King of the Road

OK so I really do need to get better at this blog stuff. It’s taking me sitting in the Dubai airport alone (sort of) during a 12 am- 5 am lay over to write this one at all. On that note, a quick description of the Dubai airport at 3 in the morning. Think of Vegas. Yea that’s pretty much it. Everything is still open, from the Mcdonalds and the bars to the toy stores. The place is basically a casino. Its insane. Its so huge, and everything is lit up and there are TONS of people in here. It really is a more efficient casino made to keep you awake so you can give your money away in the stores instead of gambling it.

Anyway. Since my last post there has been a lot of traveling going on. I guess that much has already been made apparent. About two weeks ago I was sent up north to Kitwe to help set up an environmental management plan for a steel foundry we have invested in up north. To get to Kitwe you fly up on a small propeller plane to Ndola, from which the drive is about 45 minutes to Kitwe. Kitwe is basically a smaller Lusaka with less to do from what I saw. I spent most of my time once I arrived at the steel foundry however.

It was really great to have a real project for work that I could sink my teeth into. What was best was actually seeing one of the investee companies. I had been reading about this steel foundry for months and had written reports on it but had no real experience to tie it to. Seeing the foundry helped me to ground so much of what I had been working on and writing about in reality, and I think will really help me in the future.

After that I had a great ten days when my girlfriend Rachel came to visit. It was the first time I’d seen her in 3 months and we got a chance to drive down to Victoria falls in Livingstone together. Oh, I bought a car by the way. A big green Toyota Prado (Basically an oldschool safari-type land cruiser). His name is Hansel (don’t ask)



Hansel

Anyway Rach and I drove Hansel down to Livingstone at the Zimbabwean border where Victoria Falls is located for the weekend. It was a great drive contrary to what people had told us. And the falls were amazing. We arrived in Livingstone 30 minutes before sunset and went over to the Royal Livingstone Hotel for Sundowners (cocktails at sundown). I’d never seen anything like the sunset I saw that night. The Royal Livingstone is the quintessential colonial hotel of Livingstone, right close to the edge of the falls on the Zambezi River. Sundowners are at an outdoor cocktail area on the river bank with viewing chairs looking straight out to the sunset, which occurs directly across the river from the hotel. I’d never seen a more perfect sunset before. The sheer range of colors was mesmerizing, and our viewing point was literally perfect. We had dinner at the Royal Livingstone before going back.



We started off our next day at the falls, which are a must see for anyone who visits Zambia or Zimbabwe.



We had heard that since it’s the dry season, water levels were low and we could literally walk across the river on the edge of the falls and decided to make a go for that. With a local guide named George, who “volunteered” to show us the path along the edge of the falls we stepping stones our way across the river to the various cliffs literally in the middle of the falls to watch them. (MOM- We are taking you on this when you come)



In this picture we are literally in the middle of the falls. During the rainy season the rocks we were sitting on would be completely submerged by the river and the falls.

There was even a natural pool that you could dive into at the edge of the falls and watch the falls from there. It was amazing. I naturally managed to pull out my vinyard vines swim shorts for the swimming portion (I promise I mention this for a reason). Anyway, after our amazing walk across vic falls, it turns out George wants $100 for the tour. After going back and forth with him on price, he pauses and tells us he’ll give us the tour for free so long as I give him the pink vinyard vines shorts! So, Laughing my butt off, I hand over my preppy pink shorts to George the Zambian Guide, and take a picture of him with them. The image of him running off with these preppy shorts was priceless.



After that, we went back to the hotel to get picked up for our next activity, a Walk with Lions. Rachel, being a cat freak, really wanted to see and pet some lions. OK, fine, says I. So we went to a lodge about ten minutes outside of Livingstone where you both walk with and pet lions for about two hours. This was great even though it was the most touristy thing I think ever. But it was a lot of fun still and it was really funny watching everyone going up to pet these extremely domesticated lions.



The next day we drove back and the real adventure began. Yeah, this blog post hasn’t even gotten started yet. But I mean, I started off saying I was in the Dubai airport, so you knew something had to be going on.

Rachel really came to visit me because she was on her way to India to shoot a documentary with 3 other friends from Georgetown for three weeks. I decided that since I had some vacation days saved up, I could tag along for the first week and help to get the girls set up and stuff.

So, one week ago I got on a plane from Lusaka and went to India.

And that’s where I’m coming from now going back to Lusaka.

Ill let this post sit for a day before posting India so as to give you readers a break (The next one is Hefty). But don’t worry, If you have any interest in reading about it I’m going to start writing that post now.