September 5th – Interviews begin

Interviews began on September 5^th. I wrote a few questions the night before after realizing we’d be working with a translator. My questions were too complex for the language barrier. Did you ever realize that when we’re talking in English we tend to ask multiple questions on one?

At 8am we drove to the seminary to pick up Paul, a recent addition to the H&D Program and a support person to Alisad Banda, the program’s director. He speaks English, Chewa, Bemba and others. He is really passionate about the work they’re doing in water sanitation, which is his main focus.

On the way we picked Pastor Tarisayi up along the way to Linda, a small town on the outskirts of Lusaka. With traffic and roads that haven’t been paved in 15 years, it took over an hour to get there.

Pastor Tarisayi and me inside the Linda church

We pulled up a dirt path, past vegetable and clothing stands, and arrived at the church where I’d be holding interviews. It was a white brick building with wooden benches, a nice altar and electric lights. This is where I conducted my first interview with Pastor Tarisayi, who is from Mwembezhi.

Me, talking with four volunteers and Paul, my translator.

Two girls in school uniforms pump water from a borehole.

Talking with Pastor Tarisayi was formal but still comfortable. From the beginning I started cutting out questions and adding other to try to get at the root of why we were there: to improve communication among levels of the program so the work can be carried out more efficiently.

Kids just got home from school in Linda.

Then I met with four female volunteers who work with home-based care and bio-sand filters. Paul did an excellent job translating, and the women were great. They are beautiful women, and from talking with them for less than an hour I could tell their hearts are huge to be doing all of this volunteer work for their community.

Back in Lusaka Jason, Paul and I went to a grocery store to pick up dinners for the week. I also picked up some Zambian coffee and South African wine to take back home.

After a short visit with Jason and Amanda I walked to the seminary offices where I met with Alisad. We discussed the state of the programs, and his vision for H&D and its relationship with the Lutheran Church in Zambia. Alisad complimented my chitengi (a cotton cloth wrap women wear over their pants). I’d been feeling self-conscious about it all day, so his comment made me really happy!

After our talk I joined some of the missionaries’ wives for their twice-weekly walk. It’s dusty and rocky, but not too hot. Plus, they’re really nice ladies and really nice to talk casually with after a long day of enunciation with a translator! We talked about home…

That evening I had the guest house to myself, as Jason and Amanda went to dinner with some good friends from when they lived in Zambia. I transcribed the first interviews, cooked my dinner and read a bit. It was a low-tech night because the internet was down that night. At least we had power (the seminary was out until about 4pm that day).

The first day wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. People are people, and the ones I was fortunate to meet and talk with were very nice ones. 

Tuesday, 9.4.12

I had a dream last night that there was a space as big as my pinky between my two front teeth. I guess I was repressing anxiety over not bringing my retainer...
At least I wasn't dreaming about the GIANT spider that was still in my room, or the fruit bat that wanted to snuggle while I was brushing my teeth, or the tree frogs that sang sweetly to me all night, or the lizards that made a rustling noise as they scuttled along the thatched walls. It may sound creepy-crawly, but I actually love this stuff. Like, really love it :] Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting me play with bugs and snakes and salamanders when I was little!

Last day on safari!

I woke up at 5:30 to the wake-up call and had another one of these luxury breakfasts. By 6 we were back on the rover again, headed for the park's main gate.






We saw a really tiny baby baboon. It was so cute, being passed from adult to adults. We also saw more water bucks and a train of elephants!

We came across some really strange droppings (how many great stories start with droppings?), and our guide screeched to a halt. "That's a lion," Andrew said. About 50 feet down the trail, we started seeing tracks the size of Andrew's hand.


We continued on quietly for a while, cameras ready. We came around a corner which overlooked an open field, and saw 6 huge (but skinny) lions sleeping in the grass. A bigger male slept farther away from the group, belly full, his chest full of blood from the night before.

He couldn't have cared less that we were there.

The lions didn't even care that we were there. They just snoozed, some of their ears twitching when a fly would land. The big male lay with his belly toward the sky, legs splayed.

To be that close (20 feet or so) to an animal so huge, and so normally dangerous, was absolutely breathtaking. Their beautiful eyes and faces, the nicks on their faces from fights and scuffles.

Once we had watched them for a while, another truck came up for the view and it was time to go. We continued on and saw more giraffes and a group of zebras. What a perfect few days of safari we had! I don't imagine that everyone is as fortunate as we were in seeing so many great animals.

I also had a had time fathoming what the next few days would bring. My interviews started September 5th (the day after this post), and now that the luxurious vacation days were over it was time to put my skills to the test.

These interviews are the reason I came to Zambia, but all of a sudden I started wondering if I was capable, competent. If I would be able to get the great information we'd need to help the program improve and succeed.

I had to ask myself..
Am I prepared?
Am I skilled?
Will I actually be able to help?
Why me?

It took a lot of prayer and contemplation that night to realize that I was there for a reason--a great one--and that this would all work out for great things.

The Night Drive - September 3

The evening drive was great. We again saw hippos, giraffes and elephants.

We are so fortunate to have gotten so close to these elephants!

 We were in the part of the park that was right across from our lodge when we encountered another rover whose driver had heard that a leopard was in the area...and had made a kill during the day. Recently.

We teamed up with the other group to "spot" the leopard (har har har), using the ravine as our guide. After some stalking, we saw him running--no, jumping--through the grass, for just a second. "Leopards are very she during the day," said Andrew, our guide. We saw the leopard for one more second before he disappeared into the golden-brown grass. Male leopards average around 60 kg, with some reaching up to 80 or even 90 kilos. This was one of the more average males in the area, but one nearby is said to be around 75 kilos (150 lbs). It was incredible knowing that such a large cat was crouching in the grass not 50 feet from our rover, yet we couldn't see or hear him at all.

Male pukus resting

When a puku senses danger or that its territory is being threatened, it lets out three whistle-like calls.
"Yi-yi-yi!"
If smells or sees real danger, he lets out a single cry.
"Yyy-ih!"
It's usually followed by a stomp or a shake of the head.

The whole time we were searching the ravine, one puku stared right where we were searching. Every once in a while he would stomp and let out the single cry. It wasn't us he was worried about, or another puku...it was the leopard.

The grey object to the left of the lowest tree branches is the stomach

Finally we rounded a corner and saw the gruesome sight that had the puku so concerned: the leopard had killed a puku, and dragged it under a low-hanging tree so he could return for it later. The really "good" stuff (the heart, liver, kidneys) was removed and eaten to make up for the energy lost during the kill, and the puku's rib cage shown red from across the ravine. And it was a large animal. So large, in fact, that the leopard couldn't drag it up into a tree to keep it safe from other scavengers. We were lucky enough to have seen this fresh kill, even if the leopard was in hiding.

Whew!

On the rest of the drive we saw water bucks, more elephants and beautiful giraffes, as well as another solitary buffalo. Up and up we drove, past soft black rock and large boulders and traces of a buffalo herd. We stopped atop the hill for evening drinks and snacks as we watched the sun set. The top of that hill was one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen. We could see down onto the plain and far into the distance, all the way to the northern border of the park.

Most of the animals stay in the park because there's adequate food, water and space for them all. But some are baited out of the park by hunters in the bordering GMA (game maintenance area). Permits are regulated based on known populations, although cost alone is enough to deter most from hunting Africa's big game. Hunting costs roughly $20,000-30,000, and you also pay for whatever you kill. A leopard is "worth" about $4,000 depending on the season, an elephant about $9,000. Puku, eland and smaller animals are less.

After sundown we turned on the spotlight to once again search for nocturnal creatures. Seeing a big cat was at the top of my wishlist. We didn't see much as we drove around. We did see a Great Eagle Owl up in a treetop--he was HUGE (he left when we got too close). We also saw an elephant right in our path as we came around a corner. The truck engines are pretty quiet, and I think he was just as surprised as we were! he let out a little trumpet and scurried (as much as a 5-ton animal can "scurry") into the tall grass.

Then we returned to the place where we had seen the leopard's hidden kill. We drove up very quietly, and all of us held our breath in excitement. Andrew pulled us around until the rover was just on the edge of the ravine, and pointed our light toward the kill. Only a dry ravine separated us from the puku remains.

There, under the hiding place, we saw him eating his prey. I've never seen something so amazing--so eerie, incredible, breathtaking. The entire night was dark and silent except for the occasional shift of someone in our truck moving ever so slightly to take a photograph, and the sound of the leopard eating. I sat in awe watching through my binoculars as the leopard ate and tore at his kill, occasionally stopping to lick his chops and stare directly at us. "Leopards are NOT shy at night," Andrew whispered.

The leopard and its prey, under the tree

Eventually another vehicle drove up, either because they saw our light or because they had seen the kill earlier. They drove over a branch which snapped loudly in the silent night. The leopard stopped eating and looked directly at their truck, his meal interrupted. He looked straight at us, then vanished for a moment.

Our spotter shined his light further down the bank and saw the huge cat walking away into the night, his beautiful coat bloodied by the night's activity. And as he slinked silently off into the same woods where our truck sat, we realized this powerful cat (who kills his prey by ambush, usually from a tree limb, ground cover or from a ravine like this one) is in the brush along with us. Only now he's watching us, rather than the other way around...

"Yi!"

Porcupine 

After that excitement, all of us gasping and trying to settle our adrenaline, we drove back toward the river crossing. On the way back we saw a dozing giraffe, seemingly unaware of our presence. We also saw three perturbed porcupines who were fully aware of our presence. They waddled away, quills bared, looking for cover in a wooded area. A porcupine sighting is extremely rare, Andrew tells us. And they were huge! I always thought they were small, but these can weigh up to 30 lbs and are about 3 ft long.

Then we went back across the river on our "ferry." Hippos grunted all around us as we crossed the river under the starlit sky. The drive back was pretty quiet, with only a few hippos here and there eating grass on the plain. We were almost back to the lodge when we heard that familiar noise--"Yi!"

Just one. That same warning call we heard before. Only this time, it was followed by a herd of puku all running in the same direction.

"Another leopard is up ahead," said Andrew. And sure enough! Crouching down, 50 feet from the nearest impala, we saw a female leopard (about 35 kg, Andrew tells us). She looked...hungry. We pulled the rover so we could see what she was facing. Forward and to our left: an impala. Ahead and to our right: the leopard. We waited for the ambush. We looked left to make sure our lights weren't in the impala's eyes. We looked right to see the leopard, and...sure enough. She was gone.

Far off in the distance we saw a pair of glittering eyes peeking out of another dry ravine. She was downwind of us, and the pukus were all skittish, calling to each other, stomping and running in short bursts of energy. The whole night was tense. The 6 or so adult hippos didn't give a hoot, and just kept right on eating.

We got closer to the leopard again, this time with a different vantage point. We were behind her, which made her visibly anxious, but she was facing more impalas. We saw her make a few more lunges at two isolated impalas, but outrun and tired out, she sank back into some brush and disappeared beyond the ravine. At least for the time being. We decided we should let her hunt in peace, despite our excitement, and we returned to the lodge. Which, by the way, is about 3/4 of a mile from where she's hunting...


Around the dinner table, Andrew told us all about the leopards in this area, that this female is quite small and only about 3 years old, and that the dominant male is bigger than me. gulp

We discussed missions, the work ahead, and plans for the coming week under the stars on the deck of the lodge. We overlooked the silent, pitch-black lagoon. The hippos didn't grunt or feed that night, and all of the monkeys and birds were silent too. Hyenas were certainly on the prowl for the leopard's kill if she didn't get it up into a tree fast enough. The whole area was completely different when there was a predator around.

This discussion was accompanied by a carrot and cardamom soup, beef and fresh vegetables, and a chocolate mousse to die for.

I was completely exhausted from all the excitement of the day, and ready to crash without the sound of our hippo friends outside.