An International Medley of Enjoyment

Numerous enjoyable things have happened since I last wrote. These, in brief, are as follows:

1. I have acquired a new flatmate (Canadian)
2. I have bought an old car (Japanese)
3. I have had two wonderful holidays (South African, Indian)

The joys of this international medley are hard to describe but easy to receive. I now have an ever-bubbly and excited companion Danielle to chat endlessly and eat with when I get home (she has engineered the so-called Danielle Food Programme [DFP], which is significantly more complex and logistically thoughtful than the UN’s smaller counterpart, the World Food Programme). I’m also able to drive round Lusaka (and beyond) at will in my neo-cool old-skool 1994 white Nissan Sunny (yes, I have crashed it already…reversed into a taxi on a main road and smashed up the rear bumper…I continue to drive like a complete prick). I visited Kate-Louise’s wonderful and luxuriant safari lodge, Tanda Tula, in the Timbavati game reserve in South Africa (we have now renamed it renamed Tanda Tequila - ‘the love of tequila’ – after our hedonistic and passionate encounter with the Mexican devil). And lastly, I spent some time with the Little One in Bombay, who remains the potent and beautiful firework that most of you know and love.

Danielle preparing the DFP

Tanda Tula aka Tanda Tequila aka Tanda Tarot

Looking for some action

Found some action

Serious action

If napoleon dynamite was an elephant, he would be this one ("Dorkus")

Reminds me of a great thong I used to own

Sunshine glamour

The little one

I love a spaz

I’m writing this blog entry from a blue cotton hammock in which I’m reclining rather smugly. The hammock is suspended from two trees which have laid their roots on the banks of Lake Kariba, the vast and dazzling water which separates Zambia from Zimbabwe. I’m here with Danielle, Katja and Calum, who have all made the five hour trip from Lusaka to spend the weekend here at the Kariba Bush Club (the owners are Calum’s friends). It is beautiful; sumptuously so. The striking thing about African wilderness lies in the fact that you do not ‘go’ to a place to find it – it resides everywhere that civilisation is not. As soon as you leave the cities, you are essentially in the wild; in the vast untouched tracts of land that separate urban gatherings. For me, the African bush is defined by its human emptiness, the lack of man’s clumsy footprint. And while the bush, Lake Kariba included, has much to see and enjoy – wildlife, natural beauty, hammocks – it is what is NOT here – cellphones, traffic, noise – that makes it such a unique and meditative place.

I am smug

Birds at Kariba

The remainder of my time in Lusaka is checked by trips abroad – I am visiting the island of Zanzibar in a couple of weeks with the invariably insatiable Criddle, followed by visit to London to wreck myself well before I check myself (and visit The Tiger, aka Anoushka Tiger Mohan Sharma, my newborn niece) . Lastly, New York for a Marakon conference, and then back to Zambia before June is out.

The Little Tiger

So I may not write for a while, but know that I am thinking of you and missing you – yes, every last one of you little fuckers.

Victoria Falls

After the safari (see previous post, below), my mother and I made our way to Victoria falls, which were the single most spectacular natural phenomenon I have ever seen. The sheer power of them, the breathtaking force of the water, the menacing cacophony of noise – it’s fucking insane. The water at the falls is at the highest level for 20 years, which amplifies their presence to the almost supernatural.

They are a mile wide and over 100m high, and the spray created by the water falling is so dense that it’s like a perpetual monsoon. Walking across the famous ‘knife edge bridge’ was like trekking through a light thunderstorm, with crazy rainbows at all angles, created by the strong sun shining through the mist. A piece of advice: before you die, see Victoria Falls.

South Luangwa

South Luangwa National Park, in eastern Zambia, claims to be one of the most unique safari destinations around. Why? Because it has among the highest densities of game, and lowest density of tourists, of any game park in the world.

When my mum arrived to visit me in Lusaka over Easter, I decided that we should go and check it out. The result was an incredible and beautiful week, which brought us within hugging distance of lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, crocs, hyenas, and Norwegians. I’ll never forget it.

Our accommodation was a beautiful wooden hut perched on the side of a lagoon, from which we could see hippos and crocs playing with/killing smaller things. The feeling of being a trespasser in the animal kingdom, of being truly exposed to the wild, was overwhelming.

Our hut (note hippos in water...)

Breakfast on the deck at Mfuwe Lodge

Breeding colony of Egrets

Yellow billed storks in flight

An ibis fishing at sunset

a dry river bed - from april to november there are no rains

Lunching with some elephants

A family of giraffes (see the baby, on the right)

mental

I did start shitting myself at this point

But turns out she was just going for a drink

The enormous Baobab tree vs. my ridiculously small mum