Lumbumbashi

Finally on Saturday I left for Lubumbashi with Vianney. Leaving for the Airport at about 11.30 am thinking we would leave at 2.30pm well think again... in Africa time takes on a new meaning...we arrived safely after a two and a half hour flight in Lubumbashi, with Air Zimbabwe. Lisa was at the airport to meet us so getting our luggage went smoothly , finally at 8pm we checked into our very modest Hotel called "Nazim" with its fake palm trees outside, flashing their welcome!!!

We went off to meet the rest of the consultants at the Belgium Club for dinner . It was a good supper, what surprised we was finding a place where you can do some 10 pin bowling...2 lanes but thats not bad !!!

Lubumbashi is much smaller than Kinshasa , the main road is ina very good condition not one pothole. There are traffic lights and unlike Kinshasa people obey the rules of the road.

The little Hotel we where staying in was quiet funny , in the morning you have no choice of what breakfast you are going to have, the old Papa comes along with your tea or coffee and 5 minutes later you get a little oily omelet with two slices of bread and a blob of jam.. so off to the nearest little shop I went to buy some yogurt and muesli....this was much better for me.

Lubumbashi is very dusty due to all the mines around and also the fact that the roads leading off the main road are in a shocking condition, potholes , soil erosion ...so as a result you have this red brown dust all over...everywhere dust....apart from that I enjoyed Lubumbashi....

They have some great restaurants most of them associated with a Club eg..Italian Club, Greek Club, Belgium Club then we have Holly Bum which is a Restaurant and Guest house, Chez Robert

has the same concept and is really cute....it has a pool , nice little garden with lots of bird life around.

On Sunday for lunch we all went a place called "Bush Camp" where we had a great lunch, you get to choose you meat which can be anything from sausage , crocodile, ostrich or game they barbeque this and you help yourself to salads and cooked vegetables...

We flew back to Kinshasa on Wednesday with CA Airlines it was not bad at all, I was just surprised that after an hours flight we stopped at a town called Mbumbayi , looking down you see these huge mining holes....and I believe this is where allot of the diamonds come from. Mbunbayi is in the middle of the country...we stopped there for refuelling and of course more passenger.....it was funny to see some of the household goods they loaded onto the plane...stoves beds some plastic chairs...its different in Africa but wow what an opportunity....

So I am back in Kinshasa settling down in my home and Vianney has gone off to Matadi , maybe one day I will get to visit this little town too........