Celebrating Three Years in Chirundu

"Welcome to Chirundu," the sign read.  Then we passed over a bridge with a sign attached that said, "Welcome to Zimbabwe."  Confused, I stated as obviously as anything could be stated, "Um, I think we were supposed to get off back there, right?  This seems strange."

Yes, we were supposed to get off before we crossed into Zimbabwe.  And no, we did not do that, so the starting point of our celebrating three years in Zambia was all messed - like things sometimes get here in Africa - by us going to the wrong Chirundu... the one in Zimbabwe.

A few weeks back I traveled with four other volunteers (Caleb, Megan, Lauren, and Hannah) that came into Zambia over three years ago at the same time that I did: February 9th, 2012.  We had discussed doing something special for our third and final anniversary in-country and after some discussion we decided to head to the Lower Zambezi River and spend a long weekend watching the river carry everything past us. 

Myself, Lauren, Megan, Caleb and Hannah our first evening in Chirundu.  The Zambezi is just behind us.  Also, Zimbabwe is behind us (thank God).

The nice thing about our group (the ones that have stayed on for a third year of Peace Corps) is that we've all managed to remain close, remain friends, and even grown together even more.  I think it's probably uncommon for a group of volunteers to stay close and want to take a trip like this.  I got lucky in that regard... it's good to have friends in a foreign country.

Chirundu by itself wouldn't really be anything worth visiting, especially when visiting for a celebration / anniversary.  It would be akin to taking your husband or wife to Wendy's when celebrating five years together.  Chirundu (meaning "people following one another in a line" in Shona) is a small, dusty border town along the boundary of Zimbabwe and Zambia that's plagued with broken down overland trucks, open-air bars, and crappy roads.  But, travel just outside the town's limits and Mother Nature holds some surprises.

Lying close to the Lower Zambezi National Park, the area outside Chirundu is chalked full of hippos, elephants, crocodiles, and birds-a-plenty.  

During early February elephants are often hard to spot along the Lower Zambezi because they take off for the hills where there are pools of water and less people, yet we managed to see over 14 during our weekend stay.

It's also home to wide open space and tranquility, which is exactly the point of going to the Zambezi River.  Probably the best part of the trip, to me, was getting to meet the parents of one of my favorite writers.  I had read in a previous book of this woman's that her parents lived in Zambia, and then within an hour of arriving at the campsite I'm introduced to a man named Tim - her father.

As it turns out, Tim and his wife are farmers next to the campsite we stayed at.  We talked and swapped stories for a while (more so him doing the swapping as he's an excellent story teller) and then he asked if we'd be interested in going on a tour of their farm the next day.  "Of course," I replied. 

My favorite writer's mother walking with Hannah and Megan.  Meeting this woman and her husband was the highlight of my trip.  I'd read about them a lot in varying books, but they were far more charming and kind to all of us then I ever would have expected or deserved.  Very classy.

The next morning he picked us up and took us on a tour of his banana plantation and fish farm.  He had sixteen ponds (30 meters by 10 meters) and a banana plantation spanning over 30 acres.  Tim's fish farm didn't only contain ponds - no, it also contained a hatchery, brood ponds, and harvesting ponds.  He had the full set-up from start to finish.  It was a very impressive set-up.

Rows and rows of bananas blanket the farm near where we camped in Chirundu.

It was highly appropriate that in celebrating our three years in Zambia the five of us toured a farm as we're all environmental / agricultural volunteers.  I think the thing I enjoyed the most about meeting these two people was to get their perspective on what it's like for small-scale farmers in the area.  Unfortunately, it's often a negative outlook when talking to some white Africans about this topic, but these two had nothing but positive and reassuring comments to pass on to us.  At one point I commented that the fish ponds he was showing us were far advanced from the ponds we had constructed in Mufumbwe District and he responded, "But at least they're trying... it's not an easy thing and it's important to at least try." 

That afternoon we celebrated our three years officially by going on a sunset cruise along the Zambezi River.  Fantastic.  That's the word I'd use to describe those three hours on the river.  There were elephants next to the water, pods of hippos around nearly every river bend, beautiful light, and countless birds.  I think it was a pretty ideal way to enjoy three years near the heart of Africa.

And, as I mentioned we saw elephants.  Plenty of elephants...

This bull elephant was in reeds right next to our boat as we cruised along the Zambezi.

Bare chested and showing his manliness in all its glory, Caleb appears to be completely unimpressed by the bull elephant just 10 meters behind him.

Looking back (which we did a lot of during our celebration), we all agreed that Zambia has been a special place to spend three years in the Peace Corps.  I couldn't imagine a better placement by Uncle Sam and his minions.  It's been full of highs and lows.  It's been challenging beyond anything I ever expected - but more rewarding than I would have ever imagined.  I got lucky - that's what I'll say about all of that.  At this point I'm ready for what's next, but I will surely miss a lot of what this country has offered me over the past 1,000+ days and what it's brought to my life; except the mosquitoes, which were especially aggressive along the river (that was the only real downside to the experience).

Local fishermen calling it a day on the Zambezi River between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

By far and away the best part of Peace Corps and being in Zambia has been the friendships with other volunteers and locals that I've had.  Not everyone gets to meet people like Peter Mukuma, Laban Nshimbi, or Mrs. Fubisha (Zambians I've written about before) in their lives.  And it seems especially rare to meet volunteers that you really, genuinely enjoy spending time with - especially after three years worth of trips on bad roads.  Not only are they good people to be around (energetic, highly entertaining, and approachable), but they're willing to go to Zimbabwe by accident with me.  That's a special group, I think.

Myself and the rest of the crew our last night on the Lower Zambezi (Right to Left: Megan, Hannah, Caleb, Lauren, Pippen / Me).