Okay, so it's been a bit longer than I'd anticipated since my last post, but that's not because of any hippo attacks, just for the mundane reason of lack of internet here.
Starting where I left off.........The canoe safari and game walk were amazing!! We canoed all morning, just me and Jen and our guides. We saw lots of hippos and had some rapids to negotiate too, as well as seeing all the stunning scenery and enjoying the peace and quiet. And the game walk was very fruitful; we got 5 meters away from a rhino, saw a lone bull elephant (didn't get quite so close to that one....!), waterbuck, impala, zebra, and lots of exiting plant life too. But my highlight, without doubt, was the giraffes. I adore them! and we saw several, very close. At one point we took a break from walking and sat on a log about 15 m from a feeding giraffe - they're so beautiful and graceful it was totally breathtaking.
We could only afford one big trip in Livingstone, so the rest of the time was spent 'chillaxing', which was just as wonderful in it's own way. Jen, in her brilliance, treated us both to a massage, and we went out for a yummy dinner and cocktails which was hugely exciting and somewhat surreal.
From Livingstone we went up to Lusaka for a couple of nights and then up to Kabwe to visit Nicole. We did a weekend trip to Mulungushi Dam, which involved an hours bus journey which in fact turned out to be 2.5 hours crammed on the back of a pick up with about 20 Zambians along an incredibly potholed road - not the most comfortable journey of my life, but certainly one of the most entertaining! A lot of things we expected at the Dam were not in fact available due to various complications, but it was nonetheless a very lovely place to be, there was a beautiful waterfall, a lovely environment to walk in and a stunning view out across the lake.
Our last stop was to spend a few days in Lusaka, which was a mixture of cultural experiences and relaxing. we visited the cultural centre, and honed our haggling skills at local craft markets, and Jen got a beautiful traditional outfit made. And then we sat by the pool with gin and tonics reading novels.....mmmmm! We also tried out some of the local bars and clubs, which was an...ahem...interesting experience! All good fun, although I seem to have aquired a (totally harmless) stalker in the process, but that's another story, heehee.
But now Jen's back home and I'm back in Kabwe, heading back to placement on Sunday. Training was the usual mix of frustrtions coupled with the pleasures of seeing everyone again. One added frustration was that my phone got stolen, so many apologies for anyone who's calls or texts were ignored, it wasn't personal! I'm going to buy a new phone tomorrow and can get a replacement sim with the same number, so from tomorrow please continue as usual!
I'm a little apprehensive about going back to placement - after an amazing holiday, the frustrations of training and reminders of the difficulties of being so far away from friends was a bit of a shock to the system, but I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things soon enough, and there are some people from college I'm really looking forward to seeing :)
As always, thank you all for keeping me up to date with your news, it's always fabulous to hear from you. Love and prayers,
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