Lukas is a devoted customer of the gourmet Swiss producer - Knor, and as such, puts knor's Aromat peri-peri - a monosodium-glutamate-soup-powder-taste seasoning, on everything....
Lukas, Kabanos - the friendly hushpuppy and Tali fall asleep.
In the morning we take the TAZARA train. The word TAZARA stands for the TAnzanian-ZAmbian RAilways. It's a comfortable train connecting Dar es Salaam on the shore of the Indian Ocean to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. We enjoy the 50% reduction they give for all students (local and foreign) and travel in the highest class available. Train travel is discovered to be very easy. There is plenty of space and the sits are comfortable. During the stops in the stations you can buy almost everything from the vendors who are standing on the quay. The transactions are made through the windows. The only disadvantage of train travel is the speed. Yes, 40 km/hr is not fast, but don't forget that buses are not much faster (60 km/hr). After about 7 hours and 280 km we arrive to Kasama. On the quay we don't see Lukas, so assuming that every white in town knows about Bupe, we ask the only white on the quay about him. That is how we meet Stephanie, Bupe's girlfriend, for the first time. Stephanie is a French girl who speaks English in a funny French accent and who was studying with Bupe's sister in England. Stephanie and Bupe have met in one of Bupe's visits to his sister in England, an acquaintance that developed to be love.
Stephanie takes us by car to what will be our home for the next week or so. What a house they have! If it were here in Israel - it would be a nice house, but here, in African standards, it is a castle! In the evening we eat a delicious French dinner - all made by Stephanie, including the home baked bread! The only one who doesn't really feel the taste of the food is Lukas. He is a devoted customer of the gourmet Swiss producer - Knor, and as such, puts knor's Aromat peri-peri - a monosodium-glutamate-soup-powder-taste seasoning, on everything... We get to know Moritz - the spoiled cat, and Kabanos - the friendly hushpuppy. Moritz is so spoiled that he trained Kabanos how to massage his head with his teeth. It is so funny to see Kabanos massaging Moritz!
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Lukas is a devoted customer of the gourmet Swiss producer - Knor, and as such, puts knor's Aromat peri-peri - a monosodium-glutamate-soup-powder-taste seasoning, on everything.... |
Lukas, Kabanos - the friendly hushpuppy and Tali fall asleep. |
| In these lazy days in Bupe's house we get used to comfort. We get up late and do everything in the "Hakuna halaka Africa" way. Kasama is discovered to fulfill all our dreams. There are paved roads, a branch of "hungry lion", which is a South African fast food chain that serves also American ice cream, and above all - a branch of Shoprite - the ultimate South African supermarket chain. Shoprite becomes our daily destination - they bake fresh bread and donuts everyday and have all kinds of diary products. In short, it is a western style supermarket, or if you want, an oasis of western world in the desert of third world Africa. We also see plenty of videos (Dave, Out of Africa, Jungle book etc.) in Bupe's house. One day we go with Lukas, Bupe and Stephanie to see the farm. The farm is mainly for breeding cows and goats for meat. We see new born cows and play with new born goats. Bupe wants to convert the farm into a coffee farm, a bit like the farm in "Out of Africa"... That day we see sunset from the site where Bupe plans to build his future house. As you can see from the picture, sunsets in Africa are extremely romantic... |
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| That day we see sunset from the site where Bupe plans to build his future house. |
After a week Tali and I have enough rest, and are ready to leave. Lukas decides to go with us to Zimbabwe, so Tali and me agree to postpone Malawi to the end of our trip. We take the TAZARA train till the end of the line, not far from Lusaka, where we switch to a bus (not before checking that its tires were not too eroded). In Lusaka's central station people try to sell us whatever, even shavers and bed sheets.
The matatu to Livingstone, the town on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls, is as usual overfull but at least it takes us until the door of the Jolly Boys backpackers' hostel. The man who welcomes us there tells us to smoke Marijuana only indoors, and by the way, he has some great quality grass, if we want to buy...
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Life in Livingstone is convenient, mainly thanks to the presence of a Shoprite branch. We go to the immigration office in order to prolong our visa, but they still make us problems, so we decide to give up. What do the Zambians think they are? Nowhere in the world (inc. "difficult" countries like the US, Australia and New Zealand) have we had so many problems with the immigration officers! We still have 3 more days before our visa expires. We hear from fellow Israeli travelers that one should apply for the Zimbabwean visa at least a week in advance. Since our visa to Zambia expires in 3 days, it's a kind of catch 22 to us... We go first to the Zimbabwean border, which is located on the other bank of the Zambezi river, in order to check if we will be able to get into Zimbabwe "on the spot". We talk with a clerk and understand that it should be OK. Just in case it won't be so, we take a picture of the "welcome to Zimbabwe" sign... |
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Just in case it won't be so, we take a picture of the "welcome to Zimbabwe" sign... |
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We visit the Zambian side of Vic Falls. It is the side from where the water drops about 100 meters down. As now it's the end of the dry season, water level is very low, and we manage to cross a part of the river until a small island in the middle of it. A local boy shows us a place, where one can jump into the water, just a meter before it drops down. We don't believe him and ask him to demonstrate for us. He jumps - and proves his words to be truth. Apparently there is an underwater wall made of a rock that prevents him from falling down. Only the upper level of the water goes down, the rest is blocked. We jump as well an enjoy the adrenaline which is flowing in our veins. |
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| Victoria falls at sunset. |
Going back in a taxi, we talk with the half drunk driver. We talk with him about corruption in Africa and ask him whether in South Africa, the most developed country in the continent, the situation is better. "Surely not" he says, and tells us that he used to drive a lorry in South Africa with 60 tons load, while having a license for only 36 tons. Money always solved the problem of the exceeding 24 tons... We ask him why he drives when he is half drunk. He replies: "I am used to drink 2 beers in the evenings. Then, in order to kill the hangover in the morning, I drink 5 more beers"...
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Last modified: Sat Jun 19th 16:05:00 IST 1999
