Zambia Trip, part 3 - River Camp

After 2 days in Mumbwa and breaking camp early we had another long and bumpy ride to a little piece of paradise along the Kafue River. On the website of Kaingu Lodge, which we saw signs of a couple of hours before we got to our destination, it says, 'A Paradise Livingstone Never Found."

It was a long, tough ride with the wheel bearing on one vehicle giving out, and some cars getting stuck in a shallow river, but it sure was worth it. Such beauty!

The view of the sunset from my tent on the banks of the Kafue River.

Can it get any better than this?

This is where we set up camp for 2 days. About

1 km from this place was the river camp of a hunting concession.

They graciously let us use their ablutions, but that meant we had to walk through bush land with wild animals to get there. We never saw elephants or lions, but there were lots of tell-tale signs that they are around.

Here I am with Corrie, inspecting a piece of land along the river where there will be a missionary training camp. We had some local guys with us to protect us. You never know what's lurking in the bushes!

One of the guys showed us the spot where his grandfather was fishing in a canoe when a crocodile jumped out of the water and pulled him under.

Joey is making fried eggs and pap (a starch made from maize flour) for breakfast. I was helping for a while, but mainly so I could get my picture taken. Still learning about outdoor cooking! For this trip I kept it to washing dishes after the meal.

Until I heard the crocodile story I went to fetch water from the river for coffee, dishes etc. Yikes! Crocodiles can jump 3 meters out of the water, and here the water is quite deep, so you can't see them. There have been instances where people where grabbed from the river bank.

From then on I'd get the water from a little stream that flowed into the big river, just to be sure!

Pastor Daniel and his wife Florence came with us to the river camp for a little time away from their busy lives. They told me that they had been praying for someone who would be able to teach some people from their congregation to feed the kids spiritually. They were so thrilled when I gave them the STEPS program and some other faith-building materials for kids, and thanked me over and over.

Thank you to Activated Ministries in the US who sponsored the books.



Staff quarters at the river camp

These guys are pulling a hippo that had been shot early in the morning. When a hippo gets shot it will sink to the bottom, and after many hours the gases in the stomach will make it rise. It took 3 canoes and 6 guys to pull the hippo through the water, and then a Landcruise to pull it out of the water. This happened right next to our camp.

I was quite disgusted by the fact that this hippo was shot by German hunters, and that, other than the head which they will keep as a trophy, the meat will be hung in trees as bait to shoot ...leopards!

But I couldn't resist taking a photo of it. The next morning some of the staff came to cut it up, but I won't post any photos of that!

The next post will be of a place called Hot Springs.