Crocs, Hippos, and Singing on Bumpy Roads.

A happy party of 14.5 started off for West Lunga National Park on a sunny Friday morning.  Everything was packed and strapped to the top of our full vehicle.  The road is BUMPY! Not quite like the hippo highway, but BUMPY!  We reached safely and began setting up our campsite.  Next was lunchtime—yum delicious nshima with vegetables and soya pieces (a protein-rich food the pupils don’t get often so I treated them).  I greatly admire the respect and discipline inherent in Zambian culture; the pupils automatically worked together to make a fire and cook.  Let me not forget a detail, the cooking was done by the girls and the boys put up the tents.  I do not greatly admire the very ingrained gender roles in Zambian culture. 

Friday late afternoon we took rides on the speedboat to the confluence of the Lunga and Kabompo rivers to begin our learning.  Confluence is the official term for the place where two rivers meet, and was the first lesson learned!  This cruise was such fun, and so much enjoyed by the pupils.  Joseph hadn’t ever seen a live crocodile and was scared when it suddenly slid back into the river. ‘ Did you see that?!’  Next we found a very active family of hippos. Me, the eternally poor photographer didn’t catch their open mouths too well.  The female didn’t appreciate our proximity and tried to jump and threaten the boat.  The pupils loved seeing all this activity and observing the natural protective instinct (next lesson!) and would hardly stop talking and laughing about it as the boat cruised back to camp.  I doubt I’ve ever seen such happier people, and just that made the trip (and all its logistical troubles, worthwhile.  

With our remaining sunlight, the pupils wrote thank you letters.  All are very grateful and appreciative for the individual sponsorship.  Letters will be mailed this week!  Dinner was delicious – whew, the boys sure could eat! The evening finished around the fire pit where we discussed what pupils had seen, learned and enjoyed so far.  We had an early bedtime to rest for our early morning walk.  We saw the sunrise Saturday morning from our campsite while eating the before-unknown American classic: the PB&J sandwich.  Apparently the boys didn’t think just one breakfast was enough so bought cookies as we walked to meet the ZAWA (Zambian Wildlife Authority) guide to take us on a walking safari.  After this Great Cookie Debacle, we faced the Great Pontoon Debacle.  The engine almost refused to start due to cold, almost making us unable to cross to walk through the wild portion of the park. 

We enjoyed a great long walk where many of our early evidence of animals was of an excretory variety.  Puku and impala had definitely been active overnight! Poachers had also been active overnight; we found their footprints too.  The pupils learned a lot from the fact poachers were still active.  Almost all the antelope we saw was skittish and fearful and ran before we got too near.   Late in the walk we came very close to some impala.  We saw a lot of baboons and a beautiful variety of birds and even learned a few things about the woodland type found throughout the park.  After riding the pontoon back across the river, we walked back to camp, disassembled the tents, and worked some magic loading all of us into the only vehicle available to us but better suited to a group half our size.  The pupils loved every minute of the trip and sang as a group during the whole drive back. 

Thanks again to everyone for assisting in making this trip possible.  This is a great opportunity  for the pupils to see wildlife near where they live, learn the importance of conservation,  and to be exposed to other careers such as ZAWA. Many thanks also go out to ZAWA for including our group under their reduced rates and for lending tents!  Thank you also to the district level agriculture ministry for the use of the vehicle. 

Lasly, I’ll answer what you’re all wondering about.  How did we become a party of 14.5?  The club matron’s baby boy joined the trip too. He’s a little cutie.

1. And we’re off!

2. The boat trip gets a thumbs up by the girls!

3. The crocodile who scared Joseph

4. Angry hippos! Sorry, a better photographer would’ve gotten both jaws…

5. The whole group crossing on the pontoon

6. Yep, I will trust my safety to any man wearing such a snazzy fur collar

7. The pupils enjoying a walking safari. Candid is hard- they always catch me!

8. Impala group we found.