Sunday 12th July: Trips to the desert and the Kariba Dam
Africa’s one redeeming feature has disappeared!
We now realize Africa’s greatest attraction, the one thing that makes its dangers tolerable (like malaria, contaminated water, resistant TB, HIV for the surgeon, snake bites, road traffic accidents) and discomforts bearable (electricity cuts, no running water, no news papers/cinema/theatre/music/good restaurants), is not just the beaming, optimistic sun but most importantly its warmth!
Whoever heard of winter close to the equator?
Well it has arrived in Monze, Zambia and will last for the next 4-6 weeks. This means, with no way of heating the house, that we have to put on 3 layers of clothing in the evening, plus socks, woolly PJs and hot water bottles in bed at night; our noses and fingers still get cold. A small bed helps! The lowest temperature we recorded outside was 7 C!
At least it is dry. During the day in the sun the temperature rises to the high 80’sF, - almost 30C, but any breeze still has a real chill to it As soon as the sun sinks below the horizon the heat vanishes and on comes the woolly clothing.
On our return everyone in Monze has been very welcoming and many folk have appear to have missed us, so it has reduced the down of leaving our family, friends and colleagues once again. It was great meeting the Penns, Olivers and Reddys as well as our family, and most of all of course our new, perfectly formed grandson Finn Phoenix Thompson Adams!
On reflection I doubt whether anything will ever be as exciting again, in spite of driving for 32 hours to and from Plymouth, with a side visit to the Chateaux by the river in Leamington, rising at 7 am on many mornings to read Babar the Elephant to an ever lively and enquiring Joseph and coping with all the bustle of family life. It was also great to see the lovely and amazingly happy and contented Celina.
Sunday 19/07/09 66 years down the line
We woke at 6.45am, had “builders” tea, as usual at 7.00am and opened my two birthday cards one from Gill and Dean and one from Judy. Thanks sis if you ever read this! I then went out into the cold chill of another African morning under pure blue skies for my regular Sunday jog. 20 minutes later I managed an exceptional 45 press-ups and 20 sit-ups.
We had a breakfast of granadillas/passion fruit, papaya, bananas and strawberry yoghurt and then home made brown bread and Violaine’s, our French friend from the diocesan centre, home made marmalade and coffee.
We actually made it to church only 5 minutes late and the service seemed more musical and joyous than ever. There was lots of dancing, drumming and singing. Tea with MB and TG afterwards, a ward round to see the stabbed patient we operated on the previous day, and another post traffic accident patient who was struggling with a flail chest and probably should have been ventilated. In fact the next day his chest was improving but he had developed a burst abdomen which will be re-sutured tomorrow?!
A visit to Sarita and Tony’s garden in the hospital to view the organic mega-mutant-cauliflowers 15 inches across and perfectly formed.
We almost needed a wheelbarrow to get it home, together with equally mutant very large beetroots, radishes, fenugreek, Nepalese beans that taste and look like runner beans and sweet corn.
Home via the Internet café and had home made curried pumpkin soup with a dash of tomato and home made buttered brown rolls.
I had a gentle snooze while Judy prepared the salad for the evening barbeque at Moorings.
Judy and I had an hours walk across the bush at Moorings
Flowers and Judy at Moorings
On the walk in the setting sun
with the setting golden orb casting long shadows while we beat off the village dogs, and communicated in a mixture of English and Tonga to the passing Zambians and village children who were on much more purposeful walks collecting fire wood.
Back at the farm after admiring the very large pigs in row after row of muddy narrow concrete pens we joined Elizabeth, a 90+yr old recently retired American Berkeley Professor (social anthropology), single lady who spends half the year in Zambia and half in California. MB, Tony, Sarita and Shirley a white Zambian were all there in front of a log fire in Elizabeth’s house. Judy and I sank long gin and tonics without ice or lemon discussing esoteric issues with them including Barrack Obama’s book on his early life in Hawaii and Indonesia and all our experiences of living in Zambia. Elizabeth spent many of her early years in the 1950’s living in a Tonga village. We have just met Aysa a young African American girl in the “Peace Corps” who is currently living in a Tongan village and is very keen to meet Elizabeth.
I’m sure they have a lot to talk about and we hope to be there when they do! I (MRT) have also tentatively arranged to spend at least one night sleeping in Aysa’s village, although it will have to be in a tent not a rondavel, and it won’t be until the nights are a lot warmer.
We all, except Elizabeth, retired to the rapidly cooling dark outside and in 5 layers of clothing under a clear sparkling sky we all sat around a brazier with Theresa and Mo (short for Mahmoud) to eat his Palestinian dips with pitta bread and with the next round of drinks, mainly Mosi beers.
We all, except Elizabeth, retired to the rapidly cooling dark outside and in 5 layers of clothing under a clear sparkling sky we all sat around a brazier with Theresa and Mo (short for Mahmoud) to eat his Palestinian dips with pitta bread and with the next round of drinks, mainly Mosi beers.
The barbeque of ‘T’ bone steaks, chicken, and sausages cooked by Philip the barman, and side dishes of boiled potatoes, rapidly disappeared, as did the salads of green leaves from a variety of non-lettuce plants, onions and two types of radish, all donated from Sarita’s garden. At least half the conversation was drowned by laughter but at 8.30 with a still dropping temperature most of us were happy to retreat to the cars for the trip back to ‘truck stop’ Monze. The journey across the farm’s dirt tracks with not much light other than from the stars with MB driving was, as usual, at break neck speed.
Judy and I were dropped off about half a mile from home along a now very familiar dusty and uneven, torch lit track to our home and bed.
It was a very happy birthday with enjoyments we have now become accustomed to in Zambia. Great geography with interesting people having some amazing stories to tell and not without good food and alcohol!
14th August
I can’t believe it is a month since we arrived back in Monze and I put ‘pen to paper’ for the blog. We have been very busy and have had 2 trips, one VSO at Fringella for 2-3 days, and then a trip to the Namib Desert for three days - our first big trip outside Zambia.
Fringella just north of Lusaka
Fringella Farm and Lodge was pleasant, especially to meet other VSO volunteers mainly from
Judy and I were dropped off about half a mile from home along a now very familiar dusty and uneven, torch lit track to our home and bed.
It was a very happy birthday with enjoyments we have now become accustomed to in Zambia. Great geography with interesting people having some amazing stories to tell and not without good food and alcohol!
14th August
I can’t believe it is a month since we arrived back in Monze and I put ‘pen to paper’ for the blog. We have been very busy and have had 2 trips, one VSO at Fringella for 2-3 days, and then a trip to the Namib Desert for three days - our first big trip outside Zambia.
Fringella just north of Lusaka
Fringella Farm and Lodge was pleasant, especially to meet other VSO volunteers mainly from
Most of the merry crew
Natalie from Dartington, Jacinta fro Sidney Australia, Ben from London and Tasha
Lusaka, as we had missed the Southern Provence meeting while in the UK. Jacinta and Kristin in their 30’s from Sydney, Australia running a business which produces/knits jumpers and raises money to support patients with HIV; Ben from London, a young engineer who is working with a water company;Natalie from near Plymouth, who went to Dartington College and is also working in HIV/AIDS, using music and dance for peer education in young people. She has been in Zambia for nearly four years has married a Zambian (who is in her dance troop and is called Biggie!) and they have a baby son; Ben from Kenya, a Christian who is helping manage a Christian charity and about 5 others together with a similar number of Zambians from the VSO office.
These meetings are generally meant to be morale boosters but for us are becoming a bit repetitive, although it is good to have time to reflect on what we are achieving, to find out the problems we face are not confined to Monze or our own limitations and to make sense of life, ourselves, Zambians, Africans and not least the shortcomings of trying to help and give aid to developing countries.
The trip to the Namib Desert and the Naukluft National Park
This was an amazing feat for two 60+ year olds, a great adventure and yet another mind-blowing view of a geographically quite different part of the real Africa.
We travelled 2,548 miles (1274 miles each way) in five days to spend three days at the classic safari lodge Wolwedans. We hired a car for the last part of the journey and drove down endlessly empty roads made from a mixture of tarmac, crushed stone and sand across which we glided and slid.
The trip to the Namib Desert and the Naukluft National Park
This was an amazing feat for two 60+ year olds, a great adventure and yet another mind-blowing view of a geographically quite different part of the real Africa.
We travelled 2,548 miles (1274 miles each way) in five days to spend three days at the classic safari lodge Wolwedans. We hired a car for the last part of the journey and drove down endlessly empty roads made from a mixture of tarmac, crushed stone and sand across which we glided and slid.
On the way we stayed at Sossusvlei Lodge
Magnificent Gardens
Wonderful Swimming Pool; very cold!
A cold beer
Long shadows in the setting sun
Overlooking Sossosvlei Lodge chalets from the tower and the surrounding spectacular scenery
At Wolwedans we had two nights at Dune Camp and one night at the luxury isolated Boulder Camp. The Dune Camp was half the price of Boulders but still expensive. It is set in sand dunes, and looks across vast areas of flat sand and grit desert, not quite devoid of vegetation; mainly dry lime green coloured grass with the very occasional small bush and on to bare rocky mountains 2,000 metres high. The dry pollution free air means the views are crystal clear and spectacular, constantly changing with the rising and setting of the sun. It is amazing how colourful the mountains are, ranging from bright reds in the setting sun to greens and blacks. The grasses vary from pale green to almost white.
The restaurant
The kitchen from the restaurant
The set up from Dune Camp for a gin and tonic at sunset. One of the enduring British traditions in sub-Saharan Africa
Our Guide
Feeling very relaxed
Boulder Lodger is a more luxurious site, two hours drive across the sands to a wilderness area tucked under boulders with open sided tents giving 240-degree views from our bed and private terrace of a slightly sinister and alien landscape.
Our Chalet on the right
Our Bed
Our Bed
Gin and Tonic at Boulder
Finally a gin at sunset
The area is mainly famous for the sand dunes up to 500 metres high at Sossusvlei. These are a deep reddish brown and have amazing swirling and curving geometric shapes with knife edged linear ridges shaped and moved by the wind, some up to a kilometre a year. In the early morning the sun catches their eastern slopes leaving the western slopes in deep black shadows, the change between the two drawn as sharply and precisely in curved lines as though a geometric construction. Needless to say I had to climb one.
A picture of other climbers on my way up
It was a breathless journey for breath suspending views of the ant like people at the base of the dune, with a very clear demonstration of the wind blowing the sand off the chiseled ridges like snow off the top of Everest. As quickly as my footprints destroyed the knife-edged ridge the blowing sand repaired it.
We had travelled 3.5 hours from Wolwedans to Sossusvlei in an open Land Rover, starting 5.00am on a freezing cold morning to get there in time to see the Dunes at their most spectacular It was cold, even without the accompanying icy desert wind converted into a gale by the Land Rover speeding down the long straight grit roads. They seemed to stretch endlessly
through the lightening desert. We were disappointed that neither multiple layers of clothing, nor the three blankets we eventually completely disappeared under kept the wind out, and that the glorious rising sun for once seemed to have lost its warm glow. We survived and were rewarded with the spectacular illuminated dunes, their surrounding trails of desert and a cup of tea, although breakfast was delayed a further hour until after we had visited the “Dead Vlei”.
This was an area previously washed by the rare rains but now surrounded by new sand dunes virtually denying the trees any water. It created a slightly menacing surrealistic atmosphere in the vast open spaces, even though we were sharing it with numerous tourists from several other continents!
A snake in the desert; a fairly benign one!!
springboks and lines of ostriches, grazing over the red desert with the smaller mountains casting infinitely long shadows in the rapidly cooling air. Italy then swept us back, in the dusk, to our safe lairs, for haute cuisine dinners, fine South African wines and interesting conversations with other guests. They were an interesting mixture of guests; including German doctors, Italian designers, the head of Coloplast Southern Africa, initially from the Channel Islands with his second family (his son from his first family played rugby for SA and Newport Wales), a gay Spanish couple (Professor of Economics at Barcelona University and his younger interior designer partner –quite gorgeous looking, Hans a white Namibian ex German who runs a travel agency specializing in niche markets for astronomers (the desert air is so clear it is better than anywhere else in the world to see the stars) and gliders, and perhaps most surprising, two prospective VSO volunteers, she at the moment working at Rugby Grammar School as director of education and her husband a retired vet who spoke fluent French (they had a pad in France) and was going to be the VSO partner!
The 2,548 miles to get to Namib was achieved in 2 buses each way, our old faithful Mazhandu (Monze to Livingstone) and Intercape (Livingstone overnight to Windhoek),
on which we slept very well each way (better than on planes).
The 'Boiling Pot'
The Trip to the Kariba Dam 15-16/08/09
This is one of the trips we really had to do before we leave Zambia now only just over one month away.
We joined Theresa, (Mo was back in Ireland), her sister Muriel and friend Tricia who have been visiting for two weeks. We went in the Holy Family’s large white 4WD and it was another great weekend.
Our luxury Caribbean style hotel with pool overlooking the lake
The dam is sited in a gorge, which is surrounded by mountainous country unusual for Zambia at least compared with its western and southern provinces.
The dam
The gorge below the dam
The lake upstream of the dam is wide and impressively 13 kilometres wide, like a sea, with no land visible on its western horizon.
The dam is just visible at the end of the water looking east
There are large whirlpools just upstream of the dam
Theresa, Theresa's sister and Judy looking at the map, history and method of constructing the dam
We had a sundowner boat trip, again with the usual gin and tonic, ice and lemon, which was hugely enjoyable on the vast Kariba Lake with its multiple Islands ranging from a few rocks to long strips, with the offspring of baboons and deer presumably trapped there when the valley was flooded in 1960.
the shore line initially with long shadows and then decorated with lights as the great red orb finally sank below the horizon.
The food at The Lake Kariba Inn was excellent which we shared with large numbers of Japanese, Zambians and their children, a Frenchman who was helping improve the electricity supply to Zambia and an English couple who had returned to teach at a Zambian school and who were also probably evangelists.
The atmosphere, local people and the geography of the area were very reminiscent of the Caribbean.
Clinical Work
Last Sunday-early hours Monday we admitted to two teenaged boys with sigmoid volvulus.
This was an area previously washed by the rare rains but now surrounded by new sand dunes virtually denying the trees any water. It created a slightly menacing surrealistic atmosphere in the vast open spaces, even though we were sharing it with numerous tourists from several other continents!
A snake in the desert; a fairly benign one!!
Italy Micke Awaseb was our guide and driver. He was a great enthusiast had several biology books with full descriptions of all the animals and birds which he constantly used to illustrate all his talks, and knew a great deal about the Namib Desert. He was great fun, and also took us on one of our sundowner trips, drinking gin and tonic (see above) on the top of a sand dune as we watched the sun set over small groups of oryx,
springboks and lines of ostriches, grazing over the red desert with the smaller mountains casting infinitely long shadows in the rapidly cooling air. Italy then swept us back, in the dusk, to our safe lairs, for haute cuisine dinners, fine South African wines and interesting conversations with other guests. They were an interesting mixture of guests; including German doctors, Italian designers, the head of Coloplast Southern Africa, initially from the Channel Islands with his second family (his son from his first family played rugby for SA and Newport Wales), a gay Spanish couple (Professor of Economics at Barcelona University and his younger interior designer partner –quite gorgeous looking, Hans a white Namibian ex German who runs a travel agency specializing in niche markets for astronomers (the desert air is so clear it is better than anywhere else in the world to see the stars) and gliders, and perhaps most surprising, two prospective VSO volunteers, she at the moment working at Rugby Grammar School as director of education and her husband a retired vet who spoke fluent French (they had a pad in France) and was going to be the VSO partner!
The 2,548 miles to get to Namib was achieved in 2 buses each way, our old faithful Mazhandu (Monze to Livingstone) and Intercape (Livingstone overnight to Windhoek),
on which we slept very well each way (better than on planes).We had the front seats on the upper deck with grand stand views including the sun setting and rising twice. It also meant we fried in the sun during the day and froze at night! It was worth it for the views especially the one of the elephant on the side of the road, in the dark! At Windhoek we hired a car, which took us mainly over grit roads to Wolwedans, with a break at the magical Sossusvlei Lodge for one night. We also had an overnight stay in Livingstone, on the way out, at Ngolide Lodge, which has a great Indian restaurant. Jill and Mike Becket white Zambian farmers from Choma who we have mentioned in previous blogs joined us for dinner, quite unplanned.
As this was our last visit to Livingstone we walked down to the ‘Boiling Pot’, the point at which the mighty Zambezi pours or runs out of the Batoka Gorge, into which it pours over the Victoria Falls. One descends down a picturesque very steep sided valley to get right to the edge of the Zambesi and watch the huge volume of water as it churns, boils and races on to its new
As this was our last visit to Livingstone we walked down to the ‘Boiling Pot’, the point at which the mighty Zambezi pours or runs out of the Batoka Gorge, into which it pours over the Victoria Falls. One descends down a picturesque very steep sided valley to get right to the edge of the Zambesi and watch the huge volume of water as it churns, boils and races on to its new
The 'Boiling Pot'
Looking back into the Batoka Gorge down into which the mighty Zambezi pours before it travels on to Lake Kariba through the dam and after dividing Zambia from Zimbabwe for a little longer into Mozambique and finally into the Indian Ocean. A long journey from its origin in the Congo and the flood plain around Mongu creating Ku-omboka.
much lower level between Zambia on one side and Zimbabe on the other, to the Kariba dam via the great lake the dam creates. We have now seen Mosi-oa -Tunya from almost every angle in its drier and wetter states.
The cost of our journey to travel over half way across Africa was £300, £150 each comprising of an £11 return ticket to Livingstone, £57 to Windhoek and back, and £80 each for the car for 4 days. The petrol cost £37!
In contrast the cost of Wolwedans for three nights was £1690 plus £142 in extras (but absolute luxury), Sossusvlei Lodge was £217 and Ngolide £77. The total cost of the week’s trip was £2514.
We felt that this SKI was well worth the cash and effort!!
The cost of our journey to travel over half way across Africa was £300, £150 each comprising of an £11 return ticket to Livingstone, £57 to Windhoek and back, and £80 each for the car for 4 days. The petrol cost £37!
In contrast the cost of Wolwedans for three nights was £1690 plus £142 in extras (but absolute luxury), Sossusvlei Lodge was £217 and Ngolide £77. The total cost of the week’s trip was £2514.
We felt that this SKI was well worth the cash and effort!!
The Trip to the Kariba Dam 15-16/08/09
This is one of the trips we really had to do before we leave Zambia now only just over one month away.
We joined Theresa, (Mo was back in Ireland), her sister Muriel and friend Tricia who have been visiting for two weeks. We went in the Holy Family’s large white 4WD and it was another great weekend.
Our luxury Caribbean style hotel with pool overlooking the lake
The dam is sited in a gorge, which is surrounded by mountainous country unusual for Zambia at least compared with its western and southern provinces.
The dam
The gorge below the dam
The lake upstream of the dam is wide and impressively 13 kilometres wide, like a sea, with no land visible on its western horizon.
The dam is just visible at the end of the water looking east
There are large whirlpools just upstream of the dam
where the water is sucked into 6 generators on the Zimbabwe side and 5 on the Zambian providing electricity mainly for Zimbabwe. The water re-appears boiling 120 metres lower in a narrow gorge on the other side of the dam, with crocodiles in the smoother still waters immediately close to the soaring smooth grey concrete of the dam wall. 18 Zambians fell into the concrete as it was being constructed and were left encased. It was interesting to meet the Zimbabwean officials and talk a little about their problems and hopes for the future. The statistics describing the damn and the volume of water going though it are intriguing – when built in 1959 it was the largest dam in the world.
Theresa, Theresa's sister and Judy looking at the map, history and method of constructing the dam
What they were looking at and in the succeeding pictures show its parts
A map of Kariba Lake
A map of Kariba Lake
We stood and watched the waters that had recently cascaded over the Victoria Falls and through the 'Boiling Pot', wondering if perhaps, they had been photographed by me last week.
We had a sundowner boat trip, again with the usual gin and tonic, ice and lemon, which was hugely enjoyable on the vast Kariba Lake with its multiple Islands ranging from a few rocks to long strips, with the offspring of baboons and deer presumably trapped there when the valley was flooded in 1960.
We also saw two crocodiles, a fish eagle, fishing boats with friendly fishermen,
the shore line initially with long shadows and then decorated with lights as the great red orb finally sank below the horizon.
The food at The Lake Kariba Inn was excellent which we shared with large numbers of Japanese, Zambians and their children, a Frenchman who was helping improve the electricity supply to Zambia and an English couple who had returned to teach at a Zambian school and who were also probably evangelists.
The atmosphere, local people and the geography of the area were very reminiscent of the Caribbean.
Clinical Work
Last Sunday-early hours Monday we admitted to two teenaged boys with sigmoid volvulus.
There are several interesting aspects to these cases.
First of all there is their youthfulness, although in Africa this is not uncommon.
Secondly they have long baggy bowels not just the sigmoid and one wonders whether they were born like this or that there are some environmental factors, which come into play fairly early in their lives which destroys the normal muscle tone in the bowel which allows it to become dilated and much longer.
Thirdly we got them home amazingly quickly. The second was admitted in the early hours of Monday morning, operated on at 03.00am. He had a sigmoid colectomy and primary anastomosis with no drains. He was drinking and had the drip down and catheter out the same day, was eating on Tuesday and went home 13.00hrs Wednesday afternoon 60hrs after admission 55hrs after the operation was completed; enhanced recovery works even in Africa! The other guy who was admitted and operated on Sunday evening also went home 13.00hrs Wednesday.
First of all there is their youthfulness, although in Africa this is not uncommon.
Secondly they have long baggy bowels not just the sigmoid and one wonders whether they were born like this or that there are some environmental factors, which come into play fairly early in their lives which destroys the normal muscle tone in the bowel which allows it to become dilated and much longer.
Thirdly we got them home amazingly quickly. The second was admitted in the early hours of Monday morning, operated on at 03.00am. He had a sigmoid colectomy and primary anastomosis with no drains. He was drinking and had the drip down and catheter out the same day, was eating on Tuesday and went home 13.00hrs Wednesday afternoon 60hrs after admission 55hrs after the operation was completed; enhanced recovery works even in Africa! The other guy who was admitted and operated on Sunday evening also went home 13.00hrs Wednesday.
The boy on the right had had two previous laparotomies for volvulus. I made a much smaller incision which after three days is hardly visible!
Ready for home 2.5 days after admission and major colonic resection for sigmoid volvulus
Umbilical Herniae in babies
We have done 2-3 of these over the last 9 months and the first baby did quite well as it wasn't too serous but others where the bowel won't return to the belly various techniques are used with less success as shown in the second baby.
Before After
This baby didn't do so well and died soon after surgery at least partly because the baby couldn't be ventilated. It was planned, over several days to slowly reduce the size of the bag, on the ward without further anaesthetic to squeeze the bowel back into the abdomen.
Before After
This baby didn't do so well and died soon after surgery at least partly because the baby couldn't be ventilated. It was planned, over several days to slowly reduce the size of the bag, on the ward without further anaesthetic to squeeze the bowel back into the abdomen.
As Emma’s visit approaches and our journey home gets nearer we are getting very excited and look forward to a more normal life in England although I’m sure we are going to miss all these experiences and the warmth and light of the golden orb.
