Thanksgiving in Zambia...

It was the week before Thanksgiving and not a turkey was to be found in Zambia. The two local South African grocery chains were fresh out of the birds and my inquiries garnered nothing more than a perplexed stare. (I've been getting used to that lately). I asked around the ex-pat community, but all I got were some shifty remarks about some turkey exchanges from people who were "in" at the embassy. We didn't want to haggle on that bureaucratic turkey black market, so Em and I thought we'd take matters into our own hands.

We'd heard of this place called Lochinivar National Park, on the flood plains of the mighty Kafue River. A friend described it as a barren wasteland with a smoldering hot springs that's too hot to bath in. But the guidebook mentions the big birds. So our pre-thanksgiving weekend plan was hatched...

We conscripted some accomplices and packed into the Rav4. Squished in the backseat was my colleague at CIDRZ- Gina, Law Professor Nick, and Samara- from Power of Love (Em's workplace). Lochinivar looks close to Lusaka (on the map at least!) but the trusty Rav4 bounced around for ~3 hours after leaving the pavement until we rolled up to the park entrance gates. First we took a hike, searching for these mythical big birds, only to find the Bwana hotspring. It was a warm puddle of mud, but that didn't stop me from accidentally stepping into calf deep mud. The local kids got a good laugh!:



We drank beer around the campfire at the deserted campsite until it started to drizzle and we retired for the evening. It poured all night which made for good driving in the morning. The roads we barely passable and we slogged through mudpuddle after mudpuddle. Here's a picture of the road-weary crew as we reached the lagoon:



Left to right: Nick, Em, J, Gina, Samara.

Here's some cows that Em really loved:




And on the way back, we found the birds...




And a week later, Thanksgiving dinner never tasted so succulent!