Category Archives: Zambia

Too much to learn for one lifetime

Five have fun in Africa. A lost work by Enid Blyton?

Posted on November 21, 2013 by memoirsofahusk

‘Africa 2013. Countdown to the Rains.’ ‘Africa’? Just, ‘Africa’? OK, so it’s a common form of shorthand. But not one you find in Europe. I mean, imagine it, ‘Europe 2013: snow’s on its way. Join us as the ski season … Continue reading →

Posted in Thinking, or ranting, or both, Zambia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

That road – dejà viewed. Part 4: the journey’s end.

Posted on August 28, 2013 by memoirsofahusk

The man who’s driving this long and just-beginning-to-be-winding road has a very soothing manner. On another day I might – just might – find Fegan’s manner too soothing. As in irritatingly slow. Tonight, his aura of calm is perfect. I sink into the … Continue reading →

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It’s somewhere, not nowhere – and we’ve been there. [Part 3 of that road journey]

Posted on August 27, 2013 by memoirsofahusk

The darkness I feared is falling, but we’re no longer straddling that hot, narrow, frightening stretch of road. We’ve driven a few hundred metres. The distance from peril to safety. We hope. Hordes of children gather. Women appear, suspicious, but inquisitive. … Continue reading →

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On the road to nowhere . Part 2.

Posted on August 21, 2013 by memoirsofahusk

Eleven o’clock. The heat increasing with every passing minute. I can hardly bear to think of time. There should be another five hours of road before us, but now? God only knows. A stunned-looking Archaeo-man pulls out his cellphone. I … Continue reading →

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Halfway to nowhere. Part 1

Posted on August 19, 2013 by memoirsofahusk

The calls of night-jar and owl punctuate the stillness of the hours before dawn. Four in the morning and the man who lights the fires under the hot water boilers has been and gone. I lie, wishing for sleep, knowing … Continue reading →

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An entomologist walks into a bar…

Posted on August 15, 2013 by memoirsofahusk

A tiny rainbow, flitting across the Indian Ocean, like a teardrop fallen from God’s eye, a prism for the sun. I’m awake. Thinking. It’s 2.30 am – or thereabouts. This afternoon, for the first time in a week I checked my … Continue reading →

Posted in If you only read one ..., Zambia | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Subterranean indigestion?

Posted on August 14, 2013 by memoirsofahusk

Rotten eggs, a smell I can put a name to, though I don’t think I’ve ever come across the real deal. A rotten egg, I mean. But now I’m standing in the full glare of the tropical sun, wilting, weary … Continue reading →

Posted in Zambia | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments