New Year Greetings from Chikankata, rural Zambia! Our long awaited family holiday has just happened after our third year of stay in Zambia. And it was fantastic!! Here are few photos of the happenings during our holiday.
Father and children playing with sun, sea, and sand in the early hours of the morning 
Sun set at Sandy Beach Lodge, Siavonga where my family and Lt.Col. Davidson Varghese's family spend most of our time
Out in the dark at night, the candle does not stop burning to light our path
Holiday run! near Chikankata Dam
The foot of Mabetubwe Hills near Chikankata, we park our vehicle and get ready for a climb
Melissa and Marcus are tougher than a father's assumption of them. They are all set to GO!
Rocks everywhere! Chikankata and its surrounding area from Mabetubwe Hills
The summit! Adrenalin flows high after such an achievement
Halfway the summit. A little moment of rest is well deserved. Jennifer, a medical student from UK is one of the team members during the climb!
Relax! This is Sandy Beach, Siavonga, Zambia. The Sandy Beach Lodge is on the banks of one of the largest man-made lake in the world called Lake Kariba, made by diverting waters of the Zambezi River. It's a wonder that while Zambia is a landlocked country they manage to have nice beaches purely out of sheer determination and hard work. The electricity generated by the Dam is even exported to its neighbouring countries. We make our holiday here
I swim again since I last did wayback in 1993 while in Blue Mount School, Behliangchhip, Jampui Hills. And I am glad I still know the basics!
Building sand castles
Row, Row, Row your boat!
Merily, Merily on the sand!
Playing shuttle
Mapuii & Lt. Col. Mariama Varghese. You can see they don't starve and Zambia does them no 'harm'!
Beach run!
Melissa and Marcus proudly display their catch of small fish
Mother and children explore the shoreline
A son has many questions which a mother has to explain
It's my turn to take them around
Eagerly waiting for a boat cruise
And finally it happens! Scary but safe in his father's arms
Lt. Col. Davidson Varghese and his daughter Edna playing a game of Chess. Such a wonderful moment!
Cricket on a beach! Very odd. No spinner (including Muralitharan) will ever succeed in bowling a single spin
Skinning a goat! It's no less challenging than my daily work in the operating room
Stage-setting for an evening Braai! The Colonel and his son Edward seem to subscribe to my suggestions
The Braai actually happens on the shore while the cool breeze blows gently
The"King Crocodile", Marcus names it, as it is the biggest among the crocs we find in the farm. They are in great demand not for their meat but for their skin
The nursery group
Crocodiles everywhere!
No lesser brave than the late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter!
Good Morning Hippos! One of the early mornings these two hippos came very close to the shore near our cabin. A very good morning for us indeed! We felt lucky
The beds where we rest for the nights after our activity-filled days
Let's get ready for a safari next time!
