We set off very early today, I had boiled some eggs
the night before and dished out two each
before we left just to make sure we had nobody complaining that they
were hungry too early in the day. We had far to go and we knew the end part of
the journey today was going to be slow.
There were a bunch of USA Peace Corp kids
staying at the camp with us and they needed a lift to the main tar road, so
Ernest chased them out of bed early and they were ready and waiting to go by
7.15. We had arranged for a Swiss guy who was also staying and traveling on his
own to take three of them and we took two with us. It was hardly a problem to
fit them into our truck and they just sat in the back two seats saying "far
out man, you should have seen the truck that we had got here in!"
What a delightful bunch of kids, they volunteer
for a two year contract and are sent into the remote villages to help the
village to get some kind of industry going. Zak, one of the ones in our car was
a fish specialist and was helping the local guys set up fish farms; the girl,
Tessa was helping re- establish the forests. They live on their own in the
villages sometimes 30 to 70 kilometers away from their nearest co-workers. Not
easy and quite impressive to be that dedicated to helping others. Zak was
saying they had to be very careful to get the local people to actually do the
work and establish the activities themselves or they realize that as soon as
they leave it will just fall apart and their work would all be for nothing. He
felt if he could just make a difference and establish just 10 people to earn
their own living then their two years will be worth it.
These kids are all over Zambia, working away to
make a difference. After two years they either go back to the states or resign
to work another year or two. I must say though, I think the country gets worse
every time we visit it, I have never seen so many children in my life, even
more than last time we visited three years ago. Zac was also telling us that
the incidence of HIV Aids in Zambia is 14 % but in Mpeka which is the cross
roads for the truckers coming from Tanzania and Congo the incidence is now 80 %
shew! And now with Anti-retroviral they live longer but spread the disease further.
The pleads for lunch, despite the boiled eggs,
came at about 12, so we stopped close to an open space which looked like a
deserted school. We had no sooner stopped than we were surrounded by about 20
to 30 kids all watching us preparing our food, something I hate as they watch
every mouthful you take. Anyway Ken and Steve had the ball all blown up and
teams organized in no time and our kitchen activities became uninteresting.
Then on top of it Ken gave 10 Kwacha to the team that got the first goal. They
never gave us another glance!
We got to the last town before Isanga Bay and
needed to clear customs there as when we leave Isanga on Tuesday we go straight
into Tanzania. There is no customs at the actual border post and last time we
didn't know and they nearly turned us back to drive 100 extra kilometers. So
this time Ernest was determined to visit the customs office before moving on.
Well not surprising that they were closed.... Sorry for you.... Some local guy
then phoned the custom office in a town 40 kilometers away and he said he was
open, so off we went only to find when we got there.... Sorry for you....she
was closed. Anyway Rouvierre got on the phone and ten minutes later he was
there to clear us through customs. Then the drive back to Mbala (the highest
altitude town in Zambia) where we start the 48 Ks down to Isanga Bay on Lake
Tanganyika.
Nicolene from Isanga Bay lodge phoned us to say
we must leave Mbala by 3.30 or we wouldn't make the 48 Ks by dark. Ernest
laughed and said to me she obviously is mad and doesn't she know we are off
road racing champions...ha ha ha. Well the first 30 Ks we covered in 30 minutes
and Ernest said ...see she doesn't know what she is talking about, only 18 Ks
to go ... Oh boy only the arrogant talk too soon and brag! The next 18 Ks made
up the 2 1/2 hours she was talking about. That was the worst road we have ever
been on, actually I will correct that, it wasn't sooooo bad for the cars but oh
boy the truck was torturous. It was low range, first and second gear. I don't
think we managed to get out of second gear once with Ernest getting very upset
and saying that it was a bicycle track and not a road. In all fairness to
Nicolene I hadn't told her that we had a truck, I had just said three vehicles.
Anyway after two hours we got to the village at the bottom of the hill and I
had remembered it from before. We had left our truck there last time as right
at the end of the village there was a wooden bridge that Ernest would not take
the truck over. (This time I had checked before we came and knew it had been
rebuilt) So we had left the truck in the village and stayed in their little
bungalows instead of camping. At the time the village consisted of a small
school and possibly two hundred people at the most... 30-40 kids, cause Jessica
made them line up and we gave them all sweets. Now the village stretches for
miles and there are 3500 people there, 2000 of which are children. Oh my gosh I
got the shock of my life, it was like driving through one of those horror
movies where they portray the future, with just people and children everywhere,
all with runny noses and filthy clothes. I think they have all moved down here
for the fishing as there are just dozens and dozens of fishing boats on the
lake and they are obviously catching fish but not for long, at this rate there
will be no fish left in the lake - and then what?
We did fortunately make it just before sun down,
fairly rattled, and bad tempered I might add. Filthy dirty from the dust and
dirt of the road, the customs official, trying to find an ATM that worked and
then on top of that to our horror found
that the back fridge had some-how been
switched off during the day. Fortunately
the ever vigilant Steve spotted the problem and had it fixed before you could
say "it's off"! Fortunately the temperature hadn't gone above -1.
Thank goodness we had
arranged for Nicolene to prepare dinner for us in the lodge so we ate a
wonderful dinner and flopped into bed, looking forward to a nice restful day on
the beach and not even thinking about our torturous trip back up the mountain.
Over and out, until
tomorrow!
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