Finally, I got to take my teenage son to visit Zambia because I wanted him to experience where I spent my early childhood. It was an incredible adventure and extra special as we met family.
Huge thanks to Rose and her team at Dominion Travel for organising every detail. From arranging a visit to a local primary school (a personal highlight!) to ensuring a seamless safari experience. Rose truly made this trip exceptional. 🙌
And speaking of safari, our son was absolutely captivated by the wildlife.🦁
I was keen for my son to experience, not only the typical touristy things (like safari) but also to experience the ‘true’ Zambia. So, included in our trip was a visit to a local village and an urban compound where thousands of vulnerable people live. Despite the poor conditions of the compound, I have very fond memories of living there with my grandparents when I was little.
There were so many highlights to our holiday. One of the things that I take away is how humbling an experience it has been. People were friendly and welcomed us. Despite having very little, I am amazed at how innovative people can be by making do with what little they have. It’s heart-warming to see how grateful people are for simple things that we take for granted over here in the UK.
It can be easy to become cynical when seeing the constant churn of TV adverts from charity organisations appealing for donations and thinking whether the donations are reaching vulnerable people. I was delighted to see the impact of such donations to Zambia. For example;
- Mary’s Meals provide a cup of porridge for every day that the child attends school. For some children, a cup of porridge is the only meal they will receive.
- For many years, my family’s farm has relied on getting water from a well, which is now no longer fit for purpose. Due to funding, they’re getting a new well installed. I’ve seen such wells advertised on TV as campaigns to get clean water to people, so it’s great to hear that the campaign is working because every village is being installed with a well.
- Over the years, I have been fortunate to see one or two lions, if at all, on a handful of occasions. On this holiday, I was astonished to see a pride of 8 lions casually walk past us! 😮 I noticed a tracker on a lioness. This made me realise that, due to conservation efforts, we see the wildlife is protected.
- We were excited to see a recycled shipping container kitted up as a digital learning facility for the children to use at a local primary school.
It was great to learn all about the local primary school and provide a donation to help the school.❤️❤️❤️
Anyone looking for an exciting, unforgettable holiday, then without hesitation, I highly recommend Rose Chivumba at Dominion Travel. She is excellent at customising a holiday package to suit you.
Below is a sneak peek of some of the 342 photos we took during our journey! 📸 😊
Amazing view! Watching a hippo from our infinity pool at Kafunta Lodge. Awesome!!!😀
Reception area looking out towards the watering hole where the animals hang out.🤣
To help improve literacy levels, the school has a library which is open to everyone in the local villages from age 3 upwards! The books, pens etc are donated by charities from all over the world.
Free education was only introduced three years ago in Zambia, which is fantastic However the challenge now is that so many children want to be educated but there’s not enough teachers. This school has 1019 children but only 13 teachers and 7 classrooms A class can have up to 150 kids with one teacher!
Children lining up to get their free cup of porridge. As part of the schooling, the kids get given a cup of porridge for every day they attend school. Each child gets their own cup. The free porridge is another reason why school is so popular because it can be the only meal a child will receive.
We were super impressed that the school has been donated a digital learning facility. It’s basically a trailer that’s been kitted out with technology to help the kids. It’s run by solar power and satellite to connect to the Internet. Awesome!😉😀
Kids studying in the digital learning facility. It was great to learn all about the school and provide a donation to help the school. ❤️❤️❤️
Another highlight…we got to meet the Chief for the Eastern province of Zambia which is where my relatives are from. His kingdom consists of 195 villages. A village can contain up to 800 people! The Chief is extremely busy so we were very lucky to get to meet him. His duties include settling disputes that the village leader is unable to resolve, writing a letter of recommendation for a child to attend university and looking out for the best interests of the tribe.
I’ll never forget the sight as we were leaving the village and seeing my cousin’s little boy happily playing with one of the football’s we left for them. 😍😍
Up to now, the farm has relied on getting water from a well, which is no longer fit for purpose. Due to funding they’re getting a new well installed. I’ve seen these wells advertised on TV as campaigns to get clean water to people, so it’s great to hear that the campaign is working because every village is being installed with a well. 😃🙏
Sunrise in Zambia😊
