30 June, Sunday: Hiking through the North Swaka Forest

We all had another very good nights sleep and woke up so ready for another day on the farm. We were supposed to leave today to continue the K2K cycle tour, however, Chris spent the night sick again. Our first thoughts were malaria, especially since this is the second time hes been sick in two weeks. However, he was'nt running a fever at least. We thinking his body might just be refusing all this rich food we've been eating, after not being used to eating like this for so long or it could possibly just be another bug.

Greggs staff killed a Forest Cobra last night in the cattle kraal and Kirst ans Stephan who are both scientists, took the opportunity to educate the kids by disecting it. It was the biggest cobra I have ever seen!! It was 2.10 m long. Gregg hates these things as they kill about 15 cows a year due to their technique of farming. They herd their livestock here which increases the risk of snake bites because they always in a massive herd, trampling, making no escape for the snakes whereas if they roamed freely the snake would have time to get away. Now they had all of us as well as the children from the compound, huddled around in the garden, ready to learn about the insides of a snake. Todd translated everything for the other kids in Bemba.

Kirsty is here on business with her two colleges, and was going for a hike through the North Swaka Forest and invited us along. With Chris unable to cycle and excited to explore more of the area, we grabbed the opportunity. Kirst and her team are starting up a business called Wildlife Conservation Zambia where they are wanting to include varsity researchers with the local community and create an edu-tourism concept. They are busy scouting out different parts of Zambia where there is potential for them to bring students and help educate the locals as well, so we were only excited to be joining in on this adventure. After an hour and a half of speeding through the dirt roads, slowly zig-zagging through the tall forest of trees, following a very narrow path, going back and forward trying to get Madam through the trees without damage, we arrived at the site. We started off by climbing a beautiful waterfall. This was quite tough as it was really slippery, however, we made it up and as we left the lush green stream, we walked into a complete contrast of dry rocky bushveld. We had a view of the North Swaka Forest and we could see a canopy of different shades of green far into the distance. It was absolutely beautiful, we just stared with awe at this forest of untoched, unspoiled land. We sat with a cold beer just taking in the view before making our way back down.

As we started descending, going around the waterfall, down a less steep route, I lost control of my foot movement and slipped, literally tumbling down the hill and hitting my head against a sharp rock. I dont quite remember how this all happened or what exactly happened, but I got up and felt a throb on my head, only to discover I had a hard knock and it was bleeding. I just remember being in a lot of pain. Luckily we didnt have far to go to the vehicle, but I washed my head in the stream which was so cold it gave me brain freeze. Kirst had recently done her First Aid course and we had a First Aid box which she used to clean it up. Whether I needed stitches or not, there was no way of telling and we were miles away from anything so with Kirsts experience, she seemed to think I'd live, thank goodness.

We then had to zig-zag our way back through the forest, which wasnt so comfortable with a bleeding head wound. We got to a secluded tented camp on the property and sat around the fire with a nice cold Savanah to ease the pain. We had the most lovely evening chatting around the fire, under the stars and sharing stories that had us all rolling with laughter. Besides the slight crack to the scull, we had the most perfect adventurous day exploring northern Zambia and finding new places that it really feels like no one has ever been before.