Blogs from Eastern Province, Zambia, Africa

Geo: -13.1339, 27.8493Getting adjusted to the rhythm of Wildlife Camp. Did our walk while it was still cool. Mago is still in the chalet area. Herman showed us the new "hide" he has built over near the restaurant. He thinks during the dry season there will be a lot of activity there. He also told us there had been 5 lions near his house last night but they did not come down to the campsite.Told us the Zambian government is going to allow 24 lions to be killed at $100,000 each if we understood correctly. The money is supposed to help the community but he is not sure if it really will.Went back to the camp and fixed a nice lunch of green beans and potatoes and a salad and were eating lunch when a beautiful ... read more

Although we've done lots of safaris, this was our first night game drive. It's a whole different experience. The South Luangwa NP is reputed to have the best guides anywhere in Zambia, and it was certainly the case with our guide, Riva. He has been doing this for over 13 years, and knows the park and the animals very well. The driver from our lodge tagged along to help with the spot light. Yes, spot lights are permitted, but we must exit the park by 21:00, so animals get a respite from human activity. The park is known for the large herds of buffalo that congregate in the dry season, and is the best for spotting leapoards. The drive started at 16:00 and we saw the usual suspects - Baboons, Hippos, Impala, Water Buck, and also ... read more

Had a surprisingly good sleep at the un-Conde Nast guest house in Kasesha. Only woke up when the bus I'd arrived in started tooting it's horn at 05:00 to tell anyone who'd come over from Zambia to hop on, since it was going back to Sambuwanga. Went to the Tanzanian border at 06:00 in the dark. Last night when I'd asked what time the Zambian border opened, I was told 06:00. But, the guard at the Tanzanian side convinced me to go back to bed and come back when there was light. I followed his common sense advice. I went again at 07:15 and woke up the Zambian immigration official in his quarters. I didn't want to miss any rides into Mbala, since there's no regular bus service. Hitch hiking was the only option. Hitching in ... read more

Kafukufuku (n): The fabulous Tumbuka word for “survey” and the primary reason behind my relative business/blog silence in the last few weeks. As I’ve mentioned before I am here to help out with the mid-term evaluation of a CARE project looking at the integration of HIV/AIDS and family planning services, as well as the use of behavior change communication methods to address norms and beliefs around reproductive health and gender. To carry out that evaluation I’ve worked very closely with the M&E Officer here in Lundazi (Brian) to train research assistants, identify a sample, oversee data collection, and enter and clean data. Though Brian and I did not conduct any of the interviews ourselves, the 20 days of data collection were still somehow quite taxing. We spent long days and weekends out in Mwase Lundazi, organizing ... read more

A true adventurer I am not. Though I love the experience of living in new places it is not the thrill of discovery that keeps me coming back, but the feeling of comfort that comes with having settled in a foreign environment. With each new temporary life I build, I confirm something I should have admitted to a long time ago: that I live for the establishment of routine. And so it is that I happily report the very boring and every day accomplishments that have helped me weave my own pattern of life in Lundazi. The first of the successes was liberating myself from the paved road. Lundazi has only one of these, and in my first few days of living here I could pretty much only get myself from one point to another if ... read more