Adventure Race practises

I’m just going to tell you a bit about our ride on Saturday that was training for the Adventure Race. On the team there is Jackson, Temwani, Naomi and I. I am the captain of the team.

The ACS Team

 We set off at 05:15. The first part of the journey was quite easy as we knew where we were going. We passed behind Mining Haulage to the Libonji Creations sign, turned left and we then rode about 7.5km south. We met a dirt road which was a long stretch. This was quite an easy stretch because it was mostly downhill; we went down this road for about 5km. This was mostly open and there were not many trees. On our right hand side there was a dam.

The early start for 70kms

The next part of the ride was pretty fun because again it was downhill but this time the road was narrower and only a car could pass. We rode for about 15 to 18km down this road.

As we were riding we had to look for signs like churches and a football field. We came to a power line that we had to follow then we got to the top of a hill. At the top of the hill we had to do an activity which was boiling an egg. We first had to go down the hill with two 20ml cups and collect water until we submerged the eggs in water. We also had to make the fire and then we cooked the eggs.

Collecting the water

After finishing the activity we set off again along the power line. We rode eastwards until we came close to the JCB farm. At this point Mr Grove left us and we were supposed to go back the Luano substation, but we took a wrong turn when we got to the JCB fence. Instead of going right we went left. We eventually found some guys who showed us where to go. We finally got to the substation two hours later and found Mr Grove waiting for us.

On the trail

The last part of the ride was the hardest, I would say, because energy levels were low and we were all so tired. There was a number of down and up-hills and that made it even harder. We were heading to Chingola following the main power lines. We rode for about 3km and we came out where the rock has been blasted. We then cycled back to school.

Steep climbs

The whole ride took us about 9 hours. We got back to school at about 14 hours. The last activity was a cool down run which we found hard because we were all very tired. I would just like to thank the team for the great effort. I would also like to thank Mr Grove for organizing this for us and ultimately God for a safe day and no serious injuries.

Thank you!

Report by Musonda Mwansa

Swimming Gala

On Saturday, the tenth of November, some secondary students went to Chengelo to participate in a swimming gala against Mpelembe, Simba, Chengelo, and Lechwe. Over all I think we did quite well considering we did not have nearly as many teammates as the other teams. The team worked hard and as a result some personal records were broken. We participated in almost all the races except the girls relays. The last race we did was called the squadron relay. This was a race in which the swimmer had to wear a shirt and pass it on to the next swimmer at the end of the length. This took us about five and a half minutes to complete the race and we were last even though we had some help from a Chengelo boy. I want to thank Xavier for not taking as long as last year to put on the shirt for the relay.

At the end of the day Chengelo won with 111 points, Lechwe came second with 102 points, Simba scored 98 points, Amano scored 42 points and Mpelembe scored 34 points. I think we had a fun day over all and I would like to thank the team for trying hard, Mr Grove and Mr George for driving, Mrs Reid for supporting, but most of all God for no injuries, good weather, and safe travels.

Report by Naomi Ronald

Jo sleeping

Squadron relay

Naomi

Swimming team

Xavier

Kafue Field Trip

The smell of the first rain drifted across the river. In the twilight of a gathering storm our boat headed for home. Behind us lay a beautiful sundown cruise on the mighty Kafue, a fitting end to a week spent in God's amazing creation. Amongst many other things, we had learnt to tell the difference between an impala and a puku, that the small grysbok always comes in pairs and that bullies are not well liked, even among elephants.

Grade 9 and Mrs Grimes, Mr Vedder and Mr Grove snr

Still rubbing the sleep from our eyes, we had started off from Amano just after 5 AM on October 15th. The first day's drive brought us via Kabwe and Mumbwa to Itezhi-Tezhi, were we were to spend the next two days a Musungwa Lodge on the shores of the lake. Although we had already seen our first animals (a baboon, two warthogs and plenty of "descendants of buffalo", aka cows), this was not yet in the park proper. However, the next day we spent a most interesting morning exploring an area of hot springs. The water comes gushing out of the ground at up to 80°C here, the snaking streams depositing salt and other minerals along their path. In the afternoon Mr. Grove (Junior) treated us to a special "holiday hill run", though fortunately we had a swimming pool to cool off in afterwards. Later we played "The National Park Game", in which the students were given the task of managing the (fictional) Liloba National Park. Each student took on the role of a stake holder in the park, and had to convince the others to support his or her group's proposal for the development of the park. Accordingly, the evening saw politicians haggling with conservationists over the construction of a dam, or lodge owners negotiating with village chiefs over hunting licenses.

The Liloba park having been taken care of, we turned our attention back to the Kafue the following day. We started off south, visiting Konkamoya Lodge for a lecture by a zoologist-turned-lodge owner before continuing to the Elephant Orphanage Project's release facility. Here we heard many interesting things, although we were saddened to see memorial plaques to two rangers who had been killed in the line of duty by elephant poachers. As this was now in the park itself, we got to see a lot of game on the way, too. Spectacularly, we saw a leopard right up close, not 30 minutes after entering the park. There were plenty of antelopes, but also an incredibly diverse bird life: amongst many others, we saw a korhan, a sacred ibis, several saddle-billed storks and (later) huge ground hornbills.

A very long day's drive finally brought us to our campsite at the Kafwala Rapids, right on the banks of the Kafue in the north of the park. After pitching our tents in the dark, we were quite happy to turn in for the night. The next day was more relaxed, with a shorter game drive in the morning and then some free time after lunch. In the afternoon we had a lesson on the Kafue river system before going out to see it for ourselves in the aforementioned sundown cruise. The highlight of this was the chance to observe an African fish eagle up close. (This is Zambia's national bird, seen on the coat of arms and the flag.) We even got to see the great bird "on the hunt", as our guide had brought some fish along and threw these into the water for it to catch. Amusingly, after the eagle had caught the fish, its young came along and started begging for some food from its mother!

We finally returned to Amano on Friday night, after yet another long drive (briefly interrupted by a puncture). All in all this was a fantastic trip that we're going to remember for a long, long time. Although it was very tiring, we enjoyed the fellowship and had a lot of fun together, as well as learning many new things about African nature in general and the Kafue National Park in particular. So we are very grateful to Mr. Grove, who did most of the preparatory work for the trip - and we stand in awe of the One who created all that we saw!

Grade 9 Field Trip

Daniel Vedder

Photo Gallery by Mr S Grove

Barry - an excellent guide

 

Chemical testing with Mr Vedder

Game spectators - Fruit bats

In the Baobab Tree

Stanley and Livingstone

 

Real Whopper

Orphaned elephant at the release facility

 

Preparing breakfast

 

Sharpe's Grysbok

Kafwala contemplations

Kafwala Sunrise

Longola Hot Spring Experiments and Opportunities

Musungwa Lodge

Sundowner Cruise

The Liloba Quandary

The Very Intelligent Chiefs and Cowboy

There were lots of hours on the road

Watching Elephant and Hippos

Yellow Billed Kite

Waterbuck