Zambezi Kiwi

As you may recall one of the first ‘culture shock’ moments I had here involved fresh produce.

I don’t know why. Perhaps my cheese and chocolate addiction hid a secret obsession with healthy food.

The point is, I did find it terribly discouraging…until the next day when Jackie arrived.

This lady is sort of one of the heartbeats of Vic Falls. If you need something, she can source it. If there is a battle to fight with council over corruption, she’ll fight it. If there is a tree to be saved, she will save it (actually kinda essential in this hot climate).

Jackie knew I was new in town, and knew I would be facing some, well, differences.

She decided to give me a whirlwind tour of the place, and honestly, by the end of our morning I was almost singing with joy.

First stop was a fresh veggie FARM!

That’s right. Row upon glorious row of FRESH PRODUCE!!! So flipping fresh you actually walk along and order it to be plucked from the very soil for you. And it is stupidly cheap.

Lettuce, herbs, strawberries, tomatoes, the list goes on. The only catch is the need to get it home and into the fridge asap, because it will literally wilt in your hands.

I cannot tell you how delariously happy I felt to realise my produce would be fresher than I even imagined.

I’ve even discovered one just around the corner from us!

Next up, we whipped around Chinotimba, which I will tell you about another time, and discovered an electrician, general house wares store and butcher (also the supplier of fresh milk in town..it is all UHT here).

As we whipped around in her old Mazda pick up, which Jackie swears she will be buried in, she told me how she had wanted to give me the tour just to ‘soften the blow’.

There it was; another moment where I glimpsed the kindness and consideration of people here behind their tough, Mazda-driving exteriors.

Finally, up we whipped around the supermarkets and I got a closer look at exactly what was there.

Suffice to say I arrived back home armed with way too many veggies (lucky we have so many animals, more on that in the next post), and extremely, over-the-moon happy.