Old cemetery, Kafue

Kafue seems to have escaped much of the massive growth that has hit Lusaka, but I suppose it is only a matter of time before it starts catching up too...

I've added some photos of gravestones from what I've been told is the 'old cemetery' at Kafue, which is just outside of the main town, going south, on the left hand side of the road. (These are being added to the main blog.)

When I first visited this site some years ago it was overgrown with mealies, but from the road it was hard to tell what was all there through the long grass. Looking at the pictures now I can see furrows in the foreground near the road, and probably that was where I saw the crop, outside of the actual graveyard, but I didn't know it at the time. Though some locals seemed eager to show me where the graveyard was, I decided not to bother on that occasion.

I returned in October 2011 on a seriously hot day, thinking about mad dogs and Englishmen and did a quick tour of the site. I didn't attempt to photograph everything, but got at least the older stones that I spotted. This time the size of the site was clearer (a few acres, I guess) and one could see crude signs nailed to trees here and there, presumably identifying parts of the graveyard in use by current churches, or perhaps just naming parts of the graveyard. There had been recent burials and scattered grass fires and the place was distinctly pongy. There was a derelict building near the track from the main road, with signs of drug use.

The two grave markers on the ground near that building are included in the pictures below. They appear to be of Stephen Musonko Mubanga 22.10.1973 - 18.8-1993 and Izabel M. Kint??? 9.?.1980 - ?.?.94.

The named parts of the graveyard I took photos of were St Charles Lwaanga, St Augustine, St Andrew St Mark and St Lawrence.

The older part of the graveyard with the European graves was closer to the road and more towards the river and town. That area seemed undisturbed and relatively overgrown (and also didn't have a name on it).

Here are some general views, showing some of the church signs and giving some idea of the scale of the place. I'm putting up some individual gravestone photos on the main blog, but I am trying to make the others available elsewhere - so far no luck.

http://a-brickwall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/last-kafue-gravestones.html
Darg-Fraser, Muller, Rossiter, Schyff, Schoeman, Stewart

http://a-brickwall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/some-more-kafue-gravestones.html
Crumplin, Gouldie, Light, Markley, Nkausu, Seaton, Surtees, Urmilla

http://a-brickwall.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/mansel-brant-lilian-maud.html
Bryant

Watch out for a large speed bump, or speed ditch, before the entrance!