Zambia Diary
Written mostly by Grant, Feb 14, 2007.
It is now raining much less here, and the water has gone down a lot. So people in the camps are cleaning up and trying to dry out again. Those in the villages and country are trying to rescue their crops and put their lives back together. But is is disconcerting to see the locals working hard on their temporary houses on the high ground beside the Airport road. I suspect that they know something that we in the Camps are all trying to ignore - and that is that the last two weeks in Feb and the first two in March are normally the wettest period in this area, and therefore that we may not have seen the worst of it yet at all.
The rising water levels have meant that some of the underground cables have short-circuited so the power has been cut off in the Park where the repeater station is for the cell-phone antenna. So there is no cell/mobile phone communication in the Valley at all just now. Today, one of the big power poles (pylons) for the mains electricity fell into the Lupanda river about 8km away. So we're now without power probably for several weeks - or maybe months. The problem is that the road between here and Chipata is now blocked with several small trucks that have got stuck in the all-pervading mud. So it is going to be impossible to get the supplies to build a new pylon until the road is cleared. So most of our evenings are spent by candlelight. (Very romantic on St Valentine's Day!!!) The generator in the camp is turned on for a while each day so that the people in the office can work on their computers - and so I can charge the batteries on my laptop. But they are having to ration the amount of diesel that is used. There is lots of diesel at the petrol station, but the pumps don't work because the power is down. So the next delight that we will enjoy is probably a shortage of diesel, no transport and no electricity. Fortunately supplies keep coming from Chipata and Lusaka on the bigger trucks and canters. But the lack of diesel is a real problem for Johnny who has to get in and out to the clinic, and be prepared for and emergency call-out. He was talking of riding out bicycle back and forth, but the number of elephants on the road between here and the clinic has gone up enormously and I've tried to discourage him in the strongest terms. In the end the compromise that we reached is that Johnny doesn't come back to camp for his lunch and drive back to the Clinic again. Instead he takes sandwiches with him and I try to cadge a lift with someone going into the village after lunch so that I can work on the Clinic and keep and eye on things. So far this scheme has worked quite well.
So what is it called?
It's called a
collapse of the infrastructure!
We have become very philosophical about it. And this is the African Way. Nothing happens quickly and everything takes its own time. Delays are inevitable - so why not accept them?
Work has now started at the clinic, the roof is off one end of the clinic, and they are have knocked out holes for a new window and a new door. They are just about to start raggling in channels in the walls for the new wiring and to start putting up the new roof timbers. The place looks a total wreck! I hope they can put it back together again!
The road just after the bridge into the Park has
been washed out so we can't get into the Park to see the animals. But there are
still lots of elephants and hippos near camp, lots of baboons and monkeys, and
we heard hyena's the other day. Also about 2 days ago there were also lions roaring
in the night nearby. We were content that no one saw them! Johnny just about ran into a giraffe going to work today!
There are no zebras, buffalo, impala nor wart hogs this side, but we're not
entirely without game around us even if we can't get into the Park.
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