Catch up on Zambia and Botswana

My last week in Africa in 2007 was spent in Zambia and Botswana with my dad and my friend, Ted. After wrapping up work on November 16th, we left Cape Town and flew to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.

The Zambian part of our adventure came from a connection from my dad. My dad has trucked farm equipment from Minnesota to the port on its way to a farmer in Zambia. The farmer's cousin, Gladstone, has worked with my dad and happened to be in Zambia at the same time to attend a family wedding. Gladstone had invited us to both the wedding and then to spend 4 days at Costain's (his cousin, the farmer who is pictured above with his wife, Ted, and me - Costain is also a likely candidate to become the next Zambian president!) 25,000 acre farm. (This picture is of workers separating the soybeans from the husks and then churning them in the barrel to coat the seeds with fertilizer - yep, both Ted and I took our turns).

The wedding was similar to weddings I've been to in the States (white bridal dress, cutting the cake, toasts, etc) but the most interesting part was all the choreographed dancing of the bridesmaids and groomsmen - dancing I wouldn't be comfortable performing in front of family!

The following day, we drove about 2.5 hours to the farm. Gladstone took us around showing us the different irrigation pumps they have and the different fields (including the bananas)and we saw some of the farm equipment my dad has hauled out in the fields - small world!

This picture is of the burning in Costain's fields in preparation for the next crop - led to an interesting discussion about freedoms: Freedom to do as you wish on/to your land without requiring a permit versus the freedom to speak out against one's goverment.

Oh, and the first picture on this post is of a group of female employees walking back to their homes - each with a large bundle on their head AND a baby tied around them in a wrap.

We left the farm with Desi (pictured in the RWS hat), another cousin of Gladstone, who was going to drive us to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls, supposedly 5 or so hours away. Things were going smoothly until the fan went out on the car and we pushed it to 'Dallas Ranch' and hitched a ride (luggage and all) 30 minutes down the road where Desi had a friend and we could get another vehicle. Hitchhiking in Zambia - check.

Victoria Falls was amazing; the water was flowing substantially less than normal (so we were told) but it was nice because we were only misted while taking pictures instead of being drenched by the spray.

We stayed just outside Livingston along the river in a little hut with mosquito nets. Almost as scary as the hitchhiking incident was seeing the snake crawl up the outside of our screen - they are not my favorite creature.

But the Falls made up for the snake scare! We also hiked down to the 'Boiling Point' and watched people bungee jump from the bridge connecting Zambia and Zimbabwe. Such a beautiful place.

From there, we went to Botswana for a safari and stayed in a beautiful lodge on the Chobe River (bordering Namibia) and saw plenty of animals including the season's newborns: a baby crocodile, baby warthog, kid elephant, and an impala being born. There's something about watching the animals on safari that captivates you; no matter how many lions you see, you can't stop staring...

After Botswana, we made our way back to Livingstone and flew to Johannesburg and then back to the States (all on different flights...) and I made it back just in time to have a glass of champagne with Jack to celebrate his birthday...