To the Village!

After our night in Luangwa Bridge Camp, we packed up and waited for another replacement bus to arrive from Lusaka. Assured that that bus would arrive by 1100hrs, we were only a little concerned about making our appointment to arrive at our next stop, the Banda family’s compound in rural Nyanje village. Of course the replacement bus (actually the now fixed “Zambus”) did not arrive until 1430 hours, leaving us to arrive at the village just after dark. Upon arrival the gang again busily set up our traveling tent city and eagerly met our gracious and lovely hosts, the Bandas. Although the entire cast of the Banda clan is too large to really introduce here, there are three striking women who really made our stay memorable – “Mama” (Levenia) Banda, Alice Banda and Nelia Banda. Within an hour of our arrival, our entire crew was plopped happily in Alice’s living room, eating a dinner of couscous and beans (our concoction) and traditional oxtail soup with nshima (Alice’s great production).