dance4life and then just chiiiiill on the Lower Zambezi

Saturday night saw 2000 teenagers descend on the Olympic Centre in Lusaka for a concert organised by Molly - it was called 'Run 4 your Life' oops, I mean 'dance4life'.

The kids had a brilliant time and made Zambia proud on the live satellite link up to the rest of the world
So after all that we decided to head to Kanyemba Lodge to recover. Somehow though, someone always talks you into getting up early when you go to this sort of safari place. So here's Molly looking over the mighty Zambezi at dawn wondering why instead of being in bed she is about to get on a boat to see animals.

We saw Hippos cooling off in the water.

And other sweaty mammals paddling about.

There was quite a scarey elephant who was churning up dirt and flapping his massive ears at us.

And Molly got a little freaked out.

But she found a nice spot to relax afterwards at the bushcamp.

And Moll and Loll lived happily ever after on the boat, until the engine packed up and they drifted quite close to the jaws of a massive croc and they decided to call it a day and head home.

Batty Blog

Our little car was very brave on a trip to Kasanka National Park, crossing a river and everything... Molly loving the noccies

At this time of year millions of straw coloured fruit bats migrate from Congo and nest in kasanka- it is batty heaven

We got up extra early and seemed very happy about it, to join batters of the world to admire this amazing spectacle

Bats, bats, bats- they're lovely little things

This is Segun- over from UK for a while and chilling here on the lodge verandah overlooking a lake of hippos

This might be a kite- it's large anyway and it was on our walking safari

Lawrence poised for action on the boat cruise...sadly it started to rain just after this and every form of wildlife disappeared so this look of slight terror was unjustified...actually Tom said he saw a large croc but after we got so wet waiting for it to reappear that we had to change every item of clothing, we started to doubt his sanity


On the above mentioned walking safari we saw a snake- maybe it's a black mamba or maybe it's a boomslang but believe us it's dangerous

Our lovely friend at work, Mary, got married at the weekend and was treated to a surprise concert by Mozegator, the dude with the dreads who jumps up and down a lot and kept us very entertained

Tyre-ing weekend

Someone stole some tyres from one of the tractors on the farm this weekend so while Raj went looking high and low for the culprit, we decided to cool off in the lake...
We have just about got over our fear of crocodiles, however, when a huge water monitor lizard swims past you it's still a little freaky, and it turns out Molly really can swim quite fast (for the shore) when she wants to.

Cuba loves mucking in on the farm.

It was Diwali on Saturday night and the Indian community in Kabwe pulled off a truely memorable evening with amazing fireworks, home cooked Indian cuisine and dance displays by the children which was a darn sight better than the dance display that Molly and Lawrence tried to pull off around 3 am.

On Diwali new year's day Raj drove Molly and Lawrence and their friend Kate up to Nsobe lodge to recover from hangovers.

While Molly got a massage Lawrence tried in vain to rid himself of a stubborn headache.

Molly, blissed out, hoping next weekend doesn't have to be as exhausting as this one was.

The Big Catch Up

Apologies for being rubbish and not updating the blog for absolutely yonks, but I am pleased to say that the reason is not by any means because we haven't been doing anything. So, this is a BIG catch up on what we have been up to..

Molly went to learn how to 'dance' which as it turns out is a euphemism.

Then we got visited by some of the best peeps you could imagine.. and we took them for a sunset cruise in Livingstone.

The Brech trio who braved the Edge of Vic falls/Edge of Sanity

Devil's pool, also very much on the edge of reason.

This is a game, a bit like 'Where's Wally', only it's called 'Where's Lawrence?'

Luckily Lawrence survived getting tumbled like a rag doll down the Zambezi and recovered enough to marry his beautiful wife Molly.Only he never had time to brush his hair..

And Mr and Mrs Watson went on honeymoon .. with their friends - who were bundled into the boot for company.

When we got to Mutinondo, we were told there was a horse-devouring lion on the loose, so we decided to spendthe first day climbing a nearby hill in an effort to escape his clutches - it worked and we lived another day.

After the honeymoon there was a brief stint back at work, the highlight of Lawrence's time was meeting Michael Jackson - aliveand well (disguised as an 8 year old).

And then we were briefly spotted in UK playing guitar and singing amongst other things!

And on return to Zambia Molly was allowed to keep the party going with a birthday party.

This was a birthday card from Guapo and Cuba...

It was Independence day so we went away for a night at the boat club, this is Molly safely above the croc infested waters.

This is a bunch of Missionaries on a mission - to fly a man behind a speed boat using a rope and a parachute.They succeeded! Despite some questionable hairdoos.

And this is Red Rose from the Holy Hip Hop Clique, doing a gig to the Kabwe massive.

Puff, Stuff and in the Buff

It is August and Kafula’s sports day. The audience laughed every time someone fell over which was pretty often, especially in the under 5 races. The Mum’s race was heroically won by a lady under the influence of at least 5 beers, much to the irritation of the other competitors who had been limbering up all afternoon and stoically refusing the hot dogs

Now and again, Molly and Lawrence entertain. This involves getting other people to bring the cake, and we provide the balcony. Tranquillity reigns...

Maybe because we did not mention the Puff Adder we found on the very same balcony a few days earlier- definitely up there in the most dangerous snakes EVER. It is however slow, so for people coming to stay in September rest assured we had plenty of time to call in the cavalry with big machetes!

Lawrence’s favourite view of Kabwe is this mural, obviously advertising latest Paris fashions in a shop nearby. And the bloke in the foreground was really quite tall.

Lawrence works at Muvi TV – anagram of Music Video no less, which is slightly confusing given the sheer amount of airtime devoted to washing powder commercials. This is their fabulously painted stand at the Agricultural and Commercial Show in Lusaka. Moll’s organisation, now called Restless Development, was also there, under a table in a scout hut- the paint budget was significantly less.

Lawrence is training our dogs to be rescue animals, so he often collapses on the floor to see how long it will take for a response. The dogs generally just maul him, and Lawrence loves it. Molly tries to rise above the whole scene...

But they often interrupt her to get an update on the latest twist in her book Baywatch comes to Zambia in an attempt at an overall tan. Moll looks on, with a smirk as she spies the fishermen on the opposite bank... The best part of the day is a sunset stroll, and at this time of year the sun is HUGE, deep red and you never tire of watching it slip over the horizon.