life in the fast lane

All of the following pictures, excepting the last couple, were taken from the window of our little truck as we wheeled along the byways of Mozambique. The last couple of days, we drove to Marromeu (that is the jungley part of our area) to deliver supplies and to speak in church and to deal with some church administrative issues. The last 150 km is dirt road which is sometimes ok but sometimes not. This time followed a torrential rain which had left the road in really bad shape--so going was slow and very rough--and much of it in 4WD.

We saw about four troupes of baboons along the way--sunning or otherwise hanging our on the road. These are chacma baboons--also called dogfaced baboons because of their long snout. They have fangs larger than those of a lion.

The red and inflamed posterior is not terribly attractive to me--but the male baboons apparently find it so--as it is oestrus related. We parked for a few minutes and watched these and listened to them. They have a surprising vocal range and are anything but quiet.



These are guinea fowl--a variety that we hadn't seen before. Very blue in color and called a crested guinea fowl--perhaps because of the crest on their head. They are a bit larger than a chicken and one will often see them for sale on the road )people holding them out to traffic at meal times. They are locally called galinhas do mato or jungle chickens. I thought of buying a couple because they look so cool and keeping them in the back--but I was told that they make enormous amounts of noise.



Or living room, such as it is, is decorated by some African batique art--which is hung from rods--or lacking rods, sticks. Debbie having purchased a new artwork, sent me off into the jungle to cut a new piece of wood from which to hang it

These folks were moving along this river as we went over the bridge. I am a bit fascinated by the success of their dugout canoes and pledge to take one out for a spin before I leave Africa.

The recent rains have got the rice growing everywhere--the result is green--often as far as you can see.

Because Marromeu has no lodging available, if we want to be there early Sunday morning for church, we have to stay somewhere else. We found the CuaCua lodge, consisting a a few stone based cabins and a nice restaurant on the shores of the Zambezi. A surprisingly delightful place.



Debbie refused to be in this picture--showing the Zambezi river flood plain at the Cua Cua lodge. Someone said I looked skinnier today so I am hoping that it is true. I suspect that they were just being charitable.