After a wonderful breakfast and 'refresh' moment from 40+ hours of air/travel time, we load up, into our vehicles for the journey to Mongu. Many months back when deciding to go to Africa I Googled the earth map to see, if in fact. this place existed. I then zoomed in as close as the system allowed hoping to see what was there. Well, a red dot showing that Mongu existed, popped up. This "red dot" was among what looked like trees and open spaces. There were no close ups of buildings, roads or clues of what might exist in this place called Mongu. I just had to wait and see what would unfold.
I have experienced several Third World countries and each time I am amazed at the tenacity of people in their efforts to carve out a life. This trip was no different. Lusaka is the capitol of Zambia and claims to be one of the fastest developing cities in south Africa. We begin our adventure here. The western world has made its mark. I would have liked to have spent more time in this capitol city for it was mixture of some modern buildings, cars, intersections, stop lights, bill boards, ancient traditions and shacks. Chaos, clutter and hope seemed to define this 'growing city'.
Our very long journey began after a 2 hour detour to pick up a spare tire for one of the vehicles and clothing for one of the drivers that had been left in his overnight lodging. It was really quite fun because I was able to grasp a flavor of this city we were about to leave.
Once you leave Lusaka the real Zambia begins. We drove on the very, very straight road to Mongu. Again if you google map the route the road is one line, no turn offs (noted) no curves, just a straight road. I now confirm that the Google map is very accurate. The paved road is actually not bad, Illinois has roads needing more help and we are not a third world state. Hmmm?
I glue my eyes to the sights. All along the 8+ hour drive are grass huts, sand, sand, sand, a few bushes, sand, a tiny kiosk that might be selling tomatoes, cocoa cola, Fanta Orange Soda or masa. People are walking in African garb along the road to seemingly now where. There are a few people on bikes and my untrained eye cannot figure our where they would be going. I see grass and mud huts. We come upon old cement buildings where people are congregating, selling some produce or goods and then it is nothing again. I have a lot to learn.
I am anticipating with great delight the national park that we will spend most of our day driving through. I have heard there are wild animals there but thanks to Disney and professional documentaries that have been beautifully edited, my expectations are not met. I did see wild animals! Monkeys in trees but they were few and they did not stay in the tree long enough to get a picture. Go figure! Gazelle's were plentiful and like deer in IL they soon became common place. The wild boars were running about and we sped by a couple of elephants but we only saw the back end of them. I did enjoy seeing these animals in their proper place, I just did not see enough or see them up close and personal. I think that is why Zoo's are to our liking.
We finally got to stop. It was our rest stop 'potty' break and it was the only one for the trip. The rest area was at the national park, and we paid to potty. For many of you reading this the 'squatty potty' is a foreign concept but to most of the world it is quite familiar convenience. I will allow the photos to 'talk' for me.
Though I end this blog with these photos I was not put off by what was to come. Most of the world lives like this and each experience caused me to be grateful for my blessings.
I am a collector of quotes. The quote I am about to share haunted me most days of my trip. "A luxury once tasted becomes a necessity." I found I had many necessities that would not be part of this adventure.
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