And so it begins....

We arrived in Lusaka after 18 hours of travelling, from Dublin, via London. It was 6.30am local time and already 28 degrees!! We joined what was to be one of many, queues... a very common sight in Africa, almost a national passtime. Once through border control, bags reclaimed, we met Br Philip Baxter who had kindly come to collect us and take us to St Pio's Friary, home to the Vice Provincial Noel Brennan.

On the way from the airport, I was immediately struck by the sheer number of people doing stuff by the road sides...walking, selling, sitting, standing, chatting. After a bite of lunch we moved from St Pio's to St Bonaventure's College..my home for the next four months. It's a big set up behind high ways and security guards...both of which are a common sight here. It houses friaries of the OFM's, Conventuals and Capuchins. They share a central Church for Sunday and Feast day services as well as lecture and library facilities. After some quick introductions, evening prayer and food...it was time for bed. We had a 4.45 am start to drive 7 hours to Livingstone the next morning.....day one.

The alarm went at 4.30am but I was already awake. The heat and humidity at night was crazy....no fan yet but it is now top of my priority list! We had Mass in the Friary Chapel at 4.45am and after a quick coffee we climbed into the jeep for our journey south to Livingstone.

Named after David Livingstone, the town is considered the tourist capital of Zambia due to his connections and the Victoria Falls. The Falls are over 1.7 km wide and spill 900,000 litres of water per second!! The spray can be seen from the ground up to 30km away, hence the local nae for the Falls 'Mosi-ao-Tunya' : The Smoke that Thunders.....and it does. After a decent soaking from the spray, the Good Lord was kind enough to send us some Zambian rain.

to be continued.......