On the Zambesi, July 31

Today was a sick day. After the best sleep I have had in a long time, I woke with the first light. It was a clear sky with cloud at the horizon, and the sand was wonderful. I had treated my foot for a thorn that I had picked up, and had been walking barefoot again, and loving it.

But Charlie woke feeling awful. Everything hurt, and he felt nauseated. So we had our usual coffee and biscuits, and he got up very slowly. Evntually, he was able to get to the bathroom area (by far, by the way, the best bathroom on the whole trip, on a hill at one end of the island looking out over the river), and promptly threw up. In the end, we paddled only a few kilometers to the ranger station where we had to pay our fees, and spent the rest of the day there. We didn't really know what was going on with Charlie, but he was weak and sleepy and nauseated.

The day was not a waste. Daphne sat with her husband much of the day, getting small amounts of liquids into him, along with Gravol. I sat with the guides, talking politics and cultures, and reading and sleeping. And because this was a Ranger Station, there were wives here as well. This station is supposed to have running water, but they let a lot of water out of the dam a few weeks ago, and they did not give enough notice to this area. The resultant rise in the water level washed away their pump. So the women were doing the laundry in the traditional way, down at the river. They came in groups of two or three, sometimes with a baby attached to their back in a wrap, and worked ceaselessly. Then they carried it back up on their heads, in a display of balance and swaying hips that was wonderful to see.

They also came with large barrels to get water, and carried this also on their heads. I am told by the guides that this a woman thing, and if a man carried water or wood that way, they would be considered a woman.

Charlie got better, then worse, and it began to look like a flu type of illness. In spite of that, we agreed to try some cipro and see if it helped. We have lost most of a day's travel, but we can make it up tomorrow and the next day. So we will camp here, on a sand bank well above the river, and await Charlie's progress.

Supper was cova (a green veg like collard cooked, then with peanut butter added) and sadza (corm mush thickly cooked with a beef curry stew for sauce). Both very good.

We have a tough day tomorrow to try and make up some mileage.


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