And now for the rest of the Zambian story........

We left Kitwe via Ndola airport. Ndola has no mines of its own but a large refinery and is regarded as the gateway to the Copperbelt. When I lived in Zambia we caught the train and the plane from Ndola.

Cor! What a little plane but what a superb flight. We wanted to stay on it for a lot longer than the 45 minutes to Lusaka.  

Sunset as we flew south. We have no pictures of our night in Lusaka but it was a unique experience. We were met by a taxi man prearranged for us by Mrs B who runs the mission home for Serving in Mission in Zambia. It was basic but served our needs as we had to be up at 4 a.m. to catch the bus to Livingstone. We had the joy of meeting Revd and Mrs Sung Shik Pak who head up SIM. Korean and really delightful. 

And so to our 6 hour bus journey which was pleasant and uneventful, hot and noisy. Why is it that on long distance buses the world over they play Kung Fu films?

Our new pied a terre was absolutely delightful in fact wonderful Zambezi riverside dwelling with a garden which swept down to the mighty (though somewhat depleted river) and into the bush on either side. The result was a real sense of the neighbours of the four-footed variety who made nightly visits to the lawn - elephant, buffalo and a very sweet but solitary hippo who enjoyed grazing by the swimming pool and who knows what else!  

Oriel our wonderful hostess for whom nothing was too much trouble 

The hippo's favourite spot and ours too and the boma behind where we ate dinner every night

At Bushbuck we met three delightful Aussie travellers! Just as well we were all out of the Rugby World Cup! Ariane, Kylie and Dave were delightful company and we thoroughly enjoyed sharing our day's exploits over dinner every evening

If you think Dave looks a little serious maybe this was the day he was bitten by a scorpion and had to be taken to hospital. He lives on but I don't think he would want it to happen again and we were all very careful to shake out our swimming towels before we wrapped them round our bodies after that!

The garden lookout on the banks of the river to which we repaired each evening glass of wine in hand to watch the sun go down - this is Africa after all - and each early morning (some of us) to watch for early morning walkers and waders and one morning........

Ed and I were treated to a wonderful sight!

  

Another vehicle to clamber into! 

Ah! When we were young...Fifteen years ago aged 50 I went white water rafting down the Zambezi with my two sons! 

And then there were the bungee jumpers 

There she goes........ 

I tried in vain to negotiate an old age pensioner discount for the bungee jump because it was a cool $125 for what after all was just a few seconds and another several minutes hanging upside down just above a snapping crocodile and then a long haul back up on a rope! "No go" they said. "Pay up!" Well, I gave up and left Jessica to chat them up. She came to find me all excited. "Gay the man says he'll take you for free if you jump with him!" Back I went. and presented myself! "It's the other woman I want" I was told... well, sometimes you just need to be told it the way it is....and would I really have jumped if it had been cheaper? You will never know!! 

The building of the railway bridge over the Zambezi gorge below the Victoria Falls is a remarkable story and fulfilled the dream of Cecil John Rhodes who never lived to see it built. Today it still remains a remarkable feat of engineering.  

Ed and Jessica near the Eastern Cataract 

Terry and Gay pretending they are young and trendy 

And Jessica who walked further that day than she would ever have imagined she could in incredible heat and has revived her dream of walking across England along Hadrian's Wall as a result! 

We have to have one picture of the photographer. Sadly I lost all my pictures of this lovely day through a careless mistake when downloading.

The Falls belong to Zambia but the best place to view them is from the Zimbabwean side. Those with the South African passports could have walked the bridge and got in free whereas we Brits would have had to pay the top rate - no surprises there!

Everyone was saying  they had never seen so little water in the Falls but it was nonetheless still a remarkable and wondrous spectacle 

Now who is this? Dr Livingstone I presume! We feel as though we have been walking in this remarkable man's footsteps. We first met him in Zanzibar where he worked tirelessly not only to preach the Gospel but also to fight for the end of slavery. His heart is buried in Africa while the rest of his body lies buried in Westminster Abbey. I think we all want to get to know him better now.

What better way to celebrate a lovely day? 

We flew away from Livingstone on October 24  Zambian Independence Day. Zambia became independent in 1964 when I lived in Kitwe. 
CONGRATULATIONS ZAMBIA!