Jun 28, 2012 - Day 6 Chipata to Lusaka Zambia

Left Mamarula's very early - first 200 KM a bumpy ride - We still had 4 jerry cans of fuel left over from Malawi and thank God for that as after passing several service stations with no power we where not able to refill. It was an interesting observation that needs consideration for the rest of the trip. Reached Lusaka after 560 KM by Lunch time - Nandos' was welcomed and introduced to the team.Sadik as always looking well after us. We are staying with good friends Mike and Tanya in Lusaka for a couple of days - surprisingly Italy won last...

Jun 28, 2012 - Day 5 Chintheche Lake Malawi to Chipata Zambia

We left lake morning from Chintheche - nice carpeted roads took us with high speed down the beautiful lake side, we then crossed in country and drove on our first peace of dirt road through a national park - amazing road all the way. Malawi stunned us by having absolutely no cars - we could drive for an hour before seeing anything using petrol. We did see thousands after thousands of people walking along the roads. Malawi surely the poorest country of all we have visited. Crossing into Zambia near Chipata was very easy. We spend the night...

May 14, 2012 - And again

Off again. Yesterday and today are simply travel days. The scenery changes for the first time in ages. Rolling hills with quite large trees – probably the densest forest cover we have seen. The small crops now include cotton, sorghum, peanuts, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, bananas and sunflowers. We stop so that Eunice can buy sweet potatoes from the locals. Also there is an increase of the stock on the road. Our drivers are always very careful when dealing with stock. You hit one and you have to pay the owners. A goat is worth...

Jan 29, 2012 - Zam

After leaving Victoria Falls we crossed the border into Zambia and began the East Africa leg of the trip. Our two new guides, Mike and Shadwile, described this as "true Africa" and told us to expect a change from the countries located in the south. As just one example, they warned us that it would be surprising if at least some of us didn't get sick during the remaining three weeks. We were also told that it's best not to expect anything. Don't expect to get your ATM card back out of the machine, don't expect fresh ingredients on a...

Nov 4, 2011 - Scary scary nites

October 31 We are in Zambia today. Short drive but we had to exit Malawi and enter Zambia, most happy for the guides at these times. The town we are in seems more prosperous than even the capital of Malawi, streets are clean and look planned with most houses with metal roofs. The campsite we’re in is just out of town and is manicured as in Mexico. Everyone is estatic as the pool is clean and the water cold. Now to plot a scary night.

Nov 2, 2011 - Chipata, Zambia

- Crossed over into Zambia today - Felt really ill, actually had to get them to stop the truck so that I could be sick - Road up front then with Jan for the rest of the journey which was actually much better, still felt terrible though. - Arrived at campsite mid-afternoon - spent afternoon sleeping/sitting/lying/feeling ill.

Oct 31, 2010 - Lilongwe - Mfuwe

Ca fait longtemps qu'on ne vous a pas raconté une petite journée de transport, donc voilà le trajet entre Lilongwe (Malawi) et Mfuwe (Zambie) où se trouve la réserve naturelle de South Luangwa. Dans le chaos d'une gare routière qui est en fait un énorme entassement de véhicules sur plusieurs terrains vagues, on trouve le minibus qui se rend à Chinje, la ville frontière côté malawien. Une fois rempli, le minibus se met en route, mais pas pour longtemps, car après 10min, on se fait arrêter pas la police, contrôle des papiers du véhicule. Et...

Oct 12, 2010 - Zambia | Lusaka naar Chipata

You can't change the world on your own Ook vandaag staat de wekker vroeg. Maar doordat het voor velen de eerste grote "verhuis" is, hebben we al heel wat vertraging. De zon is al op wanneer we de camping verlaten. We vertrekken richting Chipata. Lusaka wordt stilaan wakker. Aan de straatkant lopen kinderen in uniform naar school. Jongens vertrekken met de fiets naar het leger. Ook rijden we voorbij de universiteit van Lusaka. Het landschap van vandaag is helemaal anders dan gisteren. De droge velden worden hier en daar afgewisseld met...

Sep 16, 2010 - Chipembere School, kids, and unbelievable cuteness...

Okay, so Shaun and I were asked (by a school pinciple) to come visit his elementary school, and perhaps give "health talks". Hmmmmm..... It was a fun adventure, with the school a good 9km out of town. SO...the principle arranged for two boys to come pick us up on their bicycles, and we would get a ride on the back. I couldn't help start giggling when a 10-year old boy (and couldn't be over 80lb) indicated for Shaun to get on the back of his bike... It was SOOOOOOO funny, and I was giggling the whole way to the school. We were quite the...

Sep 10, 2010 - Outreach Nursing

After reading my last entry (Clinical Impressions and Depressions), I realize I have not painted the full picture. Our volunteer experience was not only in the district hospital, but also doing "outreach". Outreach was twice a week, and we would get picked up in a 4x4 vehicle, and head out into the grasslands with another local nurse. We would drive out to different villages each time, and sometimes these villages were remote (eg. 2 hours in the bush...some of the bridges were washed out and we'd have some fun off-roading adventures ;) When...

Sep 1, 2010 - Clinical Impressions (and Depressions)

July 19, 2010 We have met a lot of interesting people the past few weeks here in Lundazi. Shaun and I continue to work mon-fri at the District Hospital, which at times is very easy/boring and other times very challenging. I'm working the HIV out-patient Clinic right now, and Shaun's on the Mens Ward (Med/Surg) but will soon be in the Surgical Theater and then Maternity! Today we visited an elementary school. We ran into the Head Master last week, and he's asked us if we could come every week to talk to the kids and staff about Health and...

Jul 30, 2010 - Email update; Lundazi life

Hello my beloved friends, This is your long-lost friend sending smoke-signals to let you know we’re still alive and kickin’. Internet access is…well, let’s just say it’s a challenge here, as it’s at the mercy of so many variables (hydro being one of them!). I can’t remember when you last actually RECEIVED an email from me (I wrote one and tried sending it last month…but could not get my email working…I’ve put it below, for those who are really keen ;) So where to begin… No, I’ll summarize. Shaun and I are living in a Norman Castle...