Technology has not been willing…Shiwa has No WiFi! I wrote this on Monday. today is Wednesday and we have been driven some way in the bush to Kapishya Springs where they do have access to the Internet, at the same time we are going to have a dip in the springs, and I shall have a massage!!!
Here goes with some catch up posts… I daren’t upload a photo at this stage as the wifi here is expensive and not keen on uploading photos.
Dawn is breaking as I start this. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it tonight. We are waiting in the departure lounge at Lusaka airport, having got up at 4.15. Our flight to Kasama is in a Proflight aircraft, banned by the EU as being unfit for travel. Our insurance company, from whom we had to get approval, were very relaxed. they said if the pilots were happy to fly it was good enough for them, and certainly our fellow passengers look happy enough in spite of the early hour.
We have had an interesting but very short time in Lusaka, based at Lilayi. Our travel guide describes Lusaka as not the most interesting of modern towns. The centre certainly seemed chaotic when we were driven through on Saturday – swarming with people and very beaten up looking vehicles. As we drove along passers by kept suddenly streaking across the road without looking to left or right – I was glad not to be behind the wheel myself. At one stage an elderly minibus just sailed slowly into an incredibly smashed up looking somewhat bigger green van. The driver of the white van, smiled and laughed, threw up his hands in amused despair. The green van driver didn’t appear quite so amused, but quite accepting of the inevitable all the same.
On the other hand, the area where we were last night, where we used to live, was peaceful, green and attractive. What a contrast! Probably neither lot quite appreciate how the other half live. As a child I did not, and my memories of the centre of town are of a much quieter and more ordered place that at 18 I drove through quite happily. Maybe I was just braver then but I think perhaps not. Is m talking about a long time ago.
The Arrivals and Departures board is advertising flights to places that were truly tiny when I was young. Solwezi, where we lived for a time with six other European families now has an airport and at least one Five Star hotel!
A bit later:
What an adventure! Seven of us are aboard what feels like a toy aeroplane. One had to almost crouch to reach our seats – I had bumped my head quite hard before I realised this. The take off was extremely smooth and we are now soaring like a bird, not that far above ground so we have a clear view of what we are flying over.
