6th July 2008 Livingstone

6TH JULY 2008.

A minor spot of bother this morning when a waiter from the previous night did a bit of money juggling. Dave, Rob and Paul made statements and we had our meal bills wiped clean after Rob laid down the law to the management.

Rob arranged a hire car for two days; a slightly worn Toyota Vista with 'Falls Tours' on the side which came in handy for parking in official car parks.

Dave D. volunteered to drive and he shuttled us up to Livingstone town about 15 minutes drive away. On his trip back to collect the second lot he saw cars pulling over and realised that a big bull elephant was walking by the road.

Dave drives car past Nyanja warriors.

In Livingstone we spent over an hour in the excellent Museum. Plenty of history there and David Livingstone's artifacts, guns, tools, photos and his hand written letters on display

Also interesting was an analysis of the tribes in Zambia - 72 tribes, 40 languages with English as the common bond. The history on display was honest and non BBC PC; Arabs were identified as the main slavers along with white westerners and black Africans. The history that we had lived through in the 60's and 70's - the independence phase - was also accurately reported.

On a large map in the foyer Dave D. identified his birthplace (Kitwe) and also claimed to have located his brothers' origin - Mongu

We walked on into the town. When last here it had been a pleasant, well maintained holiday town. Now the tarmac has all but disappeared from the side streets replaced by pot-holed red dirt. Street pedlars hawked fruit, old mobiles, matches, bits of any old junk, all laid out on the pavements.

We were trying to find the North Western Hotel; until the 1970's when a newer and bigger hotel was built this was the main hotel for visitors to the Falls or for those crossing over to Zimbabwe or Botswana as the borders are only a few miles away.

Although it was depressing to see the deterioration of the town it wasn't an intimidating atmosphere although there was an objection when Dave M. tried to photograph a queue at an ATM.

Eventually we found the North Western; long since closed and boarded up, only a small part is used as a gym now.

However, it is easy to see that it was once a lovely old colonial building although close up it's much worse than in the pictures. A friendly caretaker allowed us into the courtyard to take pictures and t9old us that the owner planned to reopen it. Good luck to him.

On the way back Rob negotiated with a moneychanger for Zimbabwean notes. Dave D. became an instant billionaire with a 50 billion dollar note worth about three loaves of bread.

Paul, Hazel and Pam watch Rob in action.

Note the wads of notes in the sellers' hands.