A Visit to an African Village

On Thursday, July 2nd, we went to visit a local village. This is an authentic village that is not a usual stop on any tourist's itinerary. Amawaterways has supported it by providing the funds to build a protected vegetable garden. Others have offered help for water. The second son of the town elder was our tour guide and helped us understand their way of life. Later we visited a small market area where there was singing and dancing followed by some time to buy some of their crafts.

A general shot of the village. Each house is protected by a reed wall.

They use cow dung mixed with mud to make their stucco walls. Dung is also used in fires for cooking.

 

Reeds are also used in the mud/dung mix to reinforce their house walls much like we use rebar.

 

Here is the vegetable garden that Amawaterways helped finance.

 

 

This photo shows the town elder's wife with some of her grandchildren.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the town elder together with his second son, the one who gave us our tour.

 

Linda brought a bag of candy and offered it to the elder's first son who will become the new town elder when his father passes on. The kids were so excited about the candy, and they lined up to get their piece!

 

Here is a video of the second son dancing with another woman. One child keeps wanting to get involved!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farewell Dinner on the Zambezi Queen

On Thursday, July 3rd, the crew of the Zambezi Queen offered us a farewell dinner with an African theme. After dinner, they entertained us with singing and dancing. They even got a few of us passengers out on the line dance floor, including Linda.

 

 

 

 

The first video is the beginning of the show. It's kind of long, but if you look closely, you'll see Linda in her little red skirt. The man playing the large drum is the captain of the Zambezi Queen.

 

Later they sang some songs. Here's an example.