Livingston, Zambia 28 August 2010
Since we got in so late last night we weren't able to check out the resort so immediately after eating at the super breakfast buffet we set off exploring. The Zambezi Sun is set up like a family resort with African drummers and dancers in reception, lots of sculptures of animals (giraffes, crocodiles, hippos) and many of the real animals roaming the area. The large semicircular pool is the center of the resort and surrounded by apartment style buildings. Our room looked out over the Zambezi river above Victoria Falls and occasionally baboons or other small monkeys would climb up and jump from balcony to balcony. There were signs everywhere to remind you to be careful with the wildlife- close your windows so the baboons don't get in your car, or watch your kids so the crocodiles don't eat them.
The resort also has an adventure center so visitors can book a walking or segway safari, go white water rafting below the falls, fly fishing, or bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls bridge. Most of the trips cost about $120 per person and my friend tried to schedule a fishing trip but the adventure center couldn't find a guide for the same day. I ended up walking out onto the victoria falls bridge to watch the bungee jumpers and continued on to Zimbabwe.
After clearing immigration I walked another two kilometers to the small resort town of Victoria Falls but along the road at regular intervals I would run into a street vendor. Each street vendor had a specific territory about 200 meters long and as i walked into each area the guy would walk up to me and try to sell me 100,000,000,000 (100 trillion) dollar notes. As I reached the end of his territory he would stop and another guy would greet me and begin again to try to sell me the same hyper-inflated currency notes. I couldn't tell if they were real or not as they had not seals or special markings like those of the neighboring currencies so i didn't buy any, despite the efforts of dozens of the vendors.
When I finally made it to my destination, a huge hotel at the edge of town, i registered for the Victoria Falls Half Marathon for the next morning. They were also running the full marathon and each event only cost $35 USD. The people running the event and most of the patrons were white, but there were several thin and fast looking africans trying to register as well. The races only cost $10 for the locals.
After i walked back across the frontier to Zambia i found my friend still trying to find a fishing guide and we ate some lunch at the poolside restraunt. Then we went on a short hike to Victoria Falls, an amazing waterfall where the wide Zambezi river plunges over 300 feet into a narrow canyon creating a huge column of mist that can be seen from miles away in the early morning light (its harder to see at midday). I was much more impressed by Victoria Falls than Niagra Falls which i visited three months ago. There were some local Africans fishing in waist-deep water just yards from the edge and others that would guide you across the river just a hundred yards from the edge to Livingston Island- both seemed too risky for me. There would be no way to survive a trip over the falls and apparently dozens of people go over every year.
My favorite view of the falls was from the knife's edge trail and bridge just below the falls to a huge ridge that is perpetually slick from the mist. There was a chain and a sparse railing to help you negotiate the slick surface, but there were plenty of areas where if you slipped there was nothing to stop you from enjoying a quick free fall to the rocks below.
The Knife's Edge is also home to many baboon families who live out of the garbage cans. I quickly discovered that they don't like a camera flash when i took a picture of a baby clinging upside down to her mother's belly and the daddy came after me and chased me up the trail.
After exploring we hung out at the pool and had a couple drinks before heading to dinner at a restraunt and watched the Manchester United game on a enormous nine square meter screen. The best meal i had at the resort was the grilled crocodile- it didn't taste like chicken, but is hard to describe.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Livingston, Zambia 27 August 2010
Livingston, Zambia 27 August 2010
I enjoyed the gross matinee this morning (sleeping in), until I realized that i was still an hour off due to the hour change. We had a great breakfast in the hotel and tried to find a flight to Livingston. Unfortunately, the guy at the hotel who helped arrange travel for the guests said that only flights available would cost $450 USD each way and the buses had already left for the day that would arrive before dark. That left was with renting a car and driver as the only option to get to Livingston by nightfall. The hotel dude arranged a driver and car for $550 USD, but when the car showed up three hours later (two hours late) we found out that we had to pay an addition $100 for the drivers food and expenses.
We finally got on the road around 2:30pm for the 500km drive to the far end of the country through some scenic country. Lots of little villagers made up of a circle of mud huts, some sprawling lush green farms with irrigation and sprinkler systems straight out of the Midwest, and lots of big trucks carrying huge crude copper ore ingots from the mines. We also ran into lots of cattle and police check points every 50km or so along the road. For the most part the roads were in great shape and we were able to cruise comfortably at 130km/hr in our new Toyota Landcruiser Prado. That was until it got dark out and the lights didn't work. The last 30 km to Livingston were pure torture as we couldn't see the edge of the road and whenever we saw a car coming towards us we had to turn on our hazard lights so they could see us.
By the time we finally got to the Zambezi Sun we were worn out. We checked in, got some dinner at the $40 USD per person buffet and fell asleep to the sounds of a local african band singing off tune covers of bob marley- "don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright."
I enjoyed the gross matinee this morning (sleeping in), until I realized that i was still an hour off due to the hour change. We had a great breakfast in the hotel and tried to find a flight to Livingston. Unfortunately, the guy at the hotel who helped arrange travel for the guests said that only flights available would cost $450 USD each way and the buses had already left for the day that would arrive before dark. That left was with renting a car and driver as the only option to get to Livingston by nightfall. The hotel dude arranged a driver and car for $550 USD, but when the car showed up three hours later (two hours late) we found out that we had to pay an addition $100 for the drivers food and expenses.
We finally got on the road around 2:30pm for the 500km drive to the far end of the country through some scenic country. Lots of little villagers made up of a circle of mud huts, some sprawling lush green farms with irrigation and sprinkler systems straight out of the Midwest, and lots of big trucks carrying huge crude copper ore ingots from the mines. We also ran into lots of cattle and police check points every 50km or so along the road. For the most part the roads were in great shape and we were able to cruise comfortably at 130km/hr in our new Toyota Landcruiser Prado. That was until it got dark out and the lights didn't work. The last 30 km to Livingston were pure torture as we couldn't see the edge of the road and whenever we saw a car coming towards us we had to turn on our hazard lights so they could see us.
By the time we finally got to the Zambezi Sun we were worn out. We checked in, got some dinner at the $40 USD per person buffet and fell asleep to the sounds of a local african band singing off tune covers of bob marley- "don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright."
Lusaka, Zambia 26 August 2010
Lusaka, Zambia 26 August 2010
After 55 hours we finally made it to our hotel in Lusaka from Dar Es Salaam. The Tazara train made it to Kapiri Imposhi at 1pm, but then we had to get to Lusaka before we could rest. It was starting to feel like an episode of the Amazing Race.
Luckily we met a local lady who adopted us and helped us make our connections to Lusaka. She caught a cab with us from the train station to the bus station about 5km away, then she waited with us and caught a bus to Lusaka together, and then we shared another cab from the Lusaka bus station to our hotel before she went on to her home. She was very helpful when at the Kapiri bus station local african started harassing us. She yelled at him to go away and called the attention of the security personnel in the orange vests when it was obvious that he was high and just wanted to cause a scene. Eventually the trouble maker was taken away by the security guys and he started a fight. The last i saw of him was a circle of orange vests surrounding the guy on the ground. Besides that minor incident we had no problems at all on our trip.
Until we got to Lusaka we didn't see any other muzungos. The people on the small 24 passenger bus weren't really sure what to think about us. They were very nice and Brad shared his pretzels with the kids and although we were tightly packed together it was a nice ride. Once we got to the city and people started getting off the bus bedlam ensued as one lady who had many large bags wasn't keeping track of them. When we got to her stop at the end of the trip she discovered she was missing a large bag and started yelling at the driver and doorman in Nyanja or some other local language. I couldn't make exactly what she was saying but it was clear she wasn't happy and held the bus people responsible. We quickly got into a cab and drove away before she made too big a of a scene.
We experienced a mini-culture shock when we walked into the lobby of the four-star hotel. We had gotten used to being among the locals and all of a sudden we walked into a room with marble floors where Africans were a distinct minority, everyone spoke English, and drinks were $5.00 USD. After three days on the train we were black with soot and pretty ripe but I appreciated the hot shower, electricity, and wifi. There was even a large outdoor pool, but it was too cold to swim. We indulged in a nice dinner at the hotel that cost 136,000 kwachas each and i was asleep by 9pm local time (somewhere on the train we crossed into a different time zone and didn't realize it until dinner- we had to wait an extra hour for the restraunt to open for dinner at 7pm).
After 55 hours we finally made it to our hotel in Lusaka from Dar Es Salaam. The Tazara train made it to Kapiri Imposhi at 1pm, but then we had to get to Lusaka before we could rest. It was starting to feel like an episode of the Amazing Race.
Luckily we met a local lady who adopted us and helped us make our connections to Lusaka. She caught a cab with us from the train station to the bus station about 5km away, then she waited with us and caught a bus to Lusaka together, and then we shared another cab from the Lusaka bus station to our hotel before she went on to her home. She was very helpful when at the Kapiri bus station local african started harassing us. She yelled at him to go away and called the attention of the security personnel in the orange vests when it was obvious that he was high and just wanted to cause a scene. Eventually the trouble maker was taken away by the security guys and he started a fight. The last i saw of him was a circle of orange vests surrounding the guy on the ground. Besides that minor incident we had no problems at all on our trip.
Until we got to Lusaka we didn't see any other muzungos. The people on the small 24 passenger bus weren't really sure what to think about us. They were very nice and Brad shared his pretzels with the kids and although we were tightly packed together it was a nice ride. Once we got to the city and people started getting off the bus bedlam ensued as one lady who had many large bags wasn't keeping track of them. When we got to her stop at the end of the trip she discovered she was missing a large bag and started yelling at the driver and doorman in Nyanja or some other local language. I couldn't make exactly what she was saying but it was clear she wasn't happy and held the bus people responsible. We quickly got into a cab and drove away before she made too big a of a scene.
We experienced a mini-culture shock when we walked into the lobby of the four-star hotel. We had gotten used to being among the locals and all of a sudden we walked into a room with marble floors where Africans were a distinct minority, everyone spoke English, and drinks were $5.00 USD. After three days on the train we were black with soot and pretty ripe but I appreciated the hot shower, electricity, and wifi. There was even a large outdoor pool, but it was too cold to swim. We indulged in a nice dinner at the hotel that cost 136,000 kwachas each and i was asleep by 9pm local time (somewhere on the train we crossed into a different time zone and didn't realize it until dinner- we had to wait an extra hour for the restraunt to open for dinner at 7pm).
Book Review "Into Africa, A Guide to Sub-Saharan Culture and Diversity"
Book Review "Into Africa, A Guide to Sub-Saharan Culture and Diversity" by Yale Richmond and Phyliss Gestrin.
I wish i had gotten this book before i arrived in Africa as it has some much practical advice and explanations for how things are done and why. I guess i can appreciate it now as well as see many of the mistakes i have made after living on the continent for almost two months.
Salient point for me include how important it is for Africans to develop a relationship and learn about each other (and renew those acquaintances) before anything else is done or discussed. As a typical Westerner i haven't allocated enough time to building relationships with the people i see each day and am always in a rush to somewhere.
The book also refers to African Standard Time, where the Africans come from a life controlled by seasons or lunar calendars so their sense of time is different. Coupled with the importance they give to relationships they may be late often as it is important for them to renew their relationship with their friend of family member they encounter along the way. This reminds me of "Hawaiian Time" and how laid back the hawaiians were back on the islands. They also placed a great deal of importance on their relationships with others and would love to stop and chat and were often late for appointments or school. It was a hard adjustment for me to move from Hawaii to the East Coast after three years.
"Into Africa" also has lots of practical advice for business, negotiating, and dealing with the government as well as running meetings and workshops. The book explains the difference between francophone and anglophone Africans and suggests different approaches for dealing with both. It has helped me understand better the diversity of Africans and i hope change my attitudes and behaviors.
I wish i had gotten this book before i arrived in Africa as it has some much practical advice and explanations for how things are done and why. I guess i can appreciate it now as well as see many of the mistakes i have made after living on the continent for almost two months.
Salient point for me include how important it is for Africans to develop a relationship and learn about each other (and renew those acquaintances) before anything else is done or discussed. As a typical Westerner i haven't allocated enough time to building relationships with the people i see each day and am always in a rush to somewhere.
The book also refers to African Standard Time, where the Africans come from a life controlled by seasons or lunar calendars so their sense of time is different. Coupled with the importance they give to relationships they may be late often as it is important for them to renew their relationship with their friend of family member they encounter along the way. This reminds me of "Hawaiian Time" and how laid back the hawaiians were back on the islands. They also placed a great deal of importance on their relationships with others and would love to stop and chat and were often late for appointments or school. It was a hard adjustment for me to move from Hawaii to the East Coast after three years.
"Into Africa" also has lots of practical advice for business, negotiating, and dealing with the government as well as running meetings and workshops. The book explains the difference between francophone and anglophone Africans and suggests different approaches for dealing with both. It has helped me understand better the diversity of Africans and i hope change my attitudes and behaviors.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tazara day 2
Tazara train to Zambia, 25 August 2010
We crossed from Tanzania to Zambia around 6pm. There weren't any signs welcoming us to the new country, our only indication that we had actually crossed the frontier was a boy holding a handmade net attached to a post and a policeman standing next to him who was wearing a different uniform. The Tanzanian customs officials who had stamped our passports DEPART had gotten off at the previous stop and the train was full of people calling out "change" as they roamed the corridors. We exchanged $100 USD for 420,000 kwachas and bought some simosas (triangle shaped pastries filled with mystery meat) from the vendors who swarmed the exterior of the train. I bought a visa for Zambia for $50 USD- since we are in first class the customs officials came to our cabin.
This trip has been very enjoyable and scenic. A steward brings all our meals to our cabin and the washroom is just a few doors down. If we want a drink or snack there is a snack bar in the next car. A couple police officers are in the last car of the train and they patrol the first class cars, and have been more alert since we crossed into Zambia.
It's been hard to tear my eyes away from the window. The landscape has been awesome and ever changing. The villages have changed their shape and building materials (cement vs red clay bricks, tin roofs vs straw) and its great to get a glimpse of people in their normal lives. In some towns the women are washing the clothes in the creek and spreading them out to dry on the rocks, in another area some women had dug a pit in a dry river bed and were using buckets to scoop up water to carry back to their homes.
It's also been interesting to see the brick making process as we fly by on the train. In one area people are mixing the clay and putting it into forms. Next to that another person is stacking the dried grey bricks into a tower with ports at the bottom and an open center area. In another area someone is jamming wood into the ports under the bricks and covering the tower of bricks with clay. When it's all sealed up, they light the fires under the bricks and start them cooking. Further down one can see some clay towers that were broken into and the reddish-orange bricks inside.
One great thing is that everywhere we go the children are excited to see us. If they can get close to the train when we stop they will run alongside it calling for water bottles or soap in Kiswahili. Whenever we stick our heads out the window they would cheer excitedly "muzungo!". Even in the villages the kids would hear the train coming and run to the edge of the village and wave as we rushed by. Even some of the adults will break into a smile and wave if you waved at them.
Very few muzungos are left on the train now. Most had gotten off for safari in a national park or in one of the larger cities before we left Tanzania. The missionaries got off the train around 4:30 this morning for a four hour truck ride into the mountains to get to their compound. I think only the Russians and us are all thats left.
Another interesting aspect to the train is how it serves as the local marketplace and gives villagers in remote places an opportunity to sell their goods. The Africans in the car next to us have been on a shopping frenzy; at one stop they bought two huge sacks of potatoes, then at the next stop a huge sack of rice that must have weighed at least 20 kilos. They must travel this route a lot because sometimes people will walk right up to their window, talk a bit in Kiswahili then exchange the heavy sacks for some cash. Even at 3am, the locals are waiting for the train and are selling everything from chicken to sugar cane. In the larger settlements they even have the duty free shops with people selling cookies and perfumes.
Unfortunately some of the other great cross-border train routes have stopped operation and probably at a great loss to the local economies sustained by train travelers. I was hoping to take the Dakar-Bamako train but it has been out of operation for three years now. There are still some train services like the Rovos which travels all over the continent, but a luxury price. The trip from Johannesburg to Cairo would be amazing, but costs $45,000 for the "economy" ticket. I am very happy with my $50 USD (70,000 Tanzanian shillings) ticket.
We crossed from Tanzania to Zambia around 6pm. There weren't any signs welcoming us to the new country, our only indication that we had actually crossed the frontier was a boy holding a handmade net attached to a post and a policeman standing next to him who was wearing a different uniform. The Tanzanian customs officials who had stamped our passports DEPART had gotten off at the previous stop and the train was full of people calling out "change" as they roamed the corridors. We exchanged $100 USD for 420,000 kwachas and bought some simosas (triangle shaped pastries filled with mystery meat) from the vendors who swarmed the exterior of the train. I bought a visa for Zambia for $50 USD- since we are in first class the customs officials came to our cabin.
This trip has been very enjoyable and scenic. A steward brings all our meals to our cabin and the washroom is just a few doors down. If we want a drink or snack there is a snack bar in the next car. A couple police officers are in the last car of the train and they patrol the first class cars, and have been more alert since we crossed into Zambia.
It's been hard to tear my eyes away from the window. The landscape has been awesome and ever changing. The villages have changed their shape and building materials (cement vs red clay bricks, tin roofs vs straw) and its great to get a glimpse of people in their normal lives. In some towns the women are washing the clothes in the creek and spreading them out to dry on the rocks, in another area some women had dug a pit in a dry river bed and were using buckets to scoop up water to carry back to their homes.
It's also been interesting to see the brick making process as we fly by on the train. In one area people are mixing the clay and putting it into forms. Next to that another person is stacking the dried grey bricks into a tower with ports at the bottom and an open center area. In another area someone is jamming wood into the ports under the bricks and covering the tower of bricks with clay. When it's all sealed up, they light the fires under the bricks and start them cooking. Further down one can see some clay towers that were broken into and the reddish-orange bricks inside.
One great thing is that everywhere we go the children are excited to see us. If they can get close to the train when we stop they will run alongside it calling for water bottles or soap in Kiswahili. Whenever we stick our heads out the window they would cheer excitedly "muzungo!". Even in the villages the kids would hear the train coming and run to the edge of the village and wave as we rushed by. Even some of the adults will break into a smile and wave if you waved at them.
Very few muzungos are left on the train now. Most had gotten off for safari in a national park or in one of the larger cities before we left Tanzania. The missionaries got off the train around 4:30 this morning for a four hour truck ride into the mountains to get to their compound. I think only the Russians and us are all thats left.
Another interesting aspect to the train is how it serves as the local marketplace and gives villagers in remote places an opportunity to sell their goods. The Africans in the car next to us have been on a shopping frenzy; at one stop they bought two huge sacks of potatoes, then at the next stop a huge sack of rice that must have weighed at least 20 kilos. They must travel this route a lot because sometimes people will walk right up to their window, talk a bit in Kiswahili then exchange the heavy sacks for some cash. Even at 3am, the locals are waiting for the train and are selling everything from chicken to sugar cane. In the larger settlements they even have the duty free shops with people selling cookies and perfumes.
Unfortunately some of the other great cross-border train routes have stopped operation and probably at a great loss to the local economies sustained by train travelers. I was hoping to take the Dakar-Bamako train but it has been out of operation for three years now. There are still some train services like the Rovos which travels all over the continent, but a luxury price. The trip from Johannesburg to Cairo would be amazing, but costs $45,000 for the "economy" ticket. I am very happy with my $50 USD (70,000 Tanzanian shillings) ticket.
Tazara Train
Tazara Train to Zambia, 24 August 2010
We boarded the Tazara train to Zambia at 15:30 and departed the train station at exactly 15:50 as scheduled. We bought all the bunks in a four berth first class cabin on the train for comfort and to minimize the chances we would get stuck with bad company. When we had told others of our grand plan to ride the rails to Livingston most laughed or told us we were crazy. Some told us to look out for robbers or thieves and the one person who had taken the train years ago told us about how one of the bunks in his cabin had been used for "professional purposes."
We were surrounded by muzungos in our first class car, except for the one cabin next to who us which must have housed VIPs because police officers kept stopping in to say hi and talk in Swahili and they got fed before everyone else. Two cars up was the lounge car with a bar stocked with plenty of beer, sodas, and water. Beyond that was the second class cars with six berths per room, and in front of that the cattle cars with open seating and regular seats like on a plane. I think there were only three first class cars on the 20 car train with the majority of cars carrying economy passengers.
The scenery for the ride was amazing with distant mountains and little villages everywhere. Since we were on the express train we didn't stop as much, but did stop occasionally and were instantly swarmed by locals selling bananas, plantains, fruits, and fried chicken. Four hours into our trip we stopped for 15 minutes to allow a huge group of tourists dismount with their expedition size backpacks and join a safari group heading into a game park. Their empty cabins were immediately occupied by German backpackers with their equally large backpacks.
Dinner was served in our cabin at 9pm I had some chewy grisly meat with rice while brad ate the fried chicken and rice. The meal wasn't half bad and only cost us 7,400 shillings. The steward cleaned the plates by holding them out the window and allowing the wind to clean the plates.
I was surprised to see the number of fires burning in the countryside and even though we seer miles from any towns smoke was still thick in the air. The bright orange and red flames stood out in the pale moonlight. Luckily we had a full moon so we could still see some of the landscape as we traveled in the dark night.
We boarded the Tazara train to Zambia at 15:30 and departed the train station at exactly 15:50 as scheduled. We bought all the bunks in a four berth first class cabin on the train for comfort and to minimize the chances we would get stuck with bad company. When we had told others of our grand plan to ride the rails to Livingston most laughed or told us we were crazy. Some told us to look out for robbers or thieves and the one person who had taken the train years ago told us about how one of the bunks in his cabin had been used for "professional purposes."
We were surrounded by muzungos in our first class car, except for the one cabin next to who us which must have housed VIPs because police officers kept stopping in to say hi and talk in Swahili and they got fed before everyone else. Two cars up was the lounge car with a bar stocked with plenty of beer, sodas, and water. Beyond that was the second class cars with six berths per room, and in front of that the cattle cars with open seating and regular seats like on a plane. I think there were only three first class cars on the 20 car train with the majority of cars carrying economy passengers.
The scenery for the ride was amazing with distant mountains and little villages everywhere. Since we were on the express train we didn't stop as much, but did stop occasionally and were instantly swarmed by locals selling bananas, plantains, fruits, and fried chicken. Four hours into our trip we stopped for 15 minutes to allow a huge group of tourists dismount with their expedition size backpacks and join a safari group heading into a game park. Their empty cabins were immediately occupied by German backpackers with their equally large backpacks.
Dinner was served in our cabin at 9pm I had some chewy grisly meat with rice while brad ate the fried chicken and rice. The meal wasn't half bad and only cost us 7,400 shillings. The steward cleaned the plates by holding them out the window and allowing the wind to clean the plates.
I was surprised to see the number of fires burning in the countryside and even though we seer miles from any towns smoke was still thick in the air. The bright orange and red flames stood out in the pale moonlight. Luckily we had a full moon so we could still see some of the landscape as we traveled in the dark night.
New cell phone
Dar Es Salaam, 23 August 2010
We mostly hung out in Dar today and took it easy. We got the hotel reservations set up for Lusaka, Victoria Falls, and Lilongwe and tried to get ready for the long train ride from Dar to Livingston, Zambia. The trip is expected to take 40 hours if we don't break down, if we do break down this trip make take several days.
I also bought a new cell phone, a Samsung dual line touch screen phone for 400,000 shillings and got it hooked up for data so i can hit facebook, Twitter, the Internet, and my emails. I chose vodacom for my service and usually it costs 1 shilling per second, but six times as much for a call to the states.
After dinner we cruised out to a shopping center on the beach and enjoyed ice cream cones while we watched the sun set. Tanzania and Dar Es Salaam are amazing and very peaceful. I definitely want to come back for an extended stay in the future.
We mostly hung out in Dar today and took it easy. We got the hotel reservations set up for Lusaka, Victoria Falls, and Lilongwe and tried to get ready for the long train ride from Dar to Livingston, Zambia. The trip is expected to take 40 hours if we don't break down, if we do break down this trip make take several days.
I also bought a new cell phone, a Samsung dual line touch screen phone for 400,000 shillings and got it hooked up for data so i can hit facebook, Twitter, the Internet, and my emails. I chose vodacom for my service and usually it costs 1 shilling per second, but six times as much for a call to the states.
After dinner we cruised out to a shopping center on the beach and enjoyed ice cream cones while we watched the sun set. Tanzania and Dar Es Salaam are amazing and very peaceful. I definitely want to come back for an extended stay in the future.
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