Photos from Kasama and my last day in Lusaka
I spent the last 3 weeks of my summer in Zambia in the town of Kasama in Northern Province, about 850 km from Lusaka. I helped supervise the survey data collection there. I headed to Kasama on Sunday, July 30, and the drive from Lusaka in the project Land Cruiser took about 9 and a half hours. Outside of the cities, Zambia is sparsely populated so at times we traveled over 200 km without coming to a town. Thankfully the vehicle had a sub-tank for fuel and the driver was also a skilled mechanic -- the middle of no where in the Zambian bush is not the kind of place you want to run out of gas or have car trouble!
While in Kasama, I stayed at Chinchi's Nest Guest House, about 3 km from the city center. The place was clean and rooms large, although the running water was a bit unreliable at times. The manager and workers were extremely accommodating and helpful. Otherwise, the food was ok (though the menu was small) and the internet connection was painfully slow. If you ever find yourself in Kasama, Chinchi's is a decent place to stay but Thorn Tree Guest House, a lodge on the other side of town owned by a couple from the UK that has been in Zambia since the late 1960's, is probably a better value.
The data collection went pretty well after we worked out the kinks in the first few days and the enumerators became more familiar with the survey instrument. We worked in 20 different neighborhoods (one neighborhood a day for 3 weeks) and interviewed 18 households in each neighborhood. Along with the data collected from the other cities where the survey was being done, that will give us info from 1,800 households. The enumerators and their supervisor were a great, friendly, good-natured, hard-working group and I really enjoyed working with them. My days basically consisted of trying to work on my thesis until about 10 AM, then meeting up in the field with the enumerators (usually by that time they had each completed 1 or 2 of their 4 interview quota for the day) to go over the interviews they had done the previous day and discuss any questions I had about the data collected. Then they would head out to do more interviews and I would check over the survey instruments from the interviews they had just completed. I probably reviewed about 140 of the surveys during my time there so knew the questionnaire inside out by the time things were all said and done. It never got old though, really, because each questionnaire told an interesting story about the household in question -- e.g., what they had consumed in the last 30 days, where they did most of their food shopping, their main sources of livelihood, their family structure, assets, and home, food security status, etc. The range of household wealth levels was quite wide, going from households that had only a charcoal burner for cooking and no assets or livestock to speak of beyond that, to households with refrigerators, motorcycles or cars, cellphones, TVs, etc.
In addition to the household consumption data that was collected as part of the main survey, in the 3rd week of data collection we also worked on collecting price information from various retail outlets around the city. This was a great chance to spend lots of time in the different public markets and shops, and talk with traders. One of the most fascinating phenomena we encountered during the price collection at Shoprite, the South African supermarket chain that has one store in Kasama and many others throughout Zambia. Shoprite has a bakery and sells loaves of bread for 1890 Zambian Kwacha (about $0.50). There were 3 independent bakeries in Kasama, but the locals seemed to like the Shoprite bread the best, saying it was more dense and had better flavor. The queues, or more accurately, mobs, at the Shoprite bakery as bread was coming out of the oven were unbelievable -- most people that were buying bread weren't buying just a loaf or two for household consumption but were there with empty shopping carts, intending to buy as many loaves as they could to resell in the neighborhoods or .... right outside the Shoprite gates! So, if you were patient enough the brave the mobs inside or lucky enough to time your Shoprite visit such that the bread wasn't totally sold out (this happened many times a day), you could get a loaf inside the store for 1890 Kwacha plus tax. Otherwise, at pretty much any time of day, you could pay 3000 Kwacha (!) and buy the same bread from a trader on the street right outside Shoprite!
Other highlights of my time in Kasama: (1) eating roasted, sauteed caterpillars, which must be an acquired taste because I wasn't too thrilled about them but many Zambians absolutely love them; (2) visiting Chishimba Falls, about 45 km from central Kasama; (3) learning a bit of Bemba, the most common local language in Kasama; (4) getting to drive the Land Cruiser around town and in the various villages on the outskirts of town, although the bumpy/rough roads got a bit old by the end of my time there.
By the time 3 weeks in Kasama had elapsed, I was pretty worn out and ready to go home. Being involved with the survey was a lot of fun and a great learning experience, but EXHAUSTING! I didn't have a single day off during my last 6 weeks in Zambia!
A driver and I traveled back to Lusaka on Sunday, August 19. The sub fuel tank was a life-saver because there was no fuel in the town of Serenje, where we were hoping to refuel. Fortunately, we were able to made it to Kapiri Mposhi, some 200 km farther along, and there was plenty of diesel to be had there.
My last day in Lusaka, August 20, was a whirlwind. I had a lot of loose ends to tie up for various work-related things and also needed to say goodbye to some of the folks I had met during my time in Zambia. I had lunch with Dingi's mom and his best friend's wife at the Play House, my favorite restaurant that served nshima in Lusaka. Finished all the work-related stuff by 5:30 PM and headed to the apartment where I had stayed to say goodbye to Leigh, my former flatmate. Rushed back to the Chita Lodge, where I stayed those last two nights in Lusaka, intending to pack but discovered that the power was out. Packed as much as I could by the glow of my headlamp and then was picked up by Dingi's friend Chewe, and had a lovely dinner with him and his wife and son.
Departed for the airport around 8 AM on Tuesday morning and arrived in Rochester about 40 hours later, exhausted but excited and relieved to be home. I lucked out with flights as none of them were delayed and the rides were smoothe, and miraculously, my luggage was there waiting for me in Detroit and ultimately in Rochester.
So, I guess this is it for my "Back to Africa" blog for this summer. Hopefully it won't be another 5 years before I get a chance to go back. I may even have a chance to return to Zambia next summer to help out with a rural household survey, which would be great. Thanks for your interest and for reading this blog. Twalamonana ("See you later" in Bemba).
Friday, August 24, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
Enumerator Training and Partial Budgeting Workshop
I'm headed up to Kasama on Sunday for 3 weeks and will only have limited internet access so I'm not sure when I'll have a chance to write more about these events. In any case, this past week, we did enumerator training for the urban survey and then a colleague and I led a training on partial budgeting techniques for agronomists from throughout the country.
Photos from Enumerator Training
Photos from Partial Budgeting Training
Photos from Enumerator Training
Photos from Partial Budgeting Training
Monday, July 23, 2007
Pre-test training and hanging with Dingi's friends and family
PHOTOS FROM PRETEST TRAINING & DINNERS AT DINGI'S FRIENDS' HOMES
We held pre-test training for the urban survey two weeks ago. From Monday to Friday of that week, we worked with our Zambian partners to familiarize them with the questionnaire we are using for the urban survey and also to do a "pre-test" where we administered the survey to a number of different households and then revised it based on those experiences. It was a somewhat tedious experience at times but in the end, our survey and the data we collect will be much better because of it.
The following Sunday, I joined Dingi's mom, sister, and nephew for church. They attend the United Church of Zambia in an area of Lusaka called Woodlands. The service was really nice and the choir was excellent -- they were really feeling it and the whole church was filled with their joyful singing. They made visitors feel so welcome -- we were asked to stand and the congregants sang us a "welcome to our church" song. Then we were presented with roses. When the service was over, they had the visitors process out behind the pastor and then all the congregants shook our hands and greeted us as they left the church. It was quite an experience. After church, Dingi's family had me over to their house for a nice lunch. His nephew was adorable and we had fun playing while his mom and grandmom prepared the meal.
This past Tuesday night, Dingi's best friend and his wife had me over for dinner. They had lived in Japan for 3 years and prepared a lovely spread, complete with chopsticks, which they now use with most of their meals. They were super nice and we were having a good time but unfortunately, something I had eaten earlier in the day didn't agree with me so I had to take leave early. Hopefully we'll have the chance to get together again before I head back to the States.
Hunter, a fellow grad student, arrived on Tuesday so it's nice to have a partner in crime in the work for the survey. He's knows all the good spots in Zambia so we've checked out some nice restaurants since his arrival.
Training of the enumerators for the survey began on Thursday and will run straight through until this Thursday. It's slow going and exhausting but, again, necessary in order to ensure the success of the survey.
On Friday night, Hunter and I went over to Dingi's friend and former roommate Tom's house. Five of his other friends were also there. Tom had just taken the bar exam so it was sort of a meet Dingi's friends/celebrate Tom's success gathering. We had a tasty meal and nice time getting to know each other. Hunter and I had to be at the office at 7:15 on Saturday morning so we called it a night relatively early.
Training continues this week and we are finally done going through the survey instrument. Tomorrow, we will spend most of the day doing role-playing so that the enumerators can get even more comfortable with the questionnaire. Thursday is the final day of training and a colleague and I will also be leading a workshop on economic analysis of on-farm trials that day. Hopefully we'll be able to take a breather on Friday or Saturday before we head to the field on Sunday. The survey implementation is slated to begin on Monday, July 30. I'll be part of the team going to Kasama. This city is in Northern Province, about a 10 hour drive from Lusaka, and the area is supposed to be beautiful. Apparently, there are several waterfalls near Kasama, including Chisimba Falls, so hopefully I'll be able to check those out at some point during the 3 weeks I'm up there.
That's about it for now.
Cheers. ~nmm
We held pre-test training for the urban survey two weeks ago. From Monday to Friday of that week, we worked with our Zambian partners to familiarize them with the questionnaire we are using for the urban survey and also to do a "pre-test" where we administered the survey to a number of different households and then revised it based on those experiences. It was a somewhat tedious experience at times but in the end, our survey and the data we collect will be much better because of it.
The following Sunday, I joined Dingi's mom, sister, and nephew for church. They attend the United Church of Zambia in an area of Lusaka called Woodlands. The service was really nice and the choir was excellent -- they were really feeling it and the whole church was filled with their joyful singing. They made visitors feel so welcome -- we were asked to stand and the congregants sang us a "welcome to our church" song. Then we were presented with roses. When the service was over, they had the visitors process out behind the pastor and then all the congregants shook our hands and greeted us as they left the church. It was quite an experience. After church, Dingi's family had me over to their house for a nice lunch. His nephew was adorable and we had fun playing while his mom and grandmom prepared the meal.
This past Tuesday night, Dingi's best friend and his wife had me over for dinner. They had lived in Japan for 3 years and prepared a lovely spread, complete with chopsticks, which they now use with most of their meals. They were super nice and we were having a good time but unfortunately, something I had eaten earlier in the day didn't agree with me so I had to take leave early. Hopefully we'll have the chance to get together again before I head back to the States.
Hunter, a fellow grad student, arrived on Tuesday so it's nice to have a partner in crime in the work for the survey. He's knows all the good spots in Zambia so we've checked out some nice restaurants since his arrival.
Training of the enumerators for the survey began on Thursday and will run straight through until this Thursday. It's slow going and exhausting but, again, necessary in order to ensure the success of the survey.
On Friday night, Hunter and I went over to Dingi's friend and former roommate Tom's house. Five of his other friends were also there. Tom had just taken the bar exam so it was sort of a meet Dingi's friends/celebrate Tom's success gathering. We had a tasty meal and nice time getting to know each other. Hunter and I had to be at the office at 7:15 on Saturday morning so we called it a night relatively early.
Training continues this week and we are finally done going through the survey instrument. Tomorrow, we will spend most of the day doing role-playing so that the enumerators can get even more comfortable with the questionnaire. Thursday is the final day of training and a colleague and I will also be leading a workshop on economic analysis of on-farm trials that day. Hopefully we'll be able to take a breather on Friday or Saturday before we head to the field on Sunday. The survey implementation is slated to begin on Monday, July 30. I'll be part of the team going to Kasama. This city is in Northern Province, about a 10 hour drive from Lusaka, and the area is supposed to be beautiful. Apparently, there are several waterfalls near Kasama, including Chisimba Falls, so hopefully I'll be able to check those out at some point during the 3 weeks I'm up there.
That's about it for now.
Cheers. ~nmm
Monday, July 9, 2007
Victoria Falls: "The Smoke that Thunders"
PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP
Saturday, July 7, 2007
It's hard to believe I've already been in Zambia for over a month! Time is passing by so quickly and things with the urban survey have really kicked into high gear...so much so that: 1) I've decided to stay a week longer so that I can be here through the whole survey enumeration period; and 2) this is my last weekend without either Saturday and/or Sunday being booked with survey activities. So, it was either now or never for me to make the trip to Livingstone and the Victoria Falls this time around so on Wednesday, I booked my room at the Maramba River Lodge and bought my $20 bus ticket to Livingstone on Friday.
Had a cab pick me up at 5:30 AM this morning to take me to the bus station to catch the 6 AM bus. Since there was an actual bus schedule, rather than a "wait until the bus is full, then leave" approach, I falsely believed that we would actually leave around 6 AM. We actually pulled out of the station around 7 AM. Ahh, African time. At least I become a more patient (or late!) person when I spend time in Africa. The bus was only 1/3 full but despite all the empty seats (even empty rows!), this Chinese woman decided to sit right next to me in the narrow seat. Otherwise, the "CR" tour bus was quite clean and comfortable. Before we left Lusaka and at various stops along the way, vendors of gum, fruit, cookies, DVDs, CDs, jewelry, gloves, scarfs, you name it, came right onto the bus to sell their wares. Very convenient, actually, and they weren't aggressive at all so it wasn't annoying. The bus driver was FLYING though and I was glad that I couldn't see out of the front of the bus and all of the crazy passing he was probably doing.
We stopped briefly in Kafue, Mazabuka, Monze, and Choma, and finally arrived in Livingstone around 1 PM. The road was good about 5/6 of the way, all the way to Zimba, but from there to Livingstone, the potholes were a nightmare.
I was expecting Livingstone to be more bustling and touristy but I actually had to wander around a bit before I found a place to set up a visit to the game park and only saw a handful of other muzungus (white people). The town was nice and laid back, though, especially relative to the chaos of Lusaka. I had a Bradt travel guide with me but more or less winged it after I arrived in L/stone, and things ended up working out extremely well.
I booked my ticket for the 1 PM bus back to Lusaka and then tried to find a tour company and a place to grab some lunch. I walked down the main drag back in the direction where we came into town but didn't really find either of these things, except, that is, fora camper turned into a tour booking agency near the tourist trap curio market.
The rates posted there for the game park and Vic Falls were consistent with what was in my travel guide so I decided to go for it. I paid my $40 for the game park tour and Mumba, who would be my guide, told me to come back around 3:30 PM so that we would have about 2 hours in the park before it closed at 6 PM. He also assured me that we would see more animals if we waited until later in the afternoon. He also pointed me to Kaazmein, a restaurant where I had chicken, nshima and cabbagge for lunch. I really enjoy nshima and find myself seeking it out even when there are lots of other options. After lunch, I had about an hour to kill so I decided to go to the Livingstone Museum. The museum was well worth my $5 and I was particularly interested in the traditional culture exhibits and the section on David Livingstone, which included many of his original letters and belongings. I hit up the curio market on my way back to meet Mumba for the game park drive but didn't find anything too exciting, plus things seemed overpriced relative to Lusaka (probably b/c of all the tourists in L/stone).
Mumba and I hopped into his beaten up, white sedan and headed for Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. Mosi-oa-Tunya means "the smoke that thunders", and is the local language name for the Victoria Falls. This is the smallest national park in Zambia but we managed to see a lot of different animal in the 2 hours or so we spent inside the park: impala, baboons, zebra, elephants, giraffe, velvet monkeys, and wildebeest. We also heard hippos grunting along the banks of the Zambezi but didn't actually see any. Mumba was a great guide and I didn't feel like he was trying to milk me for all I was worth, so when he asked if I wanted him to take me to the Victoria Falls the next morning, I agreed.
After the game park, Mumba took me to the Maramba River Lodge, where Dingi had recommended I stay. En route, we stopped at a riverside bar where the "booze cruises" depart from (I didn't have enough time to squeeze in one of these during my visit). There was some traditional dancing, drumming and singing going on there -- I think Mumba said the performers were from a tribe in Eastern Province.
We got to the Maramba River Lodge just before dusk. It was really nice here and I couldn't wait to see it in the morning light and take some pictures. My "chalet" was really cute: thatch roof, 2 twin beds, and a nice rustic, though comfortable feel to it. And no TV, which is a good thing. After I arriving, I just put down my stuff and headed straight to the restaurant. On my way, though, I came upon a group of people gawking at the only big animal we didn't see at the game park: a hippo! Since the Lodge is right on the banks of the Maramba River, apparently a hippo or two wanders into camp every night to feed. It was so chubby and shiny black -- I don't think my pictures turned out though because it was nearly dark out when I took them and the hippo blended into the darkness.
Dinner was fabulous: beef curry and rice. The night air was crisp but they had charcoal heaters around the open-air restaurant so that kept things quite comfortable. There was drumming and singing in the distance as I ate. Called in a night early on Saturday to get some rest for the visit to the falls and long drive back to Lusaka on Sunday.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Day 2 of the Livingstone trip was as enjoyable as the first. The night air along the Zambezi was chilly and I was glad there were about 4 blankets on the bed and that I had brought along a sweatshirt. Thatched roofs look cool but don’t seem to do a very good job at insulating! I made arrangements with Mumba on Saturday when he dropped me off for him to pick me up at the Maramba River Lodge. I woke up a little early so that I could check out the Lodge area in the daylight. I’m glad I did! A hippo was lazing in the water near the Lodge restaurant so I got a few nice pictures and stood and watched it for a while. Every minute or two, if would could up from underwater, look around, and then slowly sink back down into the river. Chatted briefly with another muzungu from Cape Town.
Mumba arrived right at 8 AM as I was checking out. We headed straight for Victoria Falls and could see the mist, which looked like low clouds, from several kilometers away. There were only 4 other people there when we arrived and even the raincoat and umbrella guys were just setting up shop. I invested the 5,000 Kwacha ($1.25) for a poncho after the 4 people that arrived before us emerged from the rainforest soaked to the bone. Mumba decided not to get wet so I walked into the mist solo.
The experience was magical. The vegetation along the upper banks of the Zambezi was brown and dry but the constant rain of the mist makes for a rainforest ecosystem on the rocks opposite the falls. I walked along every stretch of the path, trying to get views from as many vantage points as possible. Probably the most amazing was walking across the footbridge from one rock ledge to the next as the mist came down like a heavy rainstorm. The two rainbows growing out of the falls nearly made a full circle in the gorge below. Apparently, the falls are so wide (something like 1.5 km across) that it’s only possible to see the full width from the air – hence, the all the helicopters and microlights passing overhead. Most of the time I just stood in the mist, gawking at the massive, overpowering nature of it all.
About an hour later, I emerged from the mist and met Mumba, who showed me some of the dryer vantage points upstream. Our last stop at the Victoria Falls national heritage site was the information center, where a tour guide was giving us the history and geology of the falls.
We wrapped up at the falls around 9:30 AM and headed back toward town. Mumba was really keen on my seeing the crocodile farm (he brought me there on Saturday, too, but they were closing up shop when we arrived) so we spent about an hour checking out the crocodiles and poisonous snakes. Yuck. Makes me shiver just thinking about them. The crocodiles didn’t move much at all, except when poked by a stick by our (insane!!!) guide. Many of the crocs there had been trapped from the Zambezi because they had been eating fishermen and pet dogs. The snake section consisted of about 20 different species of poisonous and non-venomous snakes. I hate those things!
After the crocodile farm, I had about 3 hours to kill before my bus for Lusaka was scheduled to depart, so Mumba recommended I walk around Livingstone and see some of the historical buildings. He gave me a guidebook and wished me luck. The only problem was that the map in the guidebook was outdated so a lot of side streets had since been added and of course none of the streets had street signs, so I wandered a bit. I had sort of given up on seeing specific buildings and was heading to get a late breakfast when Joseph, a friend of Mumba’s, caught up with me and said that Mumba sent him because he had seen that I wasn’t having much luck with the map. Joseph was great about taking me around to places like the Northwest Hotel, a now dilapidated building that used to be a nice resort in its hey-day in the 1900s. We convinced the guard at the gate to let us walk a bit inside. The place kept reminding me of the hotel in The Shining and I imagined the British colonists all dressed up lounging in the now overgrown courtyard. The place was trashed but for some reason the building owner still had an office there, and a secretary! Not sure what kind of work they’re doing – my guess is that the owner guy has lost it!
We passed by the old Nanoo’s Corner Store, which I think dates back to 1907, and then saw the Zimbabwe Market, and took the 30 minute walk back to the main market: Maramba Market. It was sprawling but not very crowded – probably because most people were at church at that time on a Sunday morning. It was about noon at this pint and although I wasn’t tired, time was getting a bit tight so we took a taxi back to the town center. Joseph and I ran into Mumba there and I decided to treat the two of them to lunch. They were both really helpful and great about showing me around. We ended up back at Kaazmein, the same place I had eaten lunch the previous day, and this time opted for egg sandwiches, egg rolls and burgers. Not great but enough to hold me over the rest of the afternoon.
The bus to Lusaka was already 2/3 of the way full when I arrived at the bus station around 12:30 PM. Unlike the trip to Livingstone, this time we had to pick specific seats and I opted for the front seat. The driver was saner today than yesterday so I was only white knuckled at a few points on the trip. We left the station at 1:30 PM, just 30 minutes, as opposed to an hour the day before, behind schedule. The drive was unremarkable except that the 2 Indian guys that I saw at Vic Falls were on the same bus. Got back to Lusaka right around 7:30 PM and had no trouble getting a taxi back to the apartment. So glad I took this trip this weekend – it was a blast and really nice to take a break and be a tourist for a few days.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
It's hard to believe I've already been in Zambia for over a month! Time is passing by so quickly and things with the urban survey have really kicked into high gear...so much so that: 1) I've decided to stay a week longer so that I can be here through the whole survey enumeration period; and 2) this is my last weekend without either Saturday and/or Sunday being booked with survey activities. So, it was either now or never for me to make the trip to Livingstone and the Victoria Falls this time around so on Wednesday, I booked my room at the Maramba River Lodge and bought my $20 bus ticket to Livingstone on Friday.
Had a cab pick me up at 5:30 AM this morning to take me to the bus station to catch the 6 AM bus. Since there was an actual bus schedule, rather than a "wait until the bus is full, then leave" approach, I falsely believed that we would actually leave around 6 AM. We actually pulled out of the station around 7 AM. Ahh, African time. At least I become a more patient (or late!) person when I spend time in Africa. The bus was only 1/3 full but despite all the empty seats (even empty rows!), this Chinese woman decided to sit right next to me in the narrow seat. Otherwise, the "CR" tour bus was quite clean and comfortable. Before we left Lusaka and at various stops along the way, vendors of gum, fruit, cookies, DVDs, CDs, jewelry, gloves, scarfs, you name it, came right onto the bus to sell their wares. Very convenient, actually, and they weren't aggressive at all so it wasn't annoying. The bus driver was FLYING though and I was glad that I couldn't see out of the front of the bus and all of the crazy passing he was probably doing.
We stopped briefly in Kafue, Mazabuka, Monze, and Choma, and finally arrived in Livingstone around 1 PM. The road was good about 5/6 of the way, all the way to Zimba, but from there to Livingstone, the potholes were a nightmare.
I was expecting Livingstone to be more bustling and touristy but I actually had to wander around a bit before I found a place to set up a visit to the game park and only saw a handful of other muzungus (white people). The town was nice and laid back, though, especially relative to the chaos of Lusaka. I had a Bradt travel guide with me but more or less winged it after I arrived in L/stone, and things ended up working out extremely well.
I booked my ticket for the 1 PM bus back to Lusaka and then tried to find a tour company and a place to grab some lunch. I walked down the main drag back in the direction where we came into town but didn't really find either of these things, except, that is, fora camper turned into a tour booking agency near the tourist trap curio market.
The rates posted there for the game park and Vic Falls were consistent with what was in my travel guide so I decided to go for it. I paid my $40 for the game park tour and Mumba, who would be my guide, told me to come back around 3:30 PM so that we would have about 2 hours in the park before it closed at 6 PM. He also assured me that we would see more animals if we waited until later in the afternoon. He also pointed me to Kaazmein, a restaurant where I had chicken, nshima and cabbagge for lunch. I really enjoy nshima and find myself seeking it out even when there are lots of other options. After lunch, I had about an hour to kill so I decided to go to the Livingstone Museum. The museum was well worth my $5 and I was particularly interested in the traditional culture exhibits and the section on David Livingstone, which included many of his original letters and belongings. I hit up the curio market on my way back to meet Mumba for the game park drive but didn't find anything too exciting, plus things seemed overpriced relative to Lusaka (probably b/c of all the tourists in L/stone).
Mumba and I hopped into his beaten up, white sedan and headed for Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park. Mosi-oa-Tunya means "the smoke that thunders", and is the local language name for the Victoria Falls. This is the smallest national park in Zambia but we managed to see a lot of different animal in the 2 hours or so we spent inside the park: impala, baboons, zebra, elephants, giraffe, velvet monkeys, and wildebeest. We also heard hippos grunting along the banks of the Zambezi but didn't actually see any. Mumba was a great guide and I didn't feel like he was trying to milk me for all I was worth, so when he asked if I wanted him to take me to the Victoria Falls the next morning, I agreed.
After the game park, Mumba took me to the Maramba River Lodge, where Dingi had recommended I stay. En route, we stopped at a riverside bar where the "booze cruises" depart from (I didn't have enough time to squeeze in one of these during my visit). There was some traditional dancing, drumming and singing going on there -- I think Mumba said the performers were from a tribe in Eastern Province.
We got to the Maramba River Lodge just before dusk. It was really nice here and I couldn't wait to see it in the morning light and take some pictures. My "chalet" was really cute: thatch roof, 2 twin beds, and a nice rustic, though comfortable feel to it. And no TV, which is a good thing. After I arriving, I just put down my stuff and headed straight to the restaurant. On my way, though, I came upon a group of people gawking at the only big animal we didn't see at the game park: a hippo! Since the Lodge is right on the banks of the Maramba River, apparently a hippo or two wanders into camp every night to feed. It was so chubby and shiny black -- I don't think my pictures turned out though because it was nearly dark out when I took them and the hippo blended into the darkness.
Dinner was fabulous: beef curry and rice. The night air was crisp but they had charcoal heaters around the open-air restaurant so that kept things quite comfortable. There was drumming and singing in the distance as I ate. Called in a night early on Saturday to get some rest for the visit to the falls and long drive back to Lusaka on Sunday.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Day 2 of the Livingstone trip was as enjoyable as the first. The night air along the Zambezi was chilly and I was glad there were about 4 blankets on the bed and that I had brought along a sweatshirt. Thatched roofs look cool but don’t seem to do a very good job at insulating! I made arrangements with Mumba on Saturday when he dropped me off for him to pick me up at the Maramba River Lodge. I woke up a little early so that I could check out the Lodge area in the daylight. I’m glad I did! A hippo was lazing in the water near the Lodge restaurant so I got a few nice pictures and stood and watched it for a while. Every minute or two, if would could up from underwater, look around, and then slowly sink back down into the river. Chatted briefly with another muzungu from Cape Town.
Mumba arrived right at 8 AM as I was checking out. We headed straight for Victoria Falls and could see the mist, which looked like low clouds, from several kilometers away. There were only 4 other people there when we arrived and even the raincoat and umbrella guys were just setting up shop. I invested the 5,000 Kwacha ($1.25) for a poncho after the 4 people that arrived before us emerged from the rainforest soaked to the bone. Mumba decided not to get wet so I walked into the mist solo.
The experience was magical. The vegetation along the upper banks of the Zambezi was brown and dry but the constant rain of the mist makes for a rainforest ecosystem on the rocks opposite the falls. I walked along every stretch of the path, trying to get views from as many vantage points as possible. Probably the most amazing was walking across the footbridge from one rock ledge to the next as the mist came down like a heavy rainstorm. The two rainbows growing out of the falls nearly made a full circle in the gorge below. Apparently, the falls are so wide (something like 1.5 km across) that it’s only possible to see the full width from the air – hence, the all the helicopters and microlights passing overhead. Most of the time I just stood in the mist, gawking at the massive, overpowering nature of it all.
About an hour later, I emerged from the mist and met Mumba, who showed me some of the dryer vantage points upstream. Our last stop at the Victoria Falls national heritage site was the information center, where a tour guide was giving us the history and geology of the falls.
We wrapped up at the falls around 9:30 AM and headed back toward town. Mumba was really keen on my seeing the crocodile farm (he brought me there on Saturday, too, but they were closing up shop when we arrived) so we spent about an hour checking out the crocodiles and poisonous snakes. Yuck. Makes me shiver just thinking about them. The crocodiles didn’t move much at all, except when poked by a stick by our (insane!!!) guide. Many of the crocs there had been trapped from the Zambezi because they had been eating fishermen and pet dogs. The snake section consisted of about 20 different species of poisonous and non-venomous snakes. I hate those things!
After the crocodile farm, I had about 3 hours to kill before my bus for Lusaka was scheduled to depart, so Mumba recommended I walk around Livingstone and see some of the historical buildings. He gave me a guidebook and wished me luck. The only problem was that the map in the guidebook was outdated so a lot of side streets had since been added and of course none of the streets had street signs, so I wandered a bit. I had sort of given up on seeing specific buildings and was heading to get a late breakfast when Joseph, a friend of Mumba’s, caught up with me and said that Mumba sent him because he had seen that I wasn’t having much luck with the map. Joseph was great about taking me around to places like the Northwest Hotel, a now dilapidated building that used to be a nice resort in its hey-day in the 1900s. We convinced the guard at the gate to let us walk a bit inside. The place kept reminding me of the hotel in The Shining and I imagined the British colonists all dressed up lounging in the now overgrown courtyard. The place was trashed but for some reason the building owner still had an office there, and a secretary! Not sure what kind of work they’re doing – my guess is that the owner guy has lost it!
We passed by the old Nanoo’s Corner Store, which I think dates back to 1907, and then saw the Zimbabwe Market, and took the 30 minute walk back to the main market: Maramba Market. It was sprawling but not very crowded – probably because most people were at church at that time on a Sunday morning. It was about noon at this pint and although I wasn’t tired, time was getting a bit tight so we took a taxi back to the town center. Joseph and I ran into Mumba there and I decided to treat the two of them to lunch. They were both really helpful and great about showing me around. We ended up back at Kaazmein, the same place I had eaten lunch the previous day, and this time opted for egg sandwiches, egg rolls and burgers. Not great but enough to hold me over the rest of the afternoon.
The bus to Lusaka was already 2/3 of the way full when I arrived at the bus station around 12:30 PM. Unlike the trip to Livingstone, this time we had to pick specific seats and I opted for the front seat. The driver was saner today than yesterday so I was only white knuckled at a few points on the trip. We left the station at 1:30 PM, just 30 minutes, as opposed to an hour the day before, behind schedule. The drive was unremarkable except that the 2 Indian guys that I saw at Vic Falls were on the same bus. Got back to Lusaka right around 7:30 PM and had no trouble getting a taxi back to the apartment. So glad I took this trip this weekend – it was a blast and really nice to take a break and be a tourist for a few days.
Monday, July 2, 2007
The trip to Ndola and Kitwe in Copperbelt Province
PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP
(Most of these pictures were taken for use in a training manual and are of various shops and food items--sorry if they're a bit boring!)
Friday, June 29, 2007
So today, a colleague and I set out from Lusaka around 8 AM and headed for Kitwe to supervise the listing for the urban survey. Kitwe is in the Copperbelt Province, about 400 kilometers north of Lusaka. The sights from the Great North Road, which we took most of the way, were a lot more interesting than those from Kafue Road, which is the route that leads from Lusaka southwest down to Livingstone. Almost every few kilometers, there was at least some charcoal, sweet potatoes, honey, tomatoes, reed-woven mats, or a pile of something else for sale on the side of the road. The road was smooth and straight, and the traffic wasn’t bad so I was able to enjoy the ride and not fear for my life like I would on the roads in Guinea for example. My colleague was a good tour guide and pointed out the key landmarks along the way.
We took a pit stop in Kapiri Mposhi, a little over halfway on our journey, and topped up the diesel in his Toyota minivan and got a snack – he opted for a piece of chicken while I went with the Zambian version of Gatorade and a (dry and hard) baked good shaped like a muffin. (I would have just said ‘muffin’ but that would be using the term much too liberally!) Had my first ‘pay toilets’ experience, where you have to pay 500 Kwacha (about 12 cents) to use the facilities – initially I thought this was unique to gas stations (or filling stations, as they’re called here), but apparently that’s not the case because the toilets at the restaurant we went to a few hours later in Ndola had the same set up.
En route to Kitwe, we had to meet the listing team in Ndola, a city that thrived during the peak days of the copper industry but has been going down hill since the parastatals throughout Zambia were privatized. My colleague and others had warned me that Ndola would be a rather sleepy town but much to the contrary, the place was hopping. This weekend is the annual trade fair in Ndola so lots of people are in town for that. We stopped at the Shoprite parking lot to call for directions to the listing team’s office, and Shoprite was also swamped. The meeting with the listing team went fine and then we made our way to an internet café to take care of some business.
The next challenge was finding a place to stay for the night. Again, because of the trade fair, all of nicer guest houses and lodges are booked so we ended up at Destiny’s Guest House. It could be worse, for sure, but it’s not great either – and because of the trade fair, they’re charging us about $50/night! I just got here a few minutes ago and have already seen several well-fed cockroaches…We decided to stay in Ndola for the night because the listing won’t start in Kitwe until tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a nicer place in Kitwe. Anyhow, by the time we had deposited our things at Destiny’s, it was already 4 PM and we realized that we hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Our local colleague suggested the East Wing 3 and Beer Garden, so we headed there for a meal of chicken, nshima, and vegetables.
Having been spoiled at the Chita Lodge, I didn’t think to bring a towel with me, so after our late lunch/dinner, we had to brave the crowds at Shoprite so that I could buy one. I thought we would head back to Destiny’s and call it a night after that, but my colleagues were still thirsty for some Castle (one of the local beers) so we went to a nice botanical garden for a few drinks. I’m still a little wary after that migraine earlier in the week so I opted for a Fanta instead. So now, after a long day of travel and figuring out logistics, I’m back at Destiny’s and ready to get a good night’s sleep before the big day of listing activities tomorrow. Destiny’s has satellite TV, but only one receiver, so I’m at the mercy of the lodge attendant who controls the remote. Looks like a local Zambian sitcom is the show of choice tonight. Should be interesting!
We’ll have to drive about 65 km to Kitwe before the fun begins…
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Ahh, the bucket bath. It had been about 5 years since my last one and far longer than that since the last time I had to do a bucket bath with cold water! In the least, the morning bathing experience woke me up after a semi-restful night on the mushy foam mattress. The listing team was a bit slow to assemble this morning so my colleague and I waited for them at Destiny’s until about 9 AM. While we were waiting, I turned on the TV, which the attendant had tuned to ZNB (the Zambian National Broadcasting Company), for the Zambian version of “Good Morning America”. They covered quite the gamut of topics in the 30 minutes or so that I caught: a chat with a rep. from the ministry of health about an upcoming measles vaccination campaign, a random guy dancing, a correspondent’s interview with a makeup artist trying to “make a bad face a beautiful face,” comments on the “demonic powers of tattoos” and viewers’ text messages on the topic, and then another correspondent’s interview, this time with an interior designer. Very entertaining to say the least.
We got to Kitwe a little before 10 AM and the listers were on their way to get started shortly thereafter. After reserving a room at the local YMCA hotel, my colleague, one of the supervisors and I headed to get some breakfast and scope out the markets around the central business district in town. I had forgotten how overwhelming the main markets in big cities can be. There’s so much going on and so many people. We took a look at the horticultural wholesaling section of the market, which was filled with produce from within Zambia as well as from Tanzania and South Africa. Later, we drove through some of the compounds and ended up at the other main market in town, but only after the two guys I was with could stop and have their afternoon Castle lager.
By about 3 PM, my colleague was ready for a break and he thought the listers would be wrapping up soon so we headed back to the hotel. Although it’s actually quite a bit cheaper here than at Destiny’s, the rooms here are far nicer – for starters, at least the hot water works! I decided to try to take a short nap while we waited, but probably not more than 5 minutes after I closed my eyes, the music started blasting outside my window in the courtyard below: a wedding reception was getting underway…and now, some 6 hours later, it’s still pumping. Not sure what time I’ll be sleeping tonight at this rate!
Turns out the listers didn’t make it back to meet us at the hotel until 6 PM. These guys are working under such poor conditions – your heart really goes out to them. 11 of them rode in the back of a pickup truck going 140 kilometers per hour for 45 km to get from Ndola to Kitwe. And then they walked around all day doing the listing. When they met up to drive back to Ndola for the night, they discovered that they had lost one of the rookie members of the team. Not sure what happened to that guy. Hopefully he made it back to Ndola or found a place to crash in Kitwe. The team debriefed us on their progress – most of them had listed about 100 households – then they headed home to Ndola and my colleague and I went in search of nshima for dinner. Our search was in vain, though, and we ended up at one of the countless “take away” restaurants where I had a chicken shwarma and salad and he had steak and fries. I’m beat now but the music is still rocking…hopefully things will wind down soon.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Got back from Kitwe earlier this afternoon. My last entry left off with my laments over the loud music from the wedding taking place at the hotel – fortunately, things wrapped up moments after I finished writing. The listing yesterday went a bit smoother than the previous day but was not without its challenges. The listing team still only had one vehicle to shuttle around 10 listers to various locations, many of which required 20 km drives along terrible roads to reach. The listers were also using old, torn maps, and their supervisors didn’t have their own copies, making it difficult for them to effectively supervise and tough for us to oversee the job. Nonetheless, my colleague and I spent most of the day driving around to different areas that had been listed to make sure that the listing was complete. We also checked out a few grocers and supermarkets for potential anomalies and tested out a few questions on our survey. By the end of the day, we had some concerns about the logistics of the operation and wanted to meet with the head supervisor, who proceeded to get drunk and make us wait 3 hours before meeting with us. After the meeting, my colleague and I went in search of nshima for the second night in a row, this time in the central business district area, but again to no avail. He hadn’t had nshima since dinner on Friday and said that that was the longest he had ever gone without eating the stuff (and the guy is probably around 45)!
We left Kitwe around 7:00 AM this morning and the ride was relatively uneventful. Made a couple pit stops and picked up some nice produce at one of the countless roadside markets. Today and tomorrow are national holidays in Zambia so I’m going to try to take advantage of not having to go into the office my recovering from the trip and making some progress on my thesis. I’m sensing that the rest of my time here this summer is going to fly by so am going to try to arrange a trip to Livingstone and the Victoria Falls this coming weekend.
(Most of these pictures were taken for use in a training manual and are of various shops and food items--sorry if they're a bit boring!)
Friday, June 29, 2007
So today, a colleague and I set out from Lusaka around 8 AM and headed for Kitwe to supervise the listing for the urban survey. Kitwe is in the Copperbelt Province, about 400 kilometers north of Lusaka. The sights from the Great North Road, which we took most of the way, were a lot more interesting than those from Kafue Road, which is the route that leads from Lusaka southwest down to Livingstone. Almost every few kilometers, there was at least some charcoal, sweet potatoes, honey, tomatoes, reed-woven mats, or a pile of something else for sale on the side of the road. The road was smooth and straight, and the traffic wasn’t bad so I was able to enjoy the ride and not fear for my life like I would on the roads in Guinea for example. My colleague was a good tour guide and pointed out the key landmarks along the way.
We took a pit stop in Kapiri Mposhi, a little over halfway on our journey, and topped up the diesel in his Toyota minivan and got a snack – he opted for a piece of chicken while I went with the Zambian version of Gatorade and a (dry and hard) baked good shaped like a muffin. (I would have just said ‘muffin’ but that would be using the term much too liberally!) Had my first ‘pay toilets’ experience, where you have to pay 500 Kwacha (about 12 cents) to use the facilities – initially I thought this was unique to gas stations (or filling stations, as they’re called here), but apparently that’s not the case because the toilets at the restaurant we went to a few hours later in Ndola had the same set up.
En route to Kitwe, we had to meet the listing team in Ndola, a city that thrived during the peak days of the copper industry but has been going down hill since the parastatals throughout Zambia were privatized. My colleague and others had warned me that Ndola would be a rather sleepy town but much to the contrary, the place was hopping. This weekend is the annual trade fair in Ndola so lots of people are in town for that. We stopped at the Shoprite parking lot to call for directions to the listing team’s office, and Shoprite was also swamped. The meeting with the listing team went fine and then we made our way to an internet café to take care of some business.
The next challenge was finding a place to stay for the night. Again, because of the trade fair, all of nicer guest houses and lodges are booked so we ended up at Destiny’s Guest House. It could be worse, for sure, but it’s not great either – and because of the trade fair, they’re charging us about $50/night! I just got here a few minutes ago and have already seen several well-fed cockroaches…We decided to stay in Ndola for the night because the listing won’t start in Kitwe until tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll be able to find a nicer place in Kitwe. Anyhow, by the time we had deposited our things at Destiny’s, it was already 4 PM and we realized that we hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Our local colleague suggested the East Wing 3 and Beer Garden, so we headed there for a meal of chicken, nshima, and vegetables.
Having been spoiled at the Chita Lodge, I didn’t think to bring a towel with me, so after our late lunch/dinner, we had to brave the crowds at Shoprite so that I could buy one. I thought we would head back to Destiny’s and call it a night after that, but my colleagues were still thirsty for some Castle (one of the local beers) so we went to a nice botanical garden for a few drinks. I’m still a little wary after that migraine earlier in the week so I opted for a Fanta instead. So now, after a long day of travel and figuring out logistics, I’m back at Destiny’s and ready to get a good night’s sleep before the big day of listing activities tomorrow. Destiny’s has satellite TV, but only one receiver, so I’m at the mercy of the lodge attendant who controls the remote. Looks like a local Zambian sitcom is the show of choice tonight. Should be interesting!
We’ll have to drive about 65 km to Kitwe before the fun begins…
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Ahh, the bucket bath. It had been about 5 years since my last one and far longer than that since the last time I had to do a bucket bath with cold water! In the least, the morning bathing experience woke me up after a semi-restful night on the mushy foam mattress. The listing team was a bit slow to assemble this morning so my colleague and I waited for them at Destiny’s until about 9 AM. While we were waiting, I turned on the TV, which the attendant had tuned to ZNB (the Zambian National Broadcasting Company), for the Zambian version of “Good Morning America”. They covered quite the gamut of topics in the 30 minutes or so that I caught: a chat with a rep. from the ministry of health about an upcoming measles vaccination campaign, a random guy dancing, a correspondent’s interview with a makeup artist trying to “make a bad face a beautiful face,” comments on the “demonic powers of tattoos” and viewers’ text messages on the topic, and then another correspondent’s interview, this time with an interior designer. Very entertaining to say the least.
We got to Kitwe a little before 10 AM and the listers were on their way to get started shortly thereafter. After reserving a room at the local YMCA hotel, my colleague, one of the supervisors and I headed to get some breakfast and scope out the markets around the central business district in town. I had forgotten how overwhelming the main markets in big cities can be. There’s so much going on and so many people. We took a look at the horticultural wholesaling section of the market, which was filled with produce from within Zambia as well as from Tanzania and South Africa. Later, we drove through some of the compounds and ended up at the other main market in town, but only after the two guys I was with could stop and have their afternoon Castle lager.
By about 3 PM, my colleague was ready for a break and he thought the listers would be wrapping up soon so we headed back to the hotel. Although it’s actually quite a bit cheaper here than at Destiny’s, the rooms here are far nicer – for starters, at least the hot water works! I decided to try to take a short nap while we waited, but probably not more than 5 minutes after I closed my eyes, the music started blasting outside my window in the courtyard below: a wedding reception was getting underway…and now, some 6 hours later, it’s still pumping. Not sure what time I’ll be sleeping tonight at this rate!
Turns out the listers didn’t make it back to meet us at the hotel until 6 PM. These guys are working under such poor conditions – your heart really goes out to them. 11 of them rode in the back of a pickup truck going 140 kilometers per hour for 45 km to get from Ndola to Kitwe. And then they walked around all day doing the listing. When they met up to drive back to Ndola for the night, they discovered that they had lost one of the rookie members of the team. Not sure what happened to that guy. Hopefully he made it back to Ndola or found a place to crash in Kitwe. The team debriefed us on their progress – most of them had listed about 100 households – then they headed home to Ndola and my colleague and I went in search of nshima for dinner. Our search was in vain, though, and we ended up at one of the countless “take away” restaurants where I had a chicken shwarma and salad and he had steak and fries. I’m beat now but the music is still rocking…hopefully things will wind down soon.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Got back from Kitwe earlier this afternoon. My last entry left off with my laments over the loud music from the wedding taking place at the hotel – fortunately, things wrapped up moments after I finished writing. The listing yesterday went a bit smoother than the previous day but was not without its challenges. The listing team still only had one vehicle to shuttle around 10 listers to various locations, many of which required 20 km drives along terrible roads to reach. The listers were also using old, torn maps, and their supervisors didn’t have their own copies, making it difficult for them to effectively supervise and tough for us to oversee the job. Nonetheless, my colleague and I spent most of the day driving around to different areas that had been listed to make sure that the listing was complete. We also checked out a few grocers and supermarkets for potential anomalies and tested out a few questions on our survey. By the end of the day, we had some concerns about the logistics of the operation and wanted to meet with the head supervisor, who proceeded to get drunk and make us wait 3 hours before meeting with us. After the meeting, my colleague and I went in search of nshima for the second night in a row, this time in the central business district area, but again to no avail. He hadn’t had nshima since dinner on Friday and said that that was the longest he had ever gone without eating the stuff (and the guy is probably around 45)!
We left Kitwe around 7:00 AM this morning and the ride was relatively uneventful. Made a couple pit stops and picked up some nice produce at one of the countless roadside markets. Today and tomorrow are national holidays in Zambia so I’m going to try to take advantage of not having to go into the office my recovering from the trip and making some progress on my thesis. I’m sensing that the rest of my time here this summer is going to fly by so am going to try to arrange a trip to Livingstone and the Victoria Falls this coming weekend.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
An old friend comes to Lusaka
A friend of mine from high school, Joe, and his friend, Deste, were here this past Saturday until this morning. It was great to have them here and Joe and I kept commenting on how weird it was to be hanging out in Zambia! And yet it felt pretty normal, actually -- friends like Joe are great because you can always just pick up where you left off -- whether your pathes cross in Fairport or Lusaka. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi and founded an organization called the World Education Fund. Each summer, he leads a group of University of Rochester students on a 3-week immersion experience back in Gowa, the village where he did his Peace Corps service. After the trip to Malawi, he and Deste decided to come to Livingstone to check out Victoria Falls and passed through Lusaka on his way back to Malawi. Deste came down with strep throat so we mostly chilled in Lusaka, watching/renting a bunch of movies and cooking. Unfortunately, I ended up getting sick yesterday, too, with a nasty migraine -- not fun but it was nice to have Deste's and Joe's company. They took good care of me:) And I'm feeling much better today thankfully.
Work for the urban survey is starting to gain momentum. Stage one of the survey kicks off this week in the various cities with "listing", where we try to get a count of the total number of households in each area. I'll be heading up to Kitwe, a city in Copperbelt province, with a colleague on Friday to supervise the listing activity there. I'm looking forward to seeing another part of the country. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures while I'm there. For now, here are just a few pictures of me, Joe, and Deste during their visit. We didn't do much so they're just taken in or outside of my apartment.
Cheers. ~nmm
Work for the urban survey is starting to gain momentum. Stage one of the survey kicks off this week in the various cities with "listing", where we try to get a count of the total number of households in each area. I'll be heading up to Kitwe, a city in Copperbelt province, with a colleague on Friday to supervise the listing activity there. I'm looking forward to seeing another part of the country. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures while I'm there. For now, here are just a few pictures of me, Joe, and Deste during their visit. We didn't do much so they're just taken in or outside of my apartment.
Cheers. ~nmm
Spirit of the Land - photos of Zambia's landscape
"Spirit of the Land: The w_i_d_e view of Zambia's stunning wild landscape" is a collection of photographs by Stephen Robinson of the Zambian landscape. Check out the photos -- they are breathtakingly beautiful.
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