Our news comes to
you from the North West of Zambia, a little village called Kalumbila. We have
been here almost three months having arrived late in the night on the 4th
of December. The journey was long and the proverbial bumps in the road were
many starting way back before the journey across Africa even began. What we
have learnt over time is that challenges only make us stronger as we regather,
regroup and move on. Gary left in July 2018 to work here in Kalumbila and Keryn
and I stayed in Gobabis keeping busy with school and afternoon activities. Not having Gary at home did not work too well
for us as a family. We saw him every 6 weeks for 10 days which as any family
that has had to, will know the challenges its brings to each member, not only
for Gary, Keryn and I but for the animals too.
Saying good-bye doesn’t get any easier even when it happens often. After 4 years in Gobabis it was an emotional
and tough good-bye especially to the special friends that took a part of our
hearts in exchange for a part of theirs.
There are some beautiful souls in this world and I had the privilege of
knowing some of them and experiencing the true essence of friendship that will
stay alive forever. Keryn and I continued to help at the informal school at the
library for the street children and learnt so much from our interaction with
them. We were pleased to receive news
that the 2018 group had been placed in schools outside of Gobabis. It is more difficult here to get involved with
volunteer work as a permit is required to do so. Also in the town of Kalumbila
everyone who lives there is employed mostly by the mine and there are no beggars
or street children. Somehow, some way an opportunity will present itself I’m
sure.
The border crossing
from Namibia to Zambia can be rated the most stressful of all border crossings!
Amidst automatic gun fire and a few random shots to try stop a bakkie load of
beer from hopping across the line we had endless issues with car and boat permits.
The customs office closed and locked
their doors and Gary was instructed to come back the next day to continue with
the paperwork. The Land Rover and boat had to stay where they were in the
meantime. Fortunately, I had booked us into a lodge 60 kms along on the Zambian
side so the three of us, four dogs, two cats and dear sweet Lilo hitched a ride
with a friendly chap who took us to the lodge for the night. The lodge then arranged transport for Gary to
return to the problem with his patience level restored to fight the battle so
we could continue our road trip. Keryn and I stayed put at the lodge with
everyone locked up in a stick and thatch little place on the banks of the
Zambezi river, the threat of hungry crocodiles looming right at our front door!
Gary returned late in the afternoon of the second day at Sesheke border post
and we continued on our journey to our new home the following morning.
Life is quite different
for us here in Kalumbila. Although never really one to drive fast the speed
limit here is 40 kms and in town 30 kms. We generally are only ever on these
roads and driving slowly has become the new norm! So is stopping to take the
geriatric chameleons across to safety. At first we stopped to watch the
fascinating stop-start stagger to the other side however one only has so much
time and don’t ever think you can rush a chameleon! Even the word “shoo!”
petrifies the little creature into statue mode where only the rotating eyes
roll around taking everything in. Now we hop out pick up Gerry (all chameleons
are Gerry’s) and carry him/her to the other side of the road where they soon
get over it and teeter off into the forest! We have squirrels too in the tall trees
that seem to end in the clouds. Homer and Sheki race around the garden from
tree to tree looking up for them. Squirrels are clever, little creatures and
I’m convinced they taunt the dogs knowing dogs can’t climb trees! Dogs are not
so clever and Homer and Sheki will spend hours barking and jumping whilst the
squirrel throws down de-seeded pods on them. We have seen a number of tortoises
too and have been told there are pangolin that were released on the estate.
Will have to keep an eye open for them
We arrived as the
rainy season began and if I remember correctly we have had maybe two full days
where there has been no rain. Otherwise it rains every day or if not during the
day then at night. Nothing like extremes in our lives. From Gobabis drought to
high rainfalls we wish we could send the rainclouds there for a while. The
ground here is mud, red, thick, sticky mud! Nothing white stays white as even
the clean water has traces of red dirt in it. Bed linen is now pink! Vanish
sales have sky rocketed and Homer and Sheki need baths again! Rainy season is long! I am told it will rain
until end April and then it gets hot. At the moment its peak malaria time. Any
sign of body aches, temperature or headache we are off to be tested. There are precautions such as mosquito nets
and lots of Peaceful Sleep. Also they came to spray the house on the inside
which reluctantly we decided was the better of the two evils. The day our house
was booked we had to move everything to the centre of each room, remove all
food products and animals! The workers that arrived to spray refused to get out
the vehicle until the dogs were taken away! The one in charge of spraying wanted
to re-book our house for another day but with moving not far enough in the distant
memories and the house looking similar with everything piled in the middle we
refused! The jangling of keys and few chases followed by a push and a shove and
a slam of the car door and all were crammed into the land rover. Knowing no one
here and with no where to go we drove around looking like a lost mini Noah’s
ark replica. Gazi was especially perturbed. The oldest of the dogs she has more
experience and knows that Mom driving and no Dad in the car is never a good
thing especially as the GPS does not work in Zambia and directionless me had no
clue where to go never mind how to get there or back again! After a long drive
to no where and back again the house was done and we were allowed back in it.
Fortunately Keryn was navigator and we made it home without getting lost!
There is only one
shop here, two if you count the little kiosk at the garage. Choppies is like a
mini grocer and how I would imagine a grocery store to be in my grandparents
day! Fruit and veg are scarce and if something on your grocery list is on the
shelves its advisable to stock up as you’re likely never to see it again once
the supply is sold. Solwezi is sometimes
an unavoidable trip and sometimes a disappointing one too when their fresh
produce is not great. A moan regarding
lack of fresh veg from a group member on the Choppies Whatsapp group was
answered with “we have a variety of seeds available”. So I guess we shall skip
off to the bottom of the garden where the vegetable grow and talk to the plants
nicely so they hurry up and grow! The bakery at Choppies is good. They make a
really great loaf!
There is a dam here
and its big enough for our boat to go on it. We have packed our cooler boxes
and gone fishing a few times already although the only fish we brought home
were a few fry that Keryn collected in her net for her fishtank. Its always good to go out on the water though
and be outdoors and we can still see our front door from the dam! The small fry Keryn collected are tilapia and
have already doubled in size! We took a boat ride across the dam to a lovely
lodge called Nalulu where we had lunch. Just before the lodge Gary found what I
call a water lily plantation. An area where all you can see is waterlilies and just
about every lilly pad had a flower. Absolutely breath takingly beautiful.
On the first day of
February Gary came home with an injured owl. He was told by many that it would
not live to the next day. We named him Bila and Keryn took the responsibility
of cleaning, medicating and feeding him. Thanks to Annalize in Gobabis and our
first aid box given to us by the members of Animal Rescue Bila received the
necessary medicine to help him back to health. We discovered that owls have three eyelids in
order to properly protect their eyes. The upper one is for blinking, and the
lower one for sleeping.
The third eyelid closes from the inside out in order to keep the eyes clean.
Bila has one of his eye
lids missing. It must have been cut badly in the accident and has not healed so
poor Bila does not have his upper blinker on his left eye. Bila is still with us as he refuses to feed
himself and Keryn has to feed him little bits by hand.
Orchids in our garden
