs, sauteed spinach, bean stew, and ugali - the African staple - maizemeal cooked to the consistency of mashed potatoes. It was a wonderful taste of Tanzania and just what we needed to cushion the blow of Raymond's announcement - we were leaving at 4:30am again tomorrow morning! Ugh!

Malawi traffic jam (Dec. 14/08 - Chitimba, Malawi

Our "short" drive up the lake to Chitimba today turned into a seven hour ordeal when we whipped around a corner on the winding paved road through the lush hills to see a hill full of trucks spun out and jack-knifed all over the place. Somehow, the paved road was coated with a thick layer of red mud, and it had claimed at least half a dozen victims. A transport truck was spun out at the top, and it pretty much blocked everyone from even trying to pass around him. A couple vans full of people gave it a try and ended up in the ditch. Eventually, a grader appeared from the top of the hill and managed to scrape some of the mud off the road and straighten out the jack-knifed semi. I guess it couldn't tow it to the top though, as it left it stranded half way up the hill, but at least with enough room for vehicles to pass. About two hours went by before a path was clear enough to attempt the hill. Raymond gunned it and we crossed our fingers as the tires spun beneath us and had us crawling up the hill at walking speed. One slip to the side and we would have been sideways in the ditch. But we made it, and there were applause and cheering as we felt the tires grip the dry pavement at the top of the hill. Phew. That could've been nasty.

We stopped at a vista looking down onto Lake Malawi for lunch and then climbed down to the village of Chitimba to camp for the night. We had just enough time for a swim in the lake, and Elephant beer at the bar, and a quick check of our email to confirm our travel plans for the next chunk of our trip. Because of the violence and ongoing danger in India, we have decided to save India for later and instead spend the extra time in southeast Asia. So we will fly to Singapore via Abu Dhabi and explore for a few days before hopping over to Borneo, or such is the plan for now at least!

Swimming with horses and cars (Dec. 13/08 - Kande Beach, Malawi)

The village of 'Mbamba' is located right beside our campsite here at Kande Beach, and this morning we were given the chance to walk through the village with its residents and get a taste for life in rural Malawi. We were met at the gate by a 20-something guy named Nick, plus about 17 of his closest friends. We walked in the morning downpour through the maize and cassava gardens, down sandy roads to where some modest mud and brick houses stood. Little kids peeked out from their houses, curious about the visitors, and eventually started to join us, grabbing at our hands eagerly. The town of about 4000 people is served by two water wells, which were donated by our good old Canadian government. Kids came out by the dozen as the rain let up, and they all wanted to hold our hands as we walked. I think I had two on one arm and three on the other at one point! They took us to the primary school, which educates some 1300 children from this and surrounding villages, with classes of between 103 and 164 students per teacher. Wow. But the headmaster said that kids attend on their own will since the government pays for a child's primary education (to grade 8), and this school has some of the best success rates in the country in terms of high grades and university attendance. For such a poor country, this was very encouraging news. The headmaster told us how much the school depends on outside funding, as parents often can't afford school supplies, let alone the school feel if a kid makes it to secondary school. We gave them what we could and took the school's address so we can make an effort to do more when we get home. We were also taken to the hospital, where kids clambered over us as we passed out stickers before we were shown the small but tidy maternity waarn, where the midwife was tending to a woman and her newborn baby, just hours old. This hospital serves the region's 20,000 people, and the nurse said they deliver about 20 to 60 babies each month. As we walked back, Nick and his friends told us about their lives, going to school, and how they loved Arnold Schwartzeneggar movies. We bought a coupe of paintings on our way back, pleased to see that these people are relatively happy despite the state of poverty they live in, but also overwhelmed at the same time. Either way, it was wonderful to meet some of the local people and to get a glimpse into their lives.

Before lunch, we decided to get wet finally and go for a dive in Lake Malawi. The little zodiac took us out to Kande Island, where we hopped out and were happy to discover that between the fresh water and the lack of a wetsuit, we actually didn't need a weight belt at all! The water was a balmy 82°F, and despite the 15 foot visibility, it was fun to cruise and check out the fresh water marine life. There are actually only three types of fish in Lake Malawi - minnows, catfish, and a broad type called chiclids, which come in hundreds of different colourful subspecies. We cruised around and found tons of them, some fresh water snails and crabs, and a few catfish - one up to about 2 feet long! Also notable was a 1970's era Volkswagen car that was randomly scuttled to the bottom of the lake. It was fun to get wet more than anything else, and to say we've done a fresh-water-high-altitude dive in Lake Malawi!

One of the other things we had heard about here that appealed to both of us was to go horseback riding. The two of us and Charlotte were paired up with some beautifully kept horses at the local ranch - Ken on a big leggy dapple grey mare named Clover, and me on a spunky bay gelding named Free Passage. We rode through the leafy forest, through maize and cassava fields scattered across the countryside and tended to by women and children who popped out of the bushes as we trotted by. We were able to get in a nice long gallop stretch across a field, jump a few logs on the trail, and eventually we came out onto the beach just south of our camp. We ditched the saddles and helmets and then piled back on for a bareback swim in the lake. It was wonderful - in the water up to the horses' backs, they grunted with pleasure as the water cooled them off after the hot and sweaty ride. We managed to attract quite a crowd as we splashed around and then let the horses get down and roll in the sand after.

Instead of our usual camp dinner, we were invited back to the village for a taste of the local fare and a little entertainment afterwards. We were seated on bamboo mats, and the women brought out huge pots of rice, sweet potato soup, beef stew, red beans, and sauteed cassava leaves - which they called spinach. It was delicious! We barely made a dent in the pots though, and soon they had taken away the food and brought out the bongo drums and about 25 adorable little kids who started singing some infectious local music. They sang and danced, and a bunch of the little kids would get out in front and shake their thang so hard that I thought they might lose it! Some of the moves the four year olds were doing would be right at home at a club in downtown Vancouver! It was totally entertaining - and soon they were pulling us up to dance with them. They wanted us to sing something in English, so we did a couple bongo drum assisted versions of Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman before saying goodbye. It was a wonderful evening - the stuff fond memories are made of.

Ahhhh... the beach! (Dec. 12/08 - Kande Beach, Malawi)

Lake Malawi is one of Africa's largest lakes, stretching roughly 300km north-south and about 60km wide. It acts as the eastern Malawi border with Mozambique, and is so large that you can rarely see the other side. It even develops its own currents and sometimes large enough waves to surf! And it would be our haven for the next three days. We drove north from Lilongwe and then east until the lake stretched out before us. Mozambique's mountains were visible on the far side. Kande Beach is about two thirds of the way up the lake, and when we got there, we thought it easily could have been a beach in Hawaii or the Caribbean! White sand beach, clear calm water, beachside bar, hammocks, and lots of watersports equipment for rent. They even have their own PADI dive shop! A little rocky island lies about a kilometer offshore, which is apparently home to tons of fish that are unique to this lake. We'll be checking that out tomorrow for sure!

After lunch was done and camp was set up under the mango trees, the next order of business was a swim. The water was perfect - clean, clear, safe, calm, and about 85°F! This might be the best campsite ever! The bar has half litre bottles of the local Malawi beer, called Kuche Kuche, for 150 Kwacha - or just barely a dollar!

Raymond cooked steaks and roasted garlic potatoes over the campfire; the perfect end to another amazing day in Africa. They just keep on getting better and better... even when you're woken up repeatedly throughout the night by mangoes falling like cannon balls on your tent!

Crossing into Malawi (Dec. 11/08 - Lilongwe, Malawi)

Our notable lack of giraffe sightings in South Luangwa National Park was fulfilled as we pulled out of camp this morning, as 14 of them were hanging out near the campsite entrance. It was almost like a final trophy telling us it was ok to leave - we have seen virtually everything at this park! The long bumpy drive back to civilization seemed just as long as on the way in, though we were relieved to not get stuck in any of the lakes on the road that resulted from the other night's downpour. We did manage to rip off half the rear bumper though, easing down into an especially deep, mud-filled pothole - and it was the half that wasn't bent on the way in! Oops. Add a little welding job to Raymond's to do list! We were headed back through Chipata to the Malawi border, which turned out to be the fastest and least busy border crossing yet! Another stamp in the passport, and we were on our way, eastbound for Lilongwe - Malawi's capital.

So far, everything about Malawi seems to be about the same as Zambia was. Green treed countryside, little towns where every other store bears the neon pink and blue cell phone company's logo. Goats on the road, people on bikes, kids selling mangoes one at a time. The exchange rate is certainly different than Zambia's currency though - one US dollar will buy you about 160 Malawi kwacha (as opposed to over 4300 Zambian kwacha!). When we drove into a Lilongwe grocery store for errands in town, guys with armloads of necklaces, carvings, paintings, etc. swarmed the truck, shouting up at our windows before we had even stopped! We prepared for battle and walked out of the truck, having to step around the eight people crowded around the steps just to get down. Apparently they were on their best behaviour though, as there was a security guard standing behind them with the meanest looking bull mastif on a leash, ready to kick some hawker ass. A few people checked out the impromptu crafts market lining a nearby street, but they said that the hassles were so incessant that the salespeople were more high pressure than any car salesman. I hope that we find Malawi's famed warmth and hospitality when we leave the city, because it's definitely not like that here!

A drive on the wild side (Dec. 10/08 - Flatdogs Camp, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia)

Despite the torrential rains that soaked the camp all night, we were still awoken several times by the sound of hippos and buffalo nearby, and the grunts of a buffalo walking close behind our tent in the middle of the night. This morning, a few people reported hearing a lion roaring as well. The rain conveniently let up as we set out in open 4x4 safari trucks for a four hour morning game drive. As we entered the park and started down one of the main red dirt roads into the bush, almost right away we spotted a pride of eight lions lying in the grass about 200 feet from the road. The lone male was busy gnawing on the carcass of some unlucky animal, and we could clearly hear his teeth crunching on the bones. Three females lay around him, watching him stuff his face while they waited their turn even though they were the ones that made the kill! Talk about taking women's rights back 60 years. Four adolescent cubs rolled around in the grass too, getting up to drink once in a while. Talk about setting our drive off to a good start!

This park is very different from Etosha, as the trees are large and some areas have thick underbrush or patches of swamp. There are big open fields too and riverbanks skirting the wide and muddy Luangwa River, which teemed with hippos. Next, we came across a herd of about 20 elephants munching on grasses in a marsh, then a hippo almost invisible under a cloak of lily pads in a pond. We saw tons of birds, a bunch of warthogs, hundreds of baboons and girvet monkeys, impala, puku, and waterbuck (which have the characteristic white "toilet seat" ring on their bums). Cape buffalo, Crayshall's zebras (endemic to Zambia), mating geese, crocodiles lounging on the river bank, and even a rare pack of wild dogs. Even our guide was thrilled to see the dogs, as they aren't seen very often. But they didn't seem to care, just lying in the grass as we watched.

At one point, we came around the corner to see another safari truck parked RIGHT beside a huge bull elephant. They probably could've touched it, they were so close. But it was odd that everyone in the truck was looking the other direction! Turns out that on the other side of the road was a big clearing, where a virtual circus was running around - 30 elephants, 6 buffalo, zebras, impala, and baboons. All in the same place! It was unbelievable. There were a couple baby elephants that were so tiny that they barely looked like elephants, and so wobbly on their feet that the guide guessed that they were only a few days old. We pulled closer and soon found ourselves within 10 feet of the big bull elephant - almost uncomfortably close, as I'm sure he could flip our truck in no time flat. Some of us were having flashbacks to our elephant experience at Twyfelfontein! Luckily, most of the animals here are used to having vehicles close by, so we were able to enjoy such a close encounter for a few minutes before giving him some space. We drove for a full four hours, driving into seldom-visited spots where we came close to getting the truck stuck in hippo ditches several times! It was quite the ride, and on the way out we even found a tree full of scared monkeys who were screeching the way they apparently do when a leopard is close by.

Back at camp, we swapped stories about who saw what and then fended off the baboons while trying to make lunch. One even went into the building where Francis was cooking (while she was inside), stole a loaf of bread, and ran away! So cheeky.

This park is one of the few in all of Africa that does night game drives, and we were lucky enough to have one arranged for 4-8pm. The daylight lasted until 6:30pm, so we had tons of time to drive around and find elephants, zebras, warthogs with babies, and tons of the creatures we saw earlier in the day. But the highlight came when we received a short radio transmission from another truck, which is usually news of a special sighting. Suddenly, we swerved off the road and found the other truck full of the rest of our group, staring intently at something ahead of them. A couple gave us a big thumbs up sign and then we saw it - a leopard! She was beautiful - bold spotted coat and upturned tail. We actually caught her in the middle of the call of nature, but then she got up and walked out in the open before getting down to roll and then head for the bush. Both our trucks followed her, and quickly we spotted her passing through the underbrush and then disappearing into brush that our trucks couldn't penetrate. We saw a leopard! So rare, but our luck held out. High fives were exchanged when we realized that we had now seen the Big Five. Believe it or not, our luck continued - after a snack stop to watch the sun set behind the river bank, out came the spotlight and the night drive began. The guide panned the light in arcs across the bushes as they whizzed by, searching for the reflective glow of animal eyes. Impala and puku stoof out like a crowd of glowing balls, and elephants and hippos came as a sudden surprise since they are both without eye-shine. We saw a genet, two baby crocodiles, and a couple very close-range hippos before the light picked up four figures moving across a clearing in the distance. Lions! Lionesses to be precise, out hunting. They were quite far away, so we turned around and raced to the far side of the field. On the way, we passed a large male lion lying in the grass, presumable the same one we saw earlier since we were in the same area. Then, off to the right, one of the lionesses was spotted about 50 feet ahead of us on our right, heading straight for our path. With perfect timing, the truck came to a stop just as she reached the road, not ten feet away from her. And then he shut off the engine! Talk about feeling vulnerable! Sitting in an open air vehicle with no sides, ten feet away from a lion whose hunt we just interrupted - in the dark! She stopped, looked at us briefly, and then carried on in front of us, scanning the darkness for prey. You could tell by the perk of her ears and the low stance of her head that she was on the prowl. It was another incredible close encounter with one of Africa's best. And with perfect timing too, as we had exactly three minutes to make it back to the park gates before they closed. It was a day that won't soon be forgotten - lions, leopards, elephants - what else could a person want on a safari?!

Through rural Zambia (Dec. 9/08 - Flatdogs Camp, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia)

We had one more long day of driving ahead of us until we would be rewarded with two days at what is said to be one of Africa’s best National Parks. South Luangwa National Park is located in eastern Zambia on the Luangwa River and is one of several areas of pristine wilderness that has been untouched by mining and agriculture. The guidebook Iread stated that this was the best place on the continent to see leopards, with roughly one leopard for every 200m of river length. And by the way, leopard is the only animal of the "big five" (elephant, lion, buffalo, rhino, leopard) that was haven’t seen yet - fingers crossed!

The morning’s drive was fast and scenic as we sped along a good paved road past more rolling green land and more thatched hut villages. It was fun to gaze out the window and watch rural Zambians in their daily routines - carrying water home from the river in a bucket on their heads, planting maize in the fields, playing with their kids in the dirt around the houses, and hanging colorful laundry on the line outside. Almost everyone looked up at the sound of our noisy truck and waved, even if they were way back from the road.

After passing a number of tiny little towns in the last few days, we’ve noticed that every town has at least the following amenities:
- a big post office
- an investment broker
- a tire repair shop
- multiple schools, normally primary schools
- a butcher
- some sort of liquor store

But the funny thing is that each building is a tiny little concrete or thatched building about the size of our kitchen, often standing all by themselves in the middle of nowhere - especially the investment brokers’ offices for some reason.

Eventually, we came to the large town of Chipata, where we bought water and food before heading for the boonies. Beyond Chipata, the road was horrible. Dirt with big ruts and washboard that had us jostling around so much that Francis had to keep asking over the intercom if we still had all our teeth intact. That was just the first 30km - after that, it got even worse. Mud puddles big enough to swallow our truck and potholes so big that Raymond had to pretty much stop at each one. At 15km/hr, it was a slow go. People lived all along the road though, and again they all waved as we bounced past. Sometimes the kids would bee us coming and run full speed toward the road, yelling and waving and sometimes holding out their hands for a handout.

Half the people in the truck resorted to standing in the aisle to ride out the crazy bumps, and some people dug out the sleeping mats to sit on to cushion the blow. It was so rough that you couldn’t even drink water out of a water bottle without losing a tooth and/or dumping it all over yourself! To make the most of it, we cranked some bouncy music and just enjoyed the view. Finally, we were back on pavement at the Mfuwe airport, and it was smooth sailing to the Flatdogs Campsite within the park. (latdog means crocodile, by the way!) Within moments of turning into the campsite, we spotted an elephant grazing, a giraffe right beside the road, and a buffalo lying in a mud puddle. I that was any indication, we were in for some fabulous animal encounters!

The camp site is unfenced and adjacent to the Luangwa River, which we were told to steer clear of because of the abundant hippo and crocodile population. And they weren’t kidding - about the hippos anyway - we could hear several of them voicing their deep-bellied laugh as soon as we got out of the truck. Apparently it is a daily occurrence to have elephants, hippos, and baboons walking amongst the tents, so they told us to space out the tents enough to let the animals walk inbetween! There are also strict procedures regarding walking around at night - they even have trained guides stationed around the camp to escort you to and from the washroom at night. They carry a big powerful flashlight and an amusingly small stick (and they know how to use it!).

We cooled off in the gorgeous pool overlooking the river, and as we played an energetic game of water volleyball, two elephants and seven hippos were spotted by the river. This is the real African wilderness! Oh, and as we were setting up our tents we spotted a buffalo grazing about 200 feet away. Awesome!

Hippos for breakfast (Dec. 8/08 - Luangwa River, Zambia)

After a hot, restless sleep thanks to the noisy peacocks outside, we woke to a pair of hippos lounging in the water out front as we ate our breakfast. It was another long day of driving, as we traveled back up over the hills to the main highway, headed for Lusaka. We stopped at a shopping mall that could have been anywhere in the US so Francis could get some groceries and the rest of us could run necessary errands.

For the most part, the road was flat and straight, as we drove past countless tiny villages of thatched houses and roadside markets. We pulled over for lunch in the shade of a big tree, and after we finished, Ben and Kendra loaded all the leftover potato salad and bananas into a bowl and took it over to the crew of road workers who had been eyeing the big spread of food from a distance. It probably made their week!

At the end of the day, we pulled into a rough dirt road that skirted the Luangwa River. A few kilometres later, we came to a bush camp in the middle of nowhere only a few kilometres from the Mozambique border, which would be home sweet home for the night. It even had a nice bar and pool with a view of the river, and the local kids ran along the road hoping to play with all of us white people. As I was walking back to our tent, I heard a "pssst!" coming from the rock wall to my right, and I turned to see an adorable little kid motioning for me to come over. He said hello and then asked very politely if I had a pen I could give him. Turns out that kids ask for pens long before they ask for money or candy or anything else! Of course I could spare a pen, so I ran back to the tent and found a pen and a sheet of stickers from my stash that I had been saving for these encounters with local kids. I had to show him how to turn on the pen, and he was clueless about the stickers, so I peeled one off and stuck it on his hand, and another of the shiny yellow happy faces on his cheek. He was thrilled, said thank you in English, and disappeared again behind the wall. Half an hour later when some of our group came back from town, they were having a hard time figuring out what all the reflective yellow things were that all the kids were running around with on their foreheads. Too cute!