It's Monday 3rd September 2007 and Zu and Titus Take Zambia

Firstly I’d like to tell about the conditions under which I am working. After a week of dust flying in the air as the “back fill” was dumped, pounding and pounding as the bricks were crushed, today the slab of our new office extension is finally going in. They have to work fast so that the entire slab goes in as one (no tea breaks here) and someone is calling out “BeepBeepBeepBeep” loudly and with urgency (I guess to keep everyone going). Quite a sight and quite a noise – mostly of hilarity it seems.

However, through the din, I am going to indulge myself. I feel I have earned it. Writing to you every week is both wonderful (“community communication” is a great feeling) but also quite a pressure. So you are going to hear about my time off….. my sisters, their spouses, and my “two adorable nephews”  flew out for a family holiday! Let me introduce you to the boys - Zu (named after Mzuzu in Malawi) is five and Titus is three and three quarters. It was their first trip to Africa and for months Titus asked each morning, “are we going to Africa today?” (at three he does not have much concept of time).

Our first stop was Chongwe River House. This house continues to amaze me, it is such a stunning place. The kids loved the elephants that wandered around and “Ollie” the regular soon became a fav. But by day two the request was to go back to the airstrip to see the planes landing and taking off !! Boys will be boys. We made a quick visit to Conservation Lower Zambezi to meet their orphaned elephant, Zamma. Unfortunately, Zamma was a bit grumpy (due to teething) and the boys were hot and tired so it was not quite the extraordinary event that the adults had hoped for.

We also had a chance to canoe up the Chongwe River, which remains as one of my top Zambian experiences. It is so peaceful, there is always game, and the best thing is it is hippo free-yippee!! We do get less adventurous in our old age, don’t we? But of course, after all the excitement of their new experiences the kids needed a bit of “chill out” time. With abandon.

Next up was the flight back to the Luangwa – planes are always a highlight. On day one we all ventured out for a game drive, but we didn’t get far. We were half way across the river on the pontoon the cable snapped! I have to admit my first thought was, “crikes, we have the brand new cruiser” as the cable started to whisk through the runner. I quickly told the guys to grab it to stop us drifting and we gently floated down against the second pontoon (very lucky!) But there was quite a lot of jabbing that the family was not the first thought I had. Sorryyyyyy. Then I radioed Robin who came out and rescued the vehicle and of course us. Watching men being men with pontoons, ropes, cables, shackles was great fun for the kids. Better than watching puku I suspect – despite the fun of trying to get the binos sorted!

Being “activity leader” for the trip, I had arranged for the fabulous masseur Nathalie to spend an afternoon with us. I was extremely impressed with Zu, who firstly asked for one and then lay completely still for 30 minutes. He loved it and I was the proud aunt. We had a wonderful moment of getting Zu to pose with a giraffe – great image.

And at the end of the day, a game of touch rugby was the sundowner request !

The final stop on our tour was Lake Malawi. We joined Shanie and Simon at their house and what fun we all had. We enjoyed lovely days of water, swimming, snorkeling, and fast boating. Zu learned to snorkel, Stef learnt to water ski, and tubing was a great success. And lots of cups of tea provided by the cook called – “Holiday” (explaining that one to Titus was interesting).

And so finally….here are some quotes from Titus that his Mum sent to me….

1. On the plane I put 'Network Cartoons 1' on the telly, and told him that it would be cartoons. After about 5 mins he pulled off his earphones, then mine and said 'this is boring, when are the cars coming on??' ( ie cars from the word cartoon).

2. Granny phoned yesterday morning and Titus picked up the phone. 'Hello, yes we're just back from Africa.....' and then later…. 'No we didn't see any hippopotomisses (ed – he has a slight lisp), but we did see lots of hippos'. I then whispered to him that they were the same thing and he said to Granny 'Oh, hippopotomisses are the same as hippos. Isn't that funny (laughs).' Very sweet.

So….this is the end of my indulgence, thanks for humouring me. I am an adoring aunt and I cannot wait for their next trip to Africa.

All the best for another week….

Cheers,

P.S. Our online donation system for the Kawaza School Fund is now up and running. Please click on the link to donate now!