On our drive to Lake Caribe that was to be our home for the next three days we stopped in Binga, Zimbabwe at a local well. We watched women pumping water into 20 gallon buckets and then placing them on their heads and walk home. They have to do this many times a day for all the water in their homes. We also learned that this is the place where young people meet and court. This is a very secret process until the girl goes to her father’s sister to ask permission and the aunt will decide if the boy is acceptable. (Yes, Jennifer, I would be in charge.). Things that could make the boy unacceptable is if he is from the wrong tribe or his family has had some type of scandal. If the aunt says no, that is it. Parents do not learn about the relationship until approximately six months, all while the aunt is supervising. It was all very fascinating. While at the well everyone had a chance to pump water. Definitely not as easy as it looked. We had our pictures taken with some of the women.

We arrived at our houseboat two hours later after traveling on a very scary road over one lane bridges with no railings. Roads have not been improved here since the English were in charge.

The house boat was absolutely beautiful. We each had our own cabin with huge windows. Lounging areas all around the boat. At the beginning it was great to relax and drink all the alcohol you want for free, but after a while it was a bit boring. They had boating trips every day but mostly it was birds and crocodiles. No big deal to us Floridians.

We had a very interesting talk from one of our guides who was from the Tonga tribe. Apparently they were a very wealthy tribe who were displaced when they dammed up the Zambezi River and formed the lake. They were relocated to the bash where they could no longer fish, farm or hunt. Our guide said that he has no idea were his ancestors or relatives are located.

We celebrated both Jude and Chuck’s birthdays on the cruise. Of course we brought party hats and convinced the chef to bake cakes. A lot of laughs especially when the guides put on the party hats.

We left the boat for a short trip to a landing strip where we were to fly to Victoria Falls on 2 tiny planes. Quite an experience.