Another day in the park.

[onlyMark]

Mrs M, bless her little cotton socks, had an idea.
I had been on the receiving end of some of her ideas over the years and I could see this one would fall on me to sort out. You see, she is the ideas person in our relationship whereas I am the one who gets lumped with it to follow through. She comes up with the thought and I end up making it into reality. She thinks, I do. It is up to me to make it come true.
This situation started in earnest with her idea of buying and doing up a house in Spain. Although an exaggeration, the impression I get is that it took her maybe six seconds to come with the thought and took me six years to get it done.

This latest idea began with me opening my big mouth and wondering why a lot of the people she worked with always seemed to be off on training courses for one thing and another and seemingly a lot of money being spent on "consultants" being flown in to just give a half day course on something I thought people should know anyway. Or a subject with a title that I couldn't work out what on earth it was supposed to be on about, e.g. "Coping with modular paradigm shifts", or, "Quality management processing".
I wondered aloud what courses people like the company drivers went on, or the cleaning staff etc, knowing full well they didn't. They did their jobs and that was it.

Her mind chewed on this for all of a nanosecond, as I'm convinced it is made up of quantum entangled particles, and came up with an idea. She had joined various threads, that of what little skill I might possess, a random thought of something she'd heard of but didn't know precisely what it was, the solution to getting various staff members involved who normally wouldn't be, and giving "added value" to their positions. Plus showing they were appreciated.
I'd have just given them extra time off or something, but she had a better idea.
It's like when our kids were little. My idea of fun for them was for us to go and kick a football around, have a picnic, build a den in the woods and so on. Hers was to buy an educational board game for rainy days. This is how we differed, yet were complimentary with each other.

Hence the "Defensive Driving: Theory and Practical" presentation was born. Mainly for the company drivers but any other staff who felt they needed it. Compulsory for the drivers, optional for anyone else.
It also included a free lunch (though, yes, no lunch is really free), which was a motivator, and on completion you get a certificate, presented by me (not exactly a motivator) which remains on your work file.
As many as wanted/needed could sit in on the classroom stuff for a couple of hours but then a maximum of three would be put in a car with me to do the practical stuff for the next couple of hours. Taking it in turn to drive while I harangued them for their pathetic dangerous actions whilst giving them the benefit of my extensive and exceptional experience and knowledge.
I hoped the second part would be like that but Mrs M said I couldn't shout at them nor be an arrogant smart-arse.
It rather cramped my style, but I put up with the restrictions for the sake of company harmony.

I have done so far one presentation and two practical sessions. Who knew Powerpoint was such a devilish computer programme for the uninitiated, non-office going person like me? In my working life I have spent at a maximum, five months doing office work.
I fear though, after I was informed of how many drivers/others have to or want to do this, that it will be an ongoing saga. Especially as there are outlying offices around the country to sort out as well. One of them is where Mrs M and I were recently and this gave me the opportunity to slip back to South Luangwa National Park.
The whole purpose of the previous paragraphs was just to lead you gently into, with a bit of luck, appreciating the following report and photos and risking life and limb to bring it to you.

We set off on a sunny day and passes though some typical African countryside -




The wet season has recently finished and the rivers and streams are just tidying up and transporting the last of the water, though many will remain and not dry up completely –

[onlyMark]

We had an overnight stop in a nonentity of a town on the way and eventually arrived at the park, or rather just outside it, mid-afternoon the following day.
We would only be there a couple of nights, as that is all we had time for over the weekend, but I decided to try a different place to stay than previously. The choice was somewhat limited but there are half a dozen places we could stay that were just outside the park boundary.
The question may be why stay outside rather than inside?
Mainly because we prefer to come and go as we please, we want to eat what we want, when we want and don't want to pay for the full board option, which is the usual thing for lodges inside. Few, if any, will do "room only" though I do admit those inside are plush and luxurious and are quite a unique experience.

The border is the river and even so, it can form little obstacle to some of the game which can drift over to the non-park side as they please.
Two such were these who we noticed on the way to the camp and were just mooching around nearby –




After checking in and then walking to our accommodation I noticed on the track some fresh elephant poop. Obviously they were around somewhere. When it is dark you are not allowed to walk in the camp without one of the guards for safety reasons –




A walk back to the bar and restaurant gave me the opportunity to take a couple of shots –










A view across to the edge of the park –

[onlyMark]

Something smaller than the big game but in its way, no less interesting -




Still a nuisance, these are –




We relaxed as the sun went down -

 


The restaurant and bar –








We sat for some time by the river until it became dark and after a meal, retired for the night –

[onlyMark]

You never get complete silence whilst it is dark, we could still hear the hippos in the river chatting to each other, making a noise like a deep throated laugh as though one of them had just told a particularly funny joke causing several more to burst out in appreciation, munching sounds from somewhere nearby, either an elephant or another hippo, insect calls and the scrabble of something small over the top of the tent fabric. Reptile or rodent, could be either.

As I opened the tent the next morning I spotted over the river someone else going for breakfast –




We entered the park, me hoping the car didn't have a dickyfit like it did last time, and went for a cruise around. As before, upon paying the entrance fee, I asked the man if there had been any sightings that morning. He told me of a couple of things but gave vague and confusing directions as to their rough location. I trusted to luck and a sense of direction to get me close at least and then see what happens.
A number of things were spotted on the drive round, many not being too bothered at all by us passing slowly by, though the hippos seemed to be enjoying a game of hide and seek –








A small family of elephants kept a close eye on us as they had a couple of youngsters –

[onlyMark]

We had the windows down, which had the disadvantage of allowing the few tsetse flies we came across to gain access to my obviously sweet smell and I suffered over the day half a dozen bites. Unfortunately they are very persistent, little seems to be completely effective to dissuade them though there is advice regarding clothing colours and type of repellent and so forth, but it can be a bit of a lottery. They will bite through most clothing and though for example, jeans are advised, I know they will bite through them as well if they want. I don't think they have got the memo.

The worst thing is when you consistently get a bad reaction to them.
That'll be me.
Once in Uganda I had severely swollen arms and legs and had to take various medications for a week or so. This time I had just six bites (two body, two leg and two arm) but again, swelling and itching lasts until today after five days, but it is getting better. It is the only thing that I know of that gets a reaction from me.

The advantage of having the windows down is that you can smell things.
Once you have smelt a large dead body you can recognise it anywhere. Human like I have experience of, or otherwise as well.
You can't miss it, and we didn't.
I followed as best as I could the smell, turning this way and that until I could zero in on it after nearly half an hour.
Aha! What have we here, resting in the shade -




That'll be the source of the smell then –

[onlyMark]

Over a period of time I gradually worked my way round the spot where they were resting, bellies no doubt full to bursting and panting away, too full to move after Elsa's equivalent of that after Christmas Dinner feeling –
















After quite a while we moved on to leave them to it.

[onlyMark]

As expected though, most things we saw were just glimpsed for a few seconds or were that well hidden it wasn't worth trying to capture them on film. No matter also the thought that we didn't want to spend all our time looking through a camera lens. Some of the photos were taken with my proper camera, some with an iPad, so there is a variation in quality. I don't have a zoom lens either so anything too far away or too small wasn't snapped -








Our plan was to spend most of the morning there and then have a late lunch back at the camp and veg out around the pool. One good thing about the camp was that at 3.30pm they laid on tea and cake. We certainly had to be back for that anyway. I felt it was obligatory and would be rude to miss it, after they'd gone to all that trouble in any case.

Coming back over the river, out of the park, there is then a dry river bed for when the river floods. Spotted walking out of the park and in the direction of the camps. May even be part of the same family as before, but I don't think so. I didn't stop to ask them -






However, later in the afternoon at the camp, we had visitors –

[onlyMark]

Another night was spent in the serenity, apart from those bloody primates causing a nuisance again and the next day I had to give my presentation and stuff back in the town. So we headed back home a day or so later.
In the town though I had an hour or so to myself and was driving around trying to find a decent restaurant for us to eat at that night. Failed miserably by the way, we ended up eating in the hotel, but nevertheless, I found some street food. Something that had been glaringly missing in my explorations. They just don't really do it. I didn't have my camera with me so you'll have to use your imagination.
Imagine a small hand cart carrying a metal sheet with a depression hammered into it. Underneath is a wood fire heating oil in the dip.

Cut potatoes are formed into chips (fries) and fried until done. These are then set to the side.
You can eat bags of varying sizes of these, prices ranging from two to five kwacha ($0.20 - $0.50).
But, the pièce de résistance is what I had, priced also at 5 Kwacha.
Two eggs are broken into a small plastic bag, like a small sandwich bag. A few chips are added. This is then all mixed up to form a chip omelette. The killer was then the plastic bag and its contents were placed in the hot oil for a few minutes and cooked long enough for the eggs to set.
Why on earth the bag didn't just melt I have no idea.
Plus, the chemicals from it being infused into the egg/chip mixture as it was fried are something I don't really want to know about.

After being done and the bag scraped away, it was served on a plate with some salt and a little cut raw white cabbage.
It tasted good and was filling, but I'm not going to make a habit of it for sure.

A quick glimpse of part of a street market on the way back –




See the buckets of sweet potatoes? They are $3.00 each for the whole bucket full. The ladies were quite happy we stopped and bought a bucket and were even more happy when I greeted them and said thank you and good bye in their own language. The baby played it cool though –




That's it for now.
I'll see what happens next.

[bjd]

These are great, Mark. How nice to be able to go for a drive and see elephants, giraffes, hippos, monkeys. I'll pass on snakes and weird creepy-crawlies, but everything else is a thrill for those of us who live in urban areas of western Europe.

[kerouac2]

Your reports of daily life in Zambia are getting better than ever, Mark. It is definitely a rare sight for most of us to see a dead, unlucky, giraffe. The streams and rivers are extremely photogenic, which of course makes me wonder about mosquitos, but I guess tse tse flies are even better. Or something.

Mrs. M is extremely lucky since you go off on these excursions alone before taking her, giving you a better chance to get it right the second time.

The ladies selling sweet potatoes look delightful, but they would have no luck with me because yams are something that I do not consume voluntarily, even though I find sweet potato fries almost acceptable since I like limp fries.

[onlyMark]

Zambia has just come to a standstill. It matters not that it is the U20 team, the plain fact is that they have just beaten Germany in the Under 20 football World Cup. They will progress now to the quarter finals where they will play France or Italy.
The adult team is the current African champions.
I was out shopping when I wondered why it was all quite on the roads. I found out when I nipped into the supermarket and found every single worker, plus all the customers, huddled around a television.

[onlyMark]

bjd, I don't like the creepy crawlies either. I've got a spider in the room I have my laptop in and I'm loathe to try and get rid of it. I'm sure it'll bring its mates round. It's been there since before I went away last week and was waiting for me when I returned.
I've had to name it, - Algernon will do for now unless it lets me know any different. But I wanted it to feel part of the family so it doesn't do anything nasty.

K2, in the immortal words of Popeye, "I yam what I yam".
I don't like sweet potato really. It seems a contradiction. A bit like eating bacon ice cream. Apparently goes together but mentally not for me. They were bought for the cleaner we have and her family. She tells me, as she came originally from the north of Zambia where we were, that the northern ones taste different to central or southern ones. She prefers what she grew up with rather than those from the capital where she now is.

Mossies are reasonably rampant all over Zambia as is malaria, but fortunately they are quite easy to counter. In Lusaka we hardly get any, but there are some. Tsetse flies - by the way "The flies are attracted to moving vehicles" (from the CDC website) are a real pain, literally, and those who go on game drives frequently do suffer I'm sure, and Trypanosomiasis (African Sleeping Sickness) is epidemic close by. If you draw a line on a map of Africa from the Sudan to Angola, that is where they are epidemic. This unfortunately goes through the Congo (DRC), our neighbour country to the north and Angola to the west, and thus it means it is endemic in Zambia. It is classed as 'High Endemic' to our east and partially south.
I've not yet been bitten in Lusaka but there are some, usually more on the outskirts.

[onlyMark]

By the way, it may have been covered before somewhere I think, but the wraps the women are wearing come in all sorts of designs and colours and are generically called a chitenje.
They are given out free at election times and have the face of the relevant politician on.

[cheerypeabrain]

When will the book be out? honestly Mark you write with such humour but with a thorough knowledge of the subject it would be a best seller I'm sure. Your photography is jolly professional too. Really love hearing about your intrepid adventures.

[onlyMark]

I'm not so sure about a book Cheery. It'd just be a re-hash of the reports I do I suppose. Can't think of what else to put in there. I'm also not sure if I made one it'd get a bit too much like work rather than slipping the odd report in here and there because I enjoy it. If you see what I mean. Thanks for thinking it'd be worthy though.

[cheerypeabrain]

No worries. Just keep on posting your adventures.

[mossie]

Super game shots Mark, you really know your stuff. You could do well giving illustrated talks to clubs and societies, just need a projector to pump the files through.

But sooner you than me with the flies and creepy crawlies, let alone lions and elephants, I would be in the next country right quick.

[onlyMark]

The next country could be the Congo Mossie. Not better at all.

[bixaorellana]

Finally getting to enjoy this, Mark, and very enjoyable it is, too. It seems as though you are very, very happy to be back in Africa. I love the sweet potato ladies and am fascinated by the tables in their market. The egg in a bag thing sounds as though it started as an accident, then some curious, very possibly adolescent, most probably male cook decided to see where it might lead.

The lions are magnificent of course. Does Elsa have something around her neck, or is that a shadow illusion? Love that the male has a receding hairline, making him look very Bert Lahr.

[onlyMark]

Glad you're feeling better.
I never noticed what does look like a collar on the female Elsa. It is extremely possible that some of them do have tracking collars on them but I've no idea. I do have a tentative plan to head back up that way again soon and if I do I'll ask. It is about 700km though and it depends if I can be bothered to drive all that way again, and then back.

One thing along the lines of it being the small cultural differences that fascinate me. It's to do with clapping.
If anyone can remember recently the confusion of how Nicole Kidman was clapping at an awards ceremony? Yes? Now think about how you would normally clap. Open handed or near open handed with the hands lying somewhere from straight on to each other to maybe a 45 degree angle. We all seem to generally clap that way.
Not so here.
See the left hand woman in the last photo. She has cupped hands and at 90 degrees. Invariably that is how to clap in Zambia and it makes for a lower pitched note. She was clapping us in appreciation and enjoyment of hearing her native language. Only a few of words mind you, but nevertheless.

Another thing along these lines is the respect given to those of a higher social standing - usually chiefs of village/towns.
If you are done the honour of being introduced to one, as you approach you start bending your knees little by little, putting you lower than them, but also you do the above clap. That is important as well.
Our current President did his reputation some good and respect grew somewhat for him when several months ago he was actually doing this as he approached a group of chiefs. It showed he, even though being virtually the most important person in the country, had respect for tradition and culture.
This is him on the left doing exactly that. Note the lower state, even lower than the sitting chiefs, and the hand position as he is clapping. Also the enjoyment of the chiefs that he did unexpectedly what any man should do when approaching them. Note also the man behind him doing the same (in fact probably trying to get a bit lower than the president as well) -

[bixaorellana]

Oh yes -- I can see how that would make the president shoot up in many people's estimation!

Your explanation makes the expressions on the chiefs' faces even more interesting to behold.