A LONG TIME CATCH UP

Once again we have to apologise for the long time lack of blogs. Every time we think of updating it something else comes along and we tend to do that.

We have so much to catch up on so where to start.

It seems a long time ago but last Christmas was spent exploring Malawi, a new country for both Jan and I. Most of it was spent by Lake Malawi in temperatures way into the 40’s centigrade. The lake was mainly crystal clear and provided the early morning(5.30am) swim along with one late afternoon. In the middle of the day the sun was too hot even to get into the water, so it was a case of finding shade. We started the trip towards the north and gradually headed south to spend Christmas Day in Cape Maclear. The northern part was very quiet with clear water but around the south it was busier with more local villagers and the water quality dropped of. We still had to take preventative medicine due to Bilharzia in the lake though. Luckily the lake is fairly free of Hippo and crocodile so we could swim safely. Immediately after Christmas we headed to the mountains for the cooler air before heading back over the border to Zambia.

Storms over the hills in Malawi

Another storm approaching from the hills

Sunsets were amazing over Lake Malawi

Fishing nets being mended

6am Christmas morning, it was already approaching the 40 centigrade

Fresh fish on the Braai

We go away from the heat in the hills

The highest mountain in Malawi

Tea plantations in Malawi

Since we last wrote we have had several visitors out to see us starting with a good friend Aubrey from Chesham. After visiting us in Ndola we took him on a trip down to South Luangwa to look for animals. Other visitors we managed to combine both Ndola and South Luangwa were Jan’s friend Sarah from Chesterfield along with Jon and Sarah from Chesham. So you can see we had plenty of excuses to go on safari in Zambia’s best National Park , even though it takes two days to drive there.

Aubrey at the Carmine Bee Eater roost beside the River Luangwa

Carmine Bee Eaters

Jon and Sarah at our breakfast stop above the Luangwa River

A large group for a "sundowner" including Sarah from Chesterfield

Mike trying to get a better shot of a wild dog pack

Wild Dogs from the ground

"Sundowners" do not get better than this

Lions in action

Leopard on the prowl

Jan told Sarah that standing on one leg protects you from lions

Predators we everywhere in the park

One group of visitors I have not yet been mentioned is our children. In March Karen, Andrew and his fiancé, Louise came out to Ndola. It was only a short one week visit but they were so very welcome. They had asked to see where we live, what we do and who we work with rather than go away so we had a week here at home. It was great to see them and it went way too quickly as usual.

Introducing Brutus to the family

Waling in Ndola

Karen has found her cafe here in Ndola

Inside our International Stadium

An evening in our very own pub here at Cherry Farm

Walking on Cherry Farm

Meeting the children at Kawama School

Back in January Jan celebrated her 60^th birthday and a few weeks after we took a trip down to Livingstone for a few days. Jan’s sister, Carole and her partner, Clive, had bought a trip on the Livingstone Express. The old Steam Train goes from Livingstone down to Victoria Falls. The distance is only around 10 Kms but an excellent meal is served on the train so we were really pleased with that.

The spray fro Victoria Falls

Dressed up for the ride on the train

We always eat like this at home

We do have our staff well trained here in Zambia

We will have been in Africa for two years at the beginning of June and we are planning many things in the next few months but we are going to leave that until the next blog with will be very soon, we promise so check back around June 6th.

Mike & Jan