July, August, September

3rd July          30th July  

29th August 

July 3 2009

 Dear Friends,

During May we were invited overnight to the Barotse Tiger Camp, 20 km south of Lukulu on the Zambezi River.  This tiger fishing camp is owned and managed by South Africans, whom we have come to know as they use the mission to park boat trailers, cars, a container etc.  The main attraction is to catch (and release) the large tiger fish in a wilderness area though only yesterday two world fishing weight records were broken for catching smaller fish on designated light gauge fishing lines. Fishermen (One serious fisherwoman has visited so far.) from around the world fly into Lukulu in small planes and then are ferried down river to the camp. They have six specifically designed boats, from which two people can fish at the one time – either fly fishing or lure fishing.  The navigators have to know the best places to find the fish and that is often a long way from base. It is a tented camp and the main dining room and recreation room (decorated in antiques) are shown below as well as the tented kitchen, the home to a Paris trained chef not to be mistaken for Pat in the photo.

Our host Graham, invited us to the camp when no paying guests were visiting. The place worked its magic on us very rapidly. It is based on a backwater of the Zambezi, so all the heavy local canoe traffic takes another route. It is very peaceful and scenic.  I am still using a conventional camera, so hence the delay in developing photos in Lusaka. Needless to say I have a reputation as a fairly poor photographer, but this time I was more successful. I am proud of my sunset over the river. We enjoyed an evening around a camp fire.  The tented sleeping quarters were very pleasant but Africa had the last say.  Pat found a snake of significance in the bathroom which meant we chose not to shower. We went out lure fishing for a couple of hours in the morning. Though we did not succeed in catching a fish (neither did Graham pictured with Pat) it was very therapeutic just regularly casting the line (after learning the technique).  Graham had caught an 18 kg tiger fish the previous day.

 At this time of the year literally hundreds of local fishermen in dug out canoes migrate downstream about 40 to 60 km to where the fish are aplenty. They smoke their catch on the banks of the river and then ferry the elaborately packed fish back up river to Lukulu – mostly to be transported by truck north to the North Western Province of Zambia. It is big business made possible by improved road infrastructure. The intense fishing period lasts about three months with the fishermen returning to their villages during August.

I only know of two safari type fishing camps on this hundred and twenty km stretch of the Zambezi River but if the gravel roads continue to improve Lukulu could become a tourist destination, but it will take a long time to live down the poor (but justified) reputation of its access roads

Till next time.  Elizabeth.

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August 29  2009 Dear Friends, Earlier this year, we were able to have three boreholes drilled at three different village community schools at Samuhata, Kalambwe and Kayeo.  In all three cases the closest boreholes were a minimum of 500 m away and the children were not always welcome to draw water at these boreholes. Attendance at school was also adversely affected by lack of water. We used a team from provincial Department of Water Affairs. I gained an overall picture of the technique used for drilling the boreholes from the team leader Washington who arrived with four custom built trucks which were placed around the borehole site. The method used was ‘mud drilling’. I have included a schematic picture of the process, which is basically pump ‘mud’ down through the drill pipe and then the returning mud moves up through the bore hole and is allowed to settle in the mud pits. The mud is then re-pumped through the top of the drill pipe again and this cyclical process continues throughout the drilling. The mud returning from the site of the drill bit carries with it the soil/rock cuttings that are then allowed to drop to the bottom of the mud-pit before the mud is re-cycled. As this was sandy soil special viscous chemicals were added to the ‘mud’ to prevent the borehole wall from collapsing due to erosion from the upward flowing mud stream. These chemicals also sealed the borehole wall to prevent the loss of fluids to the surrounding dry areas. The mud also serves to clean, cool and lubricate the moving parts of the drill.   The very clinical description above was a far cry from the reality on the ground. It was school out for the children and a whole new theatre of learning for them and some of the mentors used this to advantage. It was not only children but everyone in each village was out to view the very noisy, very dirty spectacle. In one village, Kalabwe, the people thought they were being short changed because their bore hole did not go down to the depth of the others. It is hard to explain to a non-scientific group of people that the depth of the borehole is determined by the depth of the water table at a particular place. Any way pandemonium ensued with cries of foul play and witch craft.  The drilling team could not complete their job until the local ward councillor was called in to resolve the issue.   There was joy all around when the first dirty water appeared from the borehole.  As can be seen from the photo, samples of water collected over time in transparent drink bottles could be compared, showing gradual improvement in water quality.   Each village then elected a borehole committee to maintain, manage and finance the borehole and hand pump. The pumps are locked at dusk and opened at dawn. The use of the borehole is free for the school children, for their mentors and the families of the mentors. All other village households using the borehole are required to pay a monthly fee for use of the bore hole.  Within a month Samuhata pump was not producing water. I was depressed by this news as the drilling and installation of pump had been a very expensive exercise – made possible by generous donors.  Anyway a local person with the required skills was able to mend it, and the community was able to pay him for his labour within two months.  Someone’s relation donated the missing part – Apparently those installing the pump had failed to secure a certain seal. Needless to say all pumps are working well and bore-hole committees are fully functional.   Having the boreholes has made it possible to build one semi-permanent classroom block at Kayeo and one permanent classroom block at Kalambwe. The use of cement in these buildings would not have been possible without an adequate source of water. But more about the classroom blocks in the next letter from Lukulu Till next time.  Elizabeth   Back  Home

30th July 2009

Dear Friends

Times, they are a-changing rapidly before our eyes here in Lukulu.  When we arrived just over three years ago there were probably less than a dozen vehicles in the whole of Lukulu.  These were all 4 x 4s and belonged to the mission and a few Government departments only.   This was largely due to the state of our infamous Lukulu road, the only access road into Lukulu.  Three years ago this was a 200 km quagmire of mud in the wet season and very pot-holed and rutted track in the dry season, so that it was only essential travel in 4x4s that was possible.  The road has been extensively worked on over the past two years and heavy machinery is once again completing the work, giving us the best road that we have had since coming here.  How it will stand up to the onslaught of the next wet season remains to be seen, but in the meantime there has been a new generation of vehicles ‘cruising’ our road!

They now include motorbikes, saloon cars and combi taxis, a number of large buses as well as a plethora of canter trucks carrying fish or larger transporters bringing in building materials for the building boom which has also taken off!  The market place is often unrecognizable with so many vehicles around, and we have at least one local taxi service ferrying people from one area of the town to another. 

And what about not one, but even two planes parked on the landing strip!  These were carrying passengers for the new luxury seasonal fishing camp which Elizabeth wrote of last time.  While still a bit of a novelty as the people of Lukulu hear the plane approaching, they are certainly quite a common feature now, reminiscent of years ago when Lukulu actually had regular commercial flights!

But alas, as ever, these changes touch the lives of the more affluent and upcoming urban population.  While bicycles are becoming a little more common the vast majority of people living in the outlying rural villages still rely heavily  on ‘footing’ long distances, and oxcarts for transporting of goods in the sandy terrain, or mukolo (dugout canoe) on the river.  The mighty Zambezi still remains a major arterial route for the transportation of goods and people, by water to far flung villages.

Until next time

Pat

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