Home Sweet Macha Home

We’re back in Macha after a 4-day weekend in Livingstone with the New Hanover team and Madison! It was quite the weekend, filled with lots of adventures and memories! It was a nice little vacation, but I am happy to be back in Macha for the week, getting ready for the next team coming next Sunday!

Here’s a little about our time in Livingstone:

We got to Livingstone Thursday evening, unpacking at Jolly Boy’s (the place we stayed) before going out to dinner and getting to bed for our early morning the next day! We got up early on Friday morning and loaded in the bus that took us to Botswana for the safari – Eric stayed back at Jolly Boy’s with the little ones. We crossed the borders with no problems and ate breakfast at the lodge before getting in a boat for our morning boat safari. We saw hippos, elephants, crocodiles, water buck, lots of different birds, and impala (like our deer at home). I only got a little seasick on the boat, but it was absolutely beautiful and cool to be on the water!

Jen (group leader) and I on the boat, with our elephant friend in the background

After eating lunch at the lodge, we headed out on safari, girls in one truck, guys in the other. It had been chilly all morning, but got warm enough to take our sweatshirts off for the afternoon! We drove to the park, with our fearless leader Lance at the wheel, and drove through the bush until about 6:30, when we got to our campsite. We saw more elephants, hippos, water buck, and impala (there are millions of them), and got to add lions, kudu, giraffes, buffalo, baboons, honey badgers and even a leopard leaping up a tree off in the distance. It was absolutely incredible. The sunset was amazing – none of these pictures will do any of this adventure justice.

Jeff - this one is for you :)

Once we got to our campsite for the night, in the middle of the game park, we picked out our tents and huddled around the campfire to wait for dinner (which was SO good) to be ready. We hung out around the campfire with the group, before heading to bed. I shared a tent with Madison, for one last night as roommates! We woke up in the morning, after hearing noises, to hear from Lance that there were hyenas, an elephant, and some kind of cat (he thought leopard or cheetah) in our camp that night. Scary, but SO cool.

We left before sunrise the next morning to head out of the park – watching the sunrise and seeing some more lions before making it out of the park. Side note – it was pretty warm in the tents over night, but riding in an open safari vehicle at 6am was probably the coldest experience of my life. I had on jeans, sweatpants, and five layers on top, plus a blanket, and I was still cold. But the safari was an incredible experience. Sleeping out in the bush with the animals was amazing and it was awesome to spend two days enjoying God’s beautiful creation! I wish I could put up every picture I took – I can’t wait to show you more when I get back home!!!

We crossed the border back to Zambia successfully once again and headed back to Jolly Boys to change and get ready to head to Victoria Falls. This is where the story gets interesting…

Madison and I had gotten our tickets to get into the falls, and walked back out before Eric was done paying for tickets for the group. Long story short, Reece’s pacifier was on the ground by the van with a baboon sitting back by the fence eating paper from a sandwich from lunch that had also apparently fallen out of the car. Well, as I took a step towards the pacifier, the baboon charged, causing me to turn to run, only to hit a tree that was planted right in the middle of the parking lot and fall on my face. But wait, it gets better… I got up and looked at my knees, only to hear Madison say, “Wait Emily, is that your wallet?” I reached in my bag and found that my wallet was missing… as the baboon ran through the fence. By this time, the rest of our group and a guard were at the crime scene and the guard ran off to try to find my wallet. I was a little upset… and by a little, I mean a lot… but the group was awesome and the guards at the falls were amazing – they brought in special forces and looked for my wallet for the better part of two hours. One of the guards ran up to me as we were going to hike down to the bottom of the falls and brought me what they had found of the contents of my wallet – I got back my credit cards, my insurance cards, some of the bracelets that were hanging on my wallet, and some other random things and I was so thankful. I lost quite a bit of money and the baboon still has my license and the actual wallet, but I was so thankful to get some of the stuff back and not have to go through the hassle of canceling all my cards. So it was quite the experience – the cuts/brushburns/swollen knees might take a little bit to heal, and the chewed up credit cards might not actually swipe, but I’m not majorly hurt – and it’s not like I lost my passport with the wallet! I just couldn’t go a whole summer without getting hurt… that would be so unlike me :) But honestly, who else can say a baboon stole their wallet at one of the natural wonders of the world in Zambia?

But Victoria Falls was absolutely incredible. The group walked across a bridge that got them soaked – I stayed back with Corie, as walking with cut up knees wasn’t the best option – but I’ll get another chance to see them with the next group! We also walked down to the bottom of the falls – where you can see the bridge in the picture below. One of my friends here, Mike, who is from Messiah, actually went bungee jumping off of that bridge a few weekends ago. I can’t even imagine – don’t worry Mom, I will not be doing that!!

side view of the falls

the bungee jumping bridge

Anyhow… after that experience, the group went shopping in the market in Livingstone and we enjoyed a nice dinner at Café Zambezi. This morning, we dropped Madison and the group off at the Livingstone airport to catch their flights back to PA. It was hard to see them go – it was awesome to have Madison here for three weeks with me. It was so fun to have a roommate and get to know her a little more! Miss you already Madison!!!! And the group from New Hanover was awesome to have here as well. Both the students and the leaders were great and it was so fun to get to know them while they were here. I got to build relationships with them, and I can’t wait to go down for a night of youth group when I get back to the States!! Oh – I also found my long lost twin in the group… Rachel, one of the recent high school graduates in the group, and I figured out throughout the weekend that we both were incredibly accident prone in sports (we both even broke two ribs), that we both have/had vocal cord dysfunction (not asthma, look it up…), and that we both have the same favorite movie and TV show (Inception and Criminal Minds). She’s also going to Penn State next year, which if you know my family, fits right in. But honestly it was an incredible week with all these guys and I was really blessed by them, and I know Push the Rock’s ministry was as well.

We’re looking forward to a quieter week this week before the next group comes in next weekend! We have a lot to get ready, but I’m really excited to get to know the new group and grow with them in Christ while they are here! If you all could be praying for us as we prepare for the group, for the group as they prepare to come, for safety as the New Hanover group and Madison travel back to the U.S., and for healing for my knees (I miss running already), that would be awesome! Thanks for all your prayer and support from back home!