OK - so the last post was a pretty pathetic one. So how about a bit more detail.....
I don't know if anyone knows this, but I HATE camping. Why I signed up for 6 weeks of participation camping then is anyone's guess - but after 3 weeks of getting up at 4am every day, packing the tent away, sweeping away the scorpions and spiders, it's getting slightly wearing.... We're travelling in a 16 tonne truck which seems to have been built without the suspension in the back, and of course muggins here has the back seats. So of course when I'm not pulling my head out of the ceiling after the bumpy roads, I'm trying to get some sleep. And sleep I do - for the 9-10 hours a day we travel....
But there are some rewarding aspects. We are currently going through an incredibly rural part of Zambia. There is little infrastructure - the populus live a subsistence lifestyle, within a virtual barter economy. 1 in 3 people have HIV, public services are sparse to non-existant. Yet the people are so welcoming, friendly and happy. I walked through a Zambian village two days ago. A group of children ran up to us - a little girl took my left hand, a little boy took my right hand and they danced down the street next to me. The only English they know is "How are you!?" so they will run out of the houses when you walk past shouting it - then they will repeat it as the standard response to any question you ask them. It's quite endearing really. They generally have no shoes, rags for clothes - yet they smile as if they are the luckiest people in the world. We don't give them money, rather pens, water bottles, hats - we shop in their markets, we tell them stories, we ask them about themselves (obviously this is limited by their stock response of "How are you") - but all in all it has been such a rewarding experience and it makes me realise just how lucky I am, not only in my lifestyle back home, but also to be able to glimpse the "real" Africa and see how the people here live and survive in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.
So today we are in South Luongwe National Park. Tomorrow we head into Malawi (Lake Malawi eventually) for a couple of days. Then as I said, we'll be heading into Zanzibar. We just bumped into a guy today in the swimming pool who owns a bar in Zanzibar - and if we all go he will get us 10% off - personally I think that is rubbish, so I think we can do better ;-)
OK - well I'm now going to go and relax by the pool and watch the hippos. They leave the water every night and wander aroudn the tents - it's quite amusing if they weren't the most dangerous animals in Africa. We were lamping hippos last night - running around the campsite trying to track them, quite funny really. We had some elephants come through today - but I'm hoping we won't see any lions - otherwise the next post might take some writing ;-)
Right gang - thanks for everyone who is following this post. My next one will probably be some point in Zanzibar - if I can drag myself off the beach
Ciao for now!!!
R
