Not all who wander are lost

The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien) is quite possibly the first adventure 'travel book' that I ever read. It is also apt that he came up with this quote which seems to fit in with my psyche. It suddenly struck me that Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings has some marked similarities to Zambia.

In keeping with the theme of Lord of the Rings and middle earth it is pretty uncanny that Zambia sits very much in the middle of the world being in the South East part of Africa. And it is a vast country being over 5 times geographically the size of the UK but has only around 14m population.

They have one of the natural wonders of the world in Victoria Falls (Mosi-o-ai-tunai) which is by far, in my opinion, more superior to that of Rivendell (the Elven outpost in Lord of the Rings)

Rivendell and the mighty Mosi-o-ai-Tunai (the Smoke that thunders) below

Smaug and the Orcs are out muscled by some of these amazing wildlife dotted around in the various areas of protected wildlife natural parks. Some of which are actually larger than Wales or Belgium in size!

                        

                          

Gandalf the wise, and widely travelled wizard draws parallel comparisons with David Livingstone - though magic powers might have helped him complete his final quest to discover the source of the Nile. The magic powers of Chief Chitambo nearby, however is pretty well known about and sought locally!

But not everybody lives in a palace.... in fact most Zambians, especially in the rural areas live on under a dollar a day.

Rural Life: picture from Rebecca McEvoy

So I feel a bit like Bilbo Baggins at the minute holed up in my Cardiff flat before nights, thinking about my quest to come and what interesting adventures and undoubtedly tough situations I have ahead. Although I am old I have not yet reached the 111 years that Bilbo hit for his birthday but I am sadly older than Frodo when he started his travels. So I feel it is right to leave the comparisons there, especially as I am about to embark on packing... I fear that the book, sword, hooded cloak and coat will not be sufficient for my travels!