A Packet of Nescafe

Today a packet of Nescafe, tomorrow black tea with milk so far that’s my week planned out. Living in the bush can be very exciting. Which flavour will it be today I ask myself, shall I live on the wild side and chose mint tea?

Back in my village again after a lovely Christmas vacation. My n’ganda is still standing, my cat is still alive; this is very important after I had a long telephone conversation half in Mambwe and half in English discussing whether my cat was dead or alive, and my garden is in full bloom. In addition I have added Cilantro, Peppers, Carrots and Split Peas.

I reflect back on vacation and am amazed we are still alive. Let me begin by explaining our adventure even before arriving to Livingstone. Meera and I hitched from Mbala to Kasama then waited four hours till our next hitch took us to Mpika. From there we picked up Sarita and caught another hitch to Capiri where we stopped for Shwarma and a Scotch Egg. Happy and satisfied with our greesy Scotch eggs, we caught another hitch which took us to Kabwe and then our final hitch of the day to Lusaka. Wheewe. After resting for a few days in Lusaka we caught our final hitch down to Livingstone which was the most intense ride thus far. We continually grabbed the “oh shit handles” in the car as we swerved all over the dirt road, like I said intense. Finally relieved, stressed and hungry we climbed out of our ride and arrived safely to our hostel in Livingstone.

The next few days we spent in Livingstone were booked full leaving us no time for rest. The following day after our arrival we began death defying act #2. White Water Rafting down the Zambezi River which is ranked number 3 out of the Top Ten Rivers in the World (or so the internet tells us). This adventure included the feeling of drowning, being flipped three times and saved by Steve, our wonderful rafting guide, and swimming with “vegetarian” crocodiles. Thanks rafting guide for mentioning the crocodiles after the completion of our trip. However in the end, rafting was the best part of our vacation and we made it out alive…Highly recommended by the way!

On Christmas our journey continued and off we went to Botswana for a 2 day 1 night Safari at Chobe National Park. We drank tea and coffee while boating down the river full of Hippos, Elephants, Water Buffalo and Crocs. We drove around and saw Zebras, Elephants, Hyenas, Wild Dogs, apparently these are rare, and much more. Our posh tents were equipped with soft plush bedding and rain jackets due to the torrential down pours we experienced at camp. All was calm and relaxing till the next day back on the boat again and death defying act #3 happened. Our boat silently pulls up to a group of Elephants playing in the water when one starts to meander over to our boat. We all sit there silently when the elephant starts to become irritated stomping around and then charges our boat however then decides it’s had enough of us and turns around and leaves. Talk about scary we almost peed ourselves, not really…

Fortunately for us we make it back alive and the following day we leave back up north. Our first hitch takes us as far as Kabwe again where we stop for a latte and delicious muffins. At this point of our journey we are loving life and all seems swell. We continue to hitch and surprisingly find someone going all the way to Kasama, the exact place we want to go. Unfortunately for us, our ride did not mention there was to be a stop in between and hours later proceeds to drop us off in the middle of nowhere with no expectations of picking us up again. We attempted to hitch down what little traffic we did encounter but to no avail, no luck. An hour later as the sun is setting, our ride appeared and picked us up to continue our 8 hour journey to Kasama. In the distance we could see the beginning of the 100K stretch of bad pot holed road and the sun setting behind the mountains, all we could do was pray. We were swerving all over the road to miss the pot holes but somehow would plow right through them. A saying someone once told me the driver says “ If you break before hitting the pot hole all the vehicles weight will go into the tires causing damage to your vehicle. If you continue to drive fast through the pot hole, it’s better for you and your car”. This little stunt became death defying act #4, and whoever told our driver this little factoid needs to stop and check out their vehicle and bodies after going through the potholes.

In the end we all made it to our respected sites in one piece and with no regrets. Vacation was amazing, we met a lot of really great people, tried a variety of different adventures and best of all ate amazing food.

Katie

*If this adventurous vacation has sparked your interest, stay tuned till next month, February, when we set sail to Zanzibar, Tanzania.