Grand Finale Part 1 - Kafue and Zanzibar

As some of you know, I have in fact left Zambia. It’s been an interesting and busy transition for me, and that’s my excuse for not posting in a loooong time! In any case, this is the first of three posts that I am promising to “wrap up” my time residing in Zambia.

Let me tell you first about a couple of recent adventures I had earlier this year. Both were with my good friend and adventure buddy Michele. The first was a relaxing weekend in June on the outskirts of Kafue National Park, one of my favorite weekend destinations. What made this trip different from some I have taken to Kafue in the past, was that it was in a the area northeast of the park (where I had not been before) and it was the first opportunity I had had to go to the small camp owned by my gracious sponsor. It is a small camp with four fancy tents (including toilets) and a dining/gathering area, all facing the Kafue River. There was also kitchen with a cook who was very eager to help us cook the food we brought. We had a very mellow weekend that involved catching up on much needed sleep as well boat rides, book reading and a bit of yoga. We had the boat to ourselves along with a talented captain/guide who avoided hippos, showed us a variety of interesting birds (see photo of water dikkop) and reminded me how to fish! I even caught a couple of small fish that were a gift for the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) scout who was working that weekend with another of my sponsor’s employees to check out game viewing possibilities for tourists. They were mostly disappointed, however, with the small numbers of animals they found. Poaching is a big problem in this huge under-supervised park. It’s hard for me to know whether the problem is one of rural populations just trying to survive in this changing world, or if it’s more about the illegal bush meat trade that happens in the urban areas, but that’s another topic!

The bigger adventure happened in July when Michele and I planned a trip involving a train journey to Dar es Salaam, followed by a ferry to Zanzibar and then eventually a flight back from Dar to Lusaka. We knew that the train ride was slow (3 days and 2 nights) and prone to delays, but we figured that it would be worth it for the lovely scenery, including passing through a game park south of Dar! The journey turned out to be even slower, though, and we never made it to the game park. The morning of our train journey departure, we were fortunate to get a ride with my new coworker to Kapiri Mposhi, the town about 2.5 hours north of Lusaka that is the southern terminus for the TAZARA railway line. The train station was a rather grand building with a huge waiting area that was remarkably empty for departure day! We discovered that the train had been delayed and was arriving late that evening, and that our departure would occur the next afternoon. So, we befriended a Peace Corps volunteer who as travelling to see his Tanzanian girlfriend, found a place to stay and then killed time walking around this 4-block town. We did entertain the locals by asking a barber who had never cut mzungu (white person) hair to give Michele a buzz cut (the mohawk was too much for him)! The next day we met a young Zimbabwean, now a crocodile farmer from Lake Kariba, and the four of us agreed to share a sleeper cabin.

The train journey itself then began well. There were nice views (see picture) and a peaceful night (except for the squeaks and jolts every time the train left a station). The next day we passed through a variety of towns, each with identical 1970s vintage train stations: small buildings with high ceilings, pew like bench seats and window glass long gone. We crossed the border into Tanzania without issue, and as the sun set on the second day we rolled into a bigger town, Mbeya, past the strange site of a railroad siding that ramped up a hill and then stopped. At some time in the past a train of cargo and tanker cars appeared to have gone too far up the siding. There was a wreckage of train cars that had tipped over the hill and then had been left to rust in a zig-zag mess off the tracks on the other side of the hill (see photo)! The train pulled into the Mbeya station that evening and stopped as usual, but then it never started again. We spent the night on the train sitting still, and eventually heard rumors of a big derailment up the tracks. By midday the next day they decided to put all of us who were bound for Dar on buses. They brought one bus each for the first (see picture) and second class passengers, but then the poor third class passengers had to sit in the aisles. After 15 hours with a maniac bus driver (I will spare my mother the details) we ended up in Dar. We had planned to arrive on a Sunday night, but had in fact arrived on a Tuesday morning! We then headed straight out on the ferry for Zanzibar, thanking our lucky stars that we had already decided to fly back to Lusaka.

After our crazy journey, Zanzibar was a welcome relaxing retreat (once we figured out how to get rid of the aggressive touts). We explored old Stone Town, and enjoyed getting lost and eating fresh seafood and rambutan (red fruits that look like something that Dr. Suess would have dreamed up – see photo). We went on a very interesting spice farm tour as well, full of wonderful smells and tastes. Then we hit the beach, staying in a lovely laid back area called Kendwa. We walked on the beautiful beach (see sunset photo) and went on an impressive snorkeling tour. A bit of unseasonable rain and a bit of seasickness (me, while snorkeling – not in the boat but while swimming!) were setbacks, but Michele and I were used to taking what life gave us by this point in the trip. It was nice just to lie around and read books too!

One of the most wonderful things for me about Zanzibar was seeing all of the different cultural influences. The narrow curving streets (see photo) of Stone Town reminded me of an Arab souk, and the yummy spicy food was often Indian in flavor. The residents of Zanzibar were about 50% Muslim and 50% Christian, and the skin colors varied widely. Despite all of these different influences, though, everyone shared a common language, Swahili, and they were very encouraging of our efforts to learn.