Mushingashi

Ok.  We made it back safely, but I do have some great stories to tell.  Instead of giving you every single detail of our camping trip to Mushingashi, I'll try to give you just the highlights.  If you are receiving this via e-mail, you will have to go to our website to view the slideshow: www.RobertsInZambia.Blogspot.com.

Leaving for Mushingashi

On Thursday night, I went to Luke's house to pack up the car.  We decided to do this a day early to make sure we could fit everything in or on the car.  As you have seen from the first picture in the slideshow above, we barely made it.  Gracyn and Payton (Luke's son) had to sit in the back seat on top of the tent and the food and hold a cooler in between them.  It was truly a sight.

Day 1

Setting Up Camp

When we arrived, we pulled out the cans of diesel we had packed in the car.  I decided that it would be better to go ahead and pour the diesel into the car so we didn't have to keep track of the cans while we were there.  The only problem was that while trying to pour the diesel, my hand slipped and, as a result, I got sprayed all over my head, face and pants.  Yes, I know.  I'm retarded.

A Walking Safari

After setting up our tent, we took all of the team's children on a walk up the Kafue river.  We ended up walking about 1/4 mile up the river before turning around.  What's significant about the 1/4 mile?  The next morning, our guard, who took us on the walk, told us that we had come within 100 meters of a Pride of lions (7 lions)!  I don't know what we would have done if they would have seen us with all of those little buffet items, oops, I mean children.

Fishing on the River

Luke was the fisherman of the group.  He brought his collapsable rod and reel with various fishing tackle.  He and I went down to the river right in front of camp with the kids and went fishing for about an hour.  Luke ended up catching 3 fish which we had the cook prepare for everyone to sample.  Later, that night, I was in camp and decided to shine a spotlight on the river in front of camp--the same place we were fishing earlier.  That's when I saw 3 different sets of eyes reflecting the light from the water.  Yep, crocs!  In fact, the next day, we saw a 13 foot croc a little ways up the river.  Let's just say that the kids didn't join us on any more fishing expeditions the rest of the trip.

Night Safari

You guessed it.  It was dark, our spotlights didn't provide enough light and we didn't see much.  Whoever thought of going out to look for animals in the dark?

Sleeping in the Tent

After a long day of driving, setting up camp and exploring the wilderness, Luke and I had the task of trying to get 5 children to fall asleep in a tent without the assistance of the wives.  We managed, but sleeping that night was a chore.  The ground was very hard and me, Caleb and Gracyn were trying to share two sleeping bags that were a bit too small.  As the night got colder, I kept waking up.  I think I ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep.

Day 2

Safari Drive

Most of our other teammates got up and went on safari before 6:00 am.  Luke and I were still trying to recover from the previous night of no sleep and didn't get out on safari until around 8:00 am.  As we drove, Luke caught something out of the corner of his eye.  It was a lion.  At this point, we left the driving trail and tried to maneuver the car around rocks and fallen trees to get as close as we could.  In the car was Luke, myself and our 5 children along with the guard from camp.  As we drove back towards the lion, we realized that she wasn't alone.  There were 6 others.  This was the first time that we realized that the tent we were sleeping in the night before with 5 kids was less than 1/4 mile away from 7 hungry lions!

Relaxing Afternoon

That afternoon, we took several of our teammates back out to see the lions, and then went back to camp to play games and just chill out.

Dinner Surprise

As we were eating dinner, the man in charge of maintaining the camp interrupted us and asked if we would like to come outside and see the lions.  Those same 7 lions had left their place 1/4 mile from the camp and decided to walk in our direction.  When we got outside, we watched as all 7 of them walked through the outskirts of the camp.  At this point, Gracyn, Caleb, Caleb's daddy and even the camp staff, didn't like the idea of the campers sleeping in their tents another night.  So, they graciously let some of the ladies on our team use one of their chalets and me, Luke and the kids used the group room.

Lunar Eclipse

After all of the excitement from the evening, the team gathered around the fire in the middle of camp.  We learned that there was going to be a lunar eclipse.  So, we put the children to bed and then the adults sat and watched it.  Pretty great way to cap the day off!

What in the world was that?

After watching the eclipse, Luke and I headed back into the group room and went to sleep for what we thought would be the night.  But much to our surprise, at 1:00 am we awoke to a loud shriek just outside, a few feet from the building.  A hyena had ventured into the campsite and made this awful noise.  If you have ever seen "Lord of the Rings," it sounds like one of the sounds dark lords made in the movie.  Luke and I both sprung up ready to defend the little ones, but the hyena had already made its way off into the night.  Luckily the kids never heard a sound, but needless to say, Luke and I had a hard time going back to sleep after that.

Day 3

Leaving

Overall, we had a wonderful weekend and experienced things in God's creation that will last as memories for the rest of our lives.  After breaking down camp and team devotions, we jumped into our vehicles and headed back to Lusaka.  Kerri was happy to have her hubby and children back safely and we were happy to see her again after our first African camping trip!  Thank you for praying for us while we were away.