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26th September 2006

Location: Lusaka, Zambia

Dr Livingstone was presumed lost when he claimed a town and called it Livingstone, and claimed a waterfall and named it Victoria. We weren’t that fussed with these particulars and went rafting on the Zambezi River, known for eating people and also rafts, and huge water volumes and lots of laughs. Not much water meant huge amounts of fun, huge amounts of flipping and huge amounts of chanting like pirates and singing Chonga songs. Our crew of four became a group of six with our two Aussie extras Anna and Melody. Each was welcomed and given a pirate name, which usually denounced what colour ones beard was or leg hair length, aboard the Zambian Pearl. Our task after appalations was to dominate the river and mould it to us. Grade 5 meant bigger laughs as we were pounded into the white oblivion dancing around us. Exhilaration turned to concern as Jul’s took a hit for the river god Nyami-nyami, literally translated as meat-meat. A few other knocks but all took the punishment well. Apparently we were the best rafting team on the river, ever. Our guide told us so and we agreed definitely so. Later, as long needed endorphins flowed and in typical ANZAC style the truck ride home included us drinking all the beers on offer and singing parts of songs we would’ve liked to have known. So been there ticked that off.

Moving onto the random night in a locals home in Sinazongwe, near Lake Kariba. Her name was Xsuda Mezinga. She was drunk, we weren’t. She had a beer garden, we had nothing. She made sure we were fed, we appreciated this. She sold alcohol to anyone, we were tired. She kept repeating everything she said, we couldn’t ignore her. She had an honest face, there was no lights thus couldn’t see her face. We tried to sleep but the heat was septic and the mozzies were nocturnal. So was the clock that electronically chimed every hour. We woke before the sun to evade confrontation with the owner who was due in at seven. As the sun rose we reflected personally to the camera what had happened. Agreed it was a giant step out of our comfort zones and coincidently we now rest in Lusaka at more luxurious backpacking accommodation.

Lusaka to Nkhata Bay Images

Chronicle blurp

Fleeing Zambia before potential election trouble we headed east from Lusaka across the sparsely populated south eastern Zambian wilderness. We crossed into Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, at Chipata and headed to the Capital Lilongwe for a few nights. Malawi retains a lot of english colonial traditions which was a bit of a novelty for the boys. The people of Malawi were very welcoming and generous despite the poverty of the country. From Lilongwe it was off to Senga bay then Nkhata bay which are both idyllic lakeside towns made for relaxation.