Namibia

It's been a few days now since I returned from my holiday in Namibia. What I found the most striking about Namibia were the landscapes; in my two week visit, I experienced expansive deserts, sea coast, plains, mountains and urban landscapes, all of which offered a feast for the eyes.

Getting there by bus takes a long time, so I broke it up a bit by spending a couple of days around Livingstone before moving onwards to Namibia. In Livingstone, I took the opportunity to catch another glimpse at Victoria Falls, as well as to go zip-lining over a portion of the gorge. That was fun! On recommendation from various people, I also hopped across the border into neighbouring Botswana to spend a day ogling the wildlife at Chobe National Park. Chobe is as impressive as everyone says it is, but really needs a few days to do it full justice.

Takeoff over the Victoria Falls gorge.

Superman!

Taking a drink in the Chobe River.

A nonchalant "log" waiting for an impala to take a drink.

The last of the "Big Five" - a buffalo.  One of the deadliest animals on the savannah.

After exploring Chobe, my dear friend Victoria joined me in Livingstone for the long trek to Namibia. Fortunately, the bus was new and comfortable since the journey from Livingstone to Windhoek took about 20 hours. Victoria and I explored Windhoek together before separating for a week. She went to visit a friend in Swakopmund (on the Atlantic coast), while I embarked on a week-long camping tour in the southern part of the country. After the tour, we reunited in Swakopmund to have some fun in the self-proclaimed “adventure sports capital of Africa”.

After a few days of fun and relaxation at the coast, we started our two-day, 2,000-kilometre bus-bound trek back to Mazabuka. Perhaps not the most relaxing way to travel, but with our backpack of sandwiches, snacks and drinks, we survived!

Extension #2

I know it may be hard to believe, but I have agreed to another short extension to my placement in Zambia.  I will now be staying at the Council until May 31, and flying home on June 2 or 3.

The reasons for the extension are to coordinate a training workshop on GIS mapping, to conduct a public meeting on the IDP, and to help in polishing the plan for consideration by the Planning Committee and Council in June.

Meanwhile, I am still also going on a planned holiday in Namibia over the next couple of weeks.  I've left some tasks for my colleagues to do while I'm away.

Rest assured that I am looking very much forward to seeing everyone back home in Canada.  It won't be much longer, I promise!

The mail must go through...

It had been a long time since I'd given up hope of ever receiving a promised parcel from my office in Ottawa.  Lo and behold, the shipping slip came just today.  I eagerly schlepped down to the post office to collect it.

The package was rather bruised and battered, but it appears that the contents were all there.  My colleagues sent me a fun card, some magazines, a book, a collapsible water bottle, lip balm and a few other sundry items.

In true end-of-the-week FoTenn fashion, there were armloads of candy too, most prized among them being the maple sugar toffees!  Thank you everyone for your thoughtfulness and generosity!

I love the saying on the tape: Found open and officially sealed by Zampost.

Yes, that says November 2, 2010: 170 days ago.

Eager to see what's inside...

... and even more delighted to find out what's inside!

The loot!

And most importantly, the warm wishes of the FoTenn Family!

Same blog channel, same blog time...

I was fiddling with some design settings and realized I couldn't go back.  So here's the new blog look, admittedly late in the game.

The only sheet of ice in Zambia

A few days ago, it was my turn to be celebrated.  This past week I took another bold step into my thirties.  So far so good for the decade.

I woke up to find that my roommate Rob had decorated the house with balloons and a banner, and found a gift of some fancy chitenge pants at the breakfast table.  At work, I received many good wishes from colleagues as they discovered it was my birthday.

In the evening, Rob and I held a braii at the house to gather everyone together.  Inspired by our friend's participatory sushi rolling party, we cut up and marinated ingredients so that everyone could assemble their own kebabs for the grill.  In traditional form, Rob was the expert grill-master.  The whole party was just great. 

Assembling dinner!

One of the most memorable things about the day was when my friend Lweendo showed up at my my office with a gift.  I opened it and was completely blown away.  She gave me a t-shirt with the words "Mazabuka Curling Team" and the Canadian Curling Association logo on the front; on the back, the shirt bore my name.  She insisted that I wear the shirt for the party.

Little did I know that there were going to be three more members of the Mazabuka Curling Team - Lweendo, Victoria, and Victoria's nephew Mwaba - who all showed up in the team shirt.  Victoria also made a cake iced to look like a curling sheet!  Definitely the only sheet of ice in Zambia.

The only sheet of ice in Zambia!

Meet the team

 

"Skip" of the Mazabuka Curling Team and baker of the cake: Victoria

In fine Zambian tradition, my neighbour took advantage of me standing alone giving a speech to throw a pail of cold water in my direction.  I knew it was coming... the only question was, "When?"

The party was fabulous - folks brought lovely food to accompany the kebabs, wine (and even a bottle of sparkling wine), gifts of art, and a full tray of brownies dressed up with an appropriate number of candles.

Having fun!

The best housemate I could have asked for.

More fun!

Bring in the fire brigade...

I felt so loved and blessed that night.  I hope my speech conveyed that same message.  Naturally, I will really miss my Zambian friends when I return to Canada in a few weeks time.

A taste of Japan

Last night, my local Japanese friend celebrated her birthday with a futo-maki (sushi) rolling party, hosted at Marco's house.  It was a huge hit!

For the afternoon, the hostess/birthday girl invited everyone to come over to learn how to prepare the sushi ingredients.  Later, everyone converged on the house once again to find out how to roll and, more importantly, eat the sushi!

I think the photos show how much fun we had playing with our food...  :-)

A lovely Japanese lady shares her skills and love of food with a Zambian, an Italian and a Canadian.

Observing and thinking, "I'll do it better than you."

The next batch...

Hurry up!  The rest of us want to eat!

Pleased with the fruits of labour.

Some time ago, Marco (the de facto party master) asked an American friend of his to make up some Hard Rock Café Mazabuka t-shirts prior to visiting.  Marco asked us all to put on our "uniform" for a group photo around our prized possession - the pool table.  As the evening wore on, we turned up the music and tore up the dance floor.

The Hard Rock Café Mazabuka crowd.

Marco's bar, designed according to the client's wishes by Yours Truly.  My brother would have done a much better job but it turned out pretty well.

The sign behind the bar... a Christmas gift designed by Rob and me.

 

Marco's conversation piece... a funky lamp made out of an old hospital ventilator.

The Sweetest Town in the Nation

Yesterday being a bright, sunny Saturday, I borrowed my roommate's bicycle and went out for a ride.  I decided to check out mostly unknown territory (to me at least), by visiting the Nakambala Sugar Estate.  It was quite a pleasant (albeit hot) ride.

Mazabuka is popularly known as the Sweetest Town in the Nation as a result of its long association with sugar production.  The fields that surround the town, particularly those lying to the north in the Kafue River floodplain are covered by hundreds of hectares of sugar cane.  At the heart of the cane plantations is the sugar factory, its associated offices and research departments, and several pockets of staff housing.

As I meandered through the housing area, what struck my eyes as a planner was how orderly and normal everything looked.  The roads are a uniform width and they have a proper convex profile to facilitate drainage.  Being a sugar plantation, the company even coats the roads with molasses as a cheap substitute for tar (on a hot day, the place does have a somewhat cloying scent, but it's not unpleasant).  Housing is set back from the road by an appropriate distance and the houses are well kept.  There are some community facilities which appear well-maintained and appreciated by residents.  My field trip showed me that viable alternatives to the conditions in many Council-run neighbourhoods are very possible.  The examples are even reachable by bicycle.

A molasses-sealed road in the staff area.  Looks pretty nice, doesn't it?

I wondered whether there could be some sort of exchange program for Council staff to learn from the "municipal works" staff at Zambia Sugar.  Building and maintaining roads is not rocket science!

The Nakambala Factory of Zambia Sugar.  Mmm... sweet!

 

Sugar cane, as far as the eye can see...

The road leading away from the Nakambala House - a relatively posh place to have a drink and a meal in town.

The road leading out of the sugar estate.  As I rode back towards home, I realized that this was the skyline of downtown Mazabuka.  At four storeys, the building between the poles on the right is the tallest in town.

Galvanized by tragedy

Truck accidents are an all too common occurrence around Mazabuka.  This morning, there was another horrible accident at the Shoprite intersection.  A truck loaded with several large bins of ice was en route to the Kafue River to collect fish when it slammed through the fence and rolled over.  The biggest tragedy is that there were several people riding in the back of the open trailer.  I am told that eleven people lost their lives and that another eight are in hospital with various fractures.  The scale of the tragedy is truly difficult to comprehend.

Incidentally, today was the scheduled quarterly meeting of the Full Council.  As a result, the councilors were definitely talking about the morning's accident.  They resolved that the Council officers should move ahead with the by-pass road and, as an interim measure, find some money to install warning signs and additional speed humps on the current route through town.  The sticky situation is that the Councilors are determined that the work should proceed on a different by-pass route than the one proposed in the IDP - essentially replacing an entire 60 kilometre stretch of highway.  While their proposal goes through much flatter terrain than the current highway, it will be an astronomically expensive route to build and will disrupt a number of small villages.  In contrast, the other by-pass road is about 8 kilometres, crossing through three large farms.  No solution is ever perfect...

The day's deliberations.

Recognizing the dangers of the Shoprite intersection, the Council did recently get out and paint the road with some markings to control traffic.  I've spent a bit of time observing the intersection and have noticed that people do pay heed to the lanes and the stop line.  It's a start, but it won't stop any runaway trucks.

More fresh produce

It just keeps getting better. Now the local bananas are back in season, along with these strange looking oranges called “naartjies”. I assume that's just Afrikaans for “orange” since in Spanish the word is “naranja” and in Italian “arancia”. The naartjies have a greenish-yellow peel which makes one think they've been picked too early; however the insides are much like tangerine – decidedly orange and decidedly tasty.

The finger bananas don't look like much on the outside (one would expect to see them on the mark-down rack at the supermarket), but inside they're oh-so-sweet and full of flavour. The texture is very smooth and creamy.

Local produce - yummy!

In addition, the maize crop is about ready to harvest. After a dry spell of a few weeks duration, the rains came back but with not as much gusto as in December-January. Nevertheless, the rains returned at just the right time to rescue the crops from an otherwise disappointing (disastrous?) harvest. Stella, our cleaner, planted maize in the garden, which has grown to about three metres tall. I never knew maize would grow that high!

The towering stalks of maize in the backyard.