Into the valley

Weather

· Average temperature 26 degrees Celsius

· Rainfall none

Highlight of the week

Blagging to avoid paying excess baggage

Lowlight of the week

Mosquito and tsetse fly bites

We have arrived. Our daunting journey turned out to be an African version of straight-forward. The 89kg of checked-in baggage in Manchester, shrank miraculously to 81kg in Lusaka. A measurement error rather than any skulduggery we suspected, since there was no evidence of tampering. This made our rehearsed line of: “We are volunteer doctors carrying medical supplies to rural Zambia,” more likely to succeed. Good blag. The check-in staff melted as I delivered the half-truth. Doubtless, they were also swayed by me being the smallest person on the flight. Whilst Keith is hardly Giant Haystacks. We kept shtum about the 2 bottles of whisky that Ruth, Steve, Karen and Alan had donated to the cause. No excess baggage charged. Result.

On first impressions, creature comforts are proving more available here than we expected. Our house is free of mosquitos and is lush in comparison to our previous volunteer house in Tanzania. The neighbours are great. They even provided our first meal, and after the dust and weariness of our journey had been shaken off, a party welcomed us into the fold. We have previously learnt to shop when availability permits in Africa. But this strategy resulted in a car full of goodies that led to us to cut short our induction tour with Dr Caroline. Butter can melt quickly in a hot car. Beer and gin acquisitions were justified by the impending party. And I hardly need to mention the new collection of garden pets that make living here so appealing. More on that later…

This blog will concentrate on where we are:

We have a house in a compound called Kapani. It used to be a tourist lodge. We live in a semi-detached bungalow, linked to a small, inviting, swimming pool and a well-kept herb garden. As I mentioned, we’ve broken the ice with some of our Kapani compatriots, greatly aided by the welcome party. Our immediate neighbours, Vicky and Alastair, have an amazing veranda from where we can gaze over a dried-up ox-bow lake and view game. But, in all fairness, there is no need to leave our own veranda. Our own pets include warthogs, monitor lizards, baboon, bushbuck and vervet monkeys. Our baboons play chase, via the tree that hugs our house, and clatter gracelessly on our roof. This provides our 6am alarm-call. The squawks are also hard to ignore, not to mention the brazen humping. By 7 o’clock this morning they were sat on our veranda chairs. Owning the place.

The Luangwa Valley has been described as the honeypot of Zambia. The Luangwa River is a tributary of the Zambezi. It floods in the rainy season and then dries to a crisp. We are heading into the dry season now. At present we have healthy trees, shrubs and water holes. The climate is pleasant, with highs of 26-28 degrees during the day, but cooler nights, dropping to 14-16 degrees. We don’t need our air conditioning on just yet. Our humble abode is to the South of the Luangwa River, only 10 minutes, by car, from the bridge over the river which is the gateway to the South Luangwa National Park. Our compound exists to serve the Park. The National Park is the honeypot that drew us here. Doubtless I will wax lyrical about the park in future blogs.

Our local village is called Kakumbi. AKA Mfuwe. Kakumbi Rural Health Centre is the main medical clinic, and where we will do most of our work in the next six months. Kakumbi consists of a straight road with shops and market stalls on either side. The village boasts all sorts of vital supplies. Coco Pops, Red Bull, biscuits of every ilk, and of course Coca-Cola. But we are yet to find a source of fresh milk, or a way to light our gas cooker beyond our first few days. Dr Caroline introduced us to all the best market stalls. The prices at the market are so reasonable that despite a certain Mzungu loading, it is hardly worth bartering. Mzungus (more correctly wazungu) are foreigners. I scored 2 perfect avocados for the equivalent of 30 pence yesterday.

Tomorrow we need to brave the telecoms shop to try to get data and wi-fi top ups. It seems very complicated, but I guess it is a similar process to how you might top up your pay as you go phone. Quite alien to us. We also need a new phone battery, or a replacement phone for the duty phone. The phone battery seems fine one minute and then dies the next. The battery life is about 2 hours. Our friend Daniel’s gift to us last week has already been a life saver. A solar powered power bank. Inspired. Resuscitation for our link with 24/7 responsibility.

Ian, the owner of Mfuwe lodge, whom we met this afternoon, invited us to watch tonight’s Euro final match live at the lodge. His lodge however is inside the park. The Park gates close at 10pm and the match will not finish, at best, until 10.45pm our time. The rangers might be upset by this arrangement, and we have our first proper day at work tomorrow. Five live coverage will have to do. And if things go pear-shaped for England, we can turn in early for some extra zeds.

Our humble abode