Bovu Island - Paradise on the Zambezi

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!! to Lisa, Emily (sorry it's late!), Mum for Friday and Louisa for Sat. 29th January. We arranged to leave Livingstone by pickup to Bovu Island, 40km upstream of Victoria Falls. The last part of the journey was through bumpy, puddle filled bush tracks to the river bank where we were met by mokoro canoe and paddled to the island. Stepping out of the canoe and up the stone steps to the bar, we were ambushed by Spillage, L'il Bugs and Bugs (see last entry) who thrust chocolate cake and fizzy at us and welcomed us to join Spillage's birthday celebrations! Brett and Evelyn (the owners) then gave us our complimentary free welcome drinks before we were shown around the facilities by Harriet. It was a gorgeous camp with a really organic feel to it. The separate areas within the camp (library, bar, camping kitchen, huts, showers and loos) were all joined by sandy footpaths, made with termite mound earth, winding through dense woodland and tropical plants. Some of the paths took you to the ends of the island while others ended unexpectedly at another hut over looking the river, or staff quarters, or camping spot, which is where we pitched our tent. The rooms were built around tree trunks and nature had been left alone or incorporated into the structures whereever possible. Showering was a wonderful experience, big spaces with sandy floors, lovely hot water heated by a wood burning stove and no roof so you could search in the trees for birds and listen to all the varied bird calls. We planned to stay 3 nights but this was soon extended to a week as we found lots to do, as well as reading lots. Behind the bar Brett and Evelyn had a big collection of silly hats which had either been donated or bought by themselves, friends or visitors. With lots of red wine (bought on a necessary trip to Botswana by Bugs) we spent one evening donning hats of various shapes and sizes and having a very jolly night. The next morning Dave felt really rough and didn't feel too fresh, but despite this we were up bright and early to meet Godfrey who we had arranged to take us on a walk to the local villages, clinic and school. He did warn us that it was a long walk but we felt it would do us good. The paths on the way were very muddy and slippery so I decided to follow the locals and walked barefoot which did help me to stay upright and it was lovely feeling the squidgey mud ooze between your toes. Dave kept his trusty boots on as they have excellent grips. We walked through several very small villages with mud huts and leaf rooves (like other African countryside villages we had seen in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia) before arriving at the health clinic which had been built partly with government money and partly with proceeds donated to the community of fifteen villages by the Bovu Island Camp (called Jungle Junction). The Jungle Junction staff was made up of members of the surrounding villages and the money from the camp was used for whatever the community decided. The health clinic has been built quite recently and was avery smart, clean building, run by Josephine the nurse among others. Josephine showed us her room and the kits she used to test patients for malaria as well as the drugs they used. A list of test results showed over 20% to be positive throughout January and we learned that some of the negative ones could be wrong due to the nature of the malaria parasite only being traceable in the blood during fever. The Zambezi during the rainy season is a hotspot for malaria carried by the female anopheles mosquito who drinks blood and nectar, whereas the male only drinks nectar. Josephine let us weigh ourselves on the clinic scales and Dave has lost 2.5 stone! For several weeks now he has gone by the name 'Skinny Marie' after the character in Pretty Woman (Gem and Rich will know ;-)). On arrival at the clinic the torrential downpour of the day had begun. Godfrey (who told us he has 2 wives which is normal, one local man has 4) explained to us that this year had seen a great deal of rain and the previous few years very little. Although it had been good up until now, if this amount continued to fall the crops would again fail. So we hung around the clinic for a while waiting for a lull in the torrent. Eventually we made it to the school. Nearly all of the teachers were in a 'meeting' that day, but Banji was able to introduce us to some of the classes and each class that we walked in to see, stood and welcomed us before being allowed to sit again. They had been set work and were all quietly getting on with it, although our entrance did cause quite a lot of excitement. Banji explained how there were too many classes for the number of rooms so the daily timetable had been split into two. Class 7 (age 15) were in class 2's usual room for the afternoon and class 2 had gone home. Banji said how many children did not come to school and there was a maximum number of days of absence allowed before the parents were asked to meet with the teacher. Generally a day a week off was acceptable with no questions asked. Some parents preferred the children to stay at home to work and the teachers tried to intervene to prevent them from being permanently excluded. We took some photos and promised to send copies to the camp who would pass them on. It was still rainy heavily but we had already waited a long time so decided to make a dash for it. On returning the same route we came, we found a fast flowing river crossing our path and back tracked to find an alternative. Walking back was much harder, 2 hours of wading through knee deep streams which had suddenly sprung up and sliding around all over the place in the mud. I ended up in the mud three times - all good fun when you know it's a one off experience. The children are expected walk to school and back monday to friday. The school had been built halfway between the 15 villages and for those living further away it must be extremely difficult. Banji said many children became ill due to the walk and then sitting in the cold classrooms in the winter which had no electricity supply. Over the next few days the sun shone incessantly, great news for the maize and hopefully the school kids too. Dave arranged to go out fishing with Anton and I went along for a relaxing mokoro ride. Dave had the spin fishing technique mastered but alas, as is typical of fishing, only managed to catch some weed and a couple of branches. Anton explained that they liked to hide in the warmer deeper water and Dave agreed to try again after lunch. This time Dave and Paul (Bugs) went out fishing with Anton and I went for a late afternoon punt down the river in the glorious sunshine with Spillage and L'il Bugs. We relaxed while George pushed us along and seranaded us with his magnificent deep voice. We passed the boys' boat to find them well chuffed that Dave had caught us all a 4.5lb Nembwe, a dark olive green bream, for dinner. Don't ask Dave about it though, because the 'monster' is getting larger and larger with each rendition of the story. After a few nights camping Brett very generously had us upgraded to an A frame hut on stilts overlooking the river, to where I had tracked three otters upstream playing in the rain a couple of days before. I had found the hut and sheltered from the rain, hoping to catch more glimpses of the otters. On the platform under the shelter was a mossie net style tent containing 2 comfy mattresses. Great stuff. With only the net separating you from the wildlife, it was very exciting, and extremely loud one night when a cicada 'singing' so loudly I had to stuff loo paper in my ears! The day after Alison, Shorene (sorry if I've spelt this wrong L'il Bugs!) and Paul set off for Botswana (after a videoed group butterfly impression - please e-mail it to us :-)) we returned to 'Fawlty Towers' in Livingstone the same way we arrived, feeling thoroughly refreshed and relaxed.