On 15 December 2012, SA Adventure and our team of volunteers will embark on our annual Northward Bound Expedition. This year we will be visiting Project Luangwa who are based in the area of Mfuwe in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Project Luangwa’s aim is to create an effective, co-ordinated approach to helping local communities improve their long-term economic prospects whilst avoiding a negative impact on the environment and wildlife. Project Luangwa has grown from an idea by Jo Pope and is managed at grass-roots level by Karen and Dave, a married couple who live and work in the South Luangwa community.
What will SA Adventure’s goal be on the Northward Bound Zambia Expedition? We will be working with Project Luangwa over the Christmas period, where our intention is to help establish vegetable gardens which can be tended by the older children and become a sustainable project. We will also be working with the teachers at the school and be donating educational material as well as stationary for the school children.
Our Expedition to Project Luangwa will take us through 5 countries in 22 days and over 8500 kilometres will be covered. Along the way we will visit other impoverished communities in all the countries we travel through and will be teaching local people the importance of sustainability for them and their families. We will be travelling through South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia.
The geological fault known as the Great Rift Valley runs from the Red Sea down through East Africa and, as it enters Zambia, divides; one arm to the east and Lake Malawi and one to the West. This Western arm becomes the Luangwa Valley and stretches south-east for seven hundred kilometres with an average width of about one hundred kilometres.
Down the centre of the valley flows the Luangwa River, fed by dozens of tributaries. Many are dry for most of the year but in the rainy season become ranging torrents often causing the Luangwa to flood.
The Luangwa carves a tortuous course along the valley floor eroding outer bends and depositing silt within the loops. Over the years the river will cut new course after new course forming many ‘ox bow’ lagoons. It is this that makes the valley one of Africa’s prime wildlife areas with concentrations and varieties of game that rivals anywhere in Africa. In South Luangwa the river forms a natural barrier between South Luangwa National Park and the Game Management Area to its East. The villagers within this area rely on subsistence farming but their fields and gardens are often raided by elephant and other game.
The dates for this year’s trip are 15 December 2012 to 5 January 2013. We always include places of interest along the route and this year we will be spending time at some of Africa’s most beautiful spots such as Kukonje Island on the Makgadikgadi Pans, Victoria Falls, Kafue, The Caprivi Strip, Van Zyl’s Pass and the Kaokoland in Namibia to name a few We are going to be taking a maximum of eight vehicles on the expedition so if you are interested in joining us on the Northward Bound Zambia Expedition please contact us at [email protected] as soon as possible as places are limited.
