I did not
steal the goat!
Zambia is about one-tenth the size
of Australia with a population of 10 million.
Sunday 10 Nov.
Crossing into Zambia turn up to be a piece of cake, a visa was not even required,
likely as I did not have one anyway. I rode the remaining sixty kms to Livingstone,
stopping on the way to The River Club, an exclusive club for the well off,
I was told of
this
place by Liz Gow, a volunteer from World Vision, who used to work there and
had told them of my visit. I was welcome by Claire, manager of the place, after
a quick chat, I could not believe my ears when she offered me to stay for a
night, free of charge, I thought that the next day been my birthday that it
would be very appropriate, so it was all arranged for the following afternoon.
That
night I stayed at Fawlty towers, a cheap backpacker. I meet Carolyn and Marc,
a Dutch couple working in a mission for a year as volunteers, 400kms away. We
arranged that I would visit the mission in a few days.
Monday
11 Nov.
Livingstone is the town just a short distance north of where the Zambezi River
drops over the world-famous Victoria Falls. The Zambezi River widens to 1.7km
and then plunges 107m into the Zambezi Gorge. The volume of the water is estimated
at around 545 million liters per minute in the rainy season, but at the moment
it's the dry season, so this morning there is not so much water but the views
are still magnificent, I spent about 4 hours exploring the site, even swimming
at the top of the Falls (see photo) .
In the afternoon, I rode back to the River Club where I was served lunch, outside,
over looking the mighty Zambezi River.
My room is also over looking the river, from where you can spot the hippos and
crocodiles, there is no windows, it's all open with only a mosquito net over
the bed, and even the bathroom is in the open.
At 4.30, afternoon tea is served, for the other eight guests and yours truly,
followed with a cruise on the river to observe the wild life and the sunset,
of course aperitif and hors d'oeuvres are served along the way.
At 7.30, it's time for dinner which is served in the formal dining room, what
am I going to wear? I am sure the others will be wearing suits! not to panic,
I remember that I have, in the bottom of my dusty bag, a polo shirt from Southbank
motorcycles that does not look too bad and a pair of travel trousers that I
keep for best, which will do.
As
it turns up, everyone was dressed smart casual anyway. We had a very nice evening,
with very nice food and good conversation, at the end of the meal we carried
out an old British tradition, which is to pass the port clockwise around the
table.
Next morning, I had a full breakfast served outside; it was a beautiful day,
with a blue sky, sunshine and no wind, perfect. What a day! What a birthday!
Thank you Claire and all the staff at the River Club, you have made my day.
That evening, I was back in my tent at Fawlty Towers. C'est la vie!
Wednesday
13 Nov.
By 6am, the tent was packed and I was on my way to Mbaya, to visit the mission,
we had arranged for one of the staff to meet me at 11am on the main road as
the remaining 20kms to the mission were on a dirt road and quite difficult to
find, he would lead me there.
I got there at 11am with a few minutes to spare but no one else was there, as
I sat to wait for him, I noticed some goats close by, thinking nothing of it,
I started to doze off, to be woken off brutally by people screaming and running
toward the goats. As it turned up two guys were trying to steal the goats but
were noticed by the owners, they got one of the thief and what followed put
an end to my future goat stealing career, they got some sticks and beat the
hell of the thief, kicking and torturing him in a quite barbaric way.
Fifteen minutes later I was following the car that was taking me to Mbaya, still
overwhelm by what I had just witness, when I nearly crashed the Dakar, the road
was so bad and with the heavy load that I carry, the front wheel started to
slip away, I just managed to save it, but my heart was pumping a little quicker
than normal.
Carolyn
and Marc were waiting for me, this mission is partly funded by a Dutch organization,
hence their involvement in this project.
Mbaya is a rural community, with a prep school, a primary school and a clinic.
Carolyn help with the prep school (45 pupils in a very small room) Marc looks
after the administration and the planning of the clinic.
That afternoon, Marc showed me around the whole community.
The next day was spent filming the schools, the clinic and the distribution
of maize grains which were donated by a Japanese organization.
As I have mention it before, all of southern Africa is going through a drought,
last year all the crops were lost, so now there is a lot of starving people
around the rural area. They had one hundred of ten kg bags of grains to give
away, the comity had chosen one hundred of the most desperate people, the older
one in general, but that was not enough, when all the bags had
been given away there were still 25 people
angry because they did not get any. Same with the school, there is 640 children
in that school with 5 teachers, not enough tables to sit at so the kids sit
on the floor. Those people are really struggling. It's the first time in my
life that I witness such poverty and hunger and it's hard especially when
we know how much food we waste at home.
The next day I left the mission very sad and rode to Lusaka, the capital of
Zambia where I spent two days at organizing my visa for Tanzania, visiting
the World Vision Headquarters, updating my web site and getting a major hair
cut.
Sunday 17 Nov.
As usual by now, I am on the road by 6am, it's cooler early in the morning,
I covered the 590kms to the small town of Chipata with no problems, the first
300kms were on a very good road but the rest of it was in a pretty desperate
need of repair, with lots of deep potholes.
The next day, after a brief visit of the market,
I was on my way to the border of Malawy, 60kms away. Click
here for more photos.
Qui
a volé la chèvre de Monsieur Seguin?
Dimanche
10 Nov.
La Zambie compte environ 10 million d'habitants avec Lusaka comme capital.
La traversée de la Zambezi en ferrie c'est trés bien passé
et pas de problème avec la douane non plus, pas de visa nécéssaire
pour les passports Australien.
Il ne me restait plus que 60 kms à parcourir jusqu'à Livingstone,
village tout prés des chûtes deVictoria ou j'avais prévu
de m'arrêter quelques jours.
Le lendemain je visitais les cascades, une des sept merveilles du monde, la
rivière Zambezi s'élargit de 1,7 km avant de plonger 107 mêtres
dans les gorges du Zambezi. J'ai eu mème la chance de pouvoir me baigner
en haut des chûtes.
Le lendemain c'était mon anniversaire et j'ai eu la chance de me faire
inviter dans un club exclusif au bord de la rivière, en bréf tout
était pris en charge, chambre, repas et divertissement. En Australie
j'ai rencontré quelqu'un qui avait travaillé dans cet établissement
et il les avait prevenu de mon arrivée.
J'ai vraiment passé 24 heures superbe, le soir il y avait une promenade
en bateau le long de la rivière, ou l'on pouvait regarder les hippoppotames
et les crocodiles se baignaient et aussi admirer le coucher du soleil en buvant
un apperitif.
Le lendemain matin mon petit déjeuné était servi dehors
et par un beau soleil. Quelle journée !, quel anniversaire !
Mercredi 13 nov.
A 6 heures je reprenais la route, 400 kms à faire jusqu'à Mbaya
ou je devais visiter une mission. On avait arrangé que quelqu'un viendrait
me chercher sur la route principal car les derniers 20 kms étaient sur
une piste difficile à trouver.
Comme j'étais en avance, je décidais d'attendre mon guide en faisant
une sieste au bord de la route, dans la nature. Quinze minutes plus tard j'étais
réveillé en sursaut par cinq ou six gars qui couraient en criant.
Ce qui c'était passé c'est que quelqu'un avait essayé de
voler des chèvres et le propriétaire l'avait vu, ce qui suivit
à mi fin à toute envie que j'avais de voler des chèvres,
ils ont attrappés le gars et l'on battu à coup de pieds et batons
de manière barbarique.
Mbaya est une mission qui est supportée par une organisation Hollandaise,
mes amis Caroline et Marc qui sont Hollandais ont décidés de passer
un an dans cette mission, comme volontaire. Caroline aide dans l'école
maternelle et Marc s'occupe de l'administration de la clinique.
Le lendemain je passais la journée à filmer mon documentaire,
d'abord dans l'école primaire ou il y a 640 élèves et 5
instituteurs, puis la clinique et enfin la distribution de graine de maïs.
Comme j'en ai déja parlé, tout les pays du sud de l'Afrique souffrent
de la chéssereuse, toutes les récoltes de l'année dernière
ont été perdus, c'est pourquoi aujourd'hui il y a une organisation
Japonnaise qui fait dons de graine de maïs.
Le comité du village avait désigné 100 des plus démunis
personnes du village, souvent les plus agées, pour partager les 100 sacs
de graines. Bien sur il restait beaucoup de monde qui ne comprenait pas pourquoi
il n'y avait rien pour eux. La situation est vraiment tragic dans cette partie
d'Afrique, beaucoup de monde n'ont absolument rien à manger. C'est la
premiere fois de ma vie que je vois ça sur place et je dois dire que
c'est dur, surtout quand on connait le gaspillage dans nos pays !!!!!!
Vendredi 15 nov.
J'ai quitté la mission ce matin, triste et pensif, vers Lusaka ou j'organise
mon visa pour la Tanzanie, mets le journal de mon site à jour, visite
World vision Zambia et me fais raser les cheveux.
Living on the edge.
Sur le bord des chûtes de Victoria.
My best friends from Mbaya.
Mes meilleurs amis à Mbaya
People from Mbaya waiting
for their maize.
Les gens de Mbaya qui attendent leurs rations de maïs.
Friends on the road.
Des amis sur la route.
More friends.
Encor des amis.
Dimanche
17 nov.
Comme d'habitude maintenant je suis sur la route à 6 heures du matin,
pour Chipata, petit ville à l'est du pays ou delà je continue
vers la Malawie. La route était superbe pour les premiers 300 kms ensuite
les choses ceux sont gachées, le reste de la route était trés
mauvaise avec plein de trou à éviter,
faisant 60 k/h de moyenne. Le lendemain, aprés une bréf visite
du marché, je me
dirigeais
vers la frontière de Malawie.
Veuillez excuser mes fautes d'hortographe, je fais de mon mieux!
Is that a major haircut or
what?
Plus besoin de peigne!
