Day 20 - Saturday Suffering

It’s fair to say that everyone enjoyed Jeff’s leaving celebrations. Friday night began with drinking games; a definite favourite being ‘G’day Bruce’. Sophie struggled to immerse herself in the Australian theme, being demoted rapidly from Bruce to Lou Carpenter. If the games weren’t enough, Rachel T’s animated expressions kept everyone entertained. Fair play to Jeff who just about managed to keep up with the drinking games in his 3rd language! Flagging down some taxis, we headed to our old haunt: Fez Bar. Here we were joined by a few of our favourite locals: Kasongo, Ephraim, Martine and Peter Mtonga. Several tequila shots later our African dancing showed Sanne (a new Dutch volunteer) what 3 weeks in Livingstone can do to your rhythm! Romance blossomed for some of the volunteers . . . we won’t name and shame but Ben and Kate are to be married within the year. 

Needless to say it was a slow start on Saturday morning, though hats off to the volunteers who managed to get up and go on the elephant back safari. Rachel Y, Jo, Elea, Sophie, Rachel T and Sanne loved the experience. Jo, the smallest of the group, looked tiny on top of the biggest male elephant. Here are a few elephant facts for you:

• An elephant is pregnant for 22 months
• Elephants only sleep for 2 hours a night due to pressure on their hearts
• Elephants have very poor eyesight and rely mostly on their trunks 
• Elephants live to about 80 years old!
  

After a day of packing and running final errands, we all headed to Olga’s Italian for a more civilised evening. It was a lovely and delicious way to end our time in Livingstone, with much fond reminiscing over the past 3 weeks. Our shared experiences and memories leave no doubt that we have formed a “tight knit group”! 

"I never met anyone who gets up out of their bed after a night on the town and says, 'Oh I wish I'd had another drink last night. That would have been a great idea." Arthur Mathews