We're back! We survived our journey to Victoria Falls and Malawi, and despite hours of travel, bribing border guards, and pickpocketing, we had a great time.



The trip started on the Tazara train: a very slow passenger train that took us from Dar all the way to Kapiri Moshi, Zambia. Bre, Anna, Lindsey and I from our program and Gerard, Stacey, and Meredith (Americans on a different program) also joined us. Along the way we were able to see the changing Tanzanian landscape from dry grassland to hilly green areas in the west. We had quite an experience with Tse-Tse flies. These flies have a vicious bite and a small number carry african sleeping sickness: a serious illness that makes you, well, sleep forever as the train attendant informed us when we asked what the insect was. Bre got one in her skirt and was bit numerous times while Lindsey and I both had a few random bites. We watched for symptoms though and all of us are still awake. You can check out the pics of our train travels and our first class apartment that we were in for about 40 hours, including two nights. We became quite attached to our vinyl beds I think! Tazara Train Pics



After our arrival in Kapiri Moshi we started our bus adventures. We took a small mini-bus about 2 hours to the capital of Zambia, Lusaka where we spent the night at a great backpacker's hostel called Chachacha's. When we arrived there though, they were full so we stayed in tents on their lawn. Worth both dollars we paid I'd say! We were rejuvenated with their great food and the next morning at 6am took a 10 hour bus to Livingstone, Zambia which is next to Victoria Falls.



We had a great time in Livingstone. We stayed at another cheap, fun backpacker's place called Fawlty Towers. We had so much fun at these places because you stay in bunk beds in a room with people from all over the world. We met a cool Australia, a Dutchman, and a group of British kayakers. It was so fun sharing travel stories, tips, and places to go with people who like us, loved to travel! We visited the Falls which were incredible. On the way, we had to wait about 20 minutes while elephants crossed the road! Then we arrived at the falls and there was spray everywhere, definitely living up to the local name that translates to "the water that smokes" or something like that. It was very humbling to see this amazing site and to think that we were in Africa, a weird realization of the obvious. It was also hilarious because at the same time, there was the world's strongest man competition in Zambia, so all these "world's strongest men" were at the falls. The strongest men looking at the strongest waterfall...an ironic site for sure. You can check out the pics and see how amazing the falls, they do little to justify the beautiful, but can say what I cannot describe: God's awesome creation. Victoria Falls



Our best adventure in Livingstone was whitewater rafting. We left our place at 8am, ate a good African breakfast of beans, bread, and tea and then headed to the water. The river was the Zambezi and is rated 5 out of 6, with 6 being impassable, so this was a serious river to raft! In fact, on the first rapid, we couldn't get over it and finally we paddled hard and our raft hit the rock and flipped! I was flung from the raft into the water and was probably under for about 5 secs which felt like a life time. I seriously thought I was good. I was panting when I finally found the surface and thought, 22 more of these! Well, I recovered and had a good time. We had a great guide who wasn't afraid to hit the rapids full speed. We all fell out 4 times our of 23 and our arms, lungs, and hearts were quite tired when we finally reached the end. We had a great time, saw great scenary, and even stopped in Zimbabwe for lunch (on the other side of the river). After living through whitewater rafting, we took a safer adventure the next day on a bike tour. It was amazing. A local guy who called himself the "local cowboy" because of his specially made straw cowboy hat biked us around the Zambezi. Along the way we had to stop because elephants were once again in our path. we also saw giraffees, crocodilles, and huge spiders before heading to the best part of the trip, a local village. He took us to a village where he had friends and we came in the midst of a traditional dance/song/game where someone dressed as a ghost type person chases kids and collects money that is then given to someone in the village. The only way the kids can keep him away is to sing to make him dance. We saw this awesome site as a oddly dressed character grooved to about 20 Zambian kids singing at the top of their lungs. Then, we went to a school in the town that the "local cowboy" supports with a portion of the money he makes. The school is for vulnerable children and orphans and it was very humbling. There was one lady essentially volunteering her time to teach maybe 60-80 kids in a room the size of a dorm room. They sang a bunch of songs for us like "One, two three four five, once I caught a fish alive," "If you're happy and you know it," and other songs. It was very emotional to see all these kids: on one hand b/c they had such a hard life, but on the other hand because they were having the opportunity to get an education. It definitely put a human face to the work I did this summer researching HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa. That was them. Zambia Pics



The rest of our time in Zambia was spent relaxing at Fawlty Towers where good food and company surrounded us. We stayed I think 4 nights before heading back to Lusaka on bus. From Lusaka we caught another 6am bus to Chipata, Zambia which is close to the border of Malawi and Zambia. We had to stay there and had fun trying to save money by having all four of us (Lindsey, Anna, Bre, and I) in a double. Very tight, but we were only there for maybe 12 hours anyways.



The story will have to continue tomorrow as I am out of time, but halfway through the journey...fun huh?! It is great to be back in Dar though and feel a little bit like we're home. We are supposed to start class tomorrow, but it is really random...we'll see if we actually find classes to attend, most people are not even here yet! It's Africa time I guess. Go Twins! Hope all are well, hope to hear from you all soon!