Life on the Mekong and Other Rivers: Camping at Mvuu

Our campsite was right on the river. Given that we were 5, we wisely chose to put up two tents. Jack and I were in the dudes' tent and Katherine, Diana and Sam were in the ladies' and guys still in diapers' tent.

Luckily for our marriage, there was a guy, Peter, whose job it was to help me put up the tent so that Katherine and I wouldn't kill each other while trying to figure out which way the rain fly goes on.

He also brought ice, charcoal, and firewood, so was considered pretty much indispensable for the entire weekend.

Diana is in the background with Sam walking from what must be considered the best damn open air ablution block (it means bathroom at a camp site in Zambian English, or perhaps regular English) in the area.

The nice, poured concrete cooking area had running water right next to it. In the middle of nowhere, no less. We had a bbq area and a coleman dual-use stove that kicks butt...and a kid hanging out down below. This is where the thieving monkeys hung out too.

The family. We had a good time. Jack is old enough to play in the dirt on his own for a bit and Sam is young enough to hang out and eat dirt on his own for a bit, which leaves time for us to do things like clean the dirt off our children and drink beer.

On Saturday some friends from Lusaka came down to hang out for the night. Jeff, Priscilla (foreground) and Jason worked in Nairobi together long ago. Jeff and Priscilla moved around to other places, including Bogota and Riyadh while Jason moved around as well, and they've reunited here in Lusaka.

Katherine is, of course, wearing a very sexy headlamp while roasting a marshmallow. The Zambezi is just to the right of Katherine. The hungry crocs are a few meters farther right.