Camping - Zambian style

So, the provocative title of this blog is somewhat misleading, as it turns out that Zambian camping and Canadian camping have a lot of similarities. Read on to find out more.

Two weeks ago we spent a weekend with a bunch of families from our church at a place called Nsobe about 300 km north of Lusaka. It was a nice, relaxing weekend without any schedule to follow.

The big difference from Canadian camping is that Nsobe is a game park, and there were three giraffe near our campsite and a few kinds of different antelope too. We (John) went for a run and ran right past a bunch of rare sable antelopes! Our campsite was right at the edge of a little lake and we did some canoeing, swimming and just general hanging out.

Hanging out at the lake,

canoeing - just like in Canada,

and hiking

Our second night there was the official start to the rainy season in that area and after not having any rain for over 6 months, there was a good long downpour for a couple of hours which resulted in some puddles in our tents but our beds stayed dry for the most part. We felt that this part of the weekend was a lot like some of our other soggy Canadian camping experiences. Fortunately, the poolside restaurant had a very large thatched roof so we were all able to hang out there during the rain and have our suppers there, and the next day dawned sunny and warm and everything dried out pretty well.

A nice swim after lunch

The drive home, a view of prairie fields out of the window while the kids sleep in the back seat- just like in Canada

We (Charlene) are still not convinced that we're cut out for regular camping excursions but once in awhile it can be a nice get away.