TONY: Even though lonely planet had already warned me that Zambia was the ‘real
africa’, whatever that meant, I have to admit that I got a fair jolt of culture
shock in the cab from the airport to our hotel on the main street of Lusaka,
the capital. That Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) had been pillaged by the
British for the benefit of its old neighbor Southern Rhodesia was evident from
the poverty and lack of development. Having one of the highest percentages of
HIV in the world was also evident, with signs everywhere promoting abstinence
and offering protection. But once I’d got past that fact that we really seemed
to be the only white people in the whole city, the friendliness and atmosphere
soon shook the threatening feeling away.
My dad was meeting us at the hotel, and somehow the people at the desk knew
immediately who I was looking for. Maybe we look a little bit similar. Dad was
joining us for a trip to the South Luangwa National Park and some time on
Zanzibar. Some people might think it’s a bit weird to have their dad join them
for part of their honeymoon (as I write this it does seem a bit…) but we were
excited as dads good company, very easy going and enthusiastic about new
places.
The highlight of Lusaka was a walking tour of a “compound”, a sprawling
suburb of shacks in that in other places might be called a township, a ghetto,
or a slum. It might sound weird to talk about this as a highlight, and I wasn’t
really comfortable with the idea of a “human safari” at first, but it was an
amazing illustration of how the west has got it wrong. Everyone was really
happy, really friendly, knew all their neighbors, and helped each other out. Of
course it wasn’t perfect, there is crime, poverty, no sanitation, and I can
verify that the community-brewed beer tastes like mud, but there is a sense of
community that is missing from the suburbs of Melbourne.
Our accommodation in the South Luangwa national park, a tiny, shaky, prop-plane flight away from the capital, was everything we expected from the glowing recommendations. After arriving and checking into our enormous safari-style chalet, we sat at a table just outside the thatched-roof bar looking out over the African bush and the wide Luangwa river. Soon enough, an Elephant came crashing through the trees and ambled towards our table. Probably going for Julie’s exotic cocktail. The staff shouted at us to abandon our drinks and bags and make a dash for the covered area of the bar. They’re scared of elephants and apparently Stampy doesn’t like the ambiance of the covered areas of the lodge, even if they’re open on all sides. But he left our beers alone (unlike the monkeys, who took advantage of our absence to get stuck into the hard stuff on our expense) and proceeded to tear up the surrounding trees and generally make a racket. This was not a unique experience at the lodge, as during the next week we would see just as much wildlife in and around the lodge as we did driving and walking through the national park. Giraffes hung out outside our room, cheeky monkeys tried to steal my go pro, and crocs kept us from cooling off in the Luangwa. When I asked one of the staff why the Hippos always came up to the lodge after dusk, he said “oh yes, the Hippos, they love the sausages!”. (Imagine deep African drawl and a cheshire cat smile as it was dark at the time) I was confused. Did they have a new subspecies of carnivorous hippo in Zambia? I realized later that he was referring to the funny looking “Sausage Fruit” a huge elongated fruit that grows on trees all over the place.
 |
| Elephants crossing the Luangwa river to tear up the villages crops |
We spent an amazing week with “Dazzles” of Zebra, “Parades” of Giraffe...
We saw a few Leopards including cubs, and even saw a huge brave/stupid baboon
take a leopard on for the good of his group.
 | ||
Leopard
|
The 48 hour train we took from Lusaka to Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, could
be another example of what you might call the “real Africa” except that it was
built by the Chinese. It has been left to rot in disrepair in the decades since
and I suspect it only runs on the collective will of the passengers to reach
their destination and the sanitary plumbing they might find there. It was
rough, loud, dirty and the food was suspect, but it travelled through some
beautiful countryside. It also stopped in every small, isolated village it
passed, where all the people of the village would crowd around with baskets of
food balanced on their heads in an impromptu market. Kids came running for
miles to wave at the ‘muzungu’ (us).
Incredible.
 |
| One of the many village markets around the train, this one selling mostly green bananas which are mashed together like potatoes as a staple food |
 |
| Evening view from the train |
 |
| Julie shopping at the marke |
(JULIE- Just a word on the township tour in Lusaka. The little kids in the township (slum) were totally gorgeous and when our guide was telling us something would sidle up and smile cheekily. I gave one a hi five and about 20 kids were pushing each other over to give me hi fives like I was the coolest thing in the world. Then they’d want to hold my hand and dance around in a circle, and then another little kid would push in and grab my hand instead of the first one till we had a line of 10 kids going. They were so curious and sweet. At one spot on the tour a local young man had tied a bunch of rags together to make a swing for the kids in a tree and a few of the bigger kids spent hours pushing the little ones on it – and the little kids all waited in line really patiently for their turn. Imagine a line of 4 year olds in Australia (as if). The tour guide also showed us a community project where a little shack was set aside as a sort of youth centre. These boys would have been barely older than Rheeese (13) but were so proud of their centre. They showed us their store room and their library, which seriosly had like 50 books (I immediately wanted to go out and buy them a truckload). They not only read them, but sit down and read the books to the little kids too. Anyway, the thing that was really nice was these initiatives came from within the community with barely any funding.)
