Trip to Sioma

Over the Easter weekend we decided to take advantage of the 4-day long weekend and make a trip out to the Western Province of Zambia, to an area called Sioma. With us we had 3 other volunteers who came along for the adventure!

Sioma is located in the south-west corner of Zambia and remains very much untouched, lacking good roads and infrastructure and as a result is rarely visited by tourists. To get to Sioma you really do need a 4x4 as even in the dry season it is possible to become bogged in the sand; in wet season the going can be very tough and explains the lack of a tourism industry. This is a shame given how pretty the area is, especially along the Zambezi River.

"Ruth": Ready for our adventure

Our trip out to Sioma was actually ok. We found the road to be much better than expected although we were travelling in “Ruth” with her new suspension. We also found that work has begun on building a new road there, although this is still years away from completion.

New road being built by the Chinese next to the Zambezi River
on the way to Sioma.

Untouched: Typical village along the road side on the way to Sioma

We stayed at Sioma Camp, a site based on the edge of the Zambezi River. They have chalets and a campsite; being volunteers we opted for the more economical of the two and camped. Unfortunately, as anyone who knows me, I’m not the most seasoned of campers, however the site was actually very comfortable and even had hot water for showers! I was also relieved not to come across any snakes, as I’d been dreading coming across the infamous Black Mumba.

Sioma Camp

Our campsite with Mike and my tent in the middle

 We came fairly well equipped, however still managed to forget a few key items, such as a saucepan and pot for cooking. The staff at the camp were very kind however and lent us a tea pot for boiling hot water as well as chairs and a table to eat at. We were able to improvise a bit too using foil to create a frying pan for eggs and cooking pasta in the tea pot, which worked surprisingly well.

Mike preparing to cook dinner on the campfire

Improvisation: Cooking eggs on tin foil when there is no pan

Waiting for the water to boil

Sioma Camp was just what we all needed, very relaxed with beautiful views of the river and a restaurant/ bar where we could sit and read or enjoy a few quiet drinks while looking out onto the river.

The view from the Sioma Camp restaurant/ bar, looking out
onto the Zambezi River

Enjoying a quiet drink and company

One of the main reasons we wanted to head out to Sioma was to see Ngonye Falls, about 10kms north of our camp. The falls were seen by David Livingstone about 2 years before he saw Victoria Falls, Livingstone commenting, “the scenery was the loveliest I had seen”.

The entrance to Ngonye Falls: Where they tried to charge us
more than the cost of seeing Victoria Falls

Unfortunately we probably didn’t pick the best time of the year to go and see them with the Zambezi River very high following the wet season and the falls resembling more of a very large rapid (they are only 25 metres high when the water is low). Nonetheless, the “rapid” was still pretty amazing and the speed of the water in the Zambezi incredible. You definitely would not want to find yourself floating in the river.

Whirlpools and strong currents in the Zambezi River

Rough waters

We viewed the falls from both land and on the water. From land we couldn’t see much of the falls (even though they tried to charge us $5 each, local price to see them; it costs about $1.50 local price for Victoria Falls to put things into perspective. Needless to say that’s not what we gave them). On the water the falls were amazing and we were able to drive right up to them. It was a pleasant trip moving up the Zambezi on a lovely sunny morning with a beautiful view of the banks of the river and again, we were in awe of the speed of the river and the whirlpools that developed in the water.

View of the banks of the Zambezi River on the way to Ngonye Falls.
Very Africa!

Mokoro on the Zambezi River. This would be tough work.

Ngonye Falls: One large rapid following wet season

Mike and I with Ngonye Falls just behind us

More rapids on the Zambezi River

 Sioma was a lovely weekend away and reminded me again that I was in Africa, which is sometimes easy to forget when you live in Livingstone. Great spot on the river with excellent company!

Our group (L-R): Marjolijn, Elspeth, Phyl, Mike and myself

Life in Zambia after (nearly) 4 months

It’s hard to believe, but we have now been in Zambia for nearly 4 months; it feels much longer! I don’t say that in necessarily a bad way. I think that time just goes so much slower here and it does make me wonder what the next 20 months or so will be like.

Since my last blog prior to Christmas, life has been relatively busy here with plenty of visitors, a trip to Namibia, work which has been actually quite busy, the set in of the rainy season and a few sadder events that are so typical of Zambia.

Onset of wet season

Perhaps I should get the sadder events out of the way first.

The first was the loss of our security guard’s 9 month old son. Well, truth be told he was never our guard, he was there for our neighbours, but we did get to know him well as he would often sit on our porch to read (we would leave the light on for him). His son died of malaria, something that should be completely preventable, but was initially diagnosed as malnutrition caused through teething. Unfortunately we became aware of the gravity of the situation too late and were unable to offer help. Made worse is that he has been reassigned to a different property and after we found out he earns only 150,000 kwacha a month (the equivalent of $34) for 7 nights a week, 12 hours a day.

Our other sad event was the death of our puppy Manqui (pronounced as “manky”). We adopted Manqui after he turned up on our door step unfed, flea infested, frightened of people and well, manky! Nearly two weeks with us saw him turn into a happy, playful puppy until he didn’t come home one night. Our puppy had caught a virus of sorts that seemed to attack his brain and nervous system. Long story short is that we had to have him put down to stop him from any further suffering. Unfortunately Zambia has some pretty violent dog viruses and the vets here are not resourced to deal with them.

Manqui: When he was still a playful puppy

Manqui sitting in our bookshelf

So life does suck sometimes in Zambia!

However, it hasn’t all been sad and there have been happier events…..

The first was spending Christmas in Zambia. Definitely not the same as spending it with family in Australia, but great to be surrounded by a good group of people, a braai, a few drinks, a couple of carols and all on the red African soil.

Christmas in Zambia helped by a great group of people to spend it with

We have had quite a few visitors over the past month which means we get to visit some of the cool places in Livingstone without needing to make an excuse! One of our trips took us (back) out to Taita Falcon Lodge; a lodge situated about a 40 min drive out of Livingstone due to the state of the road but in a stunning location at the top of the Batoka Gorge. We had Zambezi Bream and chips there for lunch, all washed down with a couple of cold beers.

Taita Falcon Lodge: Overlooking the approximately 200m drop to
Batoka Gorge. Me with VSO Volunteers Phyl (left) and Emily (middle)

Work has picked up in the new year as new opportunities to receiving funding have come the way of my organisation and an increased focus has developed on building organisational capacity for the challenges that lie ahead. We have been working together hard as a team to get things done and meet deadlines. I was also able to finally meet the our board members at our first board meeting for the year. Apart from some of the members struggling with my accent, it was great to meet them and discuss what needed to be done to kick off 2011 in the right direction.

The team working hard on a proposal

Our first Board Meeting for 2011

And so, the past month really has been quite mixed. Wet season is well and truly in full swing, but has been a welcome relief from the heat. We still continue to encounter regular power and water cuts, sometimes for up to 12 hours at a time, but you do learn to adapt. And over the coming month a number of the friends we have made here in Livingstone will be leaving us to return home to their respective countries, so the ups and downs will continue. But I guess that is the life of a volunteer in Zambia!

Mike and I

Taking it easy having sunset drinks