NEW HOME IN KALOMO, ZAMBIA

At 7:30 tomorrow morning I'm taking a bus about 5 hours south to Kalomo where I will be living for the next part of my stay. Kalomo is a small village in southern Zambia, situated on the main road between Lusaka and Livingstone. I'm looking forward to getting out from behind the walls of Lusaka and living a little village life again! Internet and other forms of communication will be harder to come by, but will work to keep the blog as up to date as possible!

VIDEO OF THE ZAMBEZI RIVER - ZAMBIA

VIDEO OF THE ZAMBEZI

THE ZAMBEZI RIVER - ZAMBIA

You can see holes in the sides of the cliffs where birds make their nest.

Sunset over Zimbabwe.

Hippos swimming in the Zambezi.

On our last night in Livingstone our immersion group took a river cruise up the Zambezi...above Victoria Falls.

Pictured are Brother Mike Burke (South Africa / Zambia), Adrian White & Don O'Leary (Ireland), Ruben Comotto Basanta (Uruguay), Sister Deb Nelson (USA) & Mariela Pilar Uberti Serrat (Uruguay)

VICTORIA FALLS - ZAMBIA CENTRAL AFRICA

The immersion group in front of Victoria Falls.

In this photo you can see people standing on the Zimbabwe side of the falls. They get a better view this time of year.

We visited the falls during the very dry season, so there isn't much water flowing right now. After the rainy season the whole wall to the right would have water flowing over it. Now there is only water on the Zimbabwe side.

The bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders) is on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The falls are, by some measures, the largest waterfall in the world.

Victoria Falls is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, the claim that it is the largest is based on a width of 1 mile and height of 360 feet, forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world.

The unusual form of Victoria Falls enables virtually the whole width of the falls to be viewed face-on, at the same level as the top, from as close as 200 ft, because the whole Zambezi River drops into a deep, narrow chasm, connected to the long series of gorges. Few other waterfalls allow such a close approach on foot.

VICTORIA FALLS GORGES

These are photos of the gorges below Victoria Falls. The walls of the gorges are nearly vertical and generally about 400 ft high.

Over at least 100,000 years, the falls have been receding upstream through the gorges eroding the sandstone-filled cracks to form the various gorges. The river has fallen in different eras into different chasms which now form a series of sharply zig-zagging gorges downstream from the falls. Some of the gorges each represents a past site of the falls at a time when they fell into one long straight chasm as they do now. Their sizes indicate that we are not living in the age of the widest ever falls.

GAME RESERVE NEAR LIVINGSTONE

Our vehicle got stuck in the sand very near this rhino, so we all had to get out and push. Once the vehicle was unstuck it couldn't stop until it was out of the deep sand and we had to run after it. I kept my eye on the rhino the whole time...luckily it stayed put!!!!

Two girafts eating leaves from the trees. They are hard to see because it was dusk and the light wasn't very good anymore.


Head of a wild bore peeking from behind a bush.

Baboon photos

A mother baboon holding her baby along the roadside near Livingtone

Monkeys

Baby monkey

GAME REFUGE NEAR LIVINGSTON - Monkey Video

Chase, I took these pictures and video of the monkeys for you. I know you asked me to bring a monkey back for you, but this is probably as good as you'll get!!!!

As we entered the game reserve there were several monkeys playing by the riverside. I kept getting closer to take these videos until the mother monkey thought I had gotten too close. She started to come after me and I consider myslef very lucky that I didn't get a monkey bite that day! However, my family says that they wouldn't be surprised to find out that I got bit by a monkey...guess I have a bit of a reputation with animals!

FINAL DAYS OF ISC IMMERSION

This is the lodge I shared with Mariela and you can see the outdoor shower with the thatched fence to the left.

Each lodge had both an indoor bathroom and the option of an outdoor shower. These are photos of our outdoor shower.

The beds had mosquito nets around them which I was greatful for. It seemed all sorts of wild life was able to get into the lodge. We were visited by several frogs, lizards, insects and hunting spiders.

We completed the last few days of the immersion traveling to Livingstone in the southern province of Zambia. The drive took most of the day and a lot of the road is practically undrivable. The pavement was completely giving way to huge potholes that had to be dodged! We talked of how the view of this road would look from overhead with vehicles swerving to the more drivable parts of the road...which often meant driving on the opposite shoulder! The view from above must look like there is total chaos on that stretch of the highway.

While in Livingstone we stayed at the Livingstone Safari Lodge deep into the bush. We were able to see some of the natural beauty of the country. We visited a museum, the famous Victoria Falls and the gorges of the Zambezi River. We also took a river cruise up the great Zambezi and drove through a game reserve to search out some of Zambia's wild life. The only disappointment was not seeing any elephants, but we were in their natural habitat and not a zoo...which is what makes a safari so special! I was lucky enough to see a whole elephant heard on my way to Kaoma, but the rest of the group was a bit disappointed not to see any.

WORMS...YUMMY!!!!!!

Friday was also a day for the group to try some of the African food. I had already eaten such things as nishima, rape, country chicken, etc. However, the brothers had a new dish for us to sample. As we walked through the markets we saw baskets full of dried worms and on our trip to the market on Wednesday we were given the assignment to purchase some of the worms. Well, the African cook at ISC prepared them for our dinner. Yes, I did try them and I thought they tasted horrible!!!! And come to find out that Br. Mike (who by the way is from S. Africa) has never gotten up the courage to try a worm yet. The next day when we visited a craft market we took the left over worms for some of the marketeers that Br. Mike knew. They were so excited to get them and wished we would have brought more!

Day 6 - ISC IMMERSION RETREAT

Zambia artists performing some of the native tribal dances.

On Friday day 6 of the retreat we decided to mostly stay at the retreat center. It was the day after Zambia's presidential elections and there was possibility of some unrest throughout the country when election results were released. We were going to visit a compound in the morning, but received word that there was trouble brewing in the compound and it may not be safe to visit. Zambia is mostly a peaceful country...it is one of the few African countries that has not had civil war. However, because of the continuous decline of the country and corruption in the government many people were hoping for change and had a lot invested in this election. Luckily, there were no major outbreaks of violence.

We did venture out on Friday evening to watch some dancers perform native tribal dances. Two members of the dance troupe were Darius and Raphael...the two young men whose homes we visited in one of the compounds on day 1. They were scheduled to come to ISC to perform personally for us, but because we were a small group we chose to go see them perform at a Lusaka hotel. It turned out to be a profound experience for us to go and see them perform at a very fancy hotel. We had visited their homes and saw where they lived and we realized that we were watching the performance with different eyes than the rest of the audience. The performance took place during a very nice meal where you could eat as much as you wanted. The hotel environment was beautiful...and we knew what the performers were going home to after they finished dancing. The contrast was heartbreaking.

Photo of the compound where the dancers returned following their performance.