The City
Livingstone, Zambia
The border town of Livingstone, Zambia is most known as the home of the Victoria Falls, aka Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translates to the smoke that thunders, one of earths most beautiful natural wonders.
While I was there primarily to visit the Falls, I was surprised to see a thriving basketball community. Due to the location, there is a rivalry between neighboring Zimbabwe.
The Run
I had two runs in Livingstone and the conditions were tough. Firstly, it was around 38C for both runs, each at different times of the day. One early-ish in the morning, the other late in the afternoon, both under stifling heat. Added to that, the court surface was old, hard, cracked cement. It felt like they both had been laid about a hundred years ago, and there was no maintenance applied to them. Incredibly, some of the players chose to run without shoes on, while I was more concerned about not rolling my ankles or injuring myself in anyway. Furthermore, I don’t think I’ve ever guzzled more water when playing than when I did in Livingstone as I was also doing my best to make sure I didn’t collapse from heat exhaustion.
The Star
One of my biggest priorities is to ensure that females feel welcome and participate in my runs because I want to be as inclusive as possible. And Sonja, the Livingstone Laser as I dubbed her proved why. She had incredible energy and passion for the game and arrived wearing a “Bucket Get-her” t-shirt and then proceeded to get many buckets. It was a really fun experience to play with her.
