Onward to the Chimps

Two days in a row of long bus rides is enough to make anyone ready to run a marathon… We left Livingston bright and early this morning and decided to attempt to make it not only to Lusaka, but all the way to Kitwe in the Northern Copperbelt region of Zambia that borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Last night Andrew secured us a place to stay, with Yuu, a young Japanese girl completing her teaching internship in Zambia. We were off by 6am and on our way to Lusaka with fruit and bread in hand. The ride to Lusaka was beautiful and after about 6 hours we finally reached the big city.

When we stepped off the bus in Lusaka we were surprised to see Justin, the coach surfer we had met at Colins home just a week previous, waiting for us at the bus station. Justin has impecable timing let me just say. We had mentioned to him that we would be heading up to the copperbelt this week to see the Chimpanzees and Chimfunshi, but we had no idea he would actually join us!
I sent Andrew off to find some popcorn for the long ride to Kitwe and made sure our luggage got safely stored in the back of the bus. We have been very lucky not to loose any of our possessions thus far in Africa and we would like to keep it that way.

The bus was set to depart at half past one and when Andrew had not returned by 28 minutes past one I started to get a little nervous. At 31 minutes past one the driver started to pull out of the bus station and Andrew was still nowhere to be found. I rushed to the front and played damsel in distress saying that I could not go on the bus without my husband, I would have to get off and with no cellphone I would have no way to find him… I guess teh bus driver took pity on me because he stopped the bus for a mere 2 minutes, just enough time for Andrew to rush on as we pulled out of the bus station.

I had asked the bus staff if there was popcorn available anywhere in the bus station and they had distinctly told me no. You can imagine my surprise and joy when Andrew arrived with two bags of freshly popped (no oil and no butter) bags of popcorn. Let me just say, sometimes he really is superman.

The next 6 to 7 hours on the bus were difficult. We arrived into Kitwe around 8pm in the evening and by that time we were very tired from sitting all day in the bus. We calculated that today alone we spent 17 hours traveling from the Southern tip of Zambia that borders Botswana to the Northern tip ofo Zambia that borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Quite amazing if you ask me.

Yuu and her friend Roger picked us up from the bus station and proceeded to take us to dinner at a delicious Chinese restaurant. Andrew was so happy to finally be eating Chinese food again. Nearly two months have passed since we last ate oriental food (as oriental ingredients are not very common in this part of the world) and Andrew and I enjoyed every moment of it. We had rice, dumplings, vegetable soup, and sweet and sour beef with eggplant. Everything was delicious and we were so thankful to Yuu and Roger for treating us out for the evening.

Yuu stays with Roger, a man from South Africa, and their house is absolutely beautiful. When we arrived to his home I instantly became very excited to live in Los Angeles and the start of the fall. Andrew and I have already begun our online home browsing and we are excited to start the shopping process once we return to the states.

Roger works in the mining industry in Northern Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the major mining hubs in Africa. He sells equipment to mines throughout the regions, his equipment specifically aimed at improving the filtration process of precious metals from ordinary rocks. Mining is not an easy industry to understand, trust me…

We were off to bed early (again) to prepare for an early start to the Chimpanzee orphanage in the morning.

   
        (Below: Andrew’s post)Kylie and I woke up at 5am today to get ready for our journey to Kitwe. Next on our itinerary, walking with chimps at the largest chimp sanctuary in the world!

Long bus rides have become quite fun as it gives Kylie and I the chance to chat, snack, read, and rest all along the way. Today’s journey should take us ~12 hours on a bus, but could be as much as 14. It’s amazing to me that these long long bus legs aren’t a big deal anymore, just part of the rich experience. 

Getting to our bus was pretty simple. We walked to the Livingstone bus station at 5:20am and arrived in time to purchase our tickets for 6:00am. The bus was prompt and rolled out of Livingstone only 5 minutes after 6 (amazing anytime this happens in Africa). 

We made incredible time, and before we knew it, we were in Lusaka. We haven’t really had the chance to revisit cities, so re-entering Lusaka was fun. We saw the familiar sights and areas that we’d been to and that helped us know our timing when we finally got to the bus depot.

Right as we disembarked from the bus we saw justin who out of a stroke of luck had come at the right time to meet us. 

While Kylie watched our things, I ran to quickly get airtime and a new sim for my phone (our zamtel sim wasn’t working). I also grabbed some popcorn since I knew Kylie would want to snack on something since it would be another long leg to Kitwe.

Good thing I didn’t take too long! Just as I returned to the bus the engine roared to life and the bus started rolling away. I quickly jumped onto the now moving bus and saw a worried Kylie looking at me from our seats. She was worried I’d miss the bus running our errands. Thankfully I had made it just in time, and popcorn to boot! 

The last leg of our bus ride went smoothly… But took forever. Our 5 hour ride quickly became 7… And then 8 hours and it wasn’t until it was 8:30 that we finally reached Kitwe. 

Yuu and her friend Roger picked Kylie and I up, and Feng picked up Justin and we went our separate ways. 

Yuu is a Japanese girl who has lived in Kitwe for the past 2 years as she’s teaching English. Her friend Roger is an older South African man who used to work in the peace core (currently in mining). They were extremely kind and they fed us some Chinese food (which I haven’t had in so long!) before we left for home.

I’ve always been so amazed by the kindness of the people we meet throughout our travels. Yuu and Roger not only gave us a place to sleep for the night, but also told us that when we come back through we could stay even after they’d left for Botswana (week long holiday). 

Tired from a long journey, Kylie and I quickly fell asleep.