6-9-16

6-9-16

A little behind on my blogs, but it has been a tiring past couple days. We started Thursday morning by waking up at 5 again for a walking safari around camp. Our guide lead us around the outskirts of camp, down through the river, and out into the camp. He identified different kinds of flowers, birds, and trees. We did not see any large animals, but learned more about the surrounding woodlands. We learned that the impala flower is deadly to all living animals except for the impala. The oils from the flower can begin killing a person in minutes.
After our walking safari we settled down in the lookout towers to rest and soak up the sunshine while we waited for Ashley, Jessica, and Penny to finish their water tour. Once we were all loaded up we headed back to Zomba with a couple stops along the way. We first stopped at a market of venders selling wood carvings of every imaginable kind. The prices were higher than at the wall were we normally shop, so we worked on our haggling skills. One vender would not lower his prices so I walked away, only to hear him yelling after me that he would lower them. Once we thought we were done shopping we all loaded up onto the bus. This was when the real fun began. The venders started bringing their items to the window and doors offering MUCH lower prices. We all ended up buying even more stuff for cheaper than they were offering as we first walked around. Lauren ended up trading her watch for something, and Lindsey Jordan was offered a carving in trade for her shoes on her feet. It was a crazy experience that I was able to capture on video.

We then headed back towards Zomba. We stopped by Government Primary school for the dedication and ceremony honor Pat Kelly for donating her building. There were adorable speeches, poems, and skits put on in her honor. My favorite was the song entitled "Pat Kelly the great". There was one traditional dance that involved a young boy climbing to the top of a pole that had been erected in the middle of the circle. The students were so excited and proud to honor Pat for all she has done for their school and for the building she had built.

By the time we got back to Annie's we were all very tired and quickly called it an early night and went to bed.