NMU in Zambia - 2019!

Kafue National Park, and the Kafwala Rapids Camp did not disappoint for a good wilderness bush experience. We had breakdowns, planned encounters, chance encounters , missed encounters , adventures, and misadventures. Kafue National Park is one of the largest in Africa, and boasts some of the highest species diversity of any national park in the continent. However, it is also underdeveloped,  which in  many ways may contribute to its high conservation value .  One of the important ecological components of African ecosystems is the occurrence of fire. We got to see lots of examples of this, including on our drive in, when the landscape alongside our drive was burning. This is a regular event, and our driver was nonplussed. We set off on the 8 hour drive, picking up our scout, Clement, on the way. Scouts are  trained, highly skilled Zambians who travel with us anytime we are  on foot  in the bush,  away   from camp. Clement could spo...

Most everyone expressed a bit of trepidation about the village visit before we arrived. Would the villagers be friendly? What about the language barrier? How would we handle our tents, and our meals? Could our cultures interleave for a few days, and enrich one another? The answers are probably specific to each Zambassador. Ask any one of them about it when they return, especially because to a person, the village visit seems to have been an emotional, enriching, and thought-provoking time that provided as much insight on each of us as it did on Zambian village life. On our drive up we were lucky enough to catch the youngest Banda sister, Tasila, on the outskirts of Lusaka. She jumped on board our truck for a while, to meet the students and talk a bit about her work. Dr. Tasila Banda is a remarkable product of the Banda family and Nyanje Village. She is the 10th of 11 children in the Banda family,  but among her accomplishments were being among the female graduate in Natural ...