zambia
Zambia
Monday 26th May 2008:
With things going so surprisingly smoothly and quickly, we were waiting for the glitch to ground us back to African border crossings...this happened on the Zambian side.
We drove off the ferry and parked up to pay all the various fees on the Zambian bank - pontoon fees, road-tax fees, carbon emmision tax, insurance etc. Firstly we paid the pontoon fee of R160 (US $20), in the one small container office, next was the road tax fee of k10 000.00 (P20.00) for Landrovers, then we got our passports stamped in for 30days, next we tried to get the carnet stamped only to hit a HUGE problem. The customs officer took one look at the carnet and said it was not valid for Zambia...hmmm. He made Ross read the printed text on the back of the carnet and he was totally correct. We had sent a list of all the countries we were to be travelling through to the RAC, when we applied for the carnet, and they had ommitted Zambia, as well as a whole lot of the other countries we have already passed through. Not something we knew to check for, but something we will definitely query with them when we stop.
Note to future overlanders...CHECK YOUR CARNET HAS ALL YOUR COUNTRIES TYPED ON THE BACK!!!
He told us to go and pay our insurance at the Insurance office over the road (P230.00 for 30days) and then come back to see what he could do. We strolled off, quite worried about what this meant as far as clearing Duz through customs was concerned. Finally with the insurance for Zambia paid for we returned to the customs officer.
Luckily so far the other officials haven't been so clued up about carnets. The offical took Ross' passport and Duzi2's details and said he'd see what he could do to get us in. Keith and Linda were also waiting hours for their documentation and a bit concerned that Keith's passport had also been handed over. After what seemed like hours of waiting, the officer appeared with a typed up document with all Duzi2's details on it and said we could enter in on this for 30days, without using the carnet at all. We just needed to pay the Carbon Emission's Tax of P272.00 for entering into Zambia and we could continue into the country. Amazingly we didn't even have to pay for this new customs document. The friendly, but highly efficient customs officer was one of the first we had come across who was just trying to ensure the correct procedures were followed, and for a change not trying to get extra cash out of us. Yay, at last we were off into Zambia (country 29) and on our way to Livingstone, and the Victotria Falls!
Livingstone isn't far from Kazungula so we drove slowly, giving Ross a bit more time to spy out the land he'd been researching on the net, while still in the UK, as a possible place to settle. Ross had been looking at the possibility of obtaining land between the road and the Zambezi along this particular stretch for a dream he has had in mind for ages. The Zambian road was really good, dead straight and lined with long golden grass and beautiful boabab related trees.
Arriving in Livingstone in the mid-afternoon we were really surprised by what we saw. A lovely new shopping centre with a Spar, Steers, Debonairs, new fuel station, etc. We drove into Maramba River Lodge to camp, which had been highly recommended to us by Jack and Shirley. Unfortunately this has changed and they no longer offer camping. We drove to Bushfront ($10p/p/night camping) a lovely spot with only 3 sites and they each have their own ablutions, Waterfront ($8p/p/night camping) where the Lodge has amazing views, but the campsite is crowded with no views. With camping prices being quite pricey we decided to keep looking. We drove into Livingstone Safari Lodge and were told camping was $6p/p/night so decided to stay here. There was a power failure and the place was beautifully lit with little fairy lights. Due to it being so late, we treated ourselves to very yummy Debonairs pizzas, back in town at the shopping centre, for dinner and headed to bed very soon afterwards, both feeling rather exhausted.
Tuesday 27th May 2008: Livingstone Safari Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia
GPS Info: S17° 52' 49.7" E25° 52' 11.5"
Miles Today: 9 Total Miles: 24 208
After waking up and going through our morning routines, we met a friendly German couple, next door to us in the campsite, who were hiring a fully kitted Landy for a week to travel around in, we thought the hiring company (Livingstone 4x4 Hire) might have some link to the Foleys in the UK.After this we went for an exploratory walk around Livingstone Safari Lodge in the early morning and were saddened by it's state of ruin and disrepair. The ablutions that we had to use for camping were disgusting, with mouldy water running out of the toilets into the showers, and there was no hot water contrary to what we had been told the night before. The grass everywhere was dying or dead and the buildings had been neglected and were looking very shabby. It looked totally different in daylight as opposed to when we had arrived last night. Ross read through a few diary updates while Heidz did a few sudokus. After sitting in the car for ages contemplating just driving off without paying for this rather shabby and decrepid place, we relented and went to reception to pay, waiting for ages for someone to acknowledge us and take the payment. We were eventually asked by someone what price we had been quoted last night, as their usual camping fee was US $10p/p/night. A COMPLETE RIP OFF!!! We only paid the $6.00 we had been quoted and gladly drove off, never wanting to return. Sometimes we struggle to see the benefit in being honest.
We drove into Livingstone to find Foley's Africa, to ask about replacing our sliced spare tyre and to get more washers and bushes for the shocks. They couldn't help with tyres, and we have really big tyres, so he thought we'd have a problem trying to replace it. Ian, the owner, said he would phone around for us and if we bought Duzi2 in early tomorrow morning he'd weld up the shock mounting holes, which had worn a lot bigger and redrill them as he thought they might be too big to just put washers in. On our way out of Foley's we spotted Zambezi Tyre Centre next door and thought we'd try in there to see what they recommended. We met the owner Nico, a very friendly Frenchman, who agreed that our tyres would be a problem to match let alone replace. He didn't think we'd be able to get a BF Goodridge Mud Terrain 255x85xR16 in Zambia at all, recommending we try in Kampala, Uganda as a possibly better option. We have bigger than standard tyres and this would be the problem, because the standard size is 235x75xR16 or 265x75xR16. He took out a whole variety of tyres to try and match as an emergency spare, but each of these were still pricey. We chatted to him for ages. He is an amazing guy and a top French white water paddler. Ross noticed a paddle in his office and then he told us that he had just recently paddled on the Ivindo River, from Makokou to Booue in Gabon. He invited us to see his photos and we chatted about Gabon for ages. Nico also owns and runs Bundu Adventures, the only white water rafting company running at the moment with the Zambezi water being as high as it is. Bundu Adventures are running half day rafting from rapid no.14 to 25, as the rapids up river from 1 to 13 are far too dangerous, with the water levels being as high as they are currently. None of the other companies are prepared to start here, but only run from rapid no.1, so can't open until the level drops a lot more. Nico very generously offered us such a hugely discounted price to raft tomorrow morning that we couldn't refuse. It was a quarter of the normal price, basically just covering food costs, but on the understanding that we may not get to paddle, but just sit in the front of the raft and hold on, if he got more people signed on before tomorrow morning. Yay! Yay! Yay! We're going white river rafting on the Zambezi, something Heidz has always wanted to do, and something Ross has never done before! Nico also recommended we try Jolly Boys Backpackers to stay for the night and Bundu would pick us up from there tomorrow morning at 7.45am. He said he'd see us on the river tomorrow morning, as he was planning to paddle as another safety boat as there was a big group of 24 booked, with us making it 26.
We stopped in at the Spar shopping centre to buy a Celtel - Zambia simcard (k5 000) and recharge pack so we should be able to be in communication again. We have given our Namibian MTC sim to Mom and Dad to use, while they're in Namibia, but have no idea what the number is, so have to ask Lynn to forward everything on to them for us. Not the brightest of moves.
We drove into Jolly Boys ($5p/p/night to camp) which looked very nice, but a real backpacker joint. There was no provision for rooftop tents, other than camping in the main carpark, which we weren't too keen on doing especially as we were going to be away for most of the day tomorrow. Their ablutions are lovely, clean and bright. We also weren't too sure if we would be allowed to cook our own food in the main carpark. The place is nice, clean and vibey and a good alternative, but we didn't feel it would suit us.
Next we drove to Fawlty Towers ($5p/p/night to camp) which looked nice, but we couldn't fit under the main entrance door with the rooftop tent on. We were shown a back carpark to camp in if we wanted to stay. They have free WIFI and at least we were out of the way and safe, so we decided to stay here. We hadn't been able to change money over and they were happy to accept payment in Pula, luckily. We phoned Nico to find out if tomorrows rafting was still on and to let him know we were staying at Fawlty Towers now. At Fawlty Towers, campers have simple ablutions with lovely hot showers and have a kitchen to use for cooking in, with an oven. The Hippo restaurant alongside was pumping, with loud music blaring so we decided to make full use of the WIFI and downloaded our emails, which we had last done in Maun. There seemed to be a lot of American backpacker girls staying here.
We had a very simple toast and tinned tomato/spaghetti and sweetcorn dinner and flopped into bed.
Wednesday 28th May 2008: Fawlty Towers, Livingstone, Zambia
GPS Info: S17° 51' 16.1" E25° 51' 14.7"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 24 208
We were both up very early to be ready for our white water rafting collection at 7.50am. We heard the church bells ringing in town at 6.30am. The big yellow open Bundu Adventures truck pulled up and we set off, picking up others on the way. It was FREEZING. We were only wearing our shorts and T-shirts instead of bringing warm clothing with us for this part of the trip, to stop us freezing. We met a few people on the truck and after about half an hour we arrived at Rapid 14 campsite, where the walk into the Zambezi gorge began. There was an amazing veggie garden that we could see in the distance. We also noticed a sign for Overland Missions, which are involved in community development, etc. so Potato told us. We got our safety talk by Potato (Mazambaan), who has a fantastic sense of humour and fun. We signed the indemnity waiver and got our life jacket, helmet and paddle before setting off on the steep walk down the gorge to the river far below. This walk down follows a path which is full of lots of loose rocks and little stones. Our paddles came in handy as walking and support sticks. Unfortunately about half way down, an American lady in front of Heidz slipped and fell on her wrist before rolling a short way down. She was in shock and pain and her wrist looked dislocated. We managed to keep her warm and talk to her, trying to find out about what and where exactly was sore. She had grazes on her arms, but her wrist didn't seem to swell up as we had expected, although it was at a very strange angle. Some of the Bundu guys arrived shortly afterwards and radioed for the medical kit to be sent up from the river. They were going to splint her arm and walk her back up to the vehicle before taking her to the hospital to have it x-rayed and properly checked out. Sadly this was the end of her white water rafting trip.
We carried on down, amazed at the beauty of the gorge and the mighty Zambezi. When we reached the bottom, we were surprised to see a dead hippo lying on the rocks next to the river. Apparently this hippo had fallen over the falls a few days before and this part of the river is the first place where things falling over the falls get caught in eddy currents pulling them to the bank, about 9km downstream from the Victoria Falls. This was the second hippo so far this season. Last year six elephants had been washed over. Crocs are washed over quite regularly. It was sad to see, but so wonderful for the local people who were busy cutting up the dead hippo for food to feed the entire village. The local people believe that God will provide for them from the river and this hippo seemed proof of this.
We were on a raft with Potato as our guide and 7 of us rafters - us two, Tom and Sarah, Andrea, Celine and her boyfriend. There were guys pumping up the rafts with hand-pumps and everyone was relaxing on the little beach, getting ready for their adventurous day ahead. In the rafts and on the water, each crew was taken through all the various commands and told more safety advice. We were introduced to the safety paddlers in their plastics and told where to grab onto if we were in the water being rescued. Nico appeared in his plastic looking as calm as ever, as he'd come down from upstream. We hadn't paddled far when we pulled into a rock face and were told we were to climb up a rocky section on the riverbank and jump off the rocks and into the water. There was a varience of height to jump from: low, middle and high. Each of us had a countdown and jumped into the refreshing water, which was good to break the ice and to test who was confident in water. Ross did the high jump, which was far too high for Heidz although she did try to attempt it before freezing and going down to the middle rock.
All wet and refreshed we jumped back into our rafts and headed into our first rapid called 'Surprise, Surprise', then onto 'The Washing Machine', 'The Terminator', 'Double Trouble', 'Oblivion, 'The Last Straw', 'Morning Shave', 'Morning Shower' and the others. The water was huge with enormous troughs and huge stopper waves. At times Potato would shout 'Forward', and we'd literally have no water below us to paddle forward in, but a huge wave in front of us that was about to crash over us. We had a great raft of people who all paddled hard and loved every minute of our time on the river. Potato steered brilliantly and often he steered us into the big holes and choppy white water smiling with glee. No one fell off the raft, even though some of us did go for cool off swims when Potato said it was safe to do so, and we didn't flip once especially as we saw a leguan and a croc sunning themselves on the rocks along our paddle. So much for crocs not liking fast flowing, deep water! We stopped on a beautiful beach along the way for a leg stretch and found out that Andrea and Tom and Sarah were both on their honeymoons. Andrea had got married a week before in SA and her new hubby had opted out of the rafting trip, while Tom and Sarah had got married in London and were on a surprise holiday, with Sarah having no clue of what was happening next.
We paddled the last few rapids with huge smiles, loving being at the front of the raft, being instructed to go there by Potato. Sadly our wonderful day on the river came to an end. We had all loved the water, riding the rapids and the amazingly beautiful scenery in the gorge. We had a steep climb up out of the gorge which Heidz's legs struggled with. At the top we each got a cold drink and a delicious lunch spread.
We caught the truck back to Fawlty Towers and got there just in time to get ONE free pancake and something hot to drink. So much for their advert of free pancakeS (plural)... To try and stretch out our legs we decided to walk to Kubu Crafts and browse their selection of curios for sale. Back at Fawlty's campers' kitchen, we cooked up some wors accompanied by a healthy salad for an early dinner and met Johannes and Marthe, a Dutch couple who are travelling for 2 months. Johannes is a doctor who has worked in Malawi for a few weeks and Marta flew out to travel with him for a bit. They were such fun to talk to.
We checked emails outside and whilst doing this, we heard and saw a familiar face, Dr. Steve from Lubango, Angola. He and Paul had been travelling for 920km today and were exhausted. It was amazing to see him again. We headed off to bed and were relieved that Hippo restaurant's music seemed to be low and almost unnoticable. Both of us had had an amazing day and were quite tired by the time we got into bed.
Thursday 29th May 2008: Fawlty Towers, Livingstone, Zambia
GPS Info: S17° 51' 16.1" E25° 51' 14.7"
Miles Today: 20 Total Miles: 24 228
We were up early again as we needed to be at Foley's soon after 8am, for them to look at and work on Duzi2's shocks and chassis mountings. We said farewell to Steve and Paul and wished them safe travels back home. Who knows, we may meet up with him again somewhere along the line.
With Duz raised up and with all her/his wheels off it was easy to see why the shock mountings were rattling. Two of the chassis mounting holes had worn to nearly double their original size, so needed to be welded up and redrilled, while the other two holes were still fine. Each shock needed new rubber bushes and washers. Ian walked with Ross doing an inspection of Duzi2's belly and it all seemed fine, still not being able to find the elusive rattles. We were at Foley's until after lunchtime and then went straight on to Nico at Zambezi Tyre Centre to buy our new tyre. Nico wasn't there as he was paddling with some children on the river, and with neither of us being totally sure which tyre he had suggested as a replacement, we decided to rather return tomorrow when he would be there.
We also wanted to try and get to a bank to change our Botswanan Pula into Zambian Kwacha, but still had no joy as the banks were closed and we weren't convinced by the low Bureaux de Change rate. We briefly looked around the SuperSpar centre at the various shops, popping into the bookshop for a very quick peek. While we were in Spar getting some lunch goodies, a man in dungarees with a little blonde girl came over to us, asking if we were the ones with the Landrover Defender. This was Phil and Sahara. We said yes it was us and he then asked if we would like to come out to camp at his campsite called Rapid 14, for free. He told us they have WIFI too, if we needed to use the internet, so to please come over later. Wow, so amazing!
We finished shopping and had a Steers soft serve ice-cream in a cone, before setting off to Rapid 14 Campsite, following their new blue and white reflective signs. We arrived and were met by Sharon and Laura. Sharon is Phil's wife and she gave us a tour of Rapid 14 campsite and the Overland Missions set-up, with Vaughn and Laura accompanying us. They have an incredible view over the gorge and the Zambezi far below. They have been working really hard on the vast amount of land they have and have a staff team of 36, with 20 students doing a 3 month advanced mission training course. We met Phil and Ciaran in the enormous workshop and were invited to join them for a cup of tea later. Sharon continued the tour, showing us what has already been accomplished and what is still proposed. We stopped in at the three teams of students who had a bush cooking night, having to cook dinner in the bush using as many of the ingredients in the box they had been given. Each group had different ingredients and each group was doing really well. Tomorrow night they are apparently cooking a three course meal for everyone, bush style. We came back into the main thatched building/hall/lodge and chatted to Sharon, Phil, Vaughn, Ciaran and others. Everyone was so friendly, smiley and welcoming.
We were strongly encouraged to stay until Saturday as the Super 14 rugby final will be shown on the big screen. Phil showed us a good spot to camp, not too far from the ablutions and encouraged us to join them all for dinner in the main building when the bell outside the kitchen clangs. We each had a lovely hot shower and enjoyed a delicious chicken ceasar salad, made from totally home grown produce. We checked email and chatted to lots of people. Dan, Jo, Ciaran and others had driven down the east coast of Africa recently, from Holland to Zambia, bringing down two big trucks to be used by Overland Missions. Ciaran is a South African from Jo'burg, Phil is also originally from SA, Sharon is Brazilian, Vaughn is originally English now living in New York, but everyone else is American or Canadian.
After lots of chatting and not too much internet or update catching up, we went to bed. Just before going to bed however, Dan asked us if we wouldn't mind speaking to the students tomorrow morning about our trip, the things we've learnt along the way and a bit about the countries, etc. Why not, we would LOVE to be able to pass on anything we've learnt and hope God will use us to teach them something.
It was cold with the sky totally clear. We noticed a really bright star in the sky tonight which was very big and obvious.
Friday 30th May 2008: Rapid 14 Campsite, Livingstone, Zambia
GPS Info: S17° 58' 38.8" E25° 53' 12.0"
Miles Today: 25 Total Miles: 24 253
We were both a little bit nervous about doing our talk as we had very little time to prepare and haven't spoken formally about our trip yet. We also had a time limit and have SO much to tell. With the laptop and photos to show, we hoped the students would receive something from us. Everyone listened patiently and we survived. Time however ran out, so we flipped very quickly through some photos, but hopefully those who want to see more will go onto the site and look there. The views over the gorge were spectacular this morning.
We packed up our tent and drove to the Victoria Falls to see the falls when the rainbows are supposed to be visible. It costs k12 000 ($3) to park and $10p/p entry fee. We put the camera into its waterproof case and were thankful to have this so we could hopefully get some lovely photos. We stopped and looked at the monument honouring the Northern Rhodesian's lost fighting in the 1st World War, then we went on to the Livingstone monument honouring Dr David Livingstone, the first European to discover the Victoria Falls in 1759, naming them after his Queen. At this point the camera battery ran dead, but luckily, being still just inside the entrance gate, we were able to get another from the car, where Heidz met another couple who have travelled the same route as us, also having left the UK in October 2007. Sadly we don't have any contact details for them.
We then bumped into Johannes and Marthe who advised us to do the knife edge / eastern butress walk early, as we would get drenched and then would still have time to dry out before we left. They warned us that we would get totally soaked. We walked around in awe of the huge volume of water pounding over the falls. The spray was totally drenching and we were soaked through in only a few minutes. Due to there being so much spray, it was difficult to see the actual falls. The water fell in waves like a windy rainstorm. They do hire out raincoats, umbrellas and slops, but we decided to enjoy getting wet and to sing in the rain. There were rainbows everywhere which was so beautiful. We stopped off at the view points and each time were blown away by the beauty before us. We walked across the bridge onto the island (eastern cataract) on the Zambian side to walk along the side of the Falls. From here we could see the bridge that links Zambia to Zimbabwe where the bungy jumpers jump from, but none were jumping at the time. We took lots of photos and couldn't believe we were actually at the Victoria Falls and getting totally soaked by all its spray. We crossed back onto the mainland and enjoyed the sunshine, drying out and warming up. We walked a little way up the falls to the top where you could see the drop of the falls and then climbed down a long path to the Boiling Pot at the foot of the falls before the Zambezi goes under the Zim/Zam bridge. This is also known as Rapid no.1. This is a whirl pool of angry water at the moment, but is where the rafting starts during the dry, low water season. We climbed back up, which was excellent for Heidz' tight legs after Wednesday's gorge descent and ascent. At one stage we stood in the middle of a baboon family moving past and seemed to be totally ignored by them, having the priviledge of observing them doing their normal thing from so close. One of the mother baboons had a tiny baby which she was suckling right next to us, while the youngsters chased each other and fell out of the trees around us. The big males sat with their backs to us, also completely ignoring us, which was great.
From the Boiling Pot we walked along the Zambian side to the bridge and saw one person bungy jump. We got back to Duzi2 all dry and feeling thoroughly clean. The security guard ran out from the ticket office to tell us to wait until 6pm, to see the sunset over the falls, which he highly recommended. So sweet of him to tell us this. We needed to get to Zambezi Tyre Centre though to buy our tyre and then to get back to Rapid 14 campsite before it got too dark.
We met Nico and bought our new second spare tyre (a Wrangler 265x75xR16), slightly smaller than what we currently have, but will do as a second spare in extreme emergencies. We swopped our first spare, to be mounted on the back door instead of on the roof. Nico showed us his photos of his paddling trip down the Ivindo River in Gabon. The waterfalls were so beautiful and and they were lucky enough to see forest elephant, and forest buffalo along their trip. He also showed us a video clip about some travellers driving through Gabon and Cameroon, in the rainy season - MAD! We were so lucky to be able to meet and get to know Nico, a really nice guy.
We arrived and parked back in our same spot at Rapid 14 campsite and were welcomed in to join in the bush-cooked feast of chicken teriyaki and green beans, fresh bread and chocolate brownies to be eaten by candle light. The students had done SO well and the meal was delicious. After dinner we joined in a praise and worship time and heard a challenging talk from Vaughn. Rachel had made her famous chocolate brownies for everyone before she left to return to the States tomorrow. Enjoying the brownies and something hot to drink we chatted to Stephen, who hopefully we'll be able to meet up with again in Natal towards the end of our trip, when his dad will be flying out to travel around with him for a bit. We met Theresa after the praise and worship session and sat chatting to her for a bit. She is a lovely smiley, very gentle girl who has an amazing artistic talent. She doesn't know why she's in Africa other than being obedient to God calling her here. We joined in watching "National Treasure 2" on the big screen in the main building, which was a good escape. The movie ended really late or early in the morning and we were glad to snuggle into the tent to warm up for a good night's sleep.
Saturday 31st May 2008: Rapid 14 Campsite, Livingstone, Zambia
GPS Info: S17° 58' 38.8" E25° 53' 12.0"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 24 253
The Super14 rugby final was being shown on the big screen upstairs in the meeting hall - Warritars vs Crusaders, which the Crusaders won. We typed up some updates and chatted to many of the students and teams, answering questions and finding out about them. All the people at Overland Mission are so wonderful. We feel like we've been accepted into a close loving family. Ross thought he'd spotted a new croc on the rocks in the gorge, but Ciaran said that it had been there a while already. He told us that the witch doctors use croc bones as a curse to kill people, so the local people are very superstitious of crocs and don't eat their meat. There was very little left of the hippo that had been found when we went white river rafting, and from the top we could see the white bones of last years ellies that had fallen over the falls. It was only when we saw people below us on the rocks in the gorge that the true scale and size of the gorge became apparent. It's huge and we are so high up standing looking over the top.
After lunch the round-robin volley ball tournament began, which produced some serious competition and lots of laughs. Ross played in a team with Phil, Vaughn, Seth, Jamie and Paul. There were four teams and they played many times. Jamie was so tiny in comparison to the rest of her team, but full credit to her for her valiant effort and enthusiasm to play as often as she could in just about every game. After much physical exertion in the hot Zambian heat, everyone enjoyed a cooldrink and a good shower to wash off the sand, accumulated from the numerous dives and falls. It was amazing to watch a full-on volleyball match played in beachsand, one side grey sand and the other side red sand, in the middle of the African bush. It's also amazing to have had the priviledge of experiencing this warm 'home' in our trip.
Ross made a fire and cooked our yummy chicken flatty with garlic and red wine sauce, done with potatoes, butternut and garlic bread. It was very yummy, but got quite cold under the amazing star filled sky. We went through to the main building/hall to check emails and recharge the laptop using mains while the generator was on. Just about everyone was online with their laptops, it was quite weird to see. There was much banter, fun and laughter going on amongst everyone. Jamie and Charlie were just about in hysterics. Some people were watching Bourne Supremacy on the big screen upstairs and we were told there is a third in the series called Bourne Ultimatum. We'll have to try and see this sometime when we're finished the trip.
Andrew came over to show us his photos of his Landrover Discovery and some of his hectic off-road driving in the States. Dan came over for a quick chat before going to bed, Jo came to find out if he'd see us again or if we were leaving tomorrow, and Thad wanted to know our website and see some more photos.
We both had sore throats this evening and couldn't wait to snuggle in bed to warm up, with all the flaps of the tent rolled down to try and make us as warm and snug as we could be.
Sunday 1st June 2008: Rapid 14 Campsite, Livingstone, Zambia
GPS Info: S17° 58' 38.8" E25° 53' 12.0"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 24 253
We both woke up with sore throats probably from all the fun of being totally soaked for so long at Vic Falls the other day. We saw all the students go off in one of the Overland Mission's trucks to church in town where Vaughn was preaching. We had decided to stay and use today as a typing day to try and get all our updates done, and then to upload them onto the website tonight, when the generator is on, together with our photos taken so far. This is a rather big task to have set ourselves, but will be fantastic once it has been done.
We had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast and spent the day typing. Ross gave himself a haircut, which he's been wanting to do for a while. We met the other campers, an Australian couple who had bought a fully kitted Landrover Defender 130 from Howick in SA and are travelling around for 4 months before returning to Australia. They did the gorge walk down to the river and back, which we did when we did our rafting .
Ross did our washing while Heidz spent the day typing up updates to hopefully post tonight. Jamie and cute little Lucinda came to visit and to look inside the rooftop tent. We watched the sunset from in front of the main building enjoying a cup of tea with Vaughn and our Aussie neighbours. Phil and Ciaran later joined us for a cup of coffee and a chat.
We enjoyed dinner with our newly adopted 'family' and chatted to Mary and Thad, who were very interested in our trip and wanted to see more photos. We had hoped to Skype Mom and Paps, but Skype now has a "super-mode" which takes up the entire bandwidth. This was not possible with so many people on the net at the same time. We tried to upload updates, but all too quickly it came time for the generator to be turned off and thus the internet too. We had hot showers to thaw out and warm up, before climbing into the tent.
Monday 2nd June 2008: Rapid 14 Campsite, Livingstone, Zambia
GPS Info: S17° 58' 38.8" E25° 53' 12.0"
Miles Today: 129 Total Miles: 24 382
This morning we went through to where everyone was eating breakfast in the main building, to say good-bye before classes started and everyone went their seperate ways for their various tasks. It was horrible saying good-bye to everyone even though we haven't known them very long. We've felt so welcome and accepted. We went back to the tent and began packing up, filling up water, etc. Eventually after more good-byes and numerous visits from people to the car to say good-bye we were ready to leave. Dan prayed for us and for a full healing for Ross, who was feeling particularly under the weather. We took photos and had photos taken and will miss these guys a lot. Hopefully we will be able to meet up with some of them again somewhere in SA or in Zambia or somewhere else in Africa sometime in the future.
We drove to the Spar centre to change money, buy fresh bread and try to upload a few more edited updates. In Spar they provide WIFI free for their customers, so we had some lunch while we uploaded. The connection is quite slow and the laptop battery died before we could upload too much. From Spar we stopped off at the Zambian Wildlife Authority office to enquire about the southern road up to Kafue National Park and general park conditions, to see how wet the park is at the moment. We spoke to a ranger / tracker who had just come down from Kafue. He told us the road is bad, but with a Landrover would be fine, but the road north in the park is flooded and wet still. With this knowledge we decided to rather enter Kafue NP in the middle from Lusaka, on the good tar road.
The main road leaving Livingstone on the way to Lusaka is shocking. The potholes are huge and the cars, buses and trucks drive everywhere to avoid the huge holes. Huge clouds of dust get kicked up behind them, when they drive on the sandy bits on the road shoulder. This was a horrible drive and quite stressful. Ross was still not feeling great so, after taking medication, somehow managed to sleep through all the bumps and holes. It got dark quickly and we decided bush camping wasn't an option as it was too populated and too dark to find a good spot. On Tracks for Africa we saw a campsite called Gwembe Safari Lodge (k20 000p/p/night camping) so decided to pull in there for the night.
There were lots of lovely dogs here, so we knew we would be safe. No one was in the office when we arrived so we chose our spot, had some soup and bread for supper and a hot shower. One very cute little Jack Russel male, who still smelt like a puppy, became our closest friend. He didn't want to leave us even when we went to shower. We played with him and another little jackie before flopping into bed. It was cold and we were both very grateful to have the sleeping bag under the duvet to make us extra snug.
Happy birthday Sarah. We hope you have a fantastic day and that your wedding plans are going well. We know this will be a dream year for you as you marry your man.
Tuesday 3rd June 2008: Gwembe Safari Lodge, Choma, Zambia
GPS Info: S16° 48' 23.7" E26° 57' 06.0"
Miles Today: 73 Total Miles: 24 455
We were woken up early by a lady asking us to pay. Gwembe is a rather strange place, but it was safe, quiet and had clean ablutions. We paid our k40 000 for camping and then were greeted by two familiar faces from Livingstone Safari Lodge, the friendly German couple, Simone and Sascha (www.roundafrica.de). They had been in an accident and had rolled their Landrover hire-car twice yesterday afternoon. Amazingly they were both fine with a few seatbelt bruises, but not much more. They showed us their car and it was incredible to see them with so little injury after the state of their Landy. They had tried to overtake a truck and lost control, rolling twice. Their stuff flew out the back side window and their roof and front side bars were crunched, but they had still managed to drive the car to Gwembe for the night. Simone had been driving so had had to go to the police to report the accident. They had fined her for negligent driving and the whole thing sounded too awful. They hadn't managed to sleep last night and had come to ask us if we could take them to Lusaka. The car hire company would collect their car later in the week, but they needed to get to Lusaka to give the hire company the police reports, etc. and they were catching a train to Tanzania on Friday.
We made space for them and were only too happy to have such lovely company in Duzi2. We had hoped to go to Lake Kariba before heading to Lusaka, so posed our plan to them, who were only too happy to see it too. They had also planned to go via the lake and slowly make their way to Lusaka, so at least we were all able to see a bit more of Zambia before we got to Lusaka. We packed our clothes boxes on the roof together with one of their backpacks and fitted everything else in wherever it would fit. We decided to head to Sinazongwe and hopefully find an affordable campsite there, rather than driving back towards Maamba.
On our way to Kariba we were stopped at a police check and fined k54 000 for not having reflective tape on the front of Duzi2! We didn't know we needed it on for Zambia, knowing we needed it for Kenya. We took out our two reflective disks which even have KENYA printed on the back. This didn't satisfy the police officer. He only fined us for not having white reflectives on the front as the back has lots of red reflective tape. Both feeling very disappointed for paying our first fine and having NOT read or been told about the need to have reflective tape on by anyone, we were both very disappointed. Wait until we find our tape...Duzi2 will look like a reflective Christmas tree!
After lots of chatting and more potholed tar roads, we could see we were approaching Lake Kariba. The vegetation was very green and different to what we've seen so far in Zambia. Ladies were wearing brightly coloured wraps around their waists and through the hills we could see the blue glow of the lake. We past through small busy villages, with huts made from mud and thatch. We drove through a vegetable market and past some local wooden curios and furniture. Both of us felt like we were driving along the road down to Shongweni Dam. We got our first glimpse of the vast blue Lake Kariba, but were all reminded of how crocodile and hippo infested it's waters were, so not to even be tempted to go for a swim. We followed signs to Lake View, which ended up at a rather deserted and neglected place with stunning views of the lake right on the lake shore. It had some lovely looking chalets, but the campsite didn't have ablutions that worked and lacked a lake view. We decided to rather try The Houseboat Company to see if they had camping. We were warmly and cheerfully met by Wayne, the Aussie owner. He told us he did have a campsite just opposite from where we had just come from and could camp there for free. He told us to chat to John, who would be there, about anything we needed and hoped to come over with his wife a bit later for a drink and a chat. We saw one of his big houseboats which look wonderful if you are in a big group of people.
Following Wayne's directions we arrived at a beautifully lawned campsite with an ablution block and amazing views of the lake. We parked Duzi2 in our spot while Sascha and Simone chose their spot for their ground tent. We unpacked, boiled the kettle and enjoyed something hot to drink to warm us up. There was a strong, cold wind blowing so we loved our hot drinks. Ross and Sascha went hunting for firewood and were met by John with a wheelbarrow load of dry sticks for us for our fire. We had hot showers and sat around the perfect fire braaiing boerewors with rice, salad and ratatouille. We chatted and found out more about each other. We couldn't have found lovelier, more easy going people to travel with. This was such a good change for both of them and kept their minds far off their recent accident.
Happy birthday Jenny. We hope you have a very special day and are spoilt by your hubby Garth.
Wednesday 4th June 2008: The Houseboat Company campsite, Sinazongwe, Lake Kariba, Zambia
GPS Info: S17° 16' 05.8" E27° 28' 04.4"
Miles Today: 211 Total Miles: 24 666
We woke to the most beautiful view of Lake Kariba from three windows. We had all slept well and loved the sound of the waves gently lapping against the shore. Simone and Sascha thought their tent bag had been stolen so John, the amazing staff representative, ran back to Wayne who later arrived with John, the night watchman, a police officer, the local chief's man and his big dog. Unfortunately while John was away, we all hunted around for it and Sascha found it, 'traveller's brains' as they called it. With the bakkie load of people Wayne roared up only to be told it was a false alarm. This was good news for all concerned and everyone was relieved as there has never been any kind of incident here before.
We packed up and drove the fairly long drive into Lusaka. The drive out from Lake Kariba reminded us both of driving out from Shongweni Dam. We passed many colourfully dressed people and lots of people on their bicycles or pushing their bikes up the really steep, long hills. The little children must have finished school because they were in uniform and all along the roadside waving as we drove past. It was so lovely chatting and laughing with Simone and Sascha in Duzi2. We all got on so well and it was so special to be able to share this part of Zambia with them, especially after their accident.
After many police checks, some stopping us and some merely smiling and waving us through, we arrived in Lusaka in the late afternoon and were bought back to the reality of African cities very quickly. We managed to totally confuse the one policeman with all our paperwork, about why we were not displaying our license disk, that he eventually let us go - as he should have. The police at the checks seem to be determined to fine you for something, anything, no matter what when they do stop you! In Lusaka, people were driving everywhere, but at least here they indicate! Simone and Sascha wanted us to drop them off at Chachacha Backpackers so they could set up their tent and still go into the carhire place before it was too late. As we drove in to Chachacha, we recognised a very familiar blue Landy which we both knew from following on Big Sky's website for many months, when Martin and Debbie were driving down 4 years ago...it was Maggie, their landy. We met Jamie and Charlene (www.nomad-adventures.com), Maggie's new owners, who have also been driving down the West of Africa, but they shipped Maggie from Ghana to Cape Town. They were looking for a suitable place to stay with a rooftop tent as Chachacha isn't really. We swopped details, took photos and hope to meet up somewhere along the way in the next few weeks or months.
Very sadly we said good-bye to Sascha and Simone as they are going into Tanzania by train on Friday. We had such a wonderful time with them and were so lucky to have been able to get to know them and travel with them. We hope to meet them again in the future somewhere in Africa or in Germany. We also pray that things will go smoothly with all the car paperwork and with their next 3 weeks in Tanzania.
We had planned to stay at Eureka Camping (k20 000p/p/night camping) for the night, but when we drove in through the game fence, decided to stay for at least two to give us time to recover and beat our colds. We saw a white landy parked with all its contents and boxes unpacked and it's owners, a young Afrikaans couple cleaning and being very busy inside. We a late lunch and went over to say hello. Yolandie and Neels(www.grondpad.blogspot.com) recognised Duzi2 from Burkina Faso! They had seen Duz parked outside a shop in Burkina in December and have been following our website to help them get ready for their 6 month trip. They have been working in the mines in Burkina for the past year and have finished work, bought and kitted out their landy, Hazel, in 6 weeks and are 2 weeks into their trip up part of the east coast of Africa. They had just been in Kafue National Park and were shocked by the high park fees, lack of game and shyness of the little game they did see, due to poaching. They were in the middle of a reshuffle and sort out, which brought back many memories of us at that time of our trip.
As the sun set, the temperature dropped quickly. We closed up all the flaps, had hot showers and wrapped up warmly. We had a curried mince and spaghetti dinner and headed into the tent to watch the excellent movie 'Amazing Grace', about the abolition of slavery in England lead by William Wilberforce. It is so cold in the evenings at the moment that we even have one down sleeping bag opened up under the duvet to keep us warm and we sleep with all the flaps down.
Thursday 5th June 2008: Eureka Camping Park, Lusaka, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 30' 11.4" E28° 15' 55.2"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 24 666
Today is our rest and catch up day. With Ross still not feeling well and sounding very blocked up and Heidz also not feeling 100% it was so nice to have the day to just sleep and stop. We woke up early to a lovely day, even if it was bit chilly. We chatted to Yolandie and Neels before they set off towards a lake somewhere near the Livingstone memorial off the Great Eastern highway. It was so lovely to meet them and we wish them a wonderful 6 months as they live their dream.
We had pancakes for brunch and then enjoyed an afternoon snooze, while Heidz typed up more updates. Eureka is such a lovely, quiet, relaxing place with shade and space. We saw impala, waterbuck, zebra etc walking around the perimeter fence and there are also cute Jack Russel dogs, one of which adopted us as her family for the day. We chatted to another SA man travelling with his son, who is doing research on bio-fuels. Unfortunately this man was having a bit of a problem with the monkeys getting into his chalet.
Today was sunny and dry, but there was a cool breeze blowing so we made sure we were both wrapped up snug. Ross slept most of the afternoon, which is exactly what he's needed. While Heidz was typing in the tent, she thought she heard someone riding a horse along the path, only to see a zebra in the campsite happily grazing on the grass. Not long after spotting the one zebra, did she see five other zebra also grazing happily before being chased out of the campsite grounds by a staff member.
Today was a treat and something we've both needed. We slept and stopped and hopefully will beat our colds and get better soon, so we can go to Chimfunshi in a few days time. If we are sick, we won't be allowed in as we can infect the chimps, which will be a real shame.
While supper was on the go, Ross went to town making Duzi2 really reflective. Woe betide any policeman who wants to fine us now! It's a good thing to have Duz reflective and should certainly help making us visible, but we won't blend in with the bush in a bushcamp. Kevin came over to chat to us, his dad had spoken to us earlier on today. He is very keen to do a trip through Africa one day, especially doing the West coast. He also asked if we'd met African Surfers, who have apparently just arrived back in the UK, and told us he had met Justin and Becki (www.jandbdoafrica.com) in Popa Falls a few years ago when they were doing their drive down. What a small world. After supper we watched a bit of a Discovery Channel documentary on a lion pride in Mala Mala in the warmth of the bar and then headed for bed as it was freezing.
Friday 6th June 2008: Eureka Camping Park, Lusaka, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 30' 11.4" E28° 15' 55.2"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 24 666
Still not feeling 100% we decided to stay another day at Eureka and try to recover fully, finish editing our updates, do our photos, and hopefully head into Lusaka to an internet cafe to upload them all onto the web. We relaxed with our new adopted dog friend, who even got into the shower cubicle with Heidz. We took things easy today and now hope to head north tomorrow. We are still debating whether it's worth going through Kafue National Park after all the negative reports we've heard lately, or rather drive to the copperbelt and Chimfunshi on the good tar road and spend two nights or more around South Luangwa National Park, rather than in Kafue...hmmm.
The zebras made their appearance back in the camp grounds at around lunchtime, only to be herded out quite promptly after entering in through the main gate. Spent the day editing and resting. We had a yummy pesto pasta dinner and are both feeling much better.
Saturday 7th June 2008: Eureka Camping Park, Lusaka, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 30' 11.4" E28° 15' 55.2"
Miles Today: Total Miles: 24 666
Our thoughts and prayers are with Mom and Paps and the Spence side of the family today as they remember our incredible Granny May, mom and friend.
After Dave and Kevin's help in jump starting us this morning, we think due to leaving an inside light on all night, we headed into the chaos of Lusaka. We drove to the Arcades Centre to the coffee shop with a fast wireless connection, which Kevin had recommended we try. We had delicious coffee and chocolate milkshake and a lunch in Mimosa Coffee Shop and updated at long last.
Update updated...
After spending the whole day in the coffee shop, eating lunch and dinner and having a few cold and hot drinks, we left when they closed at 10.30pm, feeling very frustrated at how much money we had just spent on internet access, with VERY little actually being updated! The Arcades shopping centre, where we were, was full of people. Some coming for movies, some to bowl in the bowling alley, others just to meet up. Not wanting to drive through the centre of Lusaka, to get back to the Eurika campsite, at this time of night, we decided to try camping further out of town on this side of Lusaka, at Pioneer Camp, to make a change.
We arrived very late, waking up the gateman, and chose the most level spot we could find. We were welcomed by Paul, the new owner of Pioneer ($7p/p/night or k25 000p/p/night camping). Within a few minutes we were also greeted by the familiar face of Jamie. He had driven all the way to the Luangwa bridge before Maggie started playing up and he suspected there was a problem with her fuel injection pump or filter, as well as a problem with a universal joint on her propshaft. Luckily there was a Zimbo mechanic staying at Pioneer who could help Jamie, so they had been working hard trying to solve the problems this afternoon. Jamie told us that Pioneer has free WIFI!!! Hooray, now we could possibly upload the rest of our photos for free, so we'll probably stay here and catch up on internet uploading tomorrow.
We had popped up the tent and jumped in as quickly as we could because it was FREEZING! We were once again very grateful for the sleeping bag and duvet in our rooftop tent, as we knew we would be warm and snug in a matter of minutes once we were inside the tent.
After chatting to various people during our time in Zambia, we are now thinking of giving Kafue National Park a skip and to rather try going to Lower Zambezi National Park instead, which hopefully will be less affected by poaching than Kafue NP. This will mean we will travel up to the Copperbelt (Kitwe and Mufulira) and Chimfunshi on the main tar road and return back to Lusaka, and then go into the Lower Zambezi NP on our way across to South Luangwa NP and into Malawi. All the roads around Zambia seem to be like a web running into and out of Lusaka.
Happy birthday Pete. We know Jan will spoil you on your special day. We hope you are able to take some time off from the farm bits and pieces to have a very special day, doing what you would like to do.
Sunday 8th June 2008: Pioneer Camp, Lusaka, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 23' 43.6" E28° 27' 03.9"
Miles Today: 1 Total Miles: 24 689
We woke up and immediately began uploading more photos, while enjoying the complementary tea, coffee and homemade biscuits, trying to get all our up-to-date photos on the web. There seemed to be a problem with Facebook though, only managing to upload about 9 to 12 photos at a time, this meant our uploading was EXTREMELY slow, but at least we weren't paying for this connection time. The camp lost power from time to time too, apparently a normal thing in Zambia...a way of load sharing, like in SA.
We met Karen and Adrian, who know Tanzania and northern Kenya very well through working there. Adrian is even living in Seronera in the Serengeti now, so we picked their brains for hints and tips of places to go and things to see, also to find out about current road conditions. They told us that even with the Tanzanian park fees being so ridiculously steep, the visitor numbers hadn't dropped at all, as had been hoped. After lots of info from them, they left for the airport and Ross set about tightening Duzi2's front wheel bearings. We had a lovely phone call catching up with Mom and Paps. It was lovely to be able to tell them about some of the amazing things we've seen.
Paul had been kind enough to let Jamie and Ross use his service pit to be able to work under the Landy's. Tightening the bearings ended up being a rather difficult and very time consuming task, as the outer hub nut had been tightened so tight it was a real mission to loosen, even just to get to the bearings to tighten them. Jamie took tips from Ross and Ross enjoyed the boy company, while Heidz continued to try and retry to upload our photos, order them and add comments when she could.
As night fell, the temperature plummeted very quickly making it cold and icy again. We treated ourselves to a delicious Pioneer Camp dinner - Heidz having pork chops while Ross had a huge steak (1/2 a cow), both dishes coming with veggies and salad. It was so lovely not to have to cook and also to have such yummy meat.
We eventually finished uploading the photos very late, but we did manage to get them all on and organised. What a relief! Now you should all be able to see the lovely things we've seen so far!
Monday 9th June 2008: Pioneer Camp, Lusaka, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 23' 43.6" E28° 27' 03.9"
Miles Today: 243 Total Miles: 24 932
We said good-bye to Jamie and tried unsuccessfully to add more comments on our photos, but there was a general problem with the internet, so we eventually gave up. Leaving Pioneer we popped into the Super Spar at the Arcades centre to restock and get some fresh bread, before setting off on the road to Kitwe. The road was generally good the whole way, but is mostly single laned. It's very busy with big trucks carrying all sorts of loads to and from the copper mines. Heidz's mom, Lynn, was born in Kitwe and spent her first few years there, so we wanted to try and find their original house. Ross's parents had lived in Mufulira for the first few years of their married life, so we wanted to try and find their flat too.
The drive out of Lusaka was very beautiful passing lots of vegetable farms with huge circular irrigation systems. All the veggies looked so healthy. Interestingly enough, we were unable to find or buy any tomatoes in the Super Spar, but the local roadside sellers were selling neatly balanced piles of red tomatoes the whole way up. Makes you think doesn't it? There was also an abundance of potatoes, pumpkins, watermelons, spanspek and sweet potatoes all clean and healthy looking along the roadside. We thought of Shaun as we drove passed all the veggie farms and wished we knew exactly where his farm was when he was up here, and what type of veggies they grew other than tomatoes.
After the veggie farms, we came across long bundles of thatch for sale, big thatched floor mats and calabashes with all sorts of wierd curly-shaped necks. We made a note to stop and buy one on our way back in a few days. We took the shortcut road to Kitwe not needing to go into Ndola, where the main airport for the mining region is situated. It felt quite weird being so close to the DRC again, this time bordering on to it in Zambia. On the road long trucks carried other trucks as well as new, huge tyre sets and earth moving equipment which are used on the mines. These made us feel so tiny in comparison to them.
Both not being too sure how far we'd get tonight, and with no hope of bush camping due to so many people being EVERYWHERE, the whereabouts of our sleeping spot became a more urgent matter. We arrived in the huge town of Kitwe (called the 'City of Kitwe' on its welcome sign), only to be daunted by its size. It didn't indicated on the map that it was so big, but is big in real life. We went into 5 different guesthouses and asked permission to camp, or even just to park in their carpark or anywhere inside their grounds, but were turned away by each of them looking at us rather strangely when we said we couldn't afford their ridiculously expensive room rates. Obviously to them all Europeans should have money to cover these costs and far more with ease. It was late, dark and we were desperate to sleep safely for the night. We were not willing to press on to Chingola as the roads were too dark and busy, and many of the vehicles travelling on them weren't roadworthy, with no lights, etc. We started noticing a stark difference in the willingness to be hospitable, here in the central southern parts of Africa, which contrasted hugely to West Africa, where they would have been more than willing to try and help us out, in whichever way they could. We went to the last guesthouse, La Paillot, and pleaded with the staff on duty there. There was not one guest in the place - in the bar, restaurant or rooms, and the three men working there finally agreed to allow us to camp in the carpark at the back, on the condition we would be gone by 7:00am, as their boss would arrive around 8:00am and wouldn't be happy with us being there. It took a lot of explaining as to why we didn't need or want a room, but with the tent up and open, they finally understood what we were on about. Thank goodness we had a safe place to pop up the tent and sleep after a long day. We had soup and bread for a quick dinner and to try and warm us up before bed. We quickly used the loos too, before the three guesthouse staff locked up and left to go home, as they had no guests.
Tuesday 10th June 2008: La Paillot, Kitwe, Zambia
GPS Info: S12° 48' 52.9" E28° 12' 53.9"
Miles Today: 129 Total Miles: 25 061
Waking early we packed up, deciding to get on the road before 7am and rather stop on route for breakfast. We hoped that leaving early would enable us to try and locate the family home which Mom had grown up in, located in Nkana. This is one of the nicer suburbs of Kitwe, being broken up into Nkana East and Nkana West. We were looking curiously at the tiny box homes with the worst, most potholed residential roads anywhere. Mom gave us a quick call telling us they used to live at 50 Princess Street, and so this gave us a clue what to ask the locals for. Our first find of a house numbered 50 was a small redbrick house with a front verandah and a tall palm tree, surrounded by bougainvillea bushes, but this turned out to be the wrong street we think. Most of the road names have changed and all the locals we asked had no idea where Princess Street was, as most of them were too young to know. We asked a few older folk who pointed us to Kalungwishi Street and we found no.50, also a redbrick home with a front verandah and a bougainvillea hedge. Mom remembered deep ditches along the road and both homes had these...we'll never know where Princess Street was or which was Mom's home, but it was great to be able to come and look.
From Kitwe we drove out of the thick smoggy early morning air which hung over the town and headed out on the road to Chingola and Mufulira. Luckily the road was still fairly quiet so we were able to maintain regular speed. Turning off along the road to the town of Mufulira, we were welcomed in by a very friendly policeman who wished us well trying to find Ross' mom and dad's flat. Mufalira has a totally different atmosphere to Kitwe, as it is much smaller and less busy. We drove around photographing every block of flats we could find, of which there aren't that many, hoping Mom and Dad might recognise one of them as their old place. No one had any idea which flats used to be called Devon Flats/Court etc, but here the flats are all now looking very shabby and we were sure they'd all changed names too.
Heading on to Chingola we passed through the town and it's busy mining traffic and continued along the road out to Chimfunshi Chimpanzee Orphanage. We stopped along the way for a quick breakfast/lunch break and finally arrived to the sound of screeching chimps very excited to get their lunch. We were warmly met by Dominique who told us there are now 125 chimps at Chimfunshi, a huge success story. Sylvia, the daughter of founders Sheila and David Siddle, met us and explained some of the horror stories of some of these poor chimp rescue cases. It's unbelievable how sick some people are and how cruel they can be to such clever animals. We paid our entry fee to see the chimps ( k50 000p/p/day) and for our night's camping at their campsite (k50 000p/p/night) and were then taken by Sylvia on a tour of the chimps. We went over to where some the male chimps are permanently caged, due to being rogues or trouble makers, and as such have had to be separated from the rest of the chimps. All the orphaned chimps had now been brought into their cages for their daily feed and check up time. During this time they are closely observed to monitor their physical condition and to see how the group dynamics are working. There was a huge racket on the go as the chimps get very vocal when they are excited. They were treated to fruit, milk and biscuits.
Turning around from the chimps we saw a huge fully grown hippo in the yard about 30 metres away from us, scratching itself on the cable holding up the telephone pole. This was Billy, the orphaned hippo who doesn't realise she's a hippo. She has been raised by the Siddles since she was a very small baby and Sylvia walked over to feed her her daily 2 litres of warm milk, which she gulped down with closed eyes in pure delight. She was salivating while she waited between bottles. We were also lucky to have cheeky Ozzie, the orphaned baby vervet monkey, climbing all over us for the afternoon while we watched the chimps doing their thing. They are so clever and fascinating to watch. Some of the rogue males were combing the straw in their cages with their long smooth fingers to make a soft, smooth comfy mat to sprawl out on. There was a young 4 year old male, Max, who didn't like Ozzie's presence nearby at all and was continuously slapping his one back foot on the ground to make a loud sound as a threat, trying to assert his authority. Max also got hold of a bottle, filled it up with water from the outside pond and drank from it, all of his own accord.
After a very interesting afternoon with Sylvia and the chimps, we headed on to the campsite, which is quite far away from the chimps in another area of the farm on the Kafue river. It's small and fenced to keep Billy out, with stunning views over the river. We were warmly welcomed by Charlotte and Tony, the new managers of Chimfunshi and the farm, who invited us to the main house to enjoy a drink with them later. We were also befriended by a gorgeous siamese cat we had been warned about by Sylvia, which has learnt how to snuggle it's way into rooftop tents... We each had hot showers and then started a fire to braai our wors, before heading over for a special evening chatting with Tony and Charlotte. They seem to have a rather huge task ahead of them to try to keep Chimfunshi running as a viable sanctuary for the chimps, but are such a lovely determined couple. Their front door had been bashed in by Billy just a week before, when she had decided to come and pay them a visit in the middle of the night.
By the time we got back to our campsite, our fire had died right down. After much stoking, we eventually got to cook our wors and veggie packs and then headed to bed just as the mist rose over the river and up the floodplain. It was another cold night. In the early hours of the morning we heard meowing and felt movement on the ladder only to see the cat far too far up our ladder for our liking.
Wednesday 11th June 2008: Chimfunshi Chimpanzee Orphanage, Chingola, Zambia
GPS Info: S12° 21' 28.0" E27° 33' 13.7"
Miles Today: 307 Total Miles: 25 368
The view this morning was so beautiful, and we were lucky enough to have the whole place all to ourselves. We packed up and then went over to say good-bye and thank you to Charlotte, but Tony was in a meeting. We were very tempted to stop in at the "Project" area where the chimps roam free in huge enclosures, but this meant staying at Chimfunshi until 11am, which would mean we would arrive in Lusaka even later than we arrived in Kitwe. Sylvia also tried hard to tempt us with the chance to walk for 2hours this morning with the chimps, especially the babies, but this cost $100 each, so this was totally out of the question. Luckily it was still quite early when we did leave, so the roads back to Chingola and then Kitwe were fairly quiet and the drive was pleasant, even though it was long. We stopped along the roadside to buy two small calabashes which we could use for display or as some sort of serving spoons.
Arriving back in Lusaka we made our way to Pioneer Camp again. It was fairly late in the evening and we were both rather tired. We had a quick easy supper and climbed into the tent looking forward to a long night's sleep.
Happy birthday Jessica. We hope you are very spoilt today and get to do something special to celebrate.
Thursday 12th June 2008: Pioneer Camp, Lusaka, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 23' 46.8" E28° 27' 04.0"
Miles Today: 28 Total Miles: 25 396
Today was our day to sort out our COMESA yellow card 3rd party insurance. We had two GPS references of places to buy insurance and Jack had told us of another. We drove into Lusaka and were allowed to park Duzi2 outside a furniture shop, in secure guarded parking while we thought we'd quickly sort out our insurance. Time in Africa takes on a whole new meaning though and things that would normally take a few minutes sometimes end up taking the entire day. We headed into Goldman Insurance (who sell COMESA) and were told the lady who dealt with this type of insurance was out until 2pm. This was shut down lunch time right throughout Lusaka, although unknown to us at this stage. We decided to walk to the Madison Insurance (who also sell COMESA, but not at the branch on the GPS). We were then directed to their main branch elsewhere in Lusaka, stopping in at the Dept of Wildlife and Tourism, hoping to get a detailed map of the Lower Zambezi National Park as suggested in the guide books. They didn't have any maps so directed us further up Cairo Road, the main road through Lusaka, to the Zambia Wildlife Info office, who also couldn't help us too much. We walked on further eventually reaching Madison Insurance head office, who said they couldn't sell us the COMESA on the current Zambian insurance we had bought at the border, Zambian State Insurance Corporation Limited. They directed us on to the main COMESA headquarters, who couldn't help us either and told us where to find Zambian State Insurance Corporation Limited offices. So more walking!! What a complicated process for something that should be so simple. Finally someone explained to us how the COMESA Yellow Card works. It is an extension of your current 3rd party insurance and can only be bought in a COMESA country. To buy the COMESA card you need to buy local insurance valid for the fixed time period your COMESA is valid for. Because we had already bought a month's insurance at the Kazungula border post through Zambia State Insurance, we now needed to extend this and buy our COMESA Yellow Card through the same company.
So after more walking and about three hours into our insurance task, we eventually found where we were supposed to get this from. We were served by a lovely lady who patiently explained everything to us. We bought a further 3 months insurance (k225 000.00) together with a three month COMESA yellow card (k120 000.00) totalling
k345 000.00 for both about $180, we think. Quite an expensive purchase, but a very necessary one. We are now covered for Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia. On payment we realised our lady had made a mistake with Duzi2's registration, so she redid it for us. Then we noticed she had made a mistake with the chassis number and the vehicle model year, so she redid it again for us. This time she hadn't updated all the previous changes on the other form, so she needed to redo it again. The redoing took nearly a further hour to correct...
We eventually arrived back at Duzi2 after racing all the way back down Cairo Road, hoping the furniture shop would still be open and that their parking wouldn't be locked up. Luckily we made it just in time, as they locked the gate when we drove out, but couldn't believe this had taken the entire day. Only in Africa!
On our way back to Pioneer Camp we tried at numerous ATM's to draw out money to fill up with diesel and have cash for our Lower Zambezi and South Luangwa stretch ahead, but we had no luck anywhere. Both ours cards were being continually refused and declined. We headed back to Pioneer Camp and camped in the same spot as last night, which we hoped would be a bit warmer. There were two overland-truck groups at the camp, which made it a bit busier than before. We quickly checked up info on the Lower Zambezi National Park and any info we could find about camping in the park or in the GMA (Game Management Area) adjacent to it. After a yummy stirfry, we headed for bed, as we planned to get going fairly early tomorrow morning, after hopefully sorting out our money situation. We plan to camp in the Community Campsite tomorrow night, which is close to the Lower Zambezi NP's southern entrance gate.
Friday 13th June 2008: Pioneer Camp, Lusaka, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 23' 46.8" E28° 27' 04.0"
Miles Today: 119 Total Miles: 25 515
We were up early and met a bubbly Dutch couple who are travelling around Zambia for 3 weeks. They were both full of questions about our route and the various countries we've been through, as they also plan to do parts of Africa overland one day. They are both flight crew for KLM so have seen a lot of the world, but really love Africa. We then bumped into a lovely SA couple, Sonja and Alistair, who are based in Kitwe at the moment, on a contract. They were such fun and going for some time out in Kafue, so lucky to be so close to such beauty.
Due to our ATM problems last night, we didn't think we'd have much luck with them again today, but gave it a go, before joining the incredibly S L O W queue to the teller to manually draw out what we wanted. Even though this delayed us by about 2 hours, we were very thankful to be able to do it now as we could fill up and head out into the Lower Zambezi and then onto South Luangwa National Park, without any worries.
Leaving Lusaka a lot later than planned, we drove the really good road down to Kafue and onto Chirundu, before heading off along the dirt road alongside the Zambezi. Arriving at the pontoon/ferry across the Kafue river we found it was moored to the far bank and appeared to be having welding work done on it. The drive today was beautifully scenic and pretty, with escarpments becoming visible in the far distance, of various different pink and purple shades. We parked in the queue and got out to meet Tony, a guy working at Baines Camp, which is a very upmarket lodge further down the Zambezi, but hasn't opened yet. A bit later on, we met a smiley and friendly banana farmer, Dawie. We all got chatting which made the waiting time fly by. Dawie then amazingly invited us to stay over on his farm for the night, as the drive to the Community Campsite was too far, especially with the horrendous road conditions on the other side and the light fading so quickly. After about a 2 hour wait, the ferry finally came over to our side of the Kafue and a big truck was loaded on and successfully taken over. Thankfully none of us were called on too, as the whole ferry dipped when the truck drove on. When the ferry returned to our side we were loaded on together with about 8 other cars, or more, and lots of people. Passengers in vehicles have to walk onto the ferry and no one stays in their cars during the crossing for safety reasons. We were very thankful to Dawie for his offer to stay on his lovely banana farm, as the ellies in this area are very mobile at night and something we hadn't even thought about.
Dawie's farm is big and surrounded by electric fencing to keep the ellies out. We saw very fresh tracks and dung in the road on our drive there and were met by two very happy dogs on arrival. Dawie and Adri also have a very talkative African Grey who was outside when we arrived. He spoke exactly like Dawie and made the mobile message sound repeatedly as well as a huge repertoire of other sounds. Dawie made a few calls for us, to find out about the Leopard's Hill road out of the Lower Zambezi valley and about the other road out the northern gate of the park, as well as to find out if there was in fact a road straight through the park to Luangwa town. Leopard's Hill is okay for 4x4 only, but would mean we will need to come back into the GMA to get onto the road. There is unfortunately no road across to Luangwa town, but we were recommended to take the road out the north of the park. This way we would be able to drive straight through the park and come out about 2hours from Lusaka on the main Great Eastern Road. We decided to ask along the way at other places just to confirm. Heidi made spaghetti bolognaise for all three of us to enjoy together. After a lovely evening with great stories and lots of fun we were treated to a comfy double bed and our own room for the night. Dawie's wife was in Lusaka to fly to SA for a few weeks, so sadly we never met her, but hopefully we'll meet up with them again one day. Dawie and Adri are ex-Zimbabweans and some of what he has lived through is too terrible to have had to experience, but amazingly he still has such an incredibly constructive and positive view on life.
Saturday 14th June 2008: Baya Baya Banana Farm (Dawies farm), Lower Zambezi, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 56' 23.1" E29° 00' 02.9"
Miles Today: 42 Total Miles: 25 557
We woke to the sound of the African Grey busily going through its huge selection of noises/voices/sounds and fish eagle calls. The Vissers used to live on a farm where there was a nesting pair of fish eagles fairly far off in the distance so Voel, the grey's name, mimics their calls as though they were both far away and close by. Dawie told us yesterday that he has the best view of the Zambezi from his home, and Tony had to agree. This morning we could see why. The farmhouse buildings are nestled on the top of a hill surrounded by 360 degree views of the Zambezi valley. Absolutely stunning. Dawie is very proud to be living his dream of living on the mighty Zambezi, and so he should be. Life out here is hard, but they wouldn't swop it for anything. They have lost 4 dogs in 2 weeks due to disease, Tsetse flies and snakes, and now a huge portion of the banana crops have a disease which means they need to be destroyed. Dawie is an incredibly strong and positive man and was such a generous blessing to us. He has done so much in his life and is so wise. It would take a great deal to break him.
After chatting outside in the sunshine, enjoying the stunning views and fish eagle calls all around us, as well as Voel's fake calls, we cooked up a full fry up for breakfast thanks to Dawie and enjoyed toast, fried onion, tomatoes, bacon and eggs together with more chatting and laughter. It's amazing how easy it is to feel so comfortable with some people so quickly. We left saying hearty good-byes and wishing Dawie all the best for the rugby he was going to be watching this afternoon.
We decided to stop in at various places en-route that advertised camping, in case we needed to come back out this way to Lusaka. Some of the places were real dodgy dives, mostly charging $20p/p/night to camp!!! We saw a nice, new, fairly basic place called Kwalata Camp ($15p/p/night camping) which has a beautiful position and grassy lawns running right down to the Zambezi. We also stopped off at the beautiful Mvuu Lodge ($20p/p/night camping, S15° 45' 53.8" E29° 13' 08.6"). Mvuu has recently been taken over by a few SA couples and we were warmly welcomed by one of these, a very enthusiastic SA couple who have only been here since February and have made a lot of changes. There is a lot of game life that visits the camp and each site has a wash basin, tap, bin and light. Unfortunately Mvuu was a bit too pricey for us, with our plan being to stay at the Chiawa Community Campsite, as close to the park as we could, to drive through and out of the park tomorrow. The road through the GMA area is shocking with huge holes, which makes driving bumpy and very slow.
We drove onto the Chiawa Community Campsite ($15p/p/night) which has a few sites right on the river bank. Luckily we were the only people camping so we had the whole place all to ourselves. We met a lovely Belgian couple on their honeymoon, who were staying at the Chachacha campsite alongside, an adjacent area rented from the community campsite. We were just inside the GMA (Game Management Area) bordering on to the Lower Zambezi National Park, with Mana Pools across the river from us for as far as we could see. What a spot! The hot-water donkey was lit, for us to have hot showers and we scavenged some wood together for a braai fire. The hippo were right below us in the water and extremely noisy, making their strange noises. The splashes and hippo grunts continued all through the night and made us feel so happy to be back in the Africa we love. It got very dark and being so open, we decided to get up into the tent early so as not to bump into any unexpected visitors in the dark. It was a lot warmer tonight than at Lusaka, making it very pleasant to sleep with all the flaps open hoping to be able to see any wild animal if it decided to pay us a visit. We heard hyena, distant lion and hippo.
Wishing you a happy birthday Marnie. Hope you have a fantastic day relaxing and enjoying your special day.
Sunday 15th June 2008: Chiawa Community Campsite, Lower Zambezi, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 43' 14.1" E29° 19' 56.3"
Miles Today: 95 Total Miles: 25 652
Happy Father's Day Paps and Dad. We hope you are able to enjoy doing something special today and take time to stop and relax. Next year we'll all be able to celebrate this day together hopefully.
Up early to the sound of gun shots in the distance. A very worrying sound when you're surrounded by game parks and are aware of the constant problem of poaching in these areas. We chatted to a guy at the campsite who is very familiar with the roads around the area, who advised us to go to the Wildlife Conservation office and check there about current road conditions, which we did. After having more of an idea that the road was indeed passable from the south of the park through to the northern gate of the park, we decided that is the way we will be going out later today.
On our way to the entrance gate at Chongwe we were waved down by some locals, but we told them we had no room for lifts. A few hundred metres on we realised why we'd been waved down. Three big ellies happily munching in the local farm fields. We reversed back to offer the people a ride on the rock sliders or on the bonnet. They were pleased just to walk with Duzi2 shielding them from the ellies view. The one lady with two young children and a tiny baby on her back, had been waiting there for 2 1/2 hours! The locals are very scared of ellies and the ellies are very aggressive towards them. This might be because the locals throw rocks etc. at the ellies to chase them out of their open crop fields, or running after them bashing things to chase the ellies through the villages. Life is hard for the local farmers without electric fencing, as ellies are a constant threat. Lovely for us to see as tourists, but a pest for the farmers.
We arrived at the Chongwe river which you need to drive through to enter the park, and were met by an ellie standing in the middle of the sand island. We waited a few minutes just watching the ellie, and also watched carefully where a gamedrive vehicle drove through, with Heidz and Duzi2 handling the river crossing with ease. We then arrived at the main Chongwe gate and paid our daily park fee, $30p/p/day self-drive + $15p/vehicle/day = $75 for the day, valid from 6am to 6pm and not for 24hours as they advertise. We had already drawn out our money in Kwatcha, so paid in Kwatcha rather than dollars, k262 500.00 for the day. The game warden told us the shots we had heard earlier were fired as warning shots from the anti-poaching team this morning as the ellies charged them. The park vegetation is fairly open making game viewing easy. The roads in the park are fairly good so we were both able to game view, without worrying about hitting a huge hole. We saw lots of ellies with small calves, impala, puku, very black zebra (Grevys we think), kudu, hippo, crocs and a massive herd of a few hundred buffalo.
We drove through the park, being given special permission to cross a private airstrip, and then drove past very posh lodge entrances, at nearly $1 000p/p/night, they charged ludicrous fees. Tracks for Africa on the GPS seemed to be a bit off in showing us where the turn was to go on the north road. The road shown indicated it was in an area which didn't look like it had ever been cleared as a road. We stopped to ask at Old Mondoro Camp on the eastern side of the park, as we were a bit stuck as to where to go from here. We were met by a very friendly guy who told us to drive on towards Ana Tree Lodge and follow the road signposted "Lusaka". He told us that the road is steep and very remote in places, but he'd never driven it to tell us first hand what it's like. On we drove, loving all the game along the way with the Zambezi still flowing and visible on our right. The animals were mostly close to the river so we kept mostly to those roads. It's easy to get your bearings in the park as you have the high escarpment on your left and the river on your right. We were also told there were many leopards in the area between Old Mondoro Camp and Ana Tree Lodge, so our eyes were focussed upward. We didn't have any luck spotting any of these elusive cats though.
With time flying by and us very aware of how far we still had to go, we pressed on turning up the beautiful road to the north, which would hopefully bring us out at the Great East Road eventually. The road was quite closed up, obviously mostly used by bakkies, so being higher we hit many branches along the way, making a new height path for any other taller 4x4s. The road was well graded and almost gave us a feeling of driving up someone's private driveway in the beginning stages. Then we hit our first major obstacle, a deep, soft, sandy river bed. Here we initially got stuck, ripping off the right rear mud-flap, but once in low range and diff lock, Duz climbed out easily and with no fuss at all. From here the road opened up more and was mostly fairly good, crossing many riverbeds, but luckily these were all dry. Now we could see why this road is only used for some of the year. We climbed up an incredibly steep mountain in very deep soft sand and were again just so thankful to have such a capable car. Nothing is too much for Duz. Continuing, we climbed up the escarpment and into many valleys, leaving the Zambezi far behind us. The light was fading fast, but luckily the worst of the road was behind us before it got really dark. We were treated to a sighting of a Roan antelope on the broad well graded road, fairly close to the mine. They have found gold and copper in a part of the national park, so an Australian company are now mining and have therefore graded the road to and from the mine. Only in Africa could you have a mine in the middle of a national game park.
We were very grateful to finally arrive at the check out gate at 6.50pm and were let out without any hassles. Next we arrived at the Mukamba Gate, the main north gate to the park to find it locked shut. After much whistling we were met by a lovely guy called Kelvin, who is the ZAWA (Zambian Wildlife Association) official in charge of this gate, who let us out and was more than willing to let us camp outside the gate for the night. He was such an interesting guy, who was fascinated by our rooftop tent, something he had never seen before. Kelvin was so intelligent and could really go far in life. He also showed us the only place in the area where we could get a signal with our mobile phone, right underneath a tiny tree, so we were able to send Father's Day wishes to our wonderful Paps and Dad on their special day.
After a very simple soup and bread dinner we flopped into bed exhausted after a very long day's drive.
Happy birthday Georgie. Hope you are spoilt on your special day.
Monday 16th June 2008: Bush camp outside Mukamba Gate, Lower Zambezi, Zambia
GPS Info: S15° 21' 02.0" E29° 17' 13.2"
Miles Today: 381 Total Miles: 26 033
Up bright and early, hoping to be on the road as early as we could to get to Flat Dogs in South Luangwa before it got dark. Kelvin came down extra early to see us this morning, taking photos of the tent to try and make his own one day. We all had coffee/hot choc and rusks together and then set off on the really good 22km stretch to join the Great Eastern Road. We stopped in a quiet place on the side of the road to have some cereal and then plodded on to South Luangwa.
Ross was still quite keen to try and take the road from Petauke into South Luangwa, until we read how bad it was and how long it had taken Rob and Ally, when they did it last year. We were a bit worried about the river crossings and lack of bridges as it is still quite wet in places, so chose to rather be safe and press on up to Chipata. This was also so that we would get to Flat Dogs late this afternoon, rather than potentially only getting there late tomorrow. We crossed the impressive Luangwa bridge and saw our first glimpse of the Luangwa river, flowing.
The road from Chipata to South Luangwa is shocking, with holes, corrugations and at least 3 hours of bumpy horrible road - another road from hell. Zambia has got very poor road infrastructure in remote areas and only the self-drive tourists really know this, as most of the tourists fly to the airstrips situated nearby to the lodges and are transferred briefly in lodge vehicles. We got to a police check and were so excited when we both thought he said we were 5km from Flat Dogs, only to be told not 5km but 75kms. More awfully bumpy roads later we arrived at Flat Dogs Camp ($7.50p/p/night camping or k13 000) just before sunset, passing more ellies, giraffe and other antelope.
We chose our spot and set up the tent with cheeky monkeys playing in the trees above. We could clearly hear the nearby hippo in the South Luangwa river in front of the campsite. We were tired after another long day's driving and had a healthy tuna salad dinner before exploring the camp a bit. Flat Dogs has a bar, restaurant, internet cafe, curio shop, swimming pool and even a TV. There are guards protecting you from the wild animals, which is reassuring, and they love to chat. Some hippo came into the campsite to munch on the sausages that had fallen off the sausage trees, which they apparently love.
Tuesday 17th June 2008: Flatdogs Camp, South Luangwa, Zambia
GPS Info: S13° 06' 04.4" E31° 46' 42.3"
Miles Today: 26 Total Miles: 26 059
We heard the hippos all night, and lions roaring quite far off in the distance. After a relaxing start we had the whole day to catch up a bit. Eight ellies decided to invade the campsite, eating the trees and bushes around us. We watched from the safety of the bathroom as 5 of them completely demolished a small bushy tree. We met Assuf, an Israeli guy, who started travelling the west coast on his motorbike, but then flew with his bike from Dakar to Johannesburg and is now exploring the southern and east coast. He had been held hostage by the curious ellies, in the food-storage hut while he was eating his banana for breakfast.
We chatted, did some typing and washing, just generally catching up on our rest day. Unfortunately Flat Dogs campsite is very bushy with lots of trees and bushes, so you don't have a great view of the river, unless you camp right on the riverbank. Later on in the afternoon we decided to drive around and see the other two campsites around us - Croc Valley Camp and Wildlife Camp, as well as pop into Kafunta River Lodge, where we were for the first few days of our honeymoon. The animals roam freely between the park and surrounding areas as there are no fences, so ellies, giraffe, buck, hippo, crocs etc are easily seen everywhere. Croc Valley Camp ($5p/p/night camping) is nice with lovely views above the South Luangwa river. The camp is frequented by wildlife - ellies and hippo especially. There is a lot of building improvement work on the go, so it will be really lovely when this is finished. They also have a bar and restaurant and hammocks and comfy shaded sitting areas for you to be able to sit and relax in. Wildlife Camp ($7.50p/p/night camping) is lovely with stunning river views and high trees above providing shade. There is a bar and pool for campers separated from the more formal lodge buildings, which are accessible by a bush walk only possible in daylight. We liked Wildlife Camp especially, as there were many rooftop tent cars and more travellers travelling like we were, rather than the backpacker crowd at Flat Dogs.
Wildlife Camp is only a few kilometres upstream from Kafunta, so we drove over to pop in and see how it may have changed since we were there on honeymoon. We met the current managing couple who are also total Landrover fans. Anke, the owner, was away in Lusaka so we may pop back if we have time when she's back. Just before leaving Kafunta, we met Mario who has been at Kafunta since 2004. He has been teaching Anke and Ron's son and is going to start his game guiding qualification next year.
We decided to pay up at Flat Dogs and move to Wildlife Camp for the night. We had made arrangements to pick up Assuf at around 6am tomorrow morning, to spend the day in South Luangwa National Park tomorrow. If we enter early, we hope to be able to see the night animals still on the move.
We parked in our spot at Wildlife Camp, made a quick fire ($2 for a big bundle of firewood) for a braai supper and then headed to bed after befriending our SA neighbours, who were worried a hippo would come up the bank right where they were parked.
Happy birthday Carol. We hope you have a very special day and are able to celebrate in style.
Congratulations on your 2nd anniversay Lands and Al's. Wow time flies. We hope you are able to do something very special together to celebrate this special day.
Wednesday 18th June 2008: Wildlife Camp, South Luangwa, Zambia
GPS Info: S13° 06' 33.6" E31° 45' 13.7"
Miles Today: 73 Total Miles: 26 132
Up very early this morning, while it was still dark, aiming to get to Flatdogs by just after 6am, to collect Assuf. We wanted to get into South Luangwa as early as we could after the gate opened at 6am and hoped to see some of the nocturnal animals as it would still be fairly dark. We paid the entrance fee of $30p/p/day as a self-drive + $15p/vehicle/day = $75 or k100 000.00 + k50 000.00 = k250 000.00. We had been told going on a game drive with one of the campsites would work out cheaper than going on our own, but it doesn't. Most places charge between $35 and $40p/p/drive, but you need to then still pay your park fees on top of this of $25, or $20 for SADC citizens, p/p/day. Thus for us both to self drive in Duzi2 it cost us $65 in total, but both doing a game drive night or day would've cost us $110 or $120 in total.
Driving over Mfuwe bridge, over the Luangwa river, we entered South Luangwa National Park with all three of us scanning the ground and the trees, hoping to spot an elusive leopard in one of the trees. We drove passed Mfuwe Lodge and couldn't believe how high the water had got in one of the magazine articles we had seen where the lodge was 3/4 under water. There was a small pool of water totally covered with bright green lillies, that looked like hyacinth which had a fish eagle on the ground next to it and two hippos in it. The hippo looked so cute as they popped up with all this green stuff on their heads in between their eyes and tiny flickering ears and on their backs. Even a couple of crocs were covered in green vegetation while lying warming in the sunshine.
We saw puku, impala, more very black zebra (Grevys ?), giraffe, ellies, enormous crocs, hundreds of hippo and lots more. We also caught a glimpse of a lazy spotted hyaena lying lazily in a fairly open patch of ground. We had been told by Mario yesterday to head to Puku Pan, as there had been a big lion pride there who had recently killed a buffalo. The pride even had some young cubs. We bought a useless map (k10 0000) from the main gate of the park supposedly showing us the entire park area, only to realise it was only of the tiny Mfuwe region.
Puku Pan wasn't shown on the GPS, or on any of the maps in the guide books we had, but we knew it was north of the park. We were greeted by many game viewing vehicles with very sour looking people, who didn't look particularly happy about being in the bush at all. The guides asked us what we'd seen, fishing for fresh viewing info, but gave no info back to us at all. As we got closer to Puku Pan, we met another game viewing vehicle and the people on that vehicle were very excited about seeing the lion pride so told us all the info we needed, much to their guide's annoyance.
Ross spotted the lions lounging around the buffalo carcass. There were thirteen in the pride - one male lion, 5 lionesses, 4 older cubs and 3 little cubs, still suckling. The whole pride was so full their tummies were bulging and they were lying around flopped on one another, resting against tree roots or thorn branches. The one lioness was too full to even lie down, just standing very uncomfortably panting loudly. The carcass stank so badly, but luckily the wind was mostly blowing away from us so we only got a few bad wiffs every now and then. We watched them for a bit, all to ourselves as all the game drives had headed back to their respective lodges for morning coffee etc. by this time. We continued driving further north to where all the very posh lodges are. We saw more hippo, crocs, giraffe, zebra, puku, ellies and impala, but still no leoprads in the trees. We popped back past the lion pride on our way down, hoping they would be a bit more active than before as it was a bit cooler. They had now all moved closer to the kill, with 3 lionesses and the 3 tiny cubs missing, probably at the river nearby for an afternoon drink. They were still just lazing around panting loudly as they had obviously gorged themselves. After a while 2 lionesses reappeared from the river, with the 3 little cubs trailing on behind in a line, stopping at so many things that distracted them. They were so cute. With 12 of the family back, some of them began gnawing on the carcass again and this time the tiny cubs joined in. The cubs were climbing all over the carcass as well as inside it, popping their heads up and down like they had dressed up as buffalo hide. The lionesses were incredibly tolerant of the cubs leaning against them, gnawing in the same area of meat as they were, and falling all over them.
We left the lion pride to stop a bit further along the road for a late afternoon lunch stop and something to drink. It was cloudy most of the day, so luckily it wasn't too hot. it was so lovely having Assuf in the car with us, as he was good company, very easy going and with a great sense of humour. It was also so lovely to be in South Luangwa again, as it has a special place in our hearts from being here on honeymoon.
Eventually at just after 6pm, after nearly 12 hours of driving around South Luangwa, we reluctantly left the park, still not having seen a leopard. We had been so blessed by all the game we had seen and the wonderful day we had spent in the park, making full use of our day's permit. Self-drive vehicles are not permitted to be in the park after 6pm, when it is dark, as from then onwards only licensed game viewing vehicles are permitted. We dropped Assuf off at Flat Dogs and got a perfect camp spot back at Wildlife Camp with the best view of the river, even with a little viewing platfrom in front of us and a braai. We showered, made dinner and flopped into bed enjoying the hippo sounds around us from the water below and the bushveld around us. One of the hippo below us was snoring all through the night, like a person in loud stereo.
Happy birthday Cameron. We know Debbie, Karl and Jess will spoil you as 'the father of the bride...'. Have fun today.
Congratulations on your engagement Camilla and Rob. This is such exciting news! Enjoy this special time of planning for your wedding day and your future life together. Can't wait to see you when we get back Camil and meet your fiance, Rob.
Thursday 19th June 2008: Wildlife Camp, South Luangwa, Zambia
GPS Info: S13° 06' 34.6" E31° 45' 13.3"
Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 26 132
Today was our rest day. We woke up to a cloudy and cool day. There was a hyaena calling from very close to the campsite at about 8am this morning, but it moved off without anyone catching a glimpse of it. After handing in our bag of dirty washing and bedding, to be washed by Wildlife Camp, we had hot showers and a lovely fruit and yoghurt breakfast in the sunshine. We then chatted to an interesting French couple who are travelling around southern and east Africa, with children for 6months. They have lived in most of west Africa due to his work contracts with an oil company, so knew a lot of the places we've been through first hand.
There was a noisy tree squirrel calling loudly right close to where we were sitting, even trying to sneak into the back of the car. Ross videoed him as he called with his mouth wide open and his whole body shaking. We finally saw a hippo move, which we thought was dead as it had been still for so many hours. After chatting to the barman, we found out that this young bull hippo has been kicked out of his pod, so is a bit lost.
It got cooler and darker and we did some work on the laptop enjoying the amazing river views and various animals that came down to drink. We saw hippo, crocs, giraffe, baboons, various birdlife and had our rubbish bag raided by cute little monkeys. The clouds were dark, making us think it was about to rain, but that is apparently normal for this time of the year, with no rain to come.
We decided to have an early chicken stirfry dinner and while we were sitting outside looking at the glows of distant fires on the horizon, we felt rain drops which soon turned to light rain. Wrapped up in our jackets we finished dinner and got into the tent to bed. The campsite area around us was totally deserted of other campers, so we had all this space and the animals totally to ourselves. We heard the hyaena calls again, but they passed by and later in the night distant lion roars.
Friday 20th June 2008: Wildlife Camp, South Luangwa, Zambia
GPS Info: S13° 06' 34.6" E31° 45' 13.3"
Miles Today: 249 Total Miles: 26 381
After a fairly relaxed start, hoping our washing would now be dry, we collected our washing which had been washed for us, a real treat as bed linen is a shlep to wash by hand, packed up and set off on the long drive to Malawi. We got onto the road from hell back to Chipata, stopping to take a photo of the shield entrance gates to Chipata. We thought of maybe stopping at the Shoprite in Chipata to stock up, but decided against this as we were a bit worried about not making the border on time, not being sure if there was a time difference between Zambia and Malawi. There was a lot of cloud cover today and it was cool, so it looked a lot later than it really was all day, and this would mean the night would also be very dark to drive in, a big no-no in Africa.
The road from Chipata to Mchinji, at the border, was good and the process of exiting Zambia was very simple. We got our passports stamped and then filled in the vehicle details in the exit book, handed in our temporary import document, which we had been issued with at Kazungula and entered into Malawi.