The river pontoon.

There are lots of them throughout Africa as a cheap and fairly efficient alternative to a permanent bridge. River widths vary significantly with the seasons (the rains come between November and March). Most are operated with a cable across the river that guides the pontoon and various methods of moving the pontoon across the river. The simplest of these is a second cable and 2-3 guys with a piece of wood about a meter long that hooks over the cable and they pull the pontoon across the river. I was told that there are still a few in operation today in the more remote locations. The “B Series” has a looped cable and a winding device on one shore I assume still operated by the same guys!

The prevalent system today is the single cable and two small diesel motors (often Chinese made). The challenge here is that they rely on fuel and some maintenance and often the pontoons are in very remote locations with no electricity or reliable communication. 

Camp for pontoon staff on Lubungu

 The pontoon at Chirundu is larger than most and does not have a cable but a couple of larger diesels with steerable thrusters.

At Chirundu there were about 5 vehicles waiting in total and Rian (the bridegroom) was also towing a boat. We all boarded for the 5 minute crossing. My son Al had driven one of the Land Cruisers down from Lusaka (first time on the other side of the road) and he had fun driving the Cruiser on to the pontoon.

Once on the other side it was about 20 minutes to Kanyemba Lodge and River Camp where we were staying and the venue for the wedding.

Here are two guys doing it the old fashioned way

Zambia post at last

My apologies for the delay in posting, but a combination of dial up access and lots of planned activity I am way behind on my blog posts. There will be several over the next few days I hope.

After a week in the UK and an eleven-hour flight I arrived back in Lusaka (May 10th)  after a 17 year gap.

The whole place is substantially different in many ways and just the same in many others.

We have a family wedding next Saturday and my son Al, and his Mom have made the trip for the big event.

The wedding is to be held on an island in the Lower Zambezi Game Preserve (just east of Chirundu for you Google Earth fans) and we will all be staying at one of the lodges right on the river.

The following week a much smaller group of us are going to a much smaller self-catering camp in the Kafue National Park called Hippo Lodge.

Zambia has grown from about 5 million people in the mid 70s to around 11 million today. The initial government after independence in 1964 was essentially socialist and a centrally planned economy. There were lots of state owned enterprises with the consequent inefficiencies and monopolistic attitudes.

Around 1992 a new president was elected and the currency opened up and commercial farmers and businesses were encouraged to return, or come to Zambia and start businesses. Many of the commercial farmers (principally white) had left at various stages after independence and gradually the country had got to the point of having to import even basic food items like maize (corn)

From that point of view and the general availability of goods Zambia is a better place to live. Has that positively affected the average Zambian family living in a rural village? I doubt it has had much impact, but the urban Zambians now have a much greater choice, and there is enough competition to help keep prices reasonable.

There are many more shops with a wide variety of goods and much more traffic with more modern vehicles on the road.

There is a fairly new shopping mall, which is in the process of doubling in size with the attendant traffic chaos. I like it as much as any other mall, in other words not at all!!

So on the surface all looks booming and well, but crime is rampant, although not on the level of South Africa from a frequency or violence viewpoint. HIV/AIDS continues to be a huge problem throughout Southern Africa and leaves many orphaned kids, often to be raised by older siblings, grandmothers, or in some cases abandoned to the streets. This is not a problem exclusive to Zambia by any means.

Zambia has diversified its export income, which was almost exclusively copper in the 60s and 70s, but now includes fresh fruit and flowers for Europe and wheat and maize to Zimbabwe and other local place.

Sub Saharan African countries have faired poorly on the world economic scale, and Zambia is right there with them. The “stars” in this respect are Botswana and strangely enough Rwanda. There is some good reading on the subject for those who are interested.

Bletchley Park Secret home of the Codebreakers

Monday was a public holiday in the UK and my niece, who is a Captain in the British Army was back in the UK for a long weekend. I have not seen her in a couple of years and we decided to meet up in Bletchley (where my friend Barbara lives) and visit Bletchley Park.

This was the location of one of the biggest secrets of WW2 and the home of the Enigma machine and the fantastic device that was built to decipher the Nazi coded messages and provide vital intelligence to the Allied forces.

It is a veritable mecca for math nerds and others of that persuasion, and also computer enthusiasts as some of the original computer designs emanated from the activities here.

The whole place was a closely guarded secret for many years after the war and has only recently opened to the public.

It was a truly fascinating day even though I had no clue as to how the device worked or the mathematical theories behind it. My niece Amy sat there as they talked about it nodding knowledgeably and trying to explain the theories. Needless to say she was a Math and Computer major in college prior to joining the army!

British Canals: A day out and some background

I spent Sunday with my friend of 46 years Barbara. We met in Junior College, and I have been friends with her, and another Andy (Corner) for that time. We see each other occasionally but the friendship lasts well I am pleased to say.

About 12 years ago I went with the kids for a day out on a canal "Narrow Boat" with my Mom and other family members and Barbara came along. She decided it was a good family tradition to start (at what point does it become a tradition?) and this was their 5th year.

It rained overnight and did not show any signs of abating so we had a wet and windy start. Not atypical of a British vacation day and we were well equipped with tea and bacon and sausage rolls that we made on the boat. Overall we probably traveled 4-5 miles but went through 12 locks. It brightened up later in the day and a good time was had by all.

We enjoyed a pub lunch and there ate lots of pubs located on the canals.

Not so sure about Doug and Mark!

There is an extensive canal system in the UK that was dug (mostly by hand) and was the primary transport system for bulk materials early in the Industrial Revolution. It was eventually surpassed by the railways. The majority of the canals were built in the mid 1800s and there are about 2000 miles of canal still today.
To account for changes in grades the water is sectioned off and contained by locks and these can be a single lock that may cause the water level to change by about 10 ft (3.1m) and there are flights of locks (like Foxton Locks in Leicestershire) where there are a series of 10 locks that change the water level by approx 90ft (23m).

There were various other innovative solutions to get boats up and down the hills like inclined planes.


More information at the following website

How locks work and more canal info



All of these were hand operated and each set of locks had a Lock Keeper and his cottage can be seen at most locks although they have been sold off and the jobs were outsourced! 

Over the past few years there has been a resurgence in interest in canals and narrow boats for recreation: People live on them and you can rent them for a day or a week and cruise the waterways and see a very different side of the UK. As I mentioned there are lots of pubs alongside the canals and loads of people out walking the dog on the towpaths. They seem willing to help with opening lock gates and enjoying the fun. Originally the barges were moved by horses pulling the barge along hence the name Towpath.
The narrow boats seem to be in two widths with most being 7 ft wide (2.15m) and up to 70ft long (21.5m). The width allowed either one or two boats to pass or occupy the lock at the same time. The other is a "double wide" at 14 ft (4.2m) and navigates the locks solo.

Barbara's children, their partners and grandchildren (3 of them) navigated, cooked., and operated the locks. 

We had great fun and as the weather improved more of us were seen outside the cabin and enjoying the scenery.

On the road again

Well, I have been home for about 3 weeks and enjoyed an unexpected visit from my brother Steve and Alison as they were Volcano refugees for 10 days or so.

I am off to the UK tonight on the infamous AA174 to Heathrow, and then on to my long time friend Barbara's. They have an annual family outing on a narrow boat on one of the canals. Barbara got the idea from a great day we spent way back when I was in the UK and we all did the same thing and had a wonderful time. It looks like it might be rainy this time around but that is the UK.

June and Alistair leave next week and we will all be in Zambia for Rian's wedding May 15th and a few days in the bush in Kafue National Park. I have not been back to Zambia since 1993 so will be interested in all the changes, particularly those bought about by an open currency. I will discuss that more in a later post.

Rhino decided he would come too perhaps to reconnect with his relatives, although they may not recognize him since he lost his horn and ears on the RTW trip. They will love him no less I suspect.

I upped the ante and bought a new roller duffel (Tuesday Morning $40) and will see how it performs in the durability class and ease of use. It lacks the multiple pockets of the original blue one I hauled around the world but has a separate base area that is good for wedding clothes and stuff I will not need very much. Customer feedback will be posted occasionally.

It was great to see everyone and have a couple of Highland Gaelic as well as do badly on Trivia night.

Northwoods Elementery School

I have been back a little over two weeks now and time has flown. An unexpected visit from my brother and Alison, who were volcano refugees has added to the fun and getting caught up with everyone.

While I was swanning around the globe I was sending postcards back to an kindergarten class where a friend is a teacher's assitant. The kids have been tracking Andy on a globe and hopefully getting a broader view of the world.

I would gather about 10 postcards at a time and write either a comment or a question for them. They got to choose their favorites and they went on the board.

Last week I was invited to meet the class and spend some time answering questions and generally getting to know them.

It was great fun and I really think they learned a lot and benefited from the experience. I know I did.

I had my picture taken with the class, and plan to go back to see them after the next portion of the trip.

They were normal kids who cannot sit still and ask random questions, but they were full of life and enthusiasm, and just very spontanious. I had a lovely morning with them.

Thanks Ann Marie and Ms Garrison for allowing me to do this.

The trip home

It is a long way from Melbourne to RDU and you can figure about 30 hours door to door.

MEL-LAX is about 14 hours non stop and I purposly chose the new A380 Airbus for my journey.

OK so I am flying coach but I have to say that Airbus got this design right. I was impressed.

There is loads of headroom and large luggage bins, quite comfortable seats (last place goes to Cathay Pacific on their A340 from Mumbai to Hong Kong) and an excellent in flight entertainment setup. I had a couple of interesting folks sitting in my row. Both are Aussie history teachers and we had a few laughs and some good conversation. I estimate that there were about 60 movies to choose from as well as the TV and radio stuff. I am very impressed with the airplane and the journey so far. Qantas has 6 of the A380s in service and 14 more on order!!

They do the Sydney LAX every day and the MEL-LAX 3 times a week as well as one of the London services.

I hope Boeing has their act together with the latest version of the 747 and the new 787, although it's NPI program may have been managed by Caterpillar.

It all went to hell in a handbasket in LAX. What a hell hole, and what a horrible way for someone to first experience the USA. I am ashamed. It is dirty, has not seen a coat of paint in 20 years and is incredibly inefficient. I thought I had arrived at an airport in the developing world but most of theirs are better. Enough said.

I then connected with American to Raleigh via Chicago. I was treated to a center seat on both flights where they did not serve food and both flights were full. Reverse culture shock would be the appropriate term.

I got home around 11pm after weather related delays in Chicago and my cat Mabs looked at me and basically said "Who the Heck are you and what are you doing in my house!"

She has warmed a little to me now so we will see.

I am home for about 3 weeks before heading out to Zambia at the end of the month.

I will resume around that time.

Thanks to the Chadwick and Hoops team for caring for my place so well, and thanks to all the blog readers and followers. 

My travel companion Rhino made it home with me but a little the worse for wear. Some poachers cut off his horn at one point and his ears became victims too, but he is a high milage trooper and we have been through a lot together.

Writing the blog has been a growth experience in it's own right and it has taught me a lot about how to write and communicate as well as figure out how to show sheep shearing and tuna slicing videos. Comments and helpful suggestions gratefully received.