As a kid I often dreamed of going on safari, seeing the ‘big five’, and experiencing a land so drastically different from my own. For a very long time, Africa has been high atop my long (and growing) list of places I’d like to visit; however, it always seemed like a longshot that I’d ever make it. That’s why, when a friend, Tom Pickering, told me he would be serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi for two years I jumped at the chance to visit. So Constance and I are here now, to see some of the landscapes, people, and wildlife of southern Africa. Since internet access is so spotty, the blog posts will be added several at a time, but I will try to limit individual posts to the events of a single day, to make it easier to follow. I hope that you will enjoy following us on our first African adventure! --- Quand j’étais petit, je rêvais de faire un safari, de voir les grands mammifères terrestres et de découvrir un monde drastiquement différent du mien. L’Afrique a longtemps occupée une des premières positions de ma longue (et toujours grandissante) liste de région du monde que je voudrais visiter, sans vraiment croire que j’aurais véritablement l’occasion d’y aller un jour. C’est pourquoi quand un de mes amis, Tom Pickering, m’a appris qu’il partait pour deux ans au Malawi pour faire du bénévolat pour le Peace Corps, j’ai sauté sur l’occasion. C’est ici, au Malawi, que Constance et moi nous trouvons présentement afin de découvrir les paysages, les gens et la faune du sud de l’Afrique. Étantdonné que j’ai accèsà internet de manière très sporadique, plusieurs entrées de blogs seront ajoutées en même temps. Je vais tout de même faire un effort pour raconter les anecdotes dans un ordre chronologique pour faciliter la lecture. J’espère que vous aimerez suivre les péripéties de notre première aventure africaine!

Off to South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

Thursday, 7 July 2011 – Off to South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

We left Lilongwe at around 6:00am this morning, destination South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. Our first destination was the Malawi-Zambia border, and we got there on a minibus that was so crowded, I thought we might have mistakingly boarded a clown car. Once at the border, we had to change some of our U.S. dollars to Zambia kwacha, a job that was made very easy by the large number of hawkers all over. Then we paid our entry fee for Zambia, received our VISAs, and boarded another crowded transport to Chipata, a regional ‘hub’. In Chipata, we located the bus to Mfuwe, which is the town at the border and entrance to South Luangwa, bought our tickets, and boarded. It was a bit unclear at what point the bus would leave, although they told us when it was full. Well, a Zambian’s definition of full apparently is very different from my own, and we left Chipata after three and a half hours of ‘filling’, when the bus was so crowded we were almost two layers thick of people, supplies, chickens, and bags upon bags of dried fish from Lake Malawi. Seven hours later, we finally arrived in Mfuwe, and five minutes later were at our camp on the edge of the Luangwa River. We set up the tent and quickly drifted to sleep to the sounds of hippos in the river just below.

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2 comments:

  1. BDNfJuly 30, 2011 at 8:56 AM

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  2. BDNfJuly 30, 2011 at 8:58 AM

    ^Why so sad?

    Geoff, ton français s'est réellement amélioré! And some great pics in there.

    Amusez-vous bien!

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