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Mazabuka Mumblings
Musikili School ended their second term with a Blast Off - the title
of the play that was put on by senior pupils at the school and
produced by Bernie Burke. The children performed brilliantly at the
Maz Club venue – no doubt all left thinking what a good idea it
would be if they could simply just blast their teachers off into
space from time to time – for real! The annual Musikili vs Vic
Falls sports and social weekends went off well too. It was great
fun watching the sportsmanship between the two schools), good to see
that even at this tender age, the schools insist on protecting them
from injury, with skull caps and gum guards.
The Musikili School Art Exhibition – coming up in early October.
The Polo Season ended in Mazabuka with the Mazabuka Open Tournament
which was held at the Maz Turf Club. The sponsors and organisers
did a great job in making this a most successful event this year.
Winners of the A division were the CHC team and runners-up,
Amanita. The B Division was won by the Coventry team, Bonnie and
Clyde
Thanks To Nkwazi Rotary Club from Ndekeleni Development Foundation
the Centre Of Hope for Widows and Orphans in the Mazabuka
Community. Nkwazi very kindly donated several boxes of clothes to
Ndekeleni for them to distribute to the needy in the community.
Eighty people benefited from this extremely kind gesture.
Incidentally, Ndekeleni have started making cooks and maids uniforms
and protective clothing. Contact them on 097 663-695 if you’re
interested in ordering anything.
LOCHINVAR – This is a great time of year to trundle on down to
Lochinvar for the day – or the weekend. Tom and Thea Savory’s
Moorings Camp site and Chalets is the perfect spot to spend the
night before heading on down to Lochinvar. The road in to Lochinvar
isn’t too bad at this time of year and it’ll take around an hour and
a half from the turn off from Monze to the main gate, to get there.
Don’t forget the charge at the gate. This is something that should
arguably be scrapped for school children, to encourage more schools
to take their classes down to this extraordinary place – one of the
three major wetlands in the world (the other two are in the Ukraine
and Malaysia)
Once we arrived on the “flats” we spotted huge flocks of wattled
crane : must have counted at least 300 birds. The Kafue Lechwe,
endemic to the area, were also out on the flats in full force. They
have become wary of poachers, so we weren’t able to get very close
to them but it was an amazing sight seeing such huge herds in the
distance. The “flats” is literally that – thousands of hectares of
marshy, boggy, wetland. We drove right into the middle of a vast
plain of this mush and thankfully didn’t get stuck! I wondered off
to try and get some good shots of the flora (three flowers) and
fauna (they kept moving away) and waded through thick black mud
wherever I went. We had four little boys with us and they had an
absolute ball rolling around in the mud and throwing it at each
other.
 We also spotted about 8 Marsh Owl – only ever found in these
conditions and I’d never seen them before – quite big chaps, about
the size of a barn owl. Had a great picnic of cider, chicken and
sandwiches, before heading back the way we came; actually got lost
and ended up trekking down to the lagoon which borders the wetlands
and followed the shoreline hoping not to get bogged down in the
mire. The light over the lagoon was quite ethereal and apart from a
lonely one man makoro out on the water, there was not another soul
in sight (JUST as well we didn’t get stuck!). We had another great
sighting as the sun was setting – a massive herd of zebra (about
120) out on the plain as we headed home. The markings on the
Lochinvar zebra are very distinct and a lot bolder than normal
(apparently), so they are sought after by hide collectors and,
therefore, poachers! They also cantered off when we came too close.
We got back home at around 9.30 p.m. dusty, dishevelled and pretty
dirty, but determined to get back out there at a later stage; before
there’s nothing left! |
September
2006