Day 7 & 8: Kapishya Hot Springs

Day 7 & 8: Kapishya Hot Springs (Sun 19 and Mon 20 June)

These two days were the most relaxing of our entire trip. 

On Sunday, we asked about a local church but there were no good churches nearby.  So instead we all gathered together and had a time of Bible reading and prayer.  This was one of the sobering things we realized on our trip – the church situation was quite grim.  Most villages we passed through had a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness.  It was sad to see the extent to which this cult has penetrated the African bush.

The rest of Sunday was spent resting and soaking in the hot springs.  We were amused by the 5 horses belonging to the owner of Kapishya, who came trotting through the campground to drink at the river.  We got a good photo of Marjanne’s tent, which was pitched just beside the riverbank, surrounded by this herd of curious horses! 

On Monday, Phil left us and drove the l-o-n-g way back to Lusaka, as he had business awaiting him.  The rest of us, who were staying at Kapishya an extra night, decided to take a short drive (about 15 kilometres) up the road to see a scenic waterfall nearby.  We had been told that soon they would start construction to dam it up for a power plant project.  When we reached the waterfall we discovered that construction had already begun!  A friendly construction worker greeted us and when he found out that we had come to have a picnic at the falls, he invited us to come take a look.  We carried the kids and all clambered through the construction zone full of piles of rocks.  The series of waterfalls and rapids were impressive to see.  After staying a few minutes to take photos, suddenly another construction worker appeared frantically waving his arms and shouting at us.  Thinking something was wrong, we quickly hurried up the hill to find out.  “Hurry!  You must leave!  They are going to set off an atomic bomb!”  It soon became apparent that his English wasn’t very good and they simply were going to be laying some explosives on the bank further down.  J  Thankful for the warning, we hurriedly scooped up the children and left, chuckling about such a crazy experience – welcomed into a construction zone, escorted through piles of debris, and then warned of an impending explosion!

While wading from the hot springs down towards the river, David spotted what he thought was a crocodile swimming away from him.  The crocodiles, which are around (there were signs posted), won’t come near the hot spring because of the temperature, but further down as the water cools you might find them.  Later David realized that while it might have been a crocodile, it could just as possibly have been a monitor lizard, also common in that area.

Our last afternoon was spent mostly luxuriating in the hot spring. The spring is about 40* Celcius (approx 104* F) at its deepest point and cooler along the edges. It was well shaded by tropical trees and had such a welcoming feel!   After dinner, Marjanne, who was sitting by the fire reading, offered to keep an ear out for the sleeping children if Heinrich and Jacomien and David and myself wanted to go relax as couples in the hot springs without children in tow!  That was very kind of her and we enjoyed one last peaceful soak in the starlight on our final night.