The Real Deal
Arrival in Zambia
In my last entry from Jo'burg airport I wrote
that we could have been anywhere (although it is a much
nicer
airport than, say, LHR or JFK). Arriving in Zambia we had, by contrast, a very
concrete sense of coming to a different place. The flight over started like any
other flight: I did the first from my bumper book of Telegraph crosswords and
then started a novel (Waiting for the Barbarians) that I really like so far by
the Cape Town writer J.M. Coetzee. We knew we were on the right side of the
plane (the left) to see the Victoria Falls as we approached Livingstone so Heidi
and I were on the lookout. First, we saw a river running through a deep gorge
in the lush green landscape (we're at the end of the rainy season). We
surmised, correctly, that this was the Zambezi. Next, Heidi spotted a far
wider, "flatter" river at ground level, which was
obviously
the Zambezi. Then we saw a cloud coming from the gorge, indicating where the
falls descended into the gorge, and then the white lip marking the edge of the
falls viewed from the upper "flat" side. It was incredible, although we didn't
actually see the falling
water.
Stepping out of the plane onto the tarmac at Livingstone was wonderful. There was a lovely 30 degree heat, a very verdant seasonal African landscape (we'd never been to sub-Saharan Africa before but it seems so familiar) and the sort of International Arrivals terminal that flags that you have left the generic global metropolis.
In the Customs hall we alone, being properly prepared thanks to Paula, marched up to the "No Visa Required" line. The customs officer didn't have the paperwork in front of him, as he should have, to let us straight through but since we had copies he let me run through to the Arrival hall to find Alan, our host, who came back with me and sorted it out.
As we drove from the airport in Alan's Defender the sense of being in a different place strengthened even more. The school day here runs from 7:30 to around 2 pm and there were plenty of kids in uniform heading home in groups. There were guys sitting or lying languidly in the shade of teak trees to find respite from the early afternoon sun. And there really were women walking along nonchalantly balancing large baskets on the heads. The main street of Livingstone is colourful, while quite poor looking. Only about 20% of employable adults are in permanent employment, and although tourism around Livingstone is picking up at Zimbabwe's expense it is still a very poor place. Teachers, for example, earn about £20 per month.
(I did notice an internet cafe boasting WiFi on the way through so maybe this update will happen sooner than planned.)
We didn't stop in Livingstone but came straight out to our lodge. There is an area of national park between the town and the lodge, and while driving through this we saw, magically, a herd of maybe 20 elephant including a large male. This was something I had really been hoping to see and to come across them within 10 minutes of leaving the airport was incredible, and very auspicious. Apparently it's quite unusual to see them out there in the day.
The lodge is accessed along a 1 km dirt track just on the other side of the park and we were all delighted by it. It's set in around 100 acres of bush land angled between the Zambezi and one of its tributaries. It has a large and beautiful thatched roof - Alan tells us that the best thatching is done by Zimbabweans, and they did this. There is a lovely veranda outside and a plunge pool and a tree house by the banks of the Zambezi. We've been in the pool for a while, though Paula or I needs to be on the lookout for the large croc that apparently wanders along the banks of the tributary as close as 10~15m from the pool. If we see it we're under instruction to walk towards it as the girls flee the pool. If the worst comes to the worst it's only weak point is supposedly around the eyes.
We are hoping that we may see elephant or hippo from the veranda after dusk - both have been active here recently, and their footprints and dung remain as evidence. Although it's perhaps a little early, we just had a walk down to the river bank to look for hippo; we didn't see any yet but the grass is alive with various types of cricket and grasshopper, as well as some quite evil looking millipedes, and there are numerous birds such as green-backed heron. The background sound here is something else...
More soon. Ian
Stepping out of the plane onto the tarmac at Livingstone was wonderful. There was a lovely 30 degree heat, a very verdant seasonal African landscape (we'd never been to sub-Saharan Africa before but it seems so familiar) and the sort of International Arrivals terminal that flags that you have left the generic global metropolis.
In the Customs hall we alone, being properly prepared thanks to Paula, marched up to the "No Visa Required" line. The customs officer didn't have the paperwork in front of him, as he should have, to let us straight through but since we had copies he let me run through to the Arrival hall to find Alan, our host, who came back with me and sorted it out.
As we drove from the airport in Alan's Defender the sense of being in a different place strengthened even more. The school day here runs from 7:30 to around 2 pm and there were plenty of kids in uniform heading home in groups. There were guys sitting or lying languidly in the shade of teak trees to find respite from the early afternoon sun. And there really were women walking along nonchalantly balancing large baskets on the heads. The main street of Livingstone is colourful, while quite poor looking. Only about 20% of employable adults are in permanent employment, and although tourism around Livingstone is picking up at Zimbabwe's expense it is still a very poor place. Teachers, for example, earn about £20 per month.
(I did notice an internet cafe boasting WiFi on the way through so maybe this update will happen sooner than planned.)
We didn't stop in Livingstone but came straight out to our lodge. There is an area of national park between the town and the lodge, and while driving through this we saw, magically, a herd of maybe 20 elephant including a large male. This was something I had really been hoping to see and to come across them within 10 minutes of leaving the airport was incredible, and very auspicious. Apparently it's quite unusual to see them out there in the day.
The lodge is accessed along a 1 km dirt track just on the other side of the park and we were all delighted by it. It's set in around 100 acres of bush land angled between the Zambezi and one of its tributaries. It has a large and beautiful thatched roof - Alan tells us that the best thatching is done by Zimbabweans, and they did this. There is a lovely veranda outside and a plunge pool and a tree house by the banks of the Zambezi. We've been in the pool for a while, though Paula or I needs to be on the lookout for the large croc that apparently wanders along the banks of the tributary as close as 10~15m from the pool. If we see it we're under instruction to walk towards it as the girls flee the pool. If the worst comes to the worst it's only weak point is supposedly around the eyes.
We are hoping that we may see elephant or hippo from the veranda after dusk - both have been active here recently, and their footprints and dung remain as evidence. Although it's perhaps a little early, we just had a walk down to the river bank to look for hippo; we didn't see any yet but the grass is alive with various types of cricket and grasshopper, as well as some quite evil looking millipedes, and there are numerous birds such as green-backed heron. The background sound here is something else...
More soon. Ian
Posted: Tue - April 5, 2005 at 10:49 PM
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Published On: Feb 08, 2006 06:20 PM
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Published On: Feb 08, 2006 06:20 PM