Trip | See It Do It Live It

Stone Town

We decided to stay in Stone Town (capital of Zanzibar) for four nights. Through some slightly convoluted organisation we were to stay in a room above a cake shop, and obviously had high hopes. Sadly, we arrived during Ramadan so no cakes were to be available. The room was also completely terrible (even with our significantly lowered standards). There was a double mattress perched on top of a single bed frame, only one pillow between two, no lighting or window in the bathroom and only a bucket of cold water…read more

Dar Es Salaam

For our one night in Dar Es Salaam, we decided to return to Couchsurfing. This is partly because we had no idea when the train would arrive, so couldn’t book accommodation in advance, and partly because the best way to explore a new area is with someone who already knows it well. We made contact with Gidion, who works in tourism, and organised to stay with his family. When we arrived, it turned out that Gidion was away in Arusha park but his brother William came to meet us at…read more

All Aboard the Tazara Express

For many years Zanzibar has been at the top of my dream holiday destination list. By great coincidence, Kapiri is at one end of a train line to Dar Es Salaam, and so the next phase of our journey was planned. The Tazara trains are half owned by Zambia and half by Tanzania, and the line was built by the Chinese. The trains used to have a reputation of reliability, but that has slipped in recent years. The online reports warned that Kapiri station is chaotic on departure day, and…read more

Monkeying Around

What do you get if you cross two sheep, a circus monkey, a few talking parrots, peacocks and about a hundred chimpanzees? Answer: Chimfunshi Wildlife Sanctuary, tucked away in the depths of the forest in Zambia’s Copperbelt, just near the border with the DRC. And it was to this remarkably un-touristy attraction that we made our way on our last weekend in Zambia. In fact making our way there was (as always in Africa) its own little adventure, involving a crowded but entertaining 3-hour bus trip, an overnight in the…read more

Watching the Warriors

Match Report: Man of the Match: Webster the taxi driver Lemon of the Match: The Kabwe Keeper for regularly lying down on the pitch What to do with a free Saturday in Zambia, at the start of the World Cup? Go and watch a Zambian Premier League football match of course! Lana, Graham and I jumped in a taxi to Kabwe with the plan of watching Kabwe Warriors play Nchanga Rangers. During the journey it turned out that, by chance, our driver was the famous Webster. He is well known…read more

A typical day

My alarm goes off about 6:15 – a good two hours earlier than I’m used to back home! Breakfast is usually a couple of slices of toast or some oatmeal washed down with ‘Ricoffy’ (coffee and chicory). Water needs to be boiled for 5 minutes here before its safe for drinking so we’ll normally try and boil a pan of water at this time as well which is then left to cool during the day. Just after 6:45 we bundle out of the house for the 30 minute walk to…read more

A Zambi-Brit-US-Belarussian Party

14 people, 5 nationalities and one birthday to celebrate (oh, and also the launch of some football competition or something). So of course we decided to have a party. Partying on a school night is a tricky business, as our normal bed time is about 9 pm. But we decided to throw caution to the wind, and go for it anyway. I introduced the Zambians to chilli and butterfly cakes, Karolyn brought jelly and ice cream and everyone discussed how birthdays are celebrated in their countries. We thought the birthday…read more

Life at Vinjeru School

For our 7 weeks at Vinjeru school, we are helping out with everyday school jobs. Recently, we have been spending the mornings sorting out a storgae container filled with literally thousands of books. Most homes here don’t own any books, meaning that no-one practices reading at home. The selection here will give the school one of the best libraries around. In the afternoon though, the fun begins. School lessons here finishes at 13:30 (we start at 07:30), and after lessons end there is a compulsory 30 minutes of cleaning for…read more

Match Report: Derby Disappointment for Vinjeru’s Girls

Posted by Graham in Africa, Trip, Zambia

Man of the Match: Miriam – surely a future star of Zambian Netball. A rock in defence. Lemon of the Match (a CSHC tradition): The Van. For reasons that will become apparent. Inevitably whilst travelling, you will have nights when, tucked up in bed with your mind still projecting the events of the day like a home video on the bedroom ceiling, you realise that today will forever be a ‘defining moment’ of the place you’re in. Friday was one of those days. This was to be Vinjeru school’s second…read more

Kapiri Mposhi

Our internet access in Kapiri is very limited, so it might be difficult to blog. We arrived a few days ago, and went to meet Karolyn and Martin for dinner. They have set up and run the school here. It was great to catch up with them and get some ideas about the work we will probably be doing here. The next day we got a tour of the school. There are currently 3 classes, all in the equivalent of year 7. The children are between 12 and 20 years…read more