Zambian Adventures

I recently got to go spend a month in Zambia! I really do enjoy the Eastern side of Africa and I love when I am given the opportunity to visit. 

I got to see 3 different sides of Zambia:

                  Lusaka the city
                    Petauke which is out near the villages 
                  Livingstone a tourist destination

In Abidjan we have no western style business, Lusaka actually has several.  Soooo I partook in a little bit of shopping had coffee in an actual coffee shop and ate my first steak in like over a year! I also was excited to go to a movie theater and have popcorn. I actually got to see the Captain America movie and the new Spiderman movie before it’s out on iTunes or DVD!

All western treats aside, I really enjoyed my time In Lusaka.  I was given the opportunity to learn about both Zambian and African Culture. I made some new friends and tired new foods like grasshoppers and caterpillars for the first time (maybe the last time).

Top is a Grasshopper,Bottom is Caterpillar
 

Out in the village I can’t even begin to describe how awesome the night sky is. I lived in a bush camp for over a week and then spend 3 days with a Zambian family.  I was given the opportunity to meet a Chieftess which was actually really cool and also a few headman of the village. The women in the village taught me how to fetch water and then carry it back on my head. We did this twice a day, it’s a bit of a workout.   I also learned how to kill a chicken and prepare it for dinner. Somehow that night I was given the honor of eating the chickens FACE which did not really feel like an honor at the time. I was a little too close for comfort to snakes and a tarantula and I encounter a bat in the bathroom on my second night at camp. I then spent the rest of the nights praying that the bathroom would be bat free.  It was actually a little frightening.   So I survived village life but it reconfirmed that while it’s a cool place to visit I really do prefer city living! 

The Home of the Chieftess

 

My nieces for the week, sweet girls

Making Peanut Butter

            
      

 

 

Out in the Village

 

My host family in the Village these are amazing people!

Livingstone is a must visit to anyone wanting to spend some time in Africa. It is the home of Victoria Falls and named by the Scottish Missionary David Livingstone.  The amount of water that is coming off these falls is incredible. The mist coming off it is incredible too the locals call the falls, The Smoke that Thunders.

The Smoke that Thunders

At the top of the Falls. You can see the mist from far away!

 

While in Livingstone I lived a little dangerously and Zip Lined across the gorge and also did the Gorge Swing. The Gorge Swing was a 54M pure Free Fall drop into the gouge and then you swing back and forth. So much fun!  A last minute spontaneous decision had me riding an elephant through the bush before the Sunset on the Zambezi River.  So needless to say I loved Zambia and hope to make it back one day.  

The Zip Line

 

Gorge Swing

 

Elephant Ride

Sunset on the Zambezi River