Siaola Village/Bush hunting

Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity to visit Ba-Eland's village, Siaola Village. He lives about 1/2 kilometer away from Dr. Thomas and once you leave the Sikalongo mission station, the difference is stark.

Once you leave the Sikalongo mission station the grass on the side of the road is noticable higher. The roads are dirt, but much more narrow. After about 7 mins we reached a small row of shops. These are small concrete buildings no taller than 10 feet about 15-17 feet deep and maybe 17 feet wide. I saw quite the microcosm of society as I walked through the shops. I met several of Ba-Eland's relatives and neighbors, I met his cousin, who was carrying around fermented "Sweet Beer," which had turned into a sort of wine called Mukoyo. He had been drinking it for some time and was slightly drunk. Apparently that is not out of the ordinary for him. I then met some of the elders of the village who were sitting in a clearing without tree trunks arranged in an open square. One of the elders, Ba-Hyunga spoke perfect English, which surprised me, I later found out that he is an English teacher, which cleared things up for me.
 
As we walked to Ba-Eland's home, his help was requested. A chicken had escaped and was hiding in some bushes and some children were trying to catch it. We managed to scare it out of the bush but it was far too quick for us and the boys and it ran down the road. I recorded as much video as I could until they turned the corner I stopped because I was laughing too hard to run after them.

At Ba-Eland's house I met his wife and 2 of his daughters. His youngest daughter, Dosia, Dodo, instantly became my bff. She is 3yrs 8months old and as energetic and talkative as any girl her age would be. She was a bit shy at first but by the end of the night she was climbing on my back and I was twirling her through the air. The children are on holiday from school, so I haven't had the chance to play with many of them and I miss my girls so she was a welcome change of pace from dealing with adults most of my time here. Ba-Mrs Siaola made me some local corn that she just roasted. It tasted like sweet corn mixed with popcorn and was delicious! After chatting for a while, Ba-Eland disappeared for about 3 mins.

Upon his return, Ba-Eland had on some rain boots and as I looked up, I saw a rifle on his shoulder. For a split second I thought, well, this is how it's going to end, I'm going to get shot in the mountains in Zambia. Then my better judgement returned and I realized that this was not the case. We were going to travel into the bush to first see his garden, and then go further out to see if we could hunt some Guinea Fowl. Keep in mind that I had no idea as to the terrain we were going to traverse, so I just slipped my dress shoes on without thinking about how much walking we would do.

We then hiked to see his garden, where he was growing Chinese Cabbage, and from there, up and into the bush. I got to carry the rifle, I had never walked with a gun before so he made sure the safety was on and that I pointed it toward the sky, don't judge me. From there I looked like I was hunting a wasacly wabbit. We walked about 2.5 kilometers and I just felt at peace, as I often do in the wild and I thoroughly enjoyed the Zambian countryside. We passed through a few gatherings of butterflies, or Concolikwa, saw quite a few ant hills that were at least 10 feet high. We walked on a dirt path that connects other sections of the Sikalongo greater village and passed the Chief's house. We came to a small clearing and Ba-Eland decided that we should turn back. No birds to shoot, but I did have fun carrying the rifle.

We went back to Ba-Eland's house for dinner and sat inside of the kitchen hut to stay warm. This is the Zambian winter so it reaches the mid 50's at night and that is freezing to Zambians. Ba-Mrs Siaola was finishing up some Nshima, relish and a freshly caught chicken, so I had the chance to spend some more time with Dodo, and her older sister Lumba, who is 15. I let Dodo play some of Aioki's games that are on my phone and showed Lumba some pictures of the States and some that I took from the window of one of the many flights we were on as we travelled over. We ate a wonderful meal and then Ba-Eland took me back to the Thomas's house illuminated by the incredibly bright and detailed Zambian night sky.

It was the best day that I've ever had outside of North America!!