(no subject)
Still in Lundazi.
We started off with another visit to the main COMACO office in Lundazi. This time we got a more complete tour of the full facility including the processing operations. The other facet of the COMACO project that I didn't mention before is the value-added. All the rice, honey and peanuts they buy from the farmers at depots around the region are brought back to Lundazi where they process and package the products. There's a shed full of women grading, sifting and sorting the rice. Piccy:
They've got all the machines they need on-site. Rice is polished and bagged. Peanuts are roasted, ground, and turned into peanut butter. The honey is processed and bottled. All the products are sold in Zambian grocery stores under their own brand label: "It's Wild!"
All the proceeds go back to supporting the project and its beneficiaries.
From the COMACO office we took a quick tour of a facility where they make high-protein supplement powder for the World Food Program. Then we began the long, bumpy ride back to Chipata.
We arrived in Chipata around 1:30-ish. Petros had called ahead and by the time we got there someone at the Chipata CARE office had prepared lunch for us. Remember my chicken from Dwankhonzi? Guess who was the guest... or rather dish... of honour for lunch. The chicken was done up in a cacciatore-ish sauce, with some of the COMACO brand rice as a side dish. I swear it was the best chicken and rice I've had in a long time. The COMACO rice is amazing. I may talk to some people back at CARE Canada and see what the possibilities are for getting some over here for sale as a fundraising item. Or even seeing if we can't find a fair trade company to build a relationship with and try importing some small quantities for general sale.
After lunch it was off again to see a few other projects in the Chipata area. First a group of home-based care providers who operate out of the local military barracks. They go out to provide support to the sick and elderly in the surrounding community. To help support the caregivers themselves CARE has funded the setting up of a fish pond for the caregivers. They tend ot and sell the fish commercially in the community to generate some income for themselves, as they are all volunteers in the program.
From there it was a little further out into the rural areas to a couple of villages where I met and intervewed a couple of women who nearly died of AIDS, but survived thanks in part to the support of CARE caregivers. Here's a pic of me with Christine Jere, one of those women (she's the one directly to my left). The other two women are her relatives. Petros, my CARE guide, is on my right. The other man is the caregiver who helped Christine.
By the time that last interview was done the sun was setting, so Petros and I headed off to our last stop. Petros figured that, since a large part of the tour had focused on COMACO, a wildlife conservation project in part, I should at least see some of the wildlife being conserved. So our final destination was a tourist game lodge on the edge of the South Luangwa game park. The last few kilometres before we reached the lodge were quite amusing, with Petros continually fretting about the possibility of running into a herd of elephants (a not uncommon occurrance in those parts). But no elephants manifested themselves and we reached the lodge just fine.
It was dark by this point so Petros deposited me there and headed off to chepaer lodgings for himself in the nearby town. I went to the lodge restaurant for dinner. There I found a group of three Irish and three Brits sitting with drinks. They were young doctor/interns who were doing a volunteer stint at a Zambian hospital and came to do a game tour for a short break. They invited me to join them sitting around chatting over drinks. We were sat around in a little open cabana. After a while, not too far away, we could hear the sound of a hippo calling. Sort of a huffing grunt. The lodge, a little private operation owned by a laid back South African guy, was not at all fenced, so it was normal at night for animals to wander through the park. In fact, a little after 10:30, one of the lodge night patrollers came over to say that a large herd of elephants had been spotted inbound on the site so we had better get back to our respective accomodations.
A patroller escorted me back to my cabin. I had been given my own separate cabin. It had cane walls and a thatched roof. It sat a meter and a half off the ground on stilts, for obvious animal reasons. My particular cabin was about the furthest out in the compound, closest to the great wilderness. Lucky me. As we got to the cabin the patroller suddenly shined his flashlight off into the bush. There, not 20 metres from my front door, was the hippo we had heard. The guard said he was patrolling his territory. The hippo continued to patrol through the night, huffing and grunting.
A little while after I went to bed and put out the lights came a new sound. Growling. Close by my cabin. Far too deep to be one of the camp dogs. It occured to me that the little narrow stair up to the porch in front of my cabin might deter a wandering hippo, it would not likely present much impediment to, say, a curious leopard or lion. So between the hippo and the growling whatever-it-was I didn't get much sleep that night. Apparently the quietest ones were the entire herd of elephants that passed right through sometime during the night. I don't think I heard them at all.
I think I will detail my game tour Saturday morning in a post later, after I get home to Canada. I have a lot of photos and even some video footage to post, and that will be better to do with a faster internet connection than is available here.
After the game tour Saturday I was taken to the nearby Mfuwe airport for the flight back to Lusaka. Saturday evening was spent socializing with the western expats who work in the CARE Zambia main office. They're a fun bunch.
Then Sunday off to Zimbabwe. More to come.
We started off with another visit to the main COMACO office in Lundazi. This time we got a more complete tour of the full facility including the processing operations. The other facet of the COMACO project that I didn't mention before is the value-added. All the rice, honey and peanuts they buy from the farmers at depots around the region are brought back to Lundazi where they process and package the products. There's a shed full of women grading, sifting and sorting the rice. Piccy:
They've got all the machines they need on-site. Rice is polished and bagged. Peanuts are roasted, ground, and turned into peanut butter. The honey is processed and bottled. All the products are sold in Zambian grocery stores under their own brand label: "It's Wild!"
All the proceeds go back to supporting the project and its beneficiaries.
From the COMACO office we took a quick tour of a facility where they make high-protein supplement powder for the World Food Program. Then we began the long, bumpy ride back to Chipata.
We arrived in Chipata around 1:30-ish. Petros had called ahead and by the time we got there someone at the Chipata CARE office had prepared lunch for us. Remember my chicken from Dwankhonzi? Guess who was the guest... or rather dish... of honour for lunch. The chicken was done up in a cacciatore-ish sauce, with some of the COMACO brand rice as a side dish. I swear it was the best chicken and rice I've had in a long time. The COMACO rice is amazing. I may talk to some people back at CARE Canada and see what the possibilities are for getting some over here for sale as a fundraising item. Or even seeing if we can't find a fair trade company to build a relationship with and try importing some small quantities for general sale.
After lunch it was off again to see a few other projects in the Chipata area. First a group of home-based care providers who operate out of the local military barracks. They go out to provide support to the sick and elderly in the surrounding community. To help support the caregivers themselves CARE has funded the setting up of a fish pond for the caregivers. They tend ot and sell the fish commercially in the community to generate some income for themselves, as they are all volunteers in the program.
From there it was a little further out into the rural areas to a couple of villages where I met and intervewed a couple of women who nearly died of AIDS, but survived thanks in part to the support of CARE caregivers. Here's a pic of me with Christine Jere, one of those women (she's the one directly to my left). The other two women are her relatives. Petros, my CARE guide, is on my right. The other man is the caregiver who helped Christine.
By the time that last interview was done the sun was setting, so Petros and I headed off to our last stop. Petros figured that, since a large part of the tour had focused on COMACO, a wildlife conservation project in part, I should at least see some of the wildlife being conserved. So our final destination was a tourist game lodge on the edge of the South Luangwa game park. The last few kilometres before we reached the lodge were quite amusing, with Petros continually fretting about the possibility of running into a herd of elephants (a not uncommon occurrance in those parts). But no elephants manifested themselves and we reached the lodge just fine.
It was dark by this point so Petros deposited me there and headed off to chepaer lodgings for himself in the nearby town. I went to the lodge restaurant for dinner. There I found a group of three Irish and three Brits sitting with drinks. They were young doctor/interns who were doing a volunteer stint at a Zambian hospital and came to do a game tour for a short break. They invited me to join them sitting around chatting over drinks. We were sat around in a little open cabana. After a while, not too far away, we could hear the sound of a hippo calling. Sort of a huffing grunt. The lodge, a little private operation owned by a laid back South African guy, was not at all fenced, so it was normal at night for animals to wander through the park. In fact, a little after 10:30, one of the lodge night patrollers came over to say that a large herd of elephants had been spotted inbound on the site so we had better get back to our respective accomodations.
A patroller escorted me back to my cabin. I had been given my own separate cabin. It had cane walls and a thatched roof. It sat a meter and a half off the ground on stilts, for obvious animal reasons. My particular cabin was about the furthest out in the compound, closest to the great wilderness. Lucky me. As we got to the cabin the patroller suddenly shined his flashlight off into the bush. There, not 20 metres from my front door, was the hippo we had heard. The guard said he was patrolling his territory. The hippo continued to patrol through the night, huffing and grunting.
A little while after I went to bed and put out the lights came a new sound. Growling. Close by my cabin. Far too deep to be one of the camp dogs. It occured to me that the little narrow stair up to the porch in front of my cabin might deter a wandering hippo, it would not likely present much impediment to, say, a curious leopard or lion. So between the hippo and the growling whatever-it-was I didn't get much sleep that night. Apparently the quietest ones were the entire herd of elephants that passed right through sometime during the night. I don't think I heard them at all.
I think I will detail my game tour Saturday morning in a post later, after I get home to Canada. I have a lot of photos and even some video footage to post, and that will be better to do with a faster internet connection than is available here.
After the game tour Saturday I was taken to the nearby Mfuwe airport for the flight back to Lusaka. Saturday evening was spent socializing with the western expats who work in the CARE Zambia main office. They're a fun bunch.
Then Sunday off to Zimbabwe. More to come.