Zambia (Part 6)

Hello everyone from a very hot Zambia ☀️☀️. My 4th week in Zambia started very well. I went to a place called Chaminuka Game Reserve. This is a private Game reserve where people can stay or just visit for the day. The last 14 kilometres of the drive to the lodge is on quite challenging roads but my Toyota salon car coped quite well and I luckily had a supportive bra on!!! I also met a couple of locals on the drive to Chaminuka.

On arrival you chose the activities you would like to go on and then are given a buffet lunch. My first activity was a boat ride across one of the lakes. It was great to see different types of birds and animals that gather around the water’s edge. The guide was very entertaining to, and most importantly I didn’t fall in ?

My second activity (although I hadn’t planned this one) was a cheese tasting session in a cave!! On this activity I was joined by a large family, of all ages, who were from Trinidad and in Zambia for a wedding. They were hilarious and told me I must visit Trinidad and Tobago (I’m going to need another year off work ??)

My final activity of the day was a Game Drive. This lasted nearly 2 hours and was fantastic. We were on a open 4×4 jeep and it was such fun. The guide was so informative and I saw some different animals as well as old favourites (still no decent picture of a warthog) ?? I also witnessed the most amazing sunset. It was a full moon that night and it was a gorgeous red colour, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a picture of it. I still can’t get over or get enough of seeing these animals in the wild ??

Tuesday saw me up and out, catching up on things, when I came across a nail bar and it dawned on me, that as I’m not working, I can have my nails done. This is the first time I have ever had a manicure and it was a great experience. The girl who did them, said that she wanted to travel and visit Europe and was saving hard to do this. She also told me that Friday was a national holiday where people went to church to pray for the economy. Later in the week, I actually received text messages regarding this!!

  • Loving my gel nails

Wednesday is the day it all started to go a bit wrong. I woke up with a bit of abdo pain and it then all kicked off!! Yep, after over 3 weeks in Zambia, and feeling pretty smug, I finally got Delhi Belly, or the newly named Lusaka Looses ??. I didn’t venture very far for a few days. Thank goodness for Netflix. I’m still not completely right yet, but have had to go out for provisions. I probably could have got over my Lusaka Looses all a bit quicker if I had stopped eating, but I do love my food. As things stand, I still wouldn’t trust a fart ??? I also have a few annoying mosquito bites, but antihistamine cream is helping them ?

And finally, I do love the Autumn colours back home, but the trees here are also showing their impressive colours. Bye for now xx

Zambia (Part 5)

This blog will mainly be all about the animals. With still no hospital clearance to work, and a car, it meant that I’ve been going further afield and getting to know Zambia better.

My first stop this week was to the Lusaka National Park. There are more than 1 000 species found inside the park, including giraffe, eland, hartebeest, zebra, sable, kudu, blue wildebeest, waterbuck, black lechwe, impala, puku, bushbuck, reedbuck, warthog, pangolin, and axis deers.
I hired a ranger who came in the car with me and pointed out the various animals, which is just as well as they are very well camouflaged!! As Jake pointed out to me…it’s not like trying to spot a black and white cow in a green field ??‍♀️

It is such an amazing thing to see these animals in the wild, although they don’t stay still and pose for photos, as soon as they spotted us, they legged it. I have new found respect for wildlife photographers now.
The ranger said that I got to see all the main players while I was there, because I happened to be the only one in the park at that time, and they hadn’t been frightened off into an area that cars can’t reach. My favourite by far were the warthogs. They were hilarious and just like Pumbaa from the lion king ?

  • Honestly, there are warthogs in this picture
  • Running away when they see us
  • This beauty is bigger than a camel

Within the Lusaka National Park is a memorial to all rangers/conservationists who have died while trying to protect the animals, such as from poachers.

My next trip out was to a place called Monkey Pools. This is a place where there is natural pools that you are allowed to swim in, plus beautiful grounds with walks through woods and areas for picnicking.
Apparently at the weekend, it’s very busy, but as this was a week day, once again I appeared to be the only person there. I wasn’t brave enough to go into the natural pools, just in case I got into difficulties and no one found me until the following weekend, but I had a lovely walk and then cooled off in a tradition swimming pool.

Despite the place being called Monkey Pools, I was still surprised to see real, wild monkeys there. Once again, these wild animals were very nervous around me and ran off as soon as I got close. For anyone that has ever driven through the monkey enclosure at Longleat Safari Park, these monkeys didn’t come anywhere near my car, and no bits were removed from it ????

My final visit this week was to Kalimba Reptile Park. This was just a small place with a few Zambian deadly snakes behind glass, which made me question going for any more walks!! They also had a few Nile crocodiles and some tortoises. The primary school children that were having a day out here, were definitely having a great visit.

The drive to the reptile park was interesting, in that it seemed to go through a more agricultural area and this made a lovely change to being in the city.

My final wildlife piece is on the things I have so far found in my room ?
All are still alive and not seen for a couple of days now ?

Friday night saw me out with Thandi and her friends again. I didn’t end up in a night club this time. This group of women are amazing, accepting me and making me feel so welcomed and included.

So this blogs ‘and finally’ is…… who wouldn’t want to win this prize???

Bye for now xxx

Zambia (Part 4)

So…I went to the Paediatric Theatre on Thursday to meet up with the Head nurse there, I was told to come back the next day. This Sister was only slightly less scary than the Head of all the Theatres, so I did as I was told ?.

On the way home from the Hospital, I had arranged to pop in and see Emma’s mum again, which I did, and had a wonderful visit. While there, I also met 2 of Emma’s brothers, her sister-in-law and nephew Ryan. Emma by-the-way is now back in England. They couldn’t have made me feel more welcome. I stayed ages and we all put the world to rights, although I couldn’t agree that Trump and Boris were good for the world ??

Mrs Lillie, me and Ryan

Friday saw me up bright and early for my 3rd attempt to get a look around Paediatric theatres. I was once again greeted by the head nurse, who asked me accusingly what I was going to teach them!! I asked was their any teaching I could help them with, and met with a frosty response. She said she had to go to a meeting and handed me over to another theatre nurse. I explained that I just really wanted a looks around and see how they do things compared to how we do things in the UK. This nurse did show me around.

They have 3 theatres and do general/urology surgery, very similar operations to us. Also ENT again very similar ops and also neurology, such as shunts and other stuff that we don’t do, or that I understand. They also cover emergencies (more on that later). The actual theatre area is quite small. No anaesthetic room. The parents bring their child to a transfer area, basically it’s the corridor, get checked in (I’m afraid I didn’t notice how this was done i.e. name band/consent etc). The child is then taken from their parents straight into the operating room, laid on the table and anaesthetised. There were a lot of tears. After Surgery the children are transferred to a small recovery area which had good enough monitoring and once recovered, carried out to their parents, who are still waiting in the corridor.

The Staff clean/pack and sterilise all of their own instruments (I’m old enough to remember doing this as well ?) The resources are limited but they seemed to be doing a good job with what they have, no piped O2 as an example.

They have one nurse on call for out of hours emergencies??? If something comes in, they work alone with the surgeon and anaesthetist. When I asked why only 1, the Theatre nurse replied that it’s so it doesn’t mess up the next days activity, by being short of staff ??. Something for us in Brighton to contemplate ?. Their emergency work is very similar to ours…appendicectomies, removal of foreign bodies, etc. Anaesthetic Nurses are not really a thing yet, although they did have 1 on the day I was there. I think it’s a relatively new concept. I would loved to have talked to her, but she was busy. Other than that, the staff are all theatre nurses, they do it all and can be moved between the different theatre complexes.

The staff I talked to were very welcoming. I can see why I felt some hostility towards me at first. Who are we to question their practice when they are probably doing their best with the resources they have. Yes I probably could have done some teaching, but I would need a decent amount of time there to observe and gain trust etc. Once again a very small snapshot into nursing in Zambia. You only truly get a realistic picture when you work for a decent amount of time in a place, and unfortunately this was never going to happen due to visas/clearance/paperwork etc.

Following my visit to the hospital, that evening I was invited out by Thandi (my landlady). We met up with her friends and after a few drinks (not me, I was driving) ended up in a nightclub!!! What a laugh, I even had a teenytiny dance ??. Once again everyone was so friendly towards me, especially the South African men, who gave me lots of tips as to where to visit when I get to SA.

Looking a bit sweaty ??

After a full day of social interaction on Friday, I thought on Saturday I would stay in a darkened room to recover. But then it came to my attention that there was a sports bar fairly near where I am staying and they would be playing the West Ham v Palace match. Out I went, and probably, mainly due to the win, I had an excellent time.

Other things of note about Zambia, apart from the frequent power cuts, is that the moon is at a different angle to England, and the sun rises and sets at the same time every day.

So to my ‘and finally’

I FaceTimed my mum when I had some WiFi and told her I was being very healthy and eating salad, at which point the waitress brought out my burger and chips!!! I got caught…so no matter how old you are….NEVER LIE TO YOUR MOTHERS, they have special powers ??

I have been trying to eat a rainbow ?