ON THE MOVE

One last update before we leave later this morning for a flight to Johannesburg and then the long drive back in our own car.

Before that though a small amount about the local life here in Ndola (I am certain there will be much more in the coming months as well)

We live in quite an affluent part of the town but some areas are very poor.  Jan and I have taken many walks from where we are living now along through tracks and trails exploring the various parts local to this side of Ndola. Nearby is the local village of Twappia and for us to get there we had to walk over a washed out bridge that  the locals all use as well as the broken down railway bridge.

Washed away bridge to Twappia

Weekly Wash

Many of the locals use the river for washing clothes as well as there only water supply but other parts of the same area are seemingly quite good. One young guy sitting in his small hut at the side of the road had a very expensive computer system with huge speakers. His computer contained thousands of music tracks and he loved showing me this as well as letting everyone within several miles hear the music.

Buildings generally are either concrete block or brick with the occasional much poorer type construction. Both blocks and bricks are often made on site. The bricks work well if you have an adjacent old termite mound you can dig into for the “clay”. These are then made, dried then “burnt” in a clamp before being used.

Local Termite mound used for Brickmaking

Another walk was to the top of the only hill for miles around. This I wrote about last time but didn’t add any photos including the basket weavers and the religious ceremonies taking place.

Basket Makers in the woods

Praying on the Top of the Hill

Locally there are two "Slave Trees" where in the past slaves were supposedly bought and sold. One is in the middle of the town and the locals around do not like you taking photos, the other is sadly in the middle of a dual carriageway and has died and fallen down. A fence has been put around it but it will now just rot in the middle of the roadway

The sad looking Slave Tree

Also when driving around you come across really strange sights such as this very middle "English" pub/restaurant that would not be out of place in the Bucks Countryside. Have heard though it is not open but will go and see at some point

Back in The UK?

Talking of nice places to eat, one of our favourites is an Italian cafe/restaurant called MichaelAngelos. They sell lots of home made cheeses such as Haloumi and Mozzarella that we can't get elsewhere as well have having a great cafe/restaurant and bar we can sit at. The "small" slices of very gooey cream cake are just the thing to go with a beer...

As Good as It Looks

Now onto the next few weeks when collect our Toyota Hilux adapted for bush camping in the wild. We shall take this through Botswana and Namibia camping in the wild with all the animals around. Hopefully we shall be able to update from time to time but do not expect to have that much internet access. We have to be back in Ndola around 24^th August ready to move into the new home and start work properly at the beginning of September. The final thing we managed before finishing at one of the schools was to achieve a water supply that came on stream from the borehole on Monday. It was a really good feeling to see the staff and children knowing they now have water on tap.