The Sun Oven

Living in the bush is not easy in the way of cooking. Our electricity is unreliable at times, with different voltages and power cuts, which made our electric stove not work properly. After many discussions we got rid of it. We then switched to bottled gas that we store in tall cylinders. These are transported up from Lusaka 500 miles away each time we run out. But at times our transport guy is also unreliable and charges an arm and a leg. We have tried charcoal which all the villagers use, but it is very messy and difficult for my wife to cook with, especially if she has to cook with several of them at a time. So we did the research on solar ovens and found the best one for us. It is the Sun Oven! www.sunoven.com. We bought three and had them shipped to a team of volunteers coming from Texas to Zambia. They arrived intact with no problems.

  This is my daughter, Jasmine who will open the box and set the oven up. As you can see, it is a very strong sturdy box good enough to ship.

The oven is padded with Styrofoam. The metal you see is the mirrors which are on hinges, so don't try to pull them out. The whole thing must come out at once with the help of an assistant.

Here you can see the whole thing now out and the Styrofoam discarded.

  When you unsnap the latch, open the mirrors to reveal the inside of the oven. As you can see, there are other things inside which we have additionally purchased. We bought two pots and two bread pans. They were wrapped and packed nicely inside. 

What is inside is a DVD presentation that explains some details about the oven. Note: I knew there were more things on the DVD, so when I explored it, I found some reading material that was a help. Also there was a manual and registration card. You now can see the pots and bread pans.

Now the unpleasant thing is to peel away a blue plastic covering on the mirrors. This came off in a million pieces. 

Once all that blue plastic has been peeled off, you now have a beautiful looking oven.

This is the end result as it looks from the side. We cleaned the inside and left it in the sun for several hours to burn off any residue from the manufacturing. We have been cooking with our three Sun Ovens everyday and kicking ourselves that we didn't get more. We need two to three more for our orphanage. So far, it has reduced our energy bill massively and we are completely satisfied with our purchase. For individuals it costs $300 each. But for charities I paid  $180 not including shipping. Also any pots etc. are extra. This blog was done for free no money was given.

Back from Vacation!

Hi, sorry it has been a few months since my last entry. Went to the States and other places. But now I am back and getting into the groove.
Today a man came to the gate selling a River Nile monitor lizard. So I got it! These are usually hunted for their skins to make drums.

The Nile Monitor, Water Leguaan, or River Leguaan (Varanus niloticus) is a large member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae).Nile Monitors can grow to about 9 ft (2.7 m) in length. They have muscular bodies, strong legs and powerful jaws. The teeth are sharp and pointed in juvenile animals and become blunt and peg-like in adults. They also possess sharp claws used for climbing, digging, defense, or tearing at their prey. Like all monitors they have a forked tongue, with highly developed olfactory properties.Their nostrils are placed high on the snout, indicating that these animals are highly aquatic, but are also excellent climbers and quick runners on land. Nile Monitors feed on fish, snails, frogs, crocodile eggs and young, snakes, birds, small mammals, large insects, and carrion.

As you can see below, it takes a very skilled person to handle this monster. Like me...HA! The one who let his sharp claws to rip my pants next to my knee. Oh, well, there goes another pair of trousers.
 One thing I would be glad I had was the new gauntlets I got while in the States. It is made by Hexguard. A company that makes special gloves for handling animals and other dangerous things.

Here you can see the very dangerous claws that can just do devastation to anything it gets close to. Also the lizards tail is used a whip for defense, which my wife learned...Sad. So tomorrow I will be releasing it back into the wild to live another day.   

Rare moth

Just took a picture of a rare moth. Looked it up and it is the Snowberry clearwing moth. Hemaris diffinis
It flies like a humming bird.

Hunt for the Great Savanah Python!

A few days ago one fisherman arrived at our door asking for the white man and that he wanted to talk with me, so I came out and asked what he wanted and he said that he had laid down his fishing net in the lagoon about 2 weeks ago. Then when he returned, he found a large python entangled in his net. He became very scared and paddled his way back to home. A few days later he returned and decided to cut away as much net he could to salvage the net to make another. Then he heard about the white man who handles snakes and decided to get me. So I went in my car with the old fisherman and drove about 30min in the bush until I came close to the path to the harbor. It was another 30 min on foot through the woods. Came across a fallen tree.

Then proceeded on foot. Then he took us to his boat. There were other boats there but his looked in ok shape, Of course it is full of water so the old man dished it out.

 Then I took 6 men with me for paddling. The ride went well but was very hot. Being on the water was such a calm and peaceful experience.

  We followed what we call a canal that the canoes and boats have carved out as they have been passing for hundreds of years. From long water grass to lily pads. It was all there.

We finally made it after an hour of crossing the lagoon. We were about a few kilometers from the Congo, and entered a wall of papyrus reeds on both sides. The canal became narrower by the min. until the fisherman showed us were the net was. This is what we found.

Nothing more than a ripped up net from the monster. We did get one fish though, He took it how and ate it. By examining the net thoroughly, The python had a very difficult time weaving himself out of it for 2 weeks. With great disappointment I started back. Sometimes you win others you dont.

The water by this time was calm and was flat as glass. Easy to paddle so it took less time to return to our car. But even with the let down, I did enjoy the hunt. I got out of the house. HA!