Football With The Locals

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Day 20 - Chipata (Zambia) - 18/8/09

Today, we were crossing the boarder into our 4th country, Zambia. Before this we stopped in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, for a few supplies for the journey. Me, Cat, Duncan, Kane, Emma, Erin and Brodie all went for breakfast in a local hotel. It was only 1000 and Duncan and Me were all ready hitting the Carlsberg! A sign perhaps? The staff really messed up the order with parts of everybody’s orders coming out at different times. Having brought our souvenirs and supplies from the supermarket, we all bundled back into the truck for the drive out of Malawi and into Zambia. The border was a ramshackle affair; the building we got stamped out of Malawi was ok looking but the building were we went to get stamped into Zambia, was no more then a few huts. Getting stamped into Zambia was a problem as well as I wasn’t on his list, he must have been given an old list. He wouldn’t believe I was meant to be on the tour and Moses had to come and sort everything out then when I thought all the problems were over he questioned how many days I was going to be in Zambia; three I said, he was no you are going to be here for longer and gave me seven; really got no idea what that was all about.

From the boarder it was only a short distance to the campsite. We arrived to a campsite that hadn’t been finished yet; there were loads of half built building. As well as this there were loads of other problems like the toilets didn’t flush, sometimes the showers wouldn’t work and later as we found out there was a lack of Mosi beer in the fridge! Apparently this wasn’t the campsite we were meant to camp at and we were never told why we where here. It was the first campsite on the trip that I hated but it provided me with one of my favourite moments so far. Behind the campsite was the training ground for a local football team. We pushed the big white gates open and just watched them train; there were in the middle of a training session. The coach called us over and allowed as to take part. I was dead within 20 minutes; I mean these kids were running rings round all of us; they are only 15 and 16 years old and are already so strong and quick. The coach was telling me that the campsite sponsor the team, that is second in the league and have a squad full of Zambian schoolboy internationals. He pointed out the ones that he reckoned had what it would take to become full internationals. After the training session had finished they all gathered in a big circle and said a prayer. In this prayer they included us, wishing us a safe journey though Zambia and Africa and wished that Harry's knee would heal up as he had a pretty bad cut on it. It was so good to get a feeling of being invited into the community and taking an active part of it.

Day 21 - Lusaka - 19/8/09

Today is the first day I have wondered why I’m here. Been feeling quite depressed; missing my girlfriend, parents, home, feel like we are just passing though places without really experiencing them. It also didn’t help that this morning I took down and rolled up my tent with my sunglasses still in them! Bollocks! I think the majority of people struggled today in one way or another. I simply passed the time by sticking my iPod on and sticking my head out of the window; enjoying the fresh air running though my hair. We stopped off at a shopping mall just outside Lusaka, with the way I was feeling, it was like I was back home; Me, Duncan and Cat had a beer, I brought a book and postcard and got some last minute money out. The campsite was a lot nicer then the one in Chipata (that’s not really that difficult), it even has a swimming pool (with water in it, not like Chipata.) Played some pool, drunk some beer and crashed out, a normal evening. The only positive on a rather depressing day is that my sunglasses didn’t smash, they only got slightly bent and James was able to unbend them. Result!

Day 22 - Livingstone - 20/8/09

Today, we were setting off relatively early heading towards the national park in Livingstone, where we would be camping. In the truck there was a positive vibe as we headed closer to Victoria Falls. The truck journey was again like all the others; long, boring and tedious, much music was listened to and card games played. We rolled though little towns which then gave way to dirt and dusty bush; just like the scenery in Tanzania. Eventually, we rolled into Livingstone; mainly to allow some people to change money into $US for use in Zimbabwe. Only having an hour, the first thing me and Tom did was to go halves on a 70cl bottle of vodka, halves being £1.50 each! I was getting hassled by hawkers trying to sell me old Zimbabwean currency; I plumped for a nice 5,000,000,000 note in exchange for 4,000 Zambian Kwacha's (50p). Ten minutes later we rocked up at The Waterfront, which was our campsite for the night; it was stunning the bar overlooked the Zambezi.

Day 23 - Victoria Falls - 21/8/09

Woke up aching everywhere. Last night turned into a bit of a big night! We paid $45US to go on a booze cruise down the Zambezi River. It was awesome! Everybody made an effort, getting dressed up, the guys in shirts and jeans (though I went for a pair of shorts) and the ladies were wearing dresses. As soon as the ship had left to dock we pilled into the free booze at an alarming rate; probably nothing the people running it haven’t seen before but still. Everybody was ordering 6 vodka cokes at a time and leaving the one people weren’t drinking on the tables for when they had finished. The scenery was stunning (though probably not appreciated fully!) especially watching the sun setting over the Zambezi. Two hours later we were back on dry land and the party carried on; drinking and dancing was the order of the day. This is when my memory fails me, apparently when I reached the shore; the use of my legs failed me, falling over every 5 minutes! I even almost fell into an electric fence designed to keep elephants out of the campsite. During the night I discovered that I had managed to lose all my cards but not my wallet. Luckily, the cards turned up at reception in the morning! When Kane and Emma tried to help me back to my tent, I fell into Anna's tent and decided that I like this tent and tried to stay there. It wasn’t only me that was quite wasted; Eve fell into a ditch and was covered in mud and Damien was convinced that somebody wanted a fight with him and wouldn’t let go of an empty vodka bottle.

As for what actually happened today, before we crossed the boarder went into Victoria Falls National Park and admired the views. They were brill, it was also good because it was so hot and the spray from the falls helped to cool me down. Well worth the $10US to do it. We crossed the boarder and headed towards the campsite which wasn’t too far away but before we got there we had to go to the Africa Travel Company office, book and pay for the activities we wanted to do. I picked White Water Rafting (which the majority of the truck did) on Saturday and a Bungee Jump (bearing in mind that I’m scared of heights!). We walked down to the campsite and put our tents up for the final time on the trip, had dinner and then spent some quality time at the bar.

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Photos

Zebras During The Night
They Came Right Up To Our Tent

Elmo!!!
Or Harry In His Sleeping Bag

Victoria Falls
Zambian Side ,,,,