Above, the Lower Zambezi River from Kiambi -
in the distance, on the right, is the confluence of the
Kafue River and the Zambezi River
In no particular order: all creatures wild and wonderful, all creatures great and small, some creatures from the Lower Zambezi, we did not see them all!
Above and below, African (duh) Elephant - from the boat it was relatively safe to get quite close to the elephans and hippos
Below, Hippos! Wikipedia tells us: Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are cetaceans (whales, porpoise, etc.). The common ancestor of whales and hippos split from other even-toed ungulates around 60 million years ago. hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive animals in the world, and are often regarded as the most dangerous animal in Africa. There are an estimated 125,000 to 150,000 hippos remaining throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, of which Zambia (40,000) and Tanzania (20,000-30,000) have the largest populations. They are still threatened by poaching for their meat and ivory canine teeth, and by habitat loss.
Above, bouganvilla, showing off. I believe the bouganvilla is a native of South America - how it got here, one never knows but it is everywhere. The actual flower of the plant is small usually white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colors associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow.
Below, the Lilac Breasted Roller
Coracias caudataus - one of our favorite birds. It is usually found alone or in pairs; it perches at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from so it can spot insects, lizards, scorpions, snails, frogs, small birds and rodents moving about at ground level.
Above, Tourists in their habitat.
Below, A white-fronted (?) bee-eater, something I had last seen in 1994 at the Bronx Zoo - much nicer to see them (and their cliff nests) in Zambia.
Above, crocs. They are there one minute and then...disappear underwater. There was absolutely NO temptation to go for a swim. Besids the crocs and the hippos there are also 'tiger fish' which we might like to eat but I would not want to be eaten by.
Below, The African Openbill Anastomus lamelligerus, with its 'wide, rather nutcracker-like gap between the mandibles.' We saw many birds: storks, egrets, herons, cormorants, geese, ducks (even there is the Mallard Duck in Zambia), hawks, vultures, kingfishers, hornbills, plovers and the massive fish eagle.
Above, two Egyptian Geese
Alopochen aegyptiacus.
Below, two fisherman in a carved canoe
Below, this is "town." Downtown Lusaka which we avoid if at all possible, traffic is very bad there and it is not really a place to walk or park your vehicle. But, very lovely architecture...or...just a lot of concrete - A LOT of concrete.
Below, the Bureau de Change. They do not speak french here but the currency exchange offices are all named this. It is also a good example of the typical downtown building. See? Concrete.
A grocery store as we head out of town.
The LaFarge Cement factory! I had to photograph this because we happen to have a LaFarge Cement factory not one mile from our house in Seattle, down on the Duwamish.
Below, some ladies headed home from Chirundu with their packages.
Above and below, African (duh) Elephant - from the boat it was relatively safe to get quite close to the elephans and hippos
Above, bouganvilla, showing off. I believe the bouganvilla is a native of South America - how it got here, one never knows but it is everywhere. The actual flower of the plant is small usually white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colors associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. 
Above, Tourists in their habitat. Below, A white-fronted (?) bee-eater, something I had last seen in 1994 at the Bronx Zoo - much nicer to see them (and their cliff nests) in Zambia.
Above, crocs. They are there one minute and then...disappear underwater. There was absolutely NO temptation to go for a swim. Besids the crocs and the hippos there are also 'tiger fish' which we might like to eat but I would not want to be eaten by. 
Above, two Egyptian Geese Alopochen aegyptiacus. 
The drama continues with 'the nipmint.' To update, the shipment arrived...it was 'held' for a month in a bonded warehouse in town while they, the Zambian Revenue Authority, decided if we needed to pay duty because we were in violation of the mysterious "6 month" rule. Normally goods that arrive after 6 months from when your work permit is issued are taxed to the tune of 92%. Because (1) the permit was issued in November, (2) it wasn't delivered to Seattle until the end of January (3) we didn't move until mid-March and because (4) the shipment took from March to August to actually get to Lusaka, we are long past this magical 6 month window. The ZRA decision? we do, we don't... oh, wait....we DO owe. During the 'we don't' part of the negotiations the shipping company was able to get the stuff released and delivered to #24. 
Fortunately or unfortunately for us the day prior to it's delivery we were given 'notice' at our place and instead of UN-packing to finally move in, we are PACKING to move. As you can see from the pics, we have unpacked quite a lot - furniture and toys and we 'set up' the living room and the playroom and remain surrounded by cardboard boxes and suitcases. In a stroke of very good luck and incredible timing our good friends and right-next-door neighbors are moving from Zambia back temporarily to Holland where they wait to see about where in the world they will work next. 
They have been in Zambia about 5 years and in Lusaka just over a year. They hope to come back to Africa where they both have lived for the past 15 years or so - Bisseau, Rwanda, Congo....the list goes on. Anyway, the joke, before we knew we were going to be moving was that when they left we would take over their place and just thrown our stuff over the fence. Who knew it would actually 
happen. We'll miss this lovely american style villa but the new house will be wonderful - the garden is better and the pool much more kid-friendly...the shallow end is actuall...shallow! Mostly, it will be nice to be in a house that feels like 'home' and in a house where I feel like I can finally UNPACK in! I'll have lots of nice clean walls to paint....after I paint over my projects here. Shame, eh?
