This last week I had the pleasure of hosting Jamie, my predecessor
in the Princeton in Africa fellowship and the person that introduced me to all
things Zambia. After almost two years away he came back for his first visit; what
I image was a whirlwind of catching up with friends and the KF students. It was especially cool, and a bit strange, to spend time together with both him and
the current fellow Jill. While we’ve shared so many of the same experiences we’ve managed to cultivate our own pretty different perspectives of our
time in Zambia.
(3 Generations of PiAf Lusaka)
During Jamie's visit, we had the chance to celebrate the
impending parenthood of one of our good friends Chileshe. Our friends Cecile, Claire
and Jill put together a very nice, very pink baby shower which mainly consisted of
lots of oohing and aahing over tiny clothing. We managed to justify our
presence at this decidedly feminine event during baby charades, which was good otherwise they may not have shared their delicious nutella cupcakes with us.
(Chileshe's Baby Shower)
This past weekend we took a short overnight trip to Livingstone. Livingstone is 500 km from Lusaka, that’s 12 hours of driving in two day; not exactly around the corner. Yet, I would easily do it again to see what we did. In the months after the rainy season, when the Zambezi is at
its fullest, the spray from the falls reaches high above the gorge. It is onto this
dense spray that a full moon will project a ghostly rainbow stretching across the falls. It was the promise of this vision that
lured the ten of us out on our brief journey south.
The elements aligned in our favor. A cloudless night, a
brilliant moon, a wind that kept the spray contained within the gorge. What’s
more, we found all the other tourists gathered on one viewing platform, leaving
the best views essentially empty for us to enjoy. The sight was incredibly
striking. Seeing the falls in the moonlight felt like a secretive and special
experience, more intimate than visiting during the day. From the dark trees we
quietly gazed on the flowing water while in the foreground the prominent “moonbow”
stretched to the limits of the mist. We moved slowly through the park, taking in each view with the sort of
reverence that something so surreal and beautiful inspires.
(I swear these were taken at night. The long exposure is what gives the water that cool smoky effect)
