This post was started in the plane, then finally written while we were staying at Shiwa, over a month ago now, but it is one of several that got left out of the queue for internet access. Re-reading it brings it all back so clearly, and with some great nostalgia… It is a unique place. But first, we have to get there…
23 June 2015 A rather amazing day…
What an adventure! Seven of us are aboard what feels like a toy aeroplane. Our Proflight 10-seater aeroplane (banned as unsafe by the EU) from Lusaka provided us with a faultless flight: smooth take off and ultra smooth landing on the dried mud surface of Kasama’s ‘international airport’.
Arrivals was relaxed and incident free, and we soon met up with Tink Robey, a retired vet who, with his wife Jen, lives at Shiwa and who had offered to give us a lift there. Jen was doing a monthly shop, at Kasama’s only supermarket, Shoprite, so Tink – knowing this would be a lengthy procedure – willingly agreed to give a smart African in tie and jacket a lift into the town. We never discovered this gentleman’s name, but he was very chatty, very knowledgable about British history and professed to be particularly keen to see the Thames.
The Director was equally excited to be welcoming someone (so ancient) to his hospital and after numerous handshakes and several rounds of photos, and my proudly displaying Kasama as the place of birth on my passport to all and sundry, he ordered a nurse to take us to the original hospital. Of course, never having been back since I was born I couldn’t claim to recognise it, but I didn’t dwell on that and great happiness and welcomes were expressed all round. 
Meanwhile, back in Shoprite, poor Jen was struggling with two full trolleys, a long list of unavailable items, in a small somewhat sparsely stocked supermarket teeming with customers. Searching fruitlessly for such basics as cheese, packing up the trolleys, and consequently unpacking everything into the back of their Landrover took for ever.
We eventually, after a most welcome lunch of sandwiches and beer at a rest house, set forth for Shiwa. This was four hours of the bumpiest, dustiest drive you could imagine but despite any doubts we may have sustained we got there, in good heart and still in one (rather shaken) piece…
What a wonderful beginning! Very brave of you to fly in that toy plane…
Sue, we didn’t really have much choice when the alternative was far more tedious and possibly far more potentially dangerous on what are often very bad roads used by some fairly carefree motorists! Each flight we went on was faultless, and I really enjoyed being able to see, clearly, what we were flying over.
Hello there! Lovely reading your travels. I am sitting by my holiday pool in Bali reflecting on my youth and thought I’d Google a name from the past … Namely Tink Robey…. And found your site.
Tink and Gen are great people and they were very kind to me as a young teenager.
Please pass on my regards from Margaret River Australia if you’re in touch with them still. Thank you
And hello to you, Jamie, there in Bali! I was was delighted to hear from you (hope you’re still enjoying your pool!) and very thrilled that you had caught up with your friends Tink and Jen through the marionfsblog! Just in case they are not poring through every post I will email them with your email address and hopefully they will be in touch. I don’t think the Internet access is great for them, it certainly wasn’t when we were there but they do get through intermittently – so don’t expect an instant response! Tink and Jen were very kind to us while we were at Shiwa, and we so enjoyed their company. We would have loved the opportunity to get to know them better.
Your comment has reminded me that I still have a post about Shiwa, yet to be published, possibly some time next week…keep enjoying Bali (and Margaret River sounds okay too!).
Hello Marion,
Strangely enough I have just googled Tink Robey and came across your blog. I (and many of my colleagues) saw practice with Tink (and Jen) when we were going through vet school. They are a fantastic couple and were very inspirational to us all. Please pass on our regards,
Mike Gilmore and Jane Page
Mike, and Jane, hello there in Australia! Very happy that you found Tink and Jen through the marionfsblog. We liked them so very much when we met them at Shiwa Ngandu in Zambia, where they now live. Not surprisingly they are providing great support to Jo and Charlie Harvey, whose estate it is. I will let him know that you were trying to find news of him, but unfortunately internet access in those parts is very limited, and what there is seems most unreliable so one never knows if anything gets through. Here’s hoping…