Pete and I made our way up to Mwinilunga, which is in the Northwest part of Zambia. This is where Pete's grandparents lived and where Charlie (Pete's dad) also has a home. This is also where everyone would meet to start the canoe trip down the Lunga River. When Pete and I first talked about the canoe trip, I thought it would be a leisurely sort of thing with a bit of paddling on flat water. As we started to get closer to the date of the trip, I found out that we would be going over rapids that rate from class 1 to 5 and also that there are crocodiles in the river.
I've summarized what the different class ratings mean in real terms:
Class 1 - Little rapids that are comfortable
Class 2 - Medium rapids that are also comfortable
Class 3 - Large rapids that will soak you and almost make you fall in
Class 4 - Even larger rapids that will make you question why you are doing this
Class 5 - You must be crazy to attempt and also have a wish to capsize and get eaten by crocs!
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| Class 3 rapids on the river. |
Even closer to the trip it was discussed that if you fall out of the canoe, it's best to try and reach land as quickly as possible...I assume to avoid being bitten by a croc. I was also advised not to fall into any still water because, as you guessed it, there could be crocs around. Needless to say I was pretty terrified about falling into the water and becoming crocodile bait. Luckily for me, I was paired up with Simon who is not only an expert local river guide but also a fishing master.
Before we would even begin our canoeing adventure, we had to get to the spot that we would depart from. This involved some real bush trekking as we literally had to create a road in some sections and go around fallen trees.
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| The road to the river |
The trip was eventful from the get go as there was a capsize in the first 10 min. Luckily everything was okay and the only thing we lost was the snack bag. The next few days were spent paddling down the river, catching fish and like all good fishing trips, a few more capsizes.
The most memorable capsize was of Pete going down a class 5 rapid. Unfortunately I missed watching the excitement as a few of us decided to walk around the long rapids to avoid being thrown in the water. As I'm told, there was a rock in the middle of the river that the first two canoes hit. This caused the canoes to spin 360 degrees down the rapids, but they didn't capsize. Pete, in the third canoe, was not so lucky and when he hit the rock he was launched out of the canoe. Pete and the upside down canoe made their way down the rapids and once in still water, Pete started to pull the canoe towards the river bank. Now you might recall what I wrote above about still water? Well sure enough the sound of a loud splash caused Pete to let go of the canoe and scrabble to shore. Good thing he did as Simon, coming up in the other canoe, confirmed that the sound was a crocodile in the river close to the canoes.
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Lovely but dangerous still waters
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Unfortunately, our luck with the wildlife ran out and on our last day canoeing towards base camp Charlie (Pete's dad) was bitten by a Puff Adder snake. These snakes are highly poisonous and bites can be fatal. Although Charlie downplayed the incident so that we didn't worry, his hand became swollen and by the time we reached base camp the swelling was moving up his wrist. Luckily we were travelling with a doctor and after Oliver took a look, it was decided that Charlie should make his way back to a hospital to find some anti-venom. So at 9pm Charlie, Pete and Stan made there way back through the bush and arrived back in Mwinilunga at 4am. A friend of the family, Baldwin, then drove Charlie to the miners hospital. Normally this trip takes about 3hrs, but Baldwin drove fast enough to get Charlie there in two hours. The doctor, also a friend of Charlie's, took a look at the bite and said that it wasn't too bad and that no anti-venom would be given but instead Charlie had to try to keep his hand held up and to take a bunch of pain killers. I've heard through Oliver that anti-venom, due to the way it's created, can also be fatal and are usually only administered in very severe cases. I'm happy to write that Charlie is doing much better and although there is still a bit of swelling, it has mostly subsided.
After getting a few hours of sleep, Pete and Stan made there way back to the camp to spend another day fishing. The fishing part of the trip was not as successful as everyone would have liked but we still managed to catch seven fish in total, with Simon catching the bulk of them.
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| Yummy dinner of tiger fish |
After that eventful week, this week by comparison has been quite normal. We spent some time touring around the local hospital and also taking a look at a school. Although the hospital has come a long way, it's still quite basic and makes me very grateful for all the care and advancements we have back home.
We had originally hoped to help the school get access to the Internet and also to build new computers, but that has fallen through as the timing is not quite right. The project is more in the planning stages and the execution won't begin for a little while. We thought that a month would be enough time to get some projects going, but we now realize that you really need a year or more.
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| Computer lab in the school |
I'll end the post by showing some pictures of the hydro-electric project that Charlie and the trust helped to create. The plant has brought power to many rural villages and it's a really amazing thing to see how access to electricity has helped so many people.
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| The ins and outs of generating electricity |
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| Irrigation system - to grow winter crop of wheat |
One more thing...on our way back from the power plant, we stopped by a village to say hello to another Simon (this one is an expert in hunting) that had been the guide on many Rea family trips. Hunting Simon was sweet enough to not only give us a few pineapples, but also a live chicken! Although I had visions of keeping the poor bird as my pet and setting it free when I left, it wasn't to be and is currently being prepared for dinner. Luckily for me I was asleep when the initial 'preparation' of the bird was done.
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Happier days for the chicken
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One last picture of kids from fishing Simon's village...I love this pic!
