Grooms Globe Trek . com – Kids

What a day. It was half traveling, half just having fun and eating. We got up at 5 a.m. to get on a super luxury bus to Livingstone from Lusaka.

The bus ride was estimated about seven hours. We had some left over fruit and some water that we decided to bring with us, because we knew we wouldn’t stop for food for more then ten minutes. Also because we were so tried from getting up early we fell right to sleep in the comfortable bus seats. When we weren’t sleeping we were watching movies the bus provided or we looking out the window at the bush hoping to see some animals and villages on the way by. Almost to our destination, we had to step out of the bus and have our hands washed with water by the locals, which is supposed to prevent disease. Finally we reached Livingstone, but it only took five and a half hours the second time around.

After lunch we took a taxi to the Zambia/ Zimbabwe border in order to cross. We couldn’t take a cab across the border because taxis on one side aren’t allowed to work on the other. There is a 3/4 mile area that is no mans land between the two countries. The only way across is to walk. While we were walking we saw some of Victoria Falls, and people were bungi jumping off a bridge. After crossing into Zimbabwe we took a cab to our hostel.

Before we knew it we were at the corner of two streets waiting to be taken to The Boma Restaurant, a traditional African restaurant where they serve an African food buffet. We arrived there before dinner was ready so we explored the hotel where the restaurant was located. We found a large pit and over it was a trampoline at ground level. We jumped around on it while our parents talked to a German couple and their daughter. What was really amazing was there were wild warthogs around the trampoline eating the grass on their front knees. They do this because there necks can’t reach the ground if they are standing up.

Finally it was time for the dinner. It was a little different at first because we started with sweet potatoes, salted nuts, and kapenta, which is a small fish about the size of an adults fingernail, and it was served whole. For starters you could choose from crocodile tail and fish, mushrooms, vegetables with cheese and garlic, and ostrich pate. We had one of each. Crocodile tail, vegetables and ostrich pate were the favorites. Then we started to try different things from the buffet. We tried impala, ostrich, kudu, warthog, and mopane worms. In the end our favorite was warthog, but kudu and ostrich were also really good. Dessert was actually not as good as the main meal, surprisingly.

After the meal there was traditional dancing and singing. Everyone at the restaurant got a drum and we played different beats. Some of us even had to play solo on the drums. We had to dance to the drumming by ourselves, then point to another person to go next. It was the best dinner we ever had.

Not only we got to open are minds and try new foods but, we also learned to call some of the things we tried are new favorite foods. It just proves that you should always be open-minded.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 7th, 2005 at 10:39 am and is filed under Travel, Zimbabwe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.