Birthday Bus

Sorry for the late blog.

Its Friday 13th August - Yesterday (Thursday 12th August) was Kim's birthday, and a memorable one at that. We traveled from Lusaka to Mongu by bus.

We arrived at the Lusaka central bus station at 07h00 and each bought our tickets for K115 000 (R150) the station was swarming with hustlers, trying to carry our bags for us, trying to buy our tickets for us, trying to do absolutely anything to try and earn some money.

(Lusaka is a City of huge contrast, Kim and I went to buy some airtime from a cellphone shop and they tried to sell us an Apple Ipad 3G, a product which isn't even available in South Africa, yet you drive 2kms away from the shopping center and you will be in a dusty, poverty stricken village.)

We got onto the bus safely and waited for the 08h30 departure - They bus will only leave the station once it is completely full, not one seat will be left open.

Kim and I were expecting a 'chicken' bus, ours wasn't quite a chicken, it wasn't quite a swan either, so we settled on calling it the 'turkey bus'

The trip to Mongu is +- 500kms, which our deranged driver managed to complete in 7 hours. It was a pleasant journey, lots to see, lots to talk about, we drove through a game reserve and saw some Impala, Kudu and the odd Warthog. Lots of armed guards. Lots of vendors selling anything from airtime, to cokes and something Kim and I tried, 'village chicken'. It looked like chicken, kind of tasted like chicken, but we had serious doubts.

We stopped at 2 stations/villages, Kafue and Kaoma. Passengers got off and others got on - at each stop we had to get out to ensure no one snuck off with our bags which were stored in the luggage compartments.

We arrived in the VERY dusty Mongu at 15h30 and were picked up by Paul Van Coller, one of the missionary leaders. We arrived at the camp to see the most incredible view of the flood planes, they stretch West as far as you can see. One of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. We met Marinette, Pauls wife and their two children Seth and Nathan, had coffee and birthday cake, chatted and planned the shoot days.

Our tent is awesome, built in bathroom with a shower and an undisturbed view of the magnificent flood planes, we're sharing with two volunteers from Cape Town, Matt and Andrew, Ex Bishops Boys, Helen :) They're awesome.

We set up an 'astro-lapse' at about 22h00, obviously being very far out, Mongu has incredible stars, no light pollution and clear skies made for an incredible sight. We left the timelapse running until midnight and headed to bed

It was a long day, it was a birthday, it was the start of an adventure.

06h00: Kim's Birthday - On the way to the station

Anamorphic (BlackBerry) Flare

Lusaka Central Bus Station

Birthday Bug

Preacher on the bus.

Leaving Lusaka - Que of mini-buses.

Boom Boom Bus.

Hustle & Bustle of Lusaka

Car Wash

Lusaka Slums (City of Contrast)

Our staple food for the bus trip

Chilli-Chicken is the BUSINESS.

Tartrazeen Free? Highly Doubtful.

Relay Station

Middle of nowhere.

First Stop - Kafue National Park

Entrance to the National Park

No comment.

Map on side of Bus

Kafue River - 'Infected' with Crocodiles. (Dias' was the gentleman sitting next to us, he kindly informed us that the river was "infected" with crocs)