Eureka Camp

Back in Lusaka at our tried-and-true Eureka Camp, where we decided to take an extra day for rest, recuperation and laundry. Plus, since the camp is located in the midst of a game farm with giraffe, zebra, impala, kudu, monkeys and more, several students were able to use the day to collect more data. For instance, Bridgette got lots of useful zebra pictures for later computer analysis of individuality in striping patterns, and Andrea was able to collect six fecal samples from ungulates for her parasite study. Cool stuff!

And those who didn't have their own specific study aims to fulfill at Eureka camp were able to spend time with the field guides identifying trees, birds and insects. One has to love the passion and curiosity.

While several folks stayed back at camp for the day, the rest of us went into town for a shopping trip to restock our mobile larder. Driving in Lusaka is always exciting, but even more so on a Saturday. 

Tomorrow we leave for Kasanka national park, where we will be camping, doing more data collection and going on a game drive. We will almost certainly not have internet access, so those checking regularly will have to wait for further updates. Zikomo.

Mighty Zambezi

After a great day at The Falls, we woke up early for our breakfast of cold cereal and tea so we could be picked up by our guides for our rafting/canoe trip down the upper Zambezi River. They picked us up in the game-drive vehicles, with rafts in tow behind, and we were off!

Our head guide, Dominic, gave us a good pre-loading safety talk about crocodiles, hippos and the main danger on the river...the Sun! He also gave a nice overview of the river (where it starts, ends and the course it traverses in between) and some basic canoeing instruction and review.

So with Dominic's words in mind, we loaded into the canoes and had a fantastic morning paddle down the Zambezi. The river is enormous, and quite slow-moving in the stretch we paddled. Not necessarily slow, but it has a lot of water and moves gently. We did get to see (and hear!) hippos and crocodiles, but the guides know the river well enough to keep us far from harm. We also saw many, many birds that were new to most of us - African Fish eagle, reed cormorant, gymnogene, wattled plover, little bee-eater...the list could go on and on. Everyone had a grand time.

Eventually it came time to take out our boats, so we took a picture with our great guides, Potato, Dominic and Peter. (Yes, his name was Potato. Ask one of us sometime about the names in Zambia.)

With our boats unloaded, the crew served us a very nice shore lunch of chicken, meatballs, beans, potato salad and coleslaw.

We sat there on the shores of the Zambezi, eating our meals, and then the students took the time to record their field notes in their log books. Nice work.

After lunch we were off for our game drive, where students started collecting some data (zebra photos, ungulate associations, etc.) but admittedly the highlight was when our guides got in touch with the Zambian Wildlife Authority staff who provide 24/7 armed protection for the Zambian White Rhinos. Because of their work we found the guards who were off in the bush with the rhinos. They also gave us a safety speech, and then took us out into the bush to see the rhinos. We had to walk as quietly as possible, and in single-file line.

After a short walk, we ended up coming to a small herd of FIVE rhinos - this accounts for half of the entire population of rhinos in the entire country. These animals are so endangered (largely from poaching for their horns) that they require round-the-clock armed guards for all 10 rhinos. As you can see we got amazing views of them.

 Indeed we saw lots of other animals on this game-drive, but I think hands-down this was the highlight of the day.

Mosi-oa-Tunya

We did roll into Jollyboys a bit late on Tuesday night, as the site we had intended to camp had just closed for renovations, so we had to go to our backup site, the full-bore Jollyboys Backpackers hostel. It is a bit more "hip" and social, which is working out just fine. Everyone got camp set up, and we settled down for a good night's sleep after the long bus ride.

Wednesday morning we rousted and headed off for a day at Mosi-oa-Tunya, the original Tonga name for Victoria Falls, meaning "Smoke that Thunders." There was no disappointment - more water in the Zambezi for this time of year than I have ever seen -

The "smoke" was certainly present, and so was the "thunder."

There are several hikes to be done on the top of the falls, as well as down the gorge. Especially up at the top, there are some fairly bold Chacma baboons, like this one that came up the path behind our group for a few steps.

The hike down the gorge takes you to the "boiling pot," where all the water from the falls collects and spins around in the base of the second cataract, before heading downstream. The hike is an amazing ecological transition, leaving the dry mopane forest of the upper regions and dropping into a tropical rainforest below. We sited lots of new species in the trip down, including rock hyrax and trumpeter hornbill. The boiling pot itself is a powerful place.

After hiking around the top of the falls and doing the climb down to and up from the boiling pot, we ventured across the knife cut bridge, which invariably includes some dousing from the spray of the falls. This video shows the amazing walk across the bridge.

After all that, our night was capped with a great dinner of pasta, watermelon and okra - all made by us.

Mwabuka buti?

Well we made it to Zambia reasonably intact. And whatever bruises we suffered at the hands of the travel gods were quickly forgotten as we set up our little tent village under the mopane and acacia trees at Eureka Camp. But I am getting ahead of the story a bit.

The flights from London to Johannesburg and Jo'burg to Lusaka were happily uneventful for us, although perhaps a bit more adventurous for some of our luggage. It turns out that Courtney's very nice backpack never made it to Lusaka. Jo'burg airport is fairly notorious for bags getting "lost" and never reappearing...but not this time. It arrived two flight later, but we only lost a few hours in our schedule due to that minor setback. All things considered, 12 students and 12 bags is fantastic. 

One of the things they all appreciated was the fun of deplaning via a stairway to the Tarmac - you hardly get to do that anymore. (Wait until they have to place a call on a rotary phone!)

The Lusaka international airport is now known as the Kenneth Kaunda airport (Zambia's first president after independence) and given the relatively lax security, we took a chance on immortalizing our first steps on African soil. 

We then ran our errands (groceries, cook kit, bank run, etc) as best we could and then jetted off to our campsite outside of Lusaka - Eureka Camp. It is a game park too, with something like 120 acres of Miombo forest to support impala, zebra, kudu, puku and giraffe. We set up our tent village right next to a small chalet we also rented for the night, just for the ease of charging batteries and having a basin to wash in. 

After a quick little morning hike to see the giraffe, impala and blue waxbills (I know everyone is anxious to know which birds we have seen), we loaded onto the Zambus and set off for Livingstone. 

This really is a much more excitable bunch than they let on in this photo. The drive had one breakdown, which we fixed, but was otherwise an uneventful tour of the expansive but continuously populated countryside. Snacks were fresh baked rolls, oranges, bananas and eggs.

Eventually, we arrived at our intended camping spot, "Jollyboys" group site in Livingstone, only to find it had been closed for renovations. Student response, "more adventure!" This was much more easily solved than it sounds - Jollyboys has a more funky "backpackers" site which also as camping - they took us in happily. So we sat down, had our dinner and prepared ourselves for the big day tomorrow at Victoria Falls!

Last day in London

Tonight we fly out on another red eye, but since the flight doesn't leave until late, everyone had the option to do what they wanted during this "free time." Mary and I presented them with a few options if they wanted to join us: 1) Back to the Natural History Museum for a tour of the Darwin center, 2) travel by tube/train/bus to Pirbright, the site where African explorer Stanley is buried, 3) travel by train to Mortlake to visit the tomb of polymath explorer, Richard Francis Burton, and his wife, Isabel, and 4) take the train to Cambridge to visit The Eagle Pub, where Crick and Watson boasted the first time about decoding the "secret of life" (Crick's reference to DNA-structure)...with significant input from Rosalind Franklin. 

A testament to the quality of this group of Zambassadors, two decided to return to the museum, and all the rest wanted to head off to Cambridge to see the place where Crick and Watson ate six times a week while they were working out their model of DNA structure. And so although our parties split, everyone chose science for their "day-off."

Finding the Eagle wasn't too hard, and it was a great pub with more history than just DNA - it turns out that in World War II  the Royal Air Force and the US 8th Air Force frequented the pub and wrote on the ceiling by candles and lighters. 

But the object of our travel was to see where Crick and Watson argued and laughed and enjoyed their time in the early 50s. We were not disappointed. We got to eat and drink and laugh about eating "whitebait" in the very seats where they sat years ago (commemorated with the plaques behind them). 

Then we headed back to our hotel, The Lord Kensington, to get our gear and make the trek back out to the airport. I do want to provide a bit of forewarning for the parents who have been following this blog - the updates will almost certainly not come as regularly once we are in Zambia. Internet connectivity is considerably more spotty there, so we might go several days without an update. Don't worry, this is normal! 

Oh, and one last thing, all the students wanted to do something to acknowledge their moms today. What a great bunch - not only did they all want to do sciencey-stuff on their free time, they all missed their mummies. They all were thinking about their moms on this Mother's Day, and here is how they wanted to let you know...

(It is supposed to spell out "MUM" with a heart. If you squint hard you can kind of make that out.)

ZAMBIA HO!

Downe with Darwin

Although Darwin's collections are at the Natural History Museum, Darwin spent most of his remarkably productive years out at his house and gardens in the countryside town of Downe. We spent the day traveling to and from there, and then walking the site - an English Heritage site. We did start our day with breakie at the hotel as usual. We were a bit disappointed to find this hotel serves continental rather than English style breakfasts, but we have to endure some hardships at some point, no?

Then we were onto the tube (Earl's Court is our hotel's nearest Underground stop) and off to Victoria Station. There we got our "return" train tickets to the town of Orpington, where we caught the city bus that took us to the hamlet of Downe. Here is the lovely train ride out of the city toward Orpington. 

Now onto the bus and off to Downe! We packed onto the small R8 bus, which was, as one student said, "...the most exciting piece of transportation yet." 

Darwin's house itself was a hit. No photos are allowed inside the house, but we got to see all kinds of artifacts, plus his study, dining room, gardens, laboratory, greenhouse and grounds. Some of Darwin's experiments were still ongoing...so we decided to do a reenactment of a photo made famous three years ago...

And of course no trip to Downe would be complete with out a quick visit to The Queen's Head Pub (a Downe staple since 1565!). After the chips, bread, soup and a couple of pints (in the favorite pub of Chucky D himself), we loaded onto the bus to reverse the trip that brought us here.

Cheers!

From Abbey to Charles

Today was our day to attempt visits to Wesminster Abbey and to the British Natural History Museum (NHM). First we headed to the Abbey, but it turns out they had scheduled the entire day for a ceremony to hang the flags honoring the Royal Order of the Knights of Bath. A bit of a bummer, although standing outside we watched the knights themselves and many dignitaries (men in tuxedos and women in hats) file into the Abbey. The Queen was going to appear, but we weren't patient enough to wait an hour for that. We did get great looks at Big Ben, Parliament, and the River Thames. 

Although we didn't get to see the exact stone over Livingstone's remains, we were close enough. Plus, on our walk to the NHM, we scooted by Buckingham Palace and got to see the changing of the guard - not bad for guys in funny hats. 

At the NHM everyone rejuvenated with snacks at the cafe, then we explored the wings and wings of displays at the museum. As one of these biology students said, "This is like a candy store for us." Even better, admission is free!

All who went on the behind the scenes "spirit" tour of museum research raved about it. Photos were not allowed on the tour, but since we got to see some of the specimens collected by Darwin on his tour with the HMS Beagle, we thought this picture of his statue would be a fitting substitute. 

Soon we walk back to the hotel for our dinner, then tomorrow we head off to the countryside hamlet of Down, where we will tour Darwin's house and gardens. 

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Close this post with a fitting (and slightly updated) quote from the master himself: "Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's [and women's] minds, which follows from the advance of science." - Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882)