The United States government has labelled Zimbabwe as one of the world’s six outposts of tyranny and suggests not entering the country due to the current political and economic instability. Suggestion noted and ignored. I have no excuse for going into the heart of Zimbabwe, but that is the thing about going back to one’s roots, you don’t need an excuse.
It all started about a week ago. I haven’t been sleeping well due to the heat and increased insect activity at night. I kept having thoughts at night. I have come all of this way and am so close to where my family rebuilt their lives but haven’t gone to visit. I would be leaving in a few weeks and miss the opportunity to visit the place that my family called home for so long, Bulawayo.
I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to go back. It is true that the current economic and political situation does not make it ideal for an American to be travelling through the country. There wasn’t even much for me to see; my uncles that are left there spend most of their time in Cape Town, the old house got converted to a market long ago, and I don’t even want to know what condition the old farm is in. I did have one thing left in Bulawayo that I had never visited on my previous trips and this is what kept me up at night, drawing me to go and see my grandfather’s grave.
I had never met my grandfather, as he passed away many years before I was born. I had never gone with my father to the cemetery to visit on any of the trips that we made to Bulawayo when I was a child. I was alone in Africa now and it was my time to go. The only problem was time was running out and I wasn’t sure how to get down there. The bus does go down, but it is an eight hour bus ride that I wasn’t too keen on taking. I was lucky enough to run into my friend Nicole on Wednesday evening though. When I mentioned the fact that I wanted to go down to Bulawayo she told me that she was driving down the next day to pick up her brother from school and take him back up to Livingstone for Christmas with the family. She offered me a ride and I quickly accepted.
The next day I met up with Nicole in the morning and we headed off for the border and what would turn into quite an adventure. What is usually a quick stop to get a stamp turned into an hour of paying new taxes that the Zimbabwe government instated for motor vehicles. I’m not sure if these were actually required, but being one of the most corrupt places on earth right now everyone was looking for extra money at Christmas time. After sorting through all of the paperwork, getting the required stamps, and dealing with every single immigration officer asking for a "Christmas present," we were through the border and off for Bulawayo. It is a lovely drive down to Bulawayo through the rolling hills of bushveld. The drive is only marred by the fact that the locals don’t lock up their livestock and you have to watch out for cattle, donkeys and goats that tend to graze on the side of the road. It is normal to stop every now and then for some cattle crossing the road; it is unusual to have seven police road stops on the five hour drive down. We were in a country where the police are as corrupt as the government and at each one of the stops the officers were looking to make sure all of the taxes were paid and documents were in order. We had all of the proper paperwork, but the police still asked for a Christmas present. We gave them all a small tip so we could be on our way. Unfortunately the car in front of us wasn’t as lucky because they had an outdated radio permit… yes, you need a permit for the radio in your car. Thank Mr Mugabe for some of the most ridiculous taxes you have ever come across in his attempt to relieve the economic strife.
We finally made it to Bulawayo and made a plan for Nicole to drop me at the cemetery, go pick her brother up from school which was forty kilometres outside of town, and then return in about an hour to pick me up at the cemetery. Looking back on it now it wasn’t the best of plans, neither one of us had a phone or getting a hold of the other if something went wrong. I didn’t think too much about it though because I was on a mission to find my grandfather’s grave.
Nicole dropped me on the side of the road by the cemetery with the advice, "please don’t get mugged." This left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling. I started my trek around the cemetery trying to find the Jewish section. I decided to head north towards the train tracks. No luck, as all I could see were crosses rising from the ground. I then walked around the top of the cemetery to the other side. There I found different religious burial grounds, Bahai, Muslim, Buddhist, back to Christian; where was the Jewish section? I made it back to the South end and started walking back towards the road that I was dropped off at. My only thoughts were that I was at the wrong cemetery. Just before reaching the road I saw a building with a Star of David on top. I had finally found the Jewish section. It had taken me fifteen minutes to walk around the entire place almost completely back to where I started. I was now left to walk row after row through the Jewish section looking for my grandfather. Almost forty minutes later I found his grave. It was a beautiful polished marble grave that was in good condition. I introduced myself to my grandfather Heinz Goldschmidt. According to Jewish tradition you are supposed to leave a stone on top of the grave, I left three, one from me, one from my father and one from my grandmother. I was even able to find the grave of my great grandmother and many more of my family that I remember visiting as a child. It was my opportunity to say goodbye.
I had accomplished what I had wanted and was glad that I went. I headed back out to the road to wait for Nicole and head back up to Zambia. The plan was to meet her there at four o’clock at the bus stop on the main road. Four soon went by and then five. It looked like we wouldn’t make it back across the border that day because it was a five hour drive back and the border closed at ten. Not to worry, I have some friends in Vic Falls that we can stay with. Now I was only worried about where Nicole was and if she would get me before it was dark. It was almost six o’clock and I decided to walk towards town so that if Nicole didn’t show up I could at least find a place to stay for the night. I walked back to the turn off for Victoria Falls and decided to wait there for fifteen more minutes to see if Nicole would show up. Fourteen minutes later I finally saw Nicole’s car heading down the road. I hopped in and she apologized profusely for being late. Her brother’s bus didn’t arrive until five and she got completely lost in Bulawayo trying to remember where the cemetery was. No need to worry, I was with her and we could be on our way, but first we needed to find diesel to get back.
Finding petrol in Zimbabwe is quite a task due to the numerous sanctions in place. If one is able to find petrol, expect to wait in a long line at the station. We drove around Bulawayo for half an hour trying to find a station that had fuel. At last we found one, but they didn’t have diesel. They were able to tell us where we needed to go to find diesel though. After a short drive down the road, we found the station with diesel and without much of a line. Next problem, we didn’t have any Zim dollars. Not to worry, US dollars go very far in Zimbabwe. We filled up with the twenty five dollars I had left and finally were on our way back.
It was my turn to drive on the way back to Vic Falls. It was seven thirty now and what was such a nice drive on the way down, was sheer hell on the way back. The darkness in the bush at night is overwhelming with even the high beams not illuminating nearly enough of the road. It was the animals that we had to watch out for though, not only the farm animals, but now the active wildlife. Luckily we made it back without a problem and only had one near run in with a donkey. It was the hardest five hours of driving I have ever done in my life though.
We made it to Vic Falls at just before midnight. Now we had to find my friend Fritz so we could crash at his place; again, no phone but I knew where he would be. We headed to the local bar and I asked where Fritz was. They hadn’t seen him all night… not good. Last resort, we headed to the house where the managers of the lion project stay. On our way there though there was a complete blackout in Vic Falls. I found the house, but now had to find my way through the house in the middle of the night with no power to try and wake someone to see if we could crash there. I was able to feel my way to Greg’s room, knock on the door and ask him if we could crash there for the night. After a quick explanation, he let us crash there. I felt my way to the couch, lay down and was soon asleep. What a day, what an adventure.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
One in a million…
The rains have arrived and it has been pretty consistent that every afternoon we get quite a storm that comes through. Last weekend was no different, but still I wouldn’t let some rain ruin my day. Emma had convinced me that we should do the bungi jump off of Victoria Falls Bridge. This used to be the highest bungi in the world, but had recently been surpassed by two other bridges. Still, over one hundred meters to the rushing Zambezi below I’m sure would be quite a rush. We headed down to the bridge in the morning, with the storm clouds threatening as they closed in. We made it down to the bridge with no rain and all was go for the jump. I let Emma jump first. The guys that run the jump are pretty good. They talk to you the whole time and are really quick to get you set for the jump because the longer they take the longer you have to opt out of jumping. Emma was set to go and I stood there on the bridge watching as they counted down five, four, three, two, one, bungi. There was a short scream and then she fell silent as she dove down towards the river below. A few trips back up and then down again and it was over.
Now it was my turn. For some reason I wasn’t too scared. A lot of my friends that are here have done it. Their only advice was to jump as far out as you can and enjoy the ride. I nervously watched as the staff wrapped towels around my ankles and then slip knotted some industrial straps on top of the towels. Before I knew it, I was ready to jump. You have to hop towards the edge of the platform. A quick smile, or in my case look of fear, for the camera and then… five, four, three, two, one, bungi. I jumped out as far as I could. I soon found myself out of breath and unable to scream. I was just plummeting towards the river. The bungi soon caught and I slowed down only to be catapulted back up towards the bridge. Down, back up, down, back up, it was an amazing feeling, unlike anything else that I have ever done in my life. It was thrilling and exhillerating.
I was excited that I jumped, but the best was yet to come. Monday arrived and I was back teaching at school. It was much of the same, I was teaching long division to the boys all morning and then we would head to the football grounds to play in the afternoon. I picked up the boys for the game in the afternoon and headed to the grounds. It was Alex and I coaching them this day, but we decided to skip the drills and head straight for a match before the rains started again. Alex was refereeing so that I could play in the game. I decided that I would play offence and try and score a goal. About half way through the first half I had my opportunity. I got a pass from one of the boys which I took to the near side post and angled in past the goalie. It was a brilliant goal and I was excited to have scored. My excitement was short lived as Alex blew the whistle and called me off sides. There was no way I was off sides, so I chased after Alex and pleaded my case. Too bad, no goal. I was pissed off and decided I would go back on defence to calm down. A few minutes passed and my team was threatening again at the goal. The team lost control of the ball though and the other team cleared the ball high in the air. The ball was heading straight for me at about half field. I decided that I was going to just wail on the ball and see what happened. I expected the usual miss kick or complete lack of contact with the ball at all. Instead though, I made full contact with the ball and it went speeding towards the goal. It bended in, contacted the top side of the post, ricocheted off the post, the goalies hands and went in. The boys went crazy as I did the traditional taking off of the shirt and running around like crazy. They caught up with me and tackled me to the ground, all piling on top of me. It was a one in a million shot and I probably could never do it again, but luck was on my side and it was a brilliant shot and the highlight of my trip to Zambia. Yes, my scoring a goal against my teenage students was the best thing so far that I did on my trip because the boys finally accepted me and were proud to see my football skills had improved to their level. They had taught me as well.
Now it was my turn. For some reason I wasn’t too scared. A lot of my friends that are here have done it. Their only advice was to jump as far out as you can and enjoy the ride. I nervously watched as the staff wrapped towels around my ankles and then slip knotted some industrial straps on top of the towels. Before I knew it, I was ready to jump. You have to hop towards the edge of the platform. A quick smile, or in my case look of fear, for the camera and then… five, four, three, two, one, bungi. I jumped out as far as I could. I soon found myself out of breath and unable to scream. I was just plummeting towards the river. The bungi soon caught and I slowed down only to be catapulted back up towards the bridge. Down, back up, down, back up, it was an amazing feeling, unlike anything else that I have ever done in my life. It was thrilling and exhillerating.
I was excited that I jumped, but the best was yet to come. Monday arrived and I was back teaching at school. It was much of the same, I was teaching long division to the boys all morning and then we would head to the football grounds to play in the afternoon. I picked up the boys for the game in the afternoon and headed to the grounds. It was Alex and I coaching them this day, but we decided to skip the drills and head straight for a match before the rains started again. Alex was refereeing so that I could play in the game. I decided that I would play offence and try and score a goal. About half way through the first half I had my opportunity. I got a pass from one of the boys which I took to the near side post and angled in past the goalie. It was a brilliant goal and I was excited to have scored. My excitement was short lived as Alex blew the whistle and called me off sides. There was no way I was off sides, so I chased after Alex and pleaded my case. Too bad, no goal. I was pissed off and decided I would go back on defence to calm down. A few minutes passed and my team was threatening again at the goal. The team lost control of the ball though and the other team cleared the ball high in the air. The ball was heading straight for me at about half field. I decided that I was going to just wail on the ball and see what happened. I expected the usual miss kick or complete lack of contact with the ball at all. Instead though, I made full contact with the ball and it went speeding towards the goal. It bended in, contacted the top side of the post, ricocheted off the post, the goalies hands and went in. The boys went crazy as I did the traditional taking off of the shirt and running around like crazy. They caught up with me and tackled me to the ground, all piling on top of me. It was a one in a million shot and I probably could never do it again, but luck was on my side and it was a brilliant shot and the highlight of my trip to Zambia. Yes, my scoring a goal against my teenage students was the best thing so far that I did on my trip because the boys finally accepted me and were proud to see my football skills had improved to their level. They had taught me as well.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
These are a few of my favourite things…
The past two weekends I have been able to do those things that I remember and love most from coming to Africa as a child…
First was a visit to Victoria Falls or Mosi ou Tunya (the smoke that thunders). Saturday morning Emma and I headed down to the falls to spend the day exploring in the park. We arrived at the park and were greeted by all of the men at the curio market. This has to be my least favourite part of Africa is having all of these guys come up and talk to you like you are best friends so that you will buy something from them. I’ve gotten good at the phrase “zikomo sinifuna,” thank you I don’t want. It is really nice to be able to go and visit the national parks and get the local rates. Instead of paying $10 US, we get in for about 50 cents… it allows for a few more beers.
I had never been on the Zambian side of the Falls before. We started off by walking along the top of the gorge towards the bridge. We were able to watch someone do the bungee jump, and I even caught a steam train stopping on the bridge. Next, we walked to knife’s edge. There is a bridge that you have to cross to get across the gorge to get to this “island” across from the falls. It was nice seeing the falls from the Zambian side here but the water is still very low and there isn’t much water coming over on the Zambian side. We walked around and had a few great looks down the falls. The best part was that I convinced Emma that we should walk along the edge of the falls to Livingstone Island which is in the middle, about 1.5 km walk. We first headed down the gorge though down to the boiling pot. This was a fun walk as you go down about 300 meters to the river. It is quite a walk, especially when you have baboons stalking you. About two thirds of the way down you enter a rain forest and walk through small streams and thick plants. It is amazing down here, as it doesn’t seem like anywhere else in the area. We proceeded through the rainforest, along the stream to the boiling pot. Here along the edge of the river just below the falls there are massive boulders that the stream runs down leaving a bunch of small waterfalls and pools. We went for a swim here to cool off, it was over 100 degrees that day, and enjoyed a packed lunch here at the bottom. The hike back up proved even more exciting as we ran into an African tree snake on the way. I don’t think that they are poisonous but I’d rather not take a chance. Once back at the top of the falls we headed to the falls themselves to start our venture to Livingstone Island. It isn’t really suggested that you do this walk, and no muzungus really do it, but I thought it best that we give it a shot. It is a pretty hard walk and swim through the river and over small islands. The swims were the hardest as the water is moving pretty fast and the stones are extremely slippery. Good thing I had my four year old worn out flip flops on… no problem. The walk was amazing. It took us over an hour to make it out to Livingstone Island. Along the way we were able to catch some incredible views of the falls, especially when you stand on the edge and look down to the rocks a few hundred meters below, it gets the heart pumping. We had made it all the way to the island but once we got there, we were turned away by security guards so we weren’t able to go and visit Devil’s Armchair again. I was pretty upset that this island, which is a world heritage sight, can be controlled by one of the hotels so that people have to pay fifty dollars to take a boat there. Oh well, it was a good walk anyway. Going back was much easier, as we now knew which way we needed to go. By the time we got back we were extremely tired and dehydrated. We were able to sneak into the Sun Hotel to meet up with some people for drinks and a swim before heading to the Royal Livingstone for sundowners. It was the end to a perfect day.
The next weekend, I was afforded the opportunity to head down to Zimbabwe to Hwange National Park. This is the park that I loved going to as a kid. Since I was last there, twelve years ago, the park has been going through problems with drought and lack of money to keep the park running properly. I was a little worried about what I would find there but I wanted to go anyway. The drive down was amazing. It is a few hundred kilometres south of the falls through the rolling hills of Zimbabwe passing along many small villages along the way. Even though things haven’t been great in Zimbabwe things seemed the same as I remembered. We made it down to the camp that we would be staying at, just outside of the park near the main camp. The lodge was beautiful and we each got our own small hut to spend the night in. I had a quick dip in the pool to cool off before heading off to go to the Ivory Lodge for sundowners. It was getting pretty late though and out drive to the lodge soon turned into a night drive. We came across a few elephants crossing the road. The highlight though was running into a pack of wild dogs. This is one of the hardest animals to spot in Africa because they are endangered and there are less than two thousand left on the entire continent. The pack consisted of ten dogs and they seemed to enjoy playing in front of the truck. It was exciting to see the dogs running around the truck playing with each other, a rare treat. We made it to the lodge and were greeted by Kelly, the woman that ran the camp. She was incredibly nice and invited us all in to have some drinks and watch the animals at the water hole. I decided to skip the drinks and head directly to the waterhole overlook. I’m glad that I did as I was greeted by an elephant having a drink by the water. After everyone else showed up, I quickly ran up to the bar to have a Zambezi Lager and a quick chat with Kelly. I then headed down to the overlook. Soon another elephant came along to have a drink. Luckily I figured out how to do the long exposure shots on my camera and caught some nice pictures of the animals. Most everyone took off for the bar but I wanted to stay and watch the elephant. I’m glad that I did; soon a large lion approached the water to have a drink. After a short standoff with the elephant, the elephant retreated and the lion helped herself to water. It was amazing watching this massive cat toy with an elephant and win. Now I was really glad that I knew how to work my camera. We headed back to the bar and gloated to everyone about what we just saw. They were quite jealous. We headed back to our camp getting an amazing view of the moonless sky along the way. We even came across a jackal, some zebra and some elephant on the way back. When we arrived back at camp some of the locals had come by to do the local Shona songs and dances. This was followed up with a good Zimbabwe brai of steaks and borewors. The trip just kept getting better.
The next day we woke up at five to make the sunrise and morning game drive. Our guide Cedric took us off for the park as the sun was rising. Before even making it into the park we were able to come across some massive elephants, 7 giraffes, a herd of zebra, impala, wildebeest and even some guinea fowl. Once we entered the park, the animal sightings slowed down a little. It took a little bit, but eventually we came across some more impala and even a duiker. We then came across three female kudus, which are the second tallest antelope in Africa. Unfortunately there were no males with their massive, spiralling horns. Soon after leaving the kudus, we came across the highlight of the day, we came across a herd of about a hundred elephant having a morning water and bath. We were soon right in the middle of this entire herd crossing in front of us after finishing at the water hole. It was amazing to see this many elephant and especially to have them this close. It also gets the heart pumping to have a large bull only ten meters from the truck, especially when there were quite a few babies with them. I definitely got a bit of a fright when a few of the bulls decided to start fighting right in front of us. After watching the herd for a while we took off to try and find some more game. We headed off to another water hole. On the way we say quite a few vultures, eagles, hawks, kites and storks. The only animal that we came across on the drive though was a steenbok. We arrived at the water hole to some grazing zebra, hippos in the water and a crocodile trying to feed on some of the birds along the water’s edge. After leaving the water hole, we came across some Roen Antelope, zebras and ostriches. We arrived at the next water hole to watch some hippos fighting in the water, while a crocodile watched from the banks. Just before leaving we were treated to a black backed jackal coming to drink at the water. We needed to head back to the camp but on the way were stopped by s herd of giraffes. It was weird though because instead of the giraffes running away, they just stood there, a few meters away staring us down. We spent some time there just watching them, but they didn’t move. I soon realized why. We had separated the herd and one of the small females was on the other side of the track. We decided to leave to let everyone reunite. Heading back to camp we were greeted by some more impala, zebra, giraffe and even caught a glimpse of some sable antelope. What an amazing day. The park was just as majestic as I had remembered. It seemed to be coping and surviving the tough political situation. The only difference in the park from what I remembered was that it was empty now. This park was once teaming with visitors but now seemed empty. It is a shame that people miss this amazing place.
The ride home to the falls was a bit of an adventure. After going for a quick drive to look for the wild dogs again, we headed back for the falls. Just a few kilometres after leaving, we had our tire blow out. It was completely shredded and of course it was my job to fix it. Thank goodness it did. Once we stopped the car and I heard a rumbling coming from the engine. The coolant water was boiling. Something was wrong. I was working on the tire and so I asked Phil to check out what was going on with the engine. I didn’t expect him to open up the water tank. Genius, the tank exploded. Thank goodness Phil didn’t burn himself, but because we were in the kombi and the engine is underneath the front seats, he was able to flood the entire front of the car. We put everyone except for Phil and I in the other car and had our car towed back to the camp and I check out what was going on. For some reason someone had put oil in the reserve water tank and thus the engine overheated. I was able to clean out the tank and radiator of all of the oil and then refill the water. After loading the car with as many bottles of water that we could, we were off to the falls, without a spare tire and questioning if the engine had a bad head gasket. We ended up making it back to the falls without a problem except for getting caught doing 85 kph in a 80 kph zone. We paid the 500 Zim dollar fine (about 10 cents) and moved on. Once back in Zimbabwe we picked everyone up and headed for the Victoria Falls Hotel for drinks overlooking the falls before heading back home for some needed sleep. What a weekend!
First was a visit to Victoria Falls or Mosi ou Tunya (the smoke that thunders). Saturday morning Emma and I headed down to the falls to spend the day exploring in the park. We arrived at the park and were greeted by all of the men at the curio market. This has to be my least favourite part of Africa is having all of these guys come up and talk to you like you are best friends so that you will buy something from them. I’ve gotten good at the phrase “zikomo sinifuna,” thank you I don’t want. It is really nice to be able to go and visit the national parks and get the local rates. Instead of paying $10 US, we get in for about 50 cents… it allows for a few more beers.
I had never been on the Zambian side of the Falls before. We started off by walking along the top of the gorge towards the bridge. We were able to watch someone do the bungee jump, and I even caught a steam train stopping on the bridge. Next, we walked to knife’s edge. There is a bridge that you have to cross to get across the gorge to get to this “island” across from the falls. It was nice seeing the falls from the Zambian side here but the water is still very low and there isn’t much water coming over on the Zambian side. We walked around and had a few great looks down the falls. The best part was that I convinced Emma that we should walk along the edge of the falls to Livingstone Island which is in the middle, about 1.5 km walk. We first headed down the gorge though down to the boiling pot. This was a fun walk as you go down about 300 meters to the river. It is quite a walk, especially when you have baboons stalking you. About two thirds of the way down you enter a rain forest and walk through small streams and thick plants. It is amazing down here, as it doesn’t seem like anywhere else in the area. We proceeded through the rainforest, along the stream to the boiling pot. Here along the edge of the river just below the falls there are massive boulders that the stream runs down leaving a bunch of small waterfalls and pools. We went for a swim here to cool off, it was over 100 degrees that day, and enjoyed a packed lunch here at the bottom. The hike back up proved even more exciting as we ran into an African tree snake on the way. I don’t think that they are poisonous but I’d rather not take a chance. Once back at the top of the falls we headed to the falls themselves to start our venture to Livingstone Island. It isn’t really suggested that you do this walk, and no muzungus really do it, but I thought it best that we give it a shot. It is a pretty hard walk and swim through the river and over small islands. The swims were the hardest as the water is moving pretty fast and the stones are extremely slippery. Good thing I had my four year old worn out flip flops on… no problem. The walk was amazing. It took us over an hour to make it out to Livingstone Island. Along the way we were able to catch some incredible views of the falls, especially when you stand on the edge and look down to the rocks a few hundred meters below, it gets the heart pumping. We had made it all the way to the island but once we got there, we were turned away by security guards so we weren’t able to go and visit Devil’s Armchair again. I was pretty upset that this island, which is a world heritage sight, can be controlled by one of the hotels so that people have to pay fifty dollars to take a boat there. Oh well, it was a good walk anyway. Going back was much easier, as we now knew which way we needed to go. By the time we got back we were extremely tired and dehydrated. We were able to sneak into the Sun Hotel to meet up with some people for drinks and a swim before heading to the Royal Livingstone for sundowners. It was the end to a perfect day.
The next weekend, I was afforded the opportunity to head down to Zimbabwe to Hwange National Park. This is the park that I loved going to as a kid. Since I was last there, twelve years ago, the park has been going through problems with drought and lack of money to keep the park running properly. I was a little worried about what I would find there but I wanted to go anyway. The drive down was amazing. It is a few hundred kilometres south of the falls through the rolling hills of Zimbabwe passing along many small villages along the way. Even though things haven’t been great in Zimbabwe things seemed the same as I remembered. We made it down to the camp that we would be staying at, just outside of the park near the main camp. The lodge was beautiful and we each got our own small hut to spend the night in. I had a quick dip in the pool to cool off before heading off to go to the Ivory Lodge for sundowners. It was getting pretty late though and out drive to the lodge soon turned into a night drive. We came across a few elephants crossing the road. The highlight though was running into a pack of wild dogs. This is one of the hardest animals to spot in Africa because they are endangered and there are less than two thousand left on the entire continent. The pack consisted of ten dogs and they seemed to enjoy playing in front of the truck. It was exciting to see the dogs running around the truck playing with each other, a rare treat. We made it to the lodge and were greeted by Kelly, the woman that ran the camp. She was incredibly nice and invited us all in to have some drinks and watch the animals at the water hole. I decided to skip the drinks and head directly to the waterhole overlook. I’m glad that I did as I was greeted by an elephant having a drink by the water. After everyone else showed up, I quickly ran up to the bar to have a Zambezi Lager and a quick chat with Kelly. I then headed down to the overlook. Soon another elephant came along to have a drink. Luckily I figured out how to do the long exposure shots on my camera and caught some nice pictures of the animals. Most everyone took off for the bar but I wanted to stay and watch the elephant. I’m glad that I did; soon a large lion approached the water to have a drink. After a short standoff with the elephant, the elephant retreated and the lion helped herself to water. It was amazing watching this massive cat toy with an elephant and win. Now I was really glad that I knew how to work my camera. We headed back to the bar and gloated to everyone about what we just saw. They were quite jealous. We headed back to our camp getting an amazing view of the moonless sky along the way. We even came across a jackal, some zebra and some elephant on the way back. When we arrived back at camp some of the locals had come by to do the local Shona songs and dances. This was followed up with a good Zimbabwe brai of steaks and borewors. The trip just kept getting better.
The next day we woke up at five to make the sunrise and morning game drive. Our guide Cedric took us off for the park as the sun was rising. Before even making it into the park we were able to come across some massive elephants, 7 giraffes, a herd of zebra, impala, wildebeest and even some guinea fowl. Once we entered the park, the animal sightings slowed down a little. It took a little bit, but eventually we came across some more impala and even a duiker. We then came across three female kudus, which are the second tallest antelope in Africa. Unfortunately there were no males with their massive, spiralling horns. Soon after leaving the kudus, we came across the highlight of the day, we came across a herd of about a hundred elephant having a morning water and bath. We were soon right in the middle of this entire herd crossing in front of us after finishing at the water hole. It was amazing to see this many elephant and especially to have them this close. It also gets the heart pumping to have a large bull only ten meters from the truck, especially when there were quite a few babies with them. I definitely got a bit of a fright when a few of the bulls decided to start fighting right in front of us. After watching the herd for a while we took off to try and find some more game. We headed off to another water hole. On the way we say quite a few vultures, eagles, hawks, kites and storks. The only animal that we came across on the drive though was a steenbok. We arrived at the water hole to some grazing zebra, hippos in the water and a crocodile trying to feed on some of the birds along the water’s edge. After leaving the water hole, we came across some Roen Antelope, zebras and ostriches. We arrived at the next water hole to watch some hippos fighting in the water, while a crocodile watched from the banks. Just before leaving we were treated to a black backed jackal coming to drink at the water. We needed to head back to the camp but on the way were stopped by s herd of giraffes. It was weird though because instead of the giraffes running away, they just stood there, a few meters away staring us down. We spent some time there just watching them, but they didn’t move. I soon realized why. We had separated the herd and one of the small females was on the other side of the track. We decided to leave to let everyone reunite. Heading back to camp we were greeted by some more impala, zebra, giraffe and even caught a glimpse of some sable antelope. What an amazing day. The park was just as majestic as I had remembered. It seemed to be coping and surviving the tough political situation. The only difference in the park from what I remembered was that it was empty now. This park was once teaming with visitors but now seemed empty. It is a shame that people miss this amazing place.
The ride home to the falls was a bit of an adventure. After going for a quick drive to look for the wild dogs again, we headed back for the falls. Just a few kilometres after leaving, we had our tire blow out. It was completely shredded and of course it was my job to fix it. Thank goodness it did. Once we stopped the car and I heard a rumbling coming from the engine. The coolant water was boiling. Something was wrong. I was working on the tire and so I asked Phil to check out what was going on with the engine. I didn’t expect him to open up the water tank. Genius, the tank exploded. Thank goodness Phil didn’t burn himself, but because we were in the kombi and the engine is underneath the front seats, he was able to flood the entire front of the car. We put everyone except for Phil and I in the other car and had our car towed back to the camp and I check out what was going on. For some reason someone had put oil in the reserve water tank and thus the engine overheated. I was able to clean out the tank and radiator of all of the oil and then refill the water. After loading the car with as many bottles of water that we could, we were off to the falls, without a spare tire and questioning if the engine had a bad head gasket. We ended up making it back to the falls without a problem except for getting caught doing 85 kph in a 80 kph zone. We paid the 500 Zim dollar fine (about 10 cents) and moved on. Once back in Zimbabwe we picked everyone up and headed for the Victoria Falls Hotel for drinks overlooking the falls before heading back home for some needed sleep. What a weekend!
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Schools out for Summer
I can hardly believe that I have been in Livingstone now for two months working with the kids. Teaching the grade 7 class at Linda Community School couldn’t have been any better. The kids all love learning and are all anxious to get me to teach them as much as possible. The group of kids that I had for the first month took their examinations and will get their results in January. It is unfortunate that I only got a month with them because they needed a lot of work on their English, Math and Science. We worked very hard to prepare for the exams though and hopefully most of the class will pass the exam and be able to continue with their schooling.
Once my original class went to take their exams I got the grade 6 students to start preparing them for the same exam that they would have to take next year. This was a whole new group of students that were excited to have me as a teacher and start learning. We wasted no time at all. I started going through the Math and English that the children would need to know. It is frustrating with how little the children actually know. I had to start from the very beginning with addition, subtraction, nouns and verbs. The kids want to learn though and try very hard to do as well as they can. I had these kids for one month before school ended for the summer, last Friday.
The last day of school, December 1, coincided with World Aids Day. I talked with some of the teachers and organized to have the children put on a talent show instead of having classes on that day. The children organized to do traditional dancing, ceremonial dancing, songs about AIDS, and drama about AIDS. The day couldn’t have gone any better. I invited the other volunteers to come and watch the children as they performed for us and their classmates. There was a lot of dancing and singing to the boys playing the drums. It was amazing to watch the children, as they were all incredible dancers. The children performed for about two hours while we all sat in amazement.
After the performances finished, the boys invited us to play a football match. It was another poor showing for me at football, but I am getting better. The football match concluded when lunch was ready. I decided that because I wasn’t going to get a Thanksgiving dinner this year, instead I would have lunch with all of the children on their last day of school. I had bought all of the ingredients for the local women to cook us all lunch. The lunch consisted of nshima (the local staple of corn meal), rape (a spinach like vegetable), and tomatoes and onions. The kids even got a treat and we made meat balls to go with the vegetables. This doesn’t sound like much, but this is a typical meal for most of the people in Zambia. It was a wonderful lunch and it was great to get to eat with all of the children. They laughed at us eating the food, as we didn’t quite have the right form for eating with our hands.
I enjoyed teaching so much that I decided to stay in Zambia for the month of December to be with the kids and set up some more projects in the community. I was invited to stay on with the project to set up summer revision classes, sports coaching and organize some other projects for the volunteers to do once the rains started to come. I couldn’t turn down this opportunity to stay and do more in the community than I ever imagined.
With school finished it was time to do some work with the children that were around during the holidays. It was hard at first to get the kids to come to school. Most of them are expected to go and work for their families over the break. Most of them end up in the fields, getting the crops ready before the rain season. Once I talked with the kids though, I was able to get quite a few to come to school to do revisions. This is almost more enjoyable than teaching my class. I know all of the kids already and I get to teach whatever I want. For now it is back to basics, learning what these children were supposed to be learning for the duration of their education so far. The kids are having fun though and I play a lot of games with them to help them learn.
The afternoons are just as good as the mornings. We pick up the children and head to the community football fields which we now have access to use whenever we want. We head over to play football for two hours. I admit that I’m not much of a player, but the kids like the fact that they now have a coach. I made up some drills for them to do and we go through them every day after warm-ups and stretches. It is a great way to spend my afternoons and the boys are really enjoying themselves.
Once my original class went to take their exams I got the grade 6 students to start preparing them for the same exam that they would have to take next year. This was a whole new group of students that were excited to have me as a teacher and start learning. We wasted no time at all. I started going through the Math and English that the children would need to know. It is frustrating with how little the children actually know. I had to start from the very beginning with addition, subtraction, nouns and verbs. The kids want to learn though and try very hard to do as well as they can. I had these kids for one month before school ended for the summer, last Friday.
The last day of school, December 1, coincided with World Aids Day. I talked with some of the teachers and organized to have the children put on a talent show instead of having classes on that day. The children organized to do traditional dancing, ceremonial dancing, songs about AIDS, and drama about AIDS. The day couldn’t have gone any better. I invited the other volunteers to come and watch the children as they performed for us and their classmates. There was a lot of dancing and singing to the boys playing the drums. It was amazing to watch the children, as they were all incredible dancers. The children performed for about two hours while we all sat in amazement.
After the performances finished, the boys invited us to play a football match. It was another poor showing for me at football, but I am getting better. The football match concluded when lunch was ready. I decided that because I wasn’t going to get a Thanksgiving dinner this year, instead I would have lunch with all of the children on their last day of school. I had bought all of the ingredients for the local women to cook us all lunch. The lunch consisted of nshima (the local staple of corn meal), rape (a spinach like vegetable), and tomatoes and onions. The kids even got a treat and we made meat balls to go with the vegetables. This doesn’t sound like much, but this is a typical meal for most of the people in Zambia. It was a wonderful lunch and it was great to get to eat with all of the children. They laughed at us eating the food, as we didn’t quite have the right form for eating with our hands.
I enjoyed teaching so much that I decided to stay in Zambia for the month of December to be with the kids and set up some more projects in the community. I was invited to stay on with the project to set up summer revision classes, sports coaching and organize some other projects for the volunteers to do once the rains started to come. I couldn’t turn down this opportunity to stay and do more in the community than I ever imagined.
With school finished it was time to do some work with the children that were around during the holidays. It was hard at first to get the kids to come to school. Most of them are expected to go and work for their families over the break. Most of them end up in the fields, getting the crops ready before the rain season. Once I talked with the kids though, I was able to get quite a few to come to school to do revisions. This is almost more enjoyable than teaching my class. I know all of the kids already and I get to teach whatever I want. For now it is back to basics, learning what these children were supposed to be learning for the duration of their education so far. The kids are having fun though and I play a lot of games with them to help them learn.
The afternoons are just as good as the mornings. We pick up the children and head to the community football fields which we now have access to use whenever we want. We head over to play football for two hours. I admit that I’m not much of a player, but the kids like the fact that they now have a coach. I made up some drills for them to do and we go through them every day after warm-ups and stretches. It is a great way to spend my afternoons and the boys are really enjoying themselves.
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