3 weeks of my African Adventure have passed and I am feeling so settled here J
So, what have I been up to? Lions, lions and more lions!
Week 2 we all went out to the Ngolide Lodge in Livingstone and had the most amazing Indian meal I think I’ve ever had. Yep, Indian in the middle of Livingstone! Big Indian community here and in fact, the whole LE site is owned by a lovely Indian family. After our fantastic meal, a few of us decided to go for a few drinkies in town – an experience! Lots of fun dancing in the newly nicknamed ‘Bingo Bongo’ club!
Spent lots of time getting to know the vollys and really get on well with them all. My address book is getting bigger, with new friends in Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Australia and Zambia!
Livingstone town itself is not huge, but there are some nice places to eat out and to have a drink. The ‘Shoprite’ store is a big supermarket and can get most things here. Although brand named things are quite pricey, local produce is reasonable. I cannot get my head round this currency though. Zambian Kwacha. About 5000ZMK = 1 USD! So we have so many notes floating round in our wallets thinking we are millionaires! Found a wad of 50 ZMK notes the other day…total added up to about 1 dollar 20 cents! Changing money is a bit of a mission with lots of forms to fill in but after about an hour – job done haha!!
Elephant Research is also one of my favourites which is where we go out on the back of a vehicle for a few hours with head researcher Jacqui and try and track down the elephants in the national park. No elephants yet as some have crosses to Zimbabwe and Botswana and our afternoons seemed to turn into a game drive along the Zambezi! Saw giraffe, zebra, waterbuck, wildebeest, impala, hippo, crocodiles and monitor lizard!
2nd weekend off and myself, and 3 others (Seb, Sabrina and Henni) went exploring the Victoria Falls from the Zambian side. Incredible once again and I even though I had seen it before from Zimbabwe, it was still absolutely mind blowing. We were able to get a lot closer from this side and walked over a bridge (getting soaked) which is about 250m along the front of the falls. Then we found a path that took us to the top edge of the falls, just before it drops off and we paddled our feet in the Zambezi as we sat on the big rocks in the sun for an hour. No crocs down there, but lots of little fish wanting a nibble!
Then we went to the curio market and got ourselves some bargains! I told myself I didn’t need any more artifacts to bring home, but that idea was soon out the window!
From the Falls, we crossed through to the Zambezi Sun Hotel for lunch and an afternoon of relaxation! Lunch and drinks probably about 15USD so not too bad. Then the clouds parted and out came the sun for a good couple of hours. 40+ degrees I rekon! So the only sensible thing to do seemed to have a cocktail to cool down!! The Hotel is lovely, with Zebra and Impala just wandering around the grounds! Then it was back to base for dinner and a wander down to Thorntree Lodge for a beer watching the hippos at sunset.
Week 3 started again with lots of lion time J One of our 13 month olds made her first kill this week and sent us all running through the bush following them on a hunt – exciting stuff!
Quite a lot of time spent up at Dambwa Forest with the big guys which I love and Tswana is fast becoming a favourite of mine – not sure how Id get her back home though?!
Had news last week that V had been kicked in the face by another mare at home and had chipped her jaw bone! Bless her…but thankfully Dr. Lars was on the case with my roomie and the QPA girls looking after her for me – can’t thank them enough as I was feeling so guilty that Im on the other side of the world! Latest news is that she’s recovering really well J
Everything is very chilled here and ‘African Time’ is often slower than Portuguese time!
The food here is fantastic and I haven’t had a single meal twice. Our chefs are amazing and cater for fussy no meat, no beans me unbelievably!!
I’m going to Victoria Falls (where I was in September) to do some work with the cubs over that side on the 19th of Feb. Staying for 6 nights so needless to say I’m super excited to see them and everyone over there again.
For now, Im enjoying my day off sat in the garden watching Cara’s dogs attempt to take on the baboons…
Until next week J xx
Will try and add pics on here soon - net connection doesn't seem to like pictures!
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