The following blog is written by my brother, Graham Hill, who is married to Meredith my partner and other half at Hills of Africa Travel. This blog continues the boys African safari vacation to wildest Zambia to help my dad with crocodile egg collecting.
Nakamai Golf Open Contestants
Today is Nakamai Open day with a grand prize 1000 Zambian Kwatcha (20 us cents). This consists of two, 10 hole rounds of Frisbee golf, lowest net score is crowned champion. This is followed by a traditional roast chicken dinner and a few rounds of alcoholic beverages. Seeing as our resupply came in two days ago with a few ice blocks, this meant that at least the champion’s celebrations included some seriously cold beers.
Nakamai Village
This championship is dedicated to Mr Nakamai who is the 2nd Village Headman of the village that we rent our piece of paradise off. Being as it is one of the last stands of large Acacia trees still in existence here, we are lucky that it is an uninhabited spot giving us some respite from the hot African sun. Mr Nakamai is a constant visitor to the camp, can be heard from great distances with his booming voice and is an absolute character. One of his favorite pastimes is to stand on the riverbank shouting abuse at all the dugout canoes that come past.
Our point of the river is a crossover from fairly deep water to the shallows on the other side. The shallows are easier to navigate in canoes as there are fewer waves, the current is slower and the paddlers can use their long paddles to pole the canoe, which is far more efficient. I imagine, as I only understand a few words in Lozi, that he is belittling the strength of the paddlers, hazing the amount of time it takes to cross, advising on the risks of attempting the crossing during high winds or simply informing them of the latest Premier League scores. One’s imagination can sometimes run a little wild!
Oh! Mark was the victor of the inaugural Nakamai Golf Open.
Kabila, one of our egg collectors
After our lazy Sunday, the work now starts again!! We sent 10 boxes with 495 eggs back to the farm with Kabila and the coxswain. Most of them have had a few days in camp to settle down which hopefully means that they will transfer well. I never like having them in camp too long, 4 days at the most, as the sand tends to dry out a lot in this hot weather we are having at the moment. Jack is tasked with maintaining moisture content of the boxes and the sand around the boxes. Twice a day we spray the sand inside the boxes and the holes around boxes with a virukill mixture. Hot dry conditions are not ideal for the egg and as much moisture as possible needs to be applied. We also pour buckets of water, with a small mixture of virukill, into the sand around the boxes. This lets them soak up some water through the holes in the bottom of the box and generally keeps a pretty humid environment as long as we cover them up with a shade netting of some sort. I have been trying to train Jack so that when we leave he will diligently nurse those eggs with as much motherly fussiness as I have for them!!
Kabila taking eggs back to the farm
I want to try and put across how big a problem HIV/AIDS is in this part of the world. Last year during egg collection, our most experienced employee was diagnosed with HIV. Unfortunately he had left it too late and by the time drugs, in the form of an antiviral cocktail, were administered, his immune system was far too weak and he died a few months later. It is an awful disease and affects way too many Africans. This year, one of our agents on the river, Kabila, who is normally a strong little guy, will walk miles without the slightest of complaint, carrying a fully loaded box of eggs, probably a good 70lbs, for 5 miles without batting an eyelid, showed the same symptoms. Very hollow cheeks, skinny body and low energy levels. In previous years, every spare minute we have had on the river, he asked to take us fishing and was eager to fish himself. This year he spent most of our downtime sleeping or sitting around camp. It was to the point that he could not even pull start the boat motor or carry an egg box for more than 10 meters. His wife had died just after child birth back in May, too weak from the effects of HIV so Kabila should have taken a 2 hour test and started a course of anti-virals, which in Zambia, like most Southern African countries, are free to anyone and will considerably prolong life expectancy. (I am informed by my father that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the main financier of anti-viral drugs in Zambia.) For his sake we have sent him back to Mongu today so that he can get to a clinic, take an HIV test and get some treatment. We need Kabila, he is an integral part of the team, however I do not want to look back on this year and think to myself, “if only I had made him go…”, and I just hope that we have caught it in time.
We have visitors in camp for the next two nights. My father’s brother and sister made the trip out from the UK to visit him and decided that a trip to the Zambezi was a must as well. David was immediately sent, with Jim, to extract a crocodile nest. He had not been in camp for more than a few minutes when a couple tribesmen walked into camp, announced that they had a nest and wanted it picked up as soon as possible.
Recent thoughts:
- It looks like early rains this season
- Fishing is pretty scarce
- Too many hungry people on the river
- There is evidence of many more fishing villages
- The Mongu – Zambezi toll is a good deal this year
- Inversion layer creates some of the most beautiful sunrises one could imagine
- Jim is not only a handy man with a Leatherman, he is also a fantastic bush cook!
We would love to hear your comments about the Mongu area in Zambia. Has anyone been there or driven the 8-hour journey from Lusaka to Mongu? Have you visited the Zambezi River near Mongu? What were your impressions of the area?
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a native of Senanga, about 200km south of Mongu, did my secondary Education in Kalabo and worked in Lukulu for a few years and Mongu has always been the place to buy the basic needs. My impression of Mongu andWestern province, the place is virgin, with great potential if only we can have resourceful people with wild ideas as to how to tranform the place and attract more tourists, local and international to come and enjoy, savor the beauty of the barotse flood plain. At the moment am basd in Puebla, in Mexico
This sounds so interesting! I love the idea of playing Frisbee golf in Africa. Somehow, I think the whole thing would feel surreal.
Francis, this is Graham back from my trip. Senanga is the southern end of our collection area and Lukulu is the northern end of the area. Both are very beautiful stretches of the Zambezi, start and end of the vast flood plains of Barotseland. One of the major disadvantages that affects the Western Province is the lack of natural resources, there is very little agricultural land and little to no mineral deposits which limits the number of investors and manufacturers. Another issue is that it is almost a semi-autonomous state within Zambia, the area is still run by the Indunas and chiefs which makes it difficult to do business, obtain licenses, title deeds to land and therefore establishing a business takes years of patience and negotiating. However, once a business is started, the Lozi people are very hard working, honest and loyal. We started this project 4 years ago from a small piece of land, 12 hectares, on a lease from the local chief. We now employ over 40 men and women, probably supporting up to 300 family members so we are trying to make a difference. When you go back to visit Senanga, please look us up in Mongu.
Michelle, we would love to show you the intricacies of frisbee golf. One thing i can divulge is that there always needs to be a cold beer in hand. Look out for sand bar cricket in the next blog…
Francis, this is Graham back from my trip. Senanga is the southern end of our collection area and Lukulu is the northern end of the area. Both are very beautiful stretches of the Zambezi, start and end of the vast flood plains of Barotseland. One of the major disadvantages that affects the Western Province is the lack of natural resources, there is very little agricultural land and little to no mineral deposits which limits the number of investors and manufacturers. Another issue is that it is almost a semi-autonomous state within Zambia, the area is still run by the Indunas and chiefs which makes it difficult to do business, obtain licenses, title deeds to land and therefore establishing a business takes years of patience and negotiating. However, once a business is started, the Lozi people are very hard working, honest and loyal. We started this project 4 years ago from a small piece of land, 12 hectares, on a lease from the local chief. We now employ over 40 men and women, probably supporting up to 300 family members so we are trying to make a difference. When you go back to visit Senanga, please look us up in Mongu.
I have some friends in Lukulu who ran Angle zambia fishing Camp (Graham and Gerard) you might have met them or you know them. They are doing very well because apart from Fishing the tigers, they also educate the locals on how to breed the fish and somehow, this is and will help the next generation.
I will surely look for you when i come to zambia.
Hi Graham
I came accross your email on livethemagicofafrica website. Myself and my old fishing buddy normally stay with locals in an area when we go fishing. Do you perhaps know of any places where we would be able to camp/stay over when fishing in the Lukulu area? For instance, on our last trip we stayed over with some missionaries in a local village (Sesheke) thereby assisting them in terms of our payment. If you know about any local persons/organisations with whom we would be able to stay in the LUKULU area would you please drop me a line. Kindly note that we are totally independent (fully kitted out) – we normally only require a safe place where we can pitch our tent and which has basic ablutions. We have found that it is much more interesting to stay over with locals (at touristy lodges one does not form an an accurate perception of life and the going-on in an area). Regards Theo Kotze – +27834597120 or tecoplan@mweb.co.za , South Africa
Hi Francis
I came accross your email on livethemagicofafrica website. Myself and my old fishing buddy normally stay with locals in an area when we go fishing. Do you perhaps know of any places where we would be able to camp/stay over when fishing in the Lukulu area? For instance, on our last trip we stayed over with some missionaries in a local village (Sesheke) thereby assisting them in terms of our payment. If you know about any local persons/organisations with whom we would be able to stay in the LUKULU area would you please drop me a line. Kindly note that we are totally independent (fully kitted out) – we normally only require a safe place where we can pitch our tent and which has basic ablutions. We have found that it is much more interesting to stay over with locals (at touristy lodges one does not form an an accurate perception of life and the going-on in an area). Regards Theo Kotze – +27834597120 or tecoplan@mweb.co.za , South Africa