guests – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

Camilla Nereid & Gunnar Bendheim on ‘The Experience’

For the third time in recent weeks we were delighted to welcome Norwegian guests on to The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela – that’s our weekly radio show airing every Sunday night live between 20.30 and 21.30 hours on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a great mixture of music and chat and is also usually available streaming live on the internet.

Camilla Nereid and Gunnar Bendheim (above) had been staying at Chanters Lodge in Livingstone for part of their visit to Zambia, although they explained to listeners that they’d also spent some time in Mongu in Western Province. The reason for their trip to Zambia? Well they are both staff of Trondheim University College – Camilla is the Dean of the College of Teachers and Gunnar is Leader of Student Administration. For both it was their first visit to Zambia and they said they were loving it! They had come to check on the progress of their eight student teachers in Livingstone and eight in Mongu and they were happy to report that their students were doing very well. Their visit to Mongu had involved 35 hours on the road out of a 72 hour trip!

The music on the show was good, although there were some technical problems on this edition. We opened with two latest smash hits – Katy Perry’s ‘Part Of Me’ which had charted in the US at number one that very week – quite unusual! We coupled that smash with Nicki Minaj’s ‘Starships’ the first release from her upcoming new album. George dropped Exile’s ‘Auwe’ which Milli Jam told us is currently hot in the Zambian clubs – he should know as he’s also entertainment manager at New Fairmount Hotel in Livingstone, apart from being a regular presenter on 107.7 fm. Milli Jam chose Ace Hood’s ‘Body to Body’ together with ‘Love You No More’ from Diddy featuring Drake. Our oldie of the week was ‘I Will Always Love You’ by Dolly Parton and my pick of the week was Chris Brown featuring Rihanna with ‘Turn Up The Music’. We closed with Usher’s soulful ‘Climax’.

Camilla and Gunnar told listeners about their safari to Chobe in Botswana that day and amongst other species Camilla had been fascinated by the African Jacana bird – it is a polyandrous species, which means that one female mates with multiple males and the male alone cares for the chicks. Gunnar explained that he came from the far north of Norway – one of the coldest parts – where temperatures could drop to as low as -40C! We shivered! Camilla related that she had recently sat for a Phd in Turkish History to add to her other academic achievements.

Camilla told listeners she was married with 3 children, Gunnar that he was not married but had 6 nieces and nephews whom he regarded as ‘his kids’! This entertaining duo raved about the chicken piri-piri served at Chanters Lodge as well as the quality and friendliness of the staff, and revealed that they had even eaten crocodile meat while they were in Mongu! Asked if they had a favourite football team, they leaned towards each other, shared a microphone and yelled ‘Chipolopolo!’ simultaneously, much to the amusement of the assembled company!

In closing we expressed our gratitude to the Norwegians for their continued outstanding support of Chanters Lodge.

29
FEB

activities, Africa, Chobe, education, entertainment, food, guests, livingstone, music, Norway, radioshow, wildlife, Zambia

Sigrid Lofaldi on ‘The Experience’

We were back to the usual time on the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela last week. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly Sunday night radio show, normally airing between 20.30 and 21.30 every Sunday on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, broadcasting 24/7 to Livingstone and the surrounding areas, as well as streaming live on the internet! (Links are on the station’s site and on the Chanters Lodge site too!) The previous week the show had been broadcast at an earlier time so that it did not clash with the final of the African Nations Cup, which of course Zambia had won, sparking off week long celebrations across the country!

The guest on our latest show was Sigrid Lofaldi, pictured above, a maths and science teacher from Trondheim in Norway, staying at Chanters Lodge and spending some time in Livingstone checking on the progress of a group of student teachers from University College, Trondheim, currently doing practical teachers training at Linda West Basic School. She told listeners that her students were happy, doing very well and that she was pleased with their progress. Milli Jam wondered whether this was Sigrid’s first visit to Zambia and in replying “no”, she explained to listeners that she herself had been a student teacher in Livingstone back in 2007, and had also taken a holiday in Zambia in 2009, so this was in fact her third visit.

The music on the show was excellent as usual. We opened with Kelly Clarkson’s number one hit in the USA ‘Stronger’ back to back with a new offering from Nicki Minaj titled ‘Young Forever’. George chose Danny’s ‘Ku na Kwa’ coupled with B-Flow and JK with ‘Chitemene System’. Both excellent tracks, Danny’s focusing on electricity outages suffered in Zambia and JK’s on an agricultural system applied to love life!! Milli Jam chose Ne-Yo’s ‘In Love With You’ coupled with ‘Mysterious Girl’ from Peter Andre featuring Shaggy. My ‘oldie of the week’ was ‘We Are The Champions’ from Queen (for the Zambian national team). We give a weekly prize to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie of the week – if they can – and eventually we had a winner. For a moment I thought I’d won the weekly contest! Our ‘pick of the week’ was DJ Fresh and Rita Ora’s ‘Hot Right Now’, closing with Emile Sande’s ‘Next To Me’ – informing listeners that Emile has a Zambian dad! Our show is always informative about the local and international pop scene.

Milli Jam wondered what the differences were between schools in Norway and those in Zambia and Sigrid replied that the major difference was that classes in Zambia were much larger – in fact almost twice as many students per class as in Norway. Milli Jam also wanted to know how the Norwegian weather compared to that of Zambia and our guest told listeners that when she’d left Norway earlier in the week it was -10C, windy, cold and blowing a snow storm! She loved Zambia’s sunny warmth – which did not surprise us! She also told listeners she was single, that she enjoyed cross country skiing and that her favourite music genre was Indie. She was enjoying the peaceful relaxed atmosphere at Chanters Lodge and thought the staff (Chanters Girls) were very nice. She told listeners that the following week she would be visiting Mongu in Western Province where there were also some of her students doing their practicals.

In ten years’ time Sigrid hoped she would still be teaching as she loved her job, wherever in the world she happened to be! “Great”! We said.

21
FEB

Africa, education, electricity, entertainment, football, guests, music, Norway, radioshow, staff, Zambia

Dave & Hazel Roberts guest on ‘The Experience’

Meet old friends of mine Dave and Hazel Roberts (above), lively guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. For the uninitiated ‘The Experience’ is our popular Sunday night radio show airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, and streaming live on the internet. Zambezi 107.7 fm studios are situated on the 6th floor of Mosi-o-Tunya House, the large office block in downtown Livingstone opposite Livingstone Museum, and that’s where we go to broadcast our live show every Sunday evening!

The programme is a great mixture of international and local music as well as fascinating conversation with our weekly guests. We give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge every week to the first listener to text us, telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week the track was Phil Collins’ ‘Do You Remember?’ The prize was quickly snapped up by Mwiinga. We also feature my ‘Pick Of The Week – Tip For The Top’ and my selection on this particular show was JLS with ‘Pieces Of My Heart’ – we’ll see what happens in the charts if and when the track’s released as a single.

Dave and Hazel told listeners this was their third visit to Zambia. They’d stayed in Livingstone from1998 to 2000 when they’d spent two years as volunteers at David Livingstone Teacher Training College, teaching student mathematics teachers. The Roberts’ are both qualified maths teachers, and noted on air that the standard of maths teaching in Zambia had not been very good in the past. They felt they’d contributed a lot to help rectify this situation during their time in Zambia. They’d volunteered through VSO twice more after leaving Zambia, once in Malawi and once in Senegal and they’d also enjoyed both these tours of duty. Their current visit was part of a four week African holiday which had taken them first to South Africa then to Zambia. They were enjoying meeting old friends in Livingstone as well as visiting old haunts like Chanters Lodge, and they told listeners proudly that they’d been two of the very first customers at the lodge when it opened in 1998. “That’s true!” I confirmed.

The music on the show was good, we opened with ‘Hurts Like Heaven’ a track from the brilliant Coldplay album ‘Mylo Xyloto’ back to back with ‘Convertible’ a great new recording from Chris Brown. George chose Exile’s ‘Auwe’ coupled with Ty2 featuring Kaufela with ‘Spotlight’ – this was a special request from Dave and Hazel who demanded to hear some of George’s work. “It’s a great track!” They said. “Of course!” We said. Milimo dropped Bei Maejor’s ‘Fell In Love On The Dance Floor’ and Ne-Yo’s ‘Regardless’. Coldplay’s ‘Paradise’, the current UK number one, closed our show.

Dave and Hazel told listeners they were from UK and that they had two adult children as well as two young grandchildren. Although neither of them were from that part of Britain they were currently living near Wakefield, West Yorkshire in order to be near their grandchildren. They’d been married for 44 years, having met in 1966 at a meeting for maths teachers in Germany. “Was it love at first sight?” Milli Jam wanted to know. “No!” Quipped Dave in his Welsh accent (for he is of that race) “it was maths at first sight!”. We laughed. This lovely, loving couple wished they had more time to spend in Zambia but sadly would be driving to Lusaka the following Tuesday and flying back to UK two days after that.

We wished them well and ‘bon voyage’, thanked them for taking the time to appear on our show, and hoped we’d see them back in Livingstone again one of these fine days!

11
JAN

Africa, Chanters, education, entertainment, Germany, guests, livingstone, Malawi, music, radioshow, rsa, travel, volunteers, Wales, Zambia

Guest Reviews

As you probably know I have an intense interest in all things TripAdvisor, so no surprise that this caught my eye and as usual tnooz has the latest:

“Just a day before CEO Steve Kaufer fronted TripAdvisor’s first public listing on the NASDAQ, Expedia started telling a number of its global markets about the launch of its new hotel review system. Known now as Expedia Verified Reviews, only guests that stayed at a property can submit a review, by way of a form emailed to the customer after a trip. Expedia says the Verified Reviews platform has yet to be officially launched in the US and most of its other large markets, but consumers in Australia and New Zealand are already using a new feedback system and site visitors are being reassured about the authenticity of the reviews.

The review form is said to have been streamlined but allows guests to submit information which, when included in new filters on the site, will let visitors browse reviews based on proximity to amenities and attractions. Users will also be able to submit photos of the property. Expedia’s tie-in with TripAdvisor isn’t completely over – each hotel page on Expedia has an icon displaying the aggregated score on TripAdvisor of a property. A user will still be able to click on the TripAdvisor logo and be directed to the corresponding hotel page on TripAdvisor.

The relationship between Expedia and TripAdvisor at this level has often been slightly curious given that the former was once the parent company of the user review giant. TripAdvisor waited for many years in the UK, for example, before seeing its reviews appear on the Expedia site, whereas visitors to the Australia and Canadian versions saw content appear very early on in the review site’s rapid expansion around the global.

While the idea of having verified reviews is nothing new elsewhere, or indeed on Expedia, some will note the remarkable timing of the announcement and relaunch of the guest feedback platform, especially as TripAdvisor is currently embroiled in one of the regular periods when it appears to take a beating from many in the industry.”

So we’ll see what we see with guest reviews on the internet.

7
JAN

guests, reviews, TripAdvisor

The Streits Experience

For the first 2012 edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild we introduced a new opening track – Olly Murs’ recent UK number one – ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ because, we told listeners, we wanted everyone to dance while they listened to the show! And so we do! ‘The Experience’ is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, and streaming live on the internet. On this particular show we knew the streaming was fine as we had an entry from Kenya for the prize we give away each week – to the first listener to tell us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. The track was ‘Where Is The Love’ by Black Eyed Peas and the prize was quickly snapped up by Otilia in Livingstone. As for our Kenyan listener, we told him to get on a plane and come and eat his prize!

Our guests on the show, pictured above, were the Streit family from Munich, Germany, though like me Bernhard Streit (centre) has been living and working in Africa for more than 40 years. Strangely our overseas careers both started in Mombasa, Kenya in the early 70’s! We couldn’t resist the temptation to reminisce on air about ‘the old days’ although our paths had not crossed at that time. Bernhard, a civil engineer and bridge builder, was accompanied on the show by his wife Gerda, a teacher back in Germany and son Robert a student from the University of Munich studying Biology. The only member of the family missing was Bernhard and Gerda’s daughter Werena who’d been in Livingstone for Christmas, but was now back in Germany and we hoped listening live to the show on the internet.

The music on the show was great! After the opening Olly Murs track mentioned above, we dropped ‘Born To Be Wild’ – the latest from Sean Kingston and Nicki Minaj, back to back with Alex Day’s UK Christmas hit ‘Forever Yours’. George da Soulchild, about whom there was a big feature in Zambia’s most popular national daily The Post the previous Friday showcasing his undoubted DJ and musical talents, chooses our local tracks each week on the show. This week his selections were Danny’s ‘Ifya Kon Ka on Ka’ and Chika’s ‘Chimibaba’. Milli Jam chose LMFAO’s ‘Party Rock Anthem’ which he told us is one of the most popular western tracks in the Livingstone clubs right now. He coupled this smash with Rihanna’s beautiful ‘Watch N’Learn’. After our oldie of the week, my ‘Pick Of The Week’ (another new feature for our show in 2012) was ‘Cross My Mind’ by Ludacris ft Damian Marley and Kevin Cossom. We spun the Military Wives and their lovely Christmas number one ‘Wherever You Are’ at the end of the show to say ‘bye’ to the holiday!

Bernhard and Gerda told listeners that they’d lived in Zambia in 2002-2003 when Bernhard was the civil engineer in charge of the construction of the bridge across the Zambezi between Sesheke and Katima Mulilo in Namibia – a beautiful bridge it is too! We demanded he now builds a bridge at Kazangula between Zambia and Botswana and we were treated to a lecture in why it was proving so difficult politically to get the project started, but Bernhard remained confident that the bridge would be built before long. The family had formed a consultancy company – Senex – in Zambia and were looking forward to settling in Livingstone in due course. We wanted to know if Robert had a girlfriend pining for him back in Germany, he said he had not. He told us he loves clubbing in Munich. Although he had not done the bungee jump in Livingstone he’d done the gorge swing and had also been white water rafting. Bernhard and Gerda had not!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Bernhard and Gerda said they hoped they would still be around and enjoying life in Zambia, Robert said he hoped he would be following his chosen career as a marine biologist, living an exciting and interesting life. “Married with children?” I asked. The answer wasn’t “yes!”

5
JAN

2012, Africa, Botswana, Chanters, Christmas, entertainment, Germany, guests, music, Namibia, Zambia

Scott Taylor & Aimee Aspinall Drop Kick ‘The Experience’

Milli Jam, co-host of our regular Sunday night radio show, The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild, was quick to ask our guests last Sunday “which country do you come from?” Scott and Aimee, pictured above, told listeners that they were from New Zealand, Scott from Auckland and Aimee from Dunedin. “That’s a small country near Australia that recently won the Rugby World Cup” Scott continued. Talk about getting it in early! “Where were you when that happened?” We asked this engaging couple. “Well actually I was there!” Replied Scott proudly, “and I was in London on the phone trying to make sense of what he was drunkenly trying to tell me!” Quipped Aimee. We laughed.

Our programme goes out at 18.30 hrs GMT every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm and is a cool mixture of music and chat. The show streams live on the internet too. We’re popular locally not just for the great music we play, but because we give away a dinner for two at Chanters Lodge on each show! The prize goes to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie of the week. On this particular show no-one won! Ha ha! The track I played was ‘Macarena’ by Los del Rio – everyone knew the track, no-one knew the artists. As our next show will be on Christmas Day we promised to carry forward the prize, make it easier and dinner for four people to compensate! So watch out for that one!

Scott and Aimee told listeners that they’d spent the last 7 years living in London, working but travelling whenever and wherever they could. Scott works in IT and Aimee in property management. This was their first visit to Africa and they were very much looking forward to their three week safari through Botswana, Namibia and South Africa which would start in a few days’ time ending in Cape Town. From there they would head home to New Zealand for a visit with friends and family before moving to Sydney, Australia where Scott was scheduled to take up a new appointment. “Are you married?” Milli Jam asked. “No, but he’s popped the question and I said yes!” Replied Aimee, breathless and excited!

The music on the show was cool and latest as usual. Dev featuring Enrique Iglesias with ‘Naked’ kicked off the programme back to back with Natalia Kills featuring Far East Movement and ‘Lights Out’. Local tracks were ‘My Police’ latest from Magic Links featuring K’Millian coupled with ‘Ngani i Gelo Wandi’ by Macky 2 featuring Dandy Krazy and Kanene. Milli Jam featured ‘Never Lost’ by BoB ft TI and Coldplay, back to back with Rihanna’s ‘Drunk On Love’. We wound up with T-Pain’s smash ‘5 O’Clock’ featuring Lily Allen then Sway’s ‘Still Speeding’.

Aimee told listeners about her two years working in broadcasting in New Zealand. We wanted to know how she and Scott had met and they told us it had been in a bar in Dublin where they’d both been with friends. Was it love at first sight? “Pretty much so!” They seemed to agree. They also told our listeners they were very much looking forward to having tea on Livingstone Island the following day and swimming in Devil’s Pool. They hoped it would be the highlight of their stay.

Asked where they’d like to be and what they’d like to be doing 10 years from now, this great looking, happy couple said they’d like to be back in New Zealand, running their own business and married. “Children?” We wondered. “Yeah! Why not?” Was their eventual reply!

20
DEC

Africa, Australia, Botswana, Cape Town, Chanters, computers, entertainment, entrepreneurship, football, guests, innovation, livingstone, music, Namibia, People, radioshow

Richard Experiences The ‘Experience’!

Check the photo above! Yes that’s me on The Chanters Lodge Experience as the guest last Sunday with host Milli Jam over my shoulder! The tables were turned! ‘Why would you guest on your own show’ I hear you ask. Well our scheduled guest had a last minute problem and was unable to appear, so co-hosts Milli Jam and George Kaufela quickly said ‘it’s a long time since we interviewed you Richard, you’ll have to do it!’ For the uninitiated The Experience is our weekly radio show airing every Sunday evening at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm and is a great mixture of music and chat. Each week we give away a prize of a dinner for two to the first person to text us the answer to a simple question – usually who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week the answer was James Blunt and the response was fantastic – not always the case.

So, what did they ask me? How long had I been in Zambia? – 32 years. When did I open Chanters Lodge? – 1998. What was I doing before I came to Livingstone? – I was general manager of what is now called Southern Sun Ridgeway Hotel, then just Ridgeway Hotel in Lusaka. How did I get into the hotel industry? – I studied hotel management at Middlesex University for 4 years. What did I do between the time I qualified and the time I came to Zambia? – A lot! Namely, working in various hotels in UK followed by stints in Mombasa Kenya, Mahe Seychelles, Lake Malawi and Jos, Nigeria. I was able to give listeners some insights into the highs and lows of working in the hotel industry across Africa.

The music on the show was great, once we’d sorted out one or two technical issues (it was one of those nights I’d say!) The guys opened with ‘World In Our Hands’ a great new track from Taio Cruz back to back with Drake’s smash single ‘Take Care’ recorded with Rihanna. George chose Naeto C’s ‘5 & 6’ – topical as the star is due to perform in Lusaka this Friday night. He coupled this track with Pompi ft Exile and their ‘Chipolopolo Remix’. Milli Jam featured Kelly Rowland’s ‘Work It More’ back to back with Ace Hood featuring Chris Brown with ‘Body To Body’. James Blunt’s ‘You’re Beautiful’ was the ‘oldie of the week’ from which we moved on to Trey Songz hit ‘Top Of The World’ closing with ‘Do Ya Thing’ by Rihanna.

The guys asked me about my ‘history in broadcasting’ and I explained to listeners that my first experience of the media was in Nigeria where I occasionally appeared on state television in interview programmes. During my time in Lusaka we had organized Christmas and Easter entertainment specials featuring the Cool Knights, Lubumbashi Stars, Akim Simukonda etc in conjunction with Field Ruwe, Errol Hickey and late Timmy Mvula. I’d become well known on radio through the Ridgeway Radio Request Show, a very popular Sunday night music show on national radio in 1984/5, which I hosted. We had started the Chanters Lodge Experience on 107.7 fm in 2007.

Asked where I would like to be and what I would like to be doing in 2021 (!), I said I hoped I was still in Livingstone but working rather less, and that my children were all doing well.

The tables were turned indeed!

30
NOV

Africa, Chanters, entertainment, guests, hotels, livingstone, Lusaka, music, radioshow, Ridgeway

JL Brazell & Evan Brown on 107.7 fm

“Why do you use your initials and not your first name”? Was the first question I asked JL Brazell when he and Evan Brown (pictured above) were guests on the latest edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient ft George da Soulchild, (that’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm Livingstone’s leading local radio station every Sunday at 20.30 hrs). “Because I got too old to fight”! Was his surprising reply. “Huh”? I responded. “My first name’s actually Joy” JL replied. “I see” I said and we moved on!

JL and Evan had been guests at Chanters Lodge for a few days, visiting Zambia to spend time with Jacob Sinangu and his family, which is huge. Why? Jacob has many children at his Heartspring Orphanage in Livingstone which JL, Evan and their church – Church Of Christ – in America have been helping to sponsor – 22 boys and 28 girls at the last count. Our guests updated listeners on the progress of the children at the orphanage and told us that Heartfelt had just started a section for girls, as well as boys, and appealed to listeners for any good second hand clothes for the little girls. Jacob is a graduate of African Christian College in Manzini.

JL told listeners he’d been retired for quite a long time and had just celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with his dear wife Lorene. Evan is a nurse working in ER at The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. “What did your parents think about you coming to Africa”? I asked Evan. “They told me not to get engaged no matter the number of cows on offer”! She replied, laughing. It was Evan’s first visit to Zambia but JL told listeners he’d been to this country 6 times before. He’d originally heard about Chanters Lodge from a friend at Namwianga Mission in Kalomo.

The music on the show was great! We opened with The Wanted’s smash ‘Lightning’ back to back with ‘Mr Wrong’ by Mary J Blige ft Drake. Milimo chose Kay’s ‘Phone’ (‘when your phone’s switched off your heart’s switched off’) as the first of his local track selection and coupled this with Dandy Crazy’s ‘Bed Sheet’. Dandy’s a hot property these days in Zambia following his pre-election smash ‘Donchi Kubeba’. Next up was Bruno Mars with ‘It Will Rain’ coupled with Charley Pride’s ‘Bottom Line’ from his new 2011 album ‘Choices’. (“Isn’t he the one that sang Kwa Liga”? JL asked me in an aside “indeed he is” I replied).

JL told listeners that his favourite type of music was country and western and his favourite artist Willie Nelson, Evan said she loved lots of different kinds of music but her favourite band was Coldplay – she couldn’t wait to get back to the States to buy their latest album. Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing 10 years from now. JL replied predictably “alive, anywhere”! Whilst Evan said she would like to be married with children, living in Africa, and working in health care education. We hope their wishes come true!

2
NOV

Africa, Chanters, charities, entertainment, family, guests, music, radioshow, usa, Zambia

Consumer Diaries

Here’s a good website for consumers in Zambia having a hard time at the moment! Consumer Diaries, written by Zambian consumers for Zambian consumers. The latest post involves the suspension of the air service permit for Zambezi Airlines by government – no great surprise there – they’ve been in a shambles for weeks with delayed and cancelled flights. Yesterday there were about 15 stranded travellers at Harry M Nkumbula International Airport in Livingstone, negotiating seats on other airlines flying to South Africa.

We hope Consumer Diaries will soon turn their attention to Zambia Breweries and the constant annual shortages of beer and soft drinks in Livingstone and other parts of Zambia through October and November – not alright in the nominated (should that be nominal?) ‘tourist capital’.

And what about Zesco? Most Zambian consumers thought that one of the first impacts of the new government would be restoration of constant power supplies – not so – even though the President did fire the Zesco MD nothing has changed there! Just as well we have a good stand by generator at Chanters Lodge!

“The Consumer Diaries is a Zambian consumer’s mouthpiece written strictly by consumers for other consumers. It contains a compilation of reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from consumers themselves. This is done in order to help people have an opportunity to rate product/service experiences that they have had, and also to investigate new products or services in order to make informed decisions.”

Wish them the best of luck!

The picture? A bottle of Zambia’s great Mosi beer – currently unavailable from distributors in Livingstone, Zambia.

31
OCT

Africa, airlines, Consumers, development, Economy, electricity, energy, guests, infrastructure, livingstone, management, politics, rsa, transport, travel, Zambia

Andrew Deane & Marion Gibson Experience ‘The Experience’!

Meet Andrew Deane and Marion Gibson (above) from High Wycombe in UK – guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild. ‘The Experience’ is the weekly radio show we sponsor on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Our programme airs from 20.30-21.30 hrs every Sunday night and is a great mixture of local and international music as well as lively chat. 107.7 fm streams live on the internet and you can find the link on their site or ours. (Links are above).

Andrew and Marion told listeners they’d been in Livingstone for the past few days staying at Chanters Lodge, although they’d been so busy with activities they hadn’t spent much time there! They’d already been on a one day safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana and the very day of the show they’d been white water rafting on the Zambezi. They described both experiences as ‘amazing’! Marion particularly liked Chobe due to her love of elephants – Chobe NP has the highest concentration of that particular animal in the whole world – Andrew loved the rafting.

Andrew explained that he’d been a police officer with Thames Valley Police in UK for the past 13 years. “It’s true” said Milli Jam, “I’ve even seen and touched his badge!” “Stop sweating and shaking!” I advised George who looked apprehensive. Marion told listeners that she’d spent a large part of her career as a social worker but had been laid off a while ago as a result of recent budget cuts in England. Luckily she’d quickly found another job with APH Mortgages, which she loved. This engaging and lively couple told listeners they been in love for the past 6 years and although they had no children together, Andrew had a 12 year old son Joshua from a previous relationship.

The music on the show was great. We featured ‘Fireball’ by Willow Smith ft Nicki Minaj back to back with ‘We Found Love’ by Rihanna ft Calvin Harris – number one in the UK actually! George featured ‘Man Dem’ by Zone-Fam ft Cactus Agony & Macky 2 – taken from Zone-Fam’s brand new album. He coupled this with Exile’s ‘So Lucky’. Milli Jam dropped Ne-Yo’s ‘Break Up To Make Up’ and Sean Paul’s ‘She Doesn’t Mind’. Oldie Of The Week was Johnny Clegg Savuka’s ‘Scatterlings Of Africa’. Silence, no-one knew the artist until almost the end of the track when Angela texted the right answer and won the dinner for 2 with drinks at the lodge!

Andrew told listeners that he’s an Arsenal supporter – we were happy about this especially as they’d won that afternoon. Marion supports Wycombe Wanderers, her local team. They both love Take That and Robbie Williams. They were looking forward to breakfast on Livingstone Island the next morning with a swim in Devil’s Pool and had scheduled a sunset cruise on the Lady Livingstone for the afternoon. Marion told listeners she’d first visited Victoria Falls some years ago and had liked it so much she’d determined to bring Andrew to see it for himself. They’d chosen Chanters Lodge after reading the reviews on TripAdvisor.

Milli Jam asked Andrew and Marion which of the many countries they’d visited they loved the most. Marion said Bermuda, Andrew replied USA, explaining that he and Marion both loved rollercoasters and in their opionion the USA had the best in the world. Asked what they’d like to be doing and where they’d like to be in 10 years’ time – Andrew said he thought he’d still be working, Marion wanted to be retired and they both wanted to still be together and travelling. Nice couple! Nice show!

19
OCT

accommodation, activities, Africa, Arsenal, Botswana, Chanters, Chobe, Customers, entertainment, guests, livingstone, music, reviews, tourism, TripAdvisor, victoriafalls, wildlife, zambezi, Zambia

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