Ex-Pat Praises Zambia, Offers Safari Lodge
November 28, 2011
The elephants will soon retreat back
into the bush to be replaced by hippos in the river below the property.
The school of life has been an illuminating teacher here over the last
thirteen years but ...it is
time for me to move closer to my family to be of assistance in the
troubled times to come...by Tjisse Kamstra
(henrymakow.com)
tjissekm@gmail.com
One Boxing Day I was walking on the middle of Fifth Ave. NYC, closed to vehicular traffic, near the Rockefeller Centre and while I saw hundreds of thousands of people heads all bobbing up and down, a sense of futility and loneliness came over me.
Years later I remembered that bewildering feeling while in the process of selling my Johannesburg- based business and looking for a place to relocate to. I listed all official English speaking countries and made a list of minimum criteria.
Officially English speaking, mild climate, sparsely populated, no traffic jams, business-friendly laws, no exchange controls, friendly people, low petty crime and no violent crime, relative freedom of press (there is no such thing anywhere in the world), multi-party parliament, inefficient and low key government controls, pollution-free, self sufficiency in all basic foods, functioning telecommunication, availability of basic necessities, basic medical facilities with prescription drugs over the counter, history free from wars with neighbouring countries, no or little civil unrest in the past and more such criteria.
My desire and aim was to acquire a natural lifestyle and to meet interesting relaxed people, to design and build while helping the underprivileged by teaching manual skills, to help abandoned and orphaned children in their schooling to see the stars and breath unpolluted air.
That was in 1997 and even though I had been to over eighty countries, I went to Belize, Ghana, Kenya, Zanzibar, Sri Lanka, India and Zambia and researched many others.
I glanced at non-English speaking countries but decided against them because of the inevitable difficulties when not very fluent in the local language trying to purchase anything technical or explaining something to an official.
I decided to build a tourist lodge near the Victoria Falls in Zambia and bought 21 acres of land. Tourism accommodation would allow me to to meet interesting people and design and build required buildings would permit me to teach skills from bricklaying, welding, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, thatching, gardening to later cooking and housekeeping.
Zambia is very sparsely populated and the people are very friendly, helpful and peaceful. Zambia has a lovely non-intrusive inefficient government that is satisfied as long as permits and licenses are paid up.
After I built some buildings, I submitted the plans to the local council because the buildings are for public use. Officials are rarely officious and more often than not are friendly, smiling and unproductive, leaving people to do what they prefer to do. Zambians love laughing about everything and love socializing be it in the middle of the street or a shopping aisle. The local market is crammed with goods smuggled in from other countries and the local custom officials buy their requirements there as do all officials and people.
We have no traffic cameras nor cameras on the streets nor in police vehicles. Older people are respected and are called uncle and auntie.
Grey hair is respected and older men are called 'madala' meaning old man as a sign of respect with a little bow or Bwana meaning sir.
There are no inspectors when I slaughter livestock myself or bake bread or pump my own well water.
Even so, the judiciary is fair, just and strict when some person is caught in some wrongdoing. The climate is friendly with cold winter nights and warm winter days and hot summer days.
The air smells of nature and never pollution. No door-to-door salesmen of any kind and no junk mail. My firearms I have locked away. At times I am the only white person amongst hundreds of Africans in the market or at happenings and I have never felt ill at ease, being greeted by acquaintances and strangers alike.
The fish from the Zambezi river is not contaminated by pollutants. The meat is mostly from free roaming animals and has the taste from times-gone-by especially when compared to the first world. Yet the first world with shopping centers, traffic jams, noise, chemically treated water, things and more things is one and a half hours away by any of the three daily commercial airlines to Johannesburg, South Africa or 720 miles by road.
I arrived in Zambia in 1998 and started building. I taught as planned and many of those are now self employed as carpenters, electricians, motor mechanics, plumbers, gardeners or employed in one or other capacity learned here. I looked after a flock of abandoned and orphaned children now young adults with mostly their own children.
One is now a chef in Canada, one a taxi driver, a trader, a motorbike mechanic with his own "workshop", a shop attendant, a bus conductor, a tourist guide and various other occupations. I have been here thirteen years and have done what I set out to do and experienced and learned a tremendous amount but now it is time to move on and move closer to my family.
I like designing and building and that is completed here but can do so nearer to my family. I have therefore decided to sell this tourist accommodation lodge and ideally to some people who wish for a more natural lifestyle amidst nature, working with people where time is not equated with money.
One aspect I did not mention was the complete freedom of media here for many years. Only during the last few years do I follow the world's tribulations on alternative media. Those many years without media gave me chance to read many books on past and present state of affairs as a consequence of the past and to try and find some answers to the many questions I had and have. As knowledge increased so have the questions.
Now, when I do visit Johannesburg, Africa's mini consumerist indoctrinated and conditioned New York, I am relatively impervious to adverts and the media with the many glaring holes. I am quite happy not to be part of the crowd with the latest cel phone, car, label, insurance or latest improved laundry detergent preferred by two out of three housewives etc. and I shake my head in disbelief at the gullibility of people.
(Livingstone Lodge, left) Tjisse is a nick name by which I am generally known. Mandevu meaning beard/moustache is another nick name given to me by locals here in Zambia because of my voluminous moustache.
No, I am not American-born but Frisian, now no longer a country, where the Frisian cows and horses come from, and was forced to learn Dutch in school and learn Dutch history where we the Frisians we portrayed as the enemy here and there. That caused my original distrust of anything 'the powers that be' publish.
I learned English in South Africa where we moved as family when I was sixteen. I have been to the US many times and have been to quite a few states both East and West coast. While the American people are wonderful, the US officials are snarling, aggressive and unpleasant.
The rainy season here has hesitantly started with the odd rain shower sufficient for the bush to bud new leaves. Millipedes are already strolling self importantly being chased by the hungry tortoises out of hibernation. Soon the flying ants will appear, an absolute nutty delicacy when fried on a hot plate, together with other seasonal insects followed by migratory birds.
The elephants will soon retreat back into the bush to be replaced by hippos in the river below the property. The school of life has been an illuminating teacher here over the last thirteen years but alas with diminishing lessons over recent time. It is time for me to move closer to my family to be of assistance in the troubled times to surely come in the not too distant future.
(Victoria Falls) Many US citizens who wish to understandably relocate are looking at Central and South America with communication problems. Zambia is an English speaking and natural alternative and for those interested please have a look at www.africalodgeforsale.com
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Last Note: One of my older brothers visited a few months ago and he suggested I only visit Europe as a tourist as I would not cope with every single thing being legislated. Besides, the last time I was there in 2005, I found the food just short of inedible, everything tastes of chemicals. I am spoilt here with natural food. The amount of man-made noise the poor people there have to cope with is just beyond belief and everybody stressing over time and their worlds cave in if the train or bus is one minute late.
Here in Africa, at least this part stretching through Botswana parts of Namibia and most of the Northern Cape one can lie on one's back at night and see stars stretching from horizon to horizon with shooting stars on a regular basis surrounded by sounds of the African veld receiving God's energy. During daylight hours little insects scurry around on their mysterious quest.
That is somewhat different from the urban centers of the world where people and architecture are becoming so insipidly universal. Once this Lodge is sold I intend to explore and find a place in the Northern Cape of South Africa. I wish to travel then to places of similar climes to see if non commercial edible non-invasive plants, from grain to fruit could be introduced in the Northern Cape. I also wish to look at older architecture and try and learn something. This could benefit many people to live off the grid or just live healthier. Even though it would be a fair distance it would be a lot easier to see some of my siblings on a regular basis not having two time consuming and time restraining borders to cross. Politically South Africa is in a mess, more so than Zambia and less than many other countries. There is a little hope yet. And of course I will try and keep up with alternative news.
