Zambia

Welcome to Zambia

Zambia is a large country being slightly larger than California and Nevada combined. It is a land locked country, which has borders with eight countries. Unfortunately it is also one of the world’s poorest countries where according to UNICEF about 2/3 of the people live on less than US$1.00 a day. However it also one the most expensive countries in Africa and currently has the worlds most expensive gas (C$2.40 a litre.) This influenced our travel plans for Zambia and we decided not to travel to the remote north because of the exorbitant price of gasoline and the difficulty in obtaining it in some places. (Gasoline scarcity in Zimbabwe is even worse and newspaper headlines there on October 26 read, “Prostitutes demand payment in Diesel.”) Zambia is benefiting from the Zimbabwe’s state of chaos, collapsed economy, political corruption, and rampant inflation. Tourism in Zambia is booming and Zimbabwean farmers, who have lost their farms and other professionals, are being welcomed into Zambia. However, independent travelers are still a rarity in Zambia, with most tourists on an arranged holiday tour package.

Crossing the Zambezi River

We arrived in Zambia on the ferry crossing the Zambezi River where Tom was taken by in by a con man who managed to extract an inflated number of US dollars using a combination of charm and misinformation. We learnt a valuable lesson. We camped at Livingstone, a little dusty and somewhat neglected town, now claiming to be “The Tourist Adventure Capital of Africa.” Located on the banks of the mighty Zambezi River, the town of Livingstone lies on the north of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the magnificent Victoria Falls. The Zambezi River cascades over a sheer cliff nearly 2km wide and plunges 100m into the narrow Batoka gorge. The Zambezi River then rages as a torrent of water through 8km of impressive and dramatic gorges. The native people call the falls “Mosi-oa-Tunya” (Smoke that Thunders). During high water and at its peak, the mist from the falls rises 500m often obscuring the 500,000cubic meter per minute of water thundering over the falls. The roar of the waterfall can be heard kilometers away.

Safe with Mom

The town of Livingstone is named after Dr. David Livingstone. Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, doctor, explorer, and adventurer who came to Africa 1800’s. He completed many expeditions to Africa searching for the source of the Nile. He is remembered by the Africans with a great deal of respect as he helped the Africa tribal chiefs stamp out slavery and the slave trade.

While in Livingstone we went to change some money and were swarmed by men wanting to wash the car. I stayed in the car while Tom went to get some money and I told them, “I don’t want the car washed.”

Not to be deterred several with buckets of water began washing the car. When Tom returned and we refused to pay everyone who had a washed the car, we nearly had a riot. There was lots of shouting and pushing going on in the crowd, fighting amongst each other, as to who should be paid. I suggested to Tom, “Perhaps you should close the windows” but just then, the police began to move in and finally the crowd dispersed.

Lazy Day

GLOBAL VILLAGE

We drove the 750km from Lusaka to the South Laungwa National Game Park passing through one village after the next. A global village along a single road with village after village along its side. There was a bustle of life, with people selling food, fish, charcoal, beds, clothing, and other necessities of life in the multiple of stalls lining the roadside. We passed endless streams of people walking, children playing or rushing to school, women in the fields and the occasional cyclist. Jehovah Witness Churches are seen in many villages. Although English is the official language, many rural villagers speak little or no English. Children ran to greet us when we stopped, we bargained for a deal, and bought our lunch of fresh, wild mangos and bananas. We visited the women washing in the river, babies tied to their backs, and the men fishing in a moroko, and a shallow dugout canoe carved out of a log. They pole the moroko in a standing position, and despite the precarious appearance, they are remarkably stable.

Boring

The villages get their drinking water from either a river or a borehole. Unfortunately, some of the rivers have bilharzias and a recent study of the local schoolchildren indicates up to 70% of children are infected in some areas.

A woman in one village to invited us to visit her home. The homes built of mud and straw-thatched roofs are simple, and usually have one room where they sleep. The kitchen is outside in a shelter which is not enclosed as cooking is done over an open fire. Interestingly, the huts are built round so that there are no corners in which a snake can curl up.

SOUTH LAUNGWA NATIONAL GAME PARK

South Laungwa is one of the finest parks in Africa with a reputation of having the highest quality guiding
Needs Some Beano of any African game park. It is known as the “crowded valley” because of the high density of wildlife.

The last 130km of the road to the park is notoriously bad and takes between 3-5 hours to drive. We bounced, shook, rattled, and rolled over bumps, rocks, corrugations, and rivers until we arrived at the camp.

Booking into the camp we were informed, “Don’t leave anything outside of the car and all food must be stored in a fridge or placed in a special hut. Hippos pass through the camp generally about 9pm and elephants between 5-6 in the morning and the evening, hyenas also wander the campgrounds at night, so be careful.” The previous week people did leave some food in their car and the elephants smashed the car windows to get to the food.

I'll Just Wait Here

I decided I would prefer to camp on one of the platforms perched a few meters up the trees, well out of harm’s way. By now, it was getting dark; Tom unpacked our little tent and with all our camping gear headed up to the treetop platform. With our flashlight, I stood watch for any signs of hippos, elephants, or hyenas.

“Its all ready” said Tom, “I’ve even got candles and some wine.”

I climbed up the creaky wooden ladder and when I got to the platform, I felt a pang of nervousness. The platform was tiny with no room to move, about 20 feet in the air and no railing. After some thought I said, “I’d rather stay in our roof top tent it is not very safe up here.”

Basking in th Sun

“Yea I thought of that,” replied Tom, “But if we put something at the tent door to remind us not to just step out we will be fine.” This did not make me feel any safer.

Once more I stood watch as Tom put up the roof top tent only this time there were hippos wandering close to Tom. Now hippos are not exactly what you want to meet in the dark, they have the reputation as the most dangerous animal in Africa killing more people than any other animal. Hippos never mock charge and they can easily bite a large crocodile in two. I also find them a bit moody, even with each other .

I watched their movements while Tom put up the tent without incident.

Laungwa is home to one of the largest hippopotamus population in the world. During October and November over a 1000 hippos can be seen in just 2km of water and we certainly saw 100’s of hippos wallowing
Who's Watching Who? in the water. Male hippos mark their territory by snorting, grunting, and “dung splaying” and while watching them in the water we did indeed see there was a steady stream of bubbles around some large fellows.

One of the unique draws of South Luangwa is the ability to do a night drive, starting at 4:00pm and lasting until 8pm. They have to be guided so we boarded an open top Landcruiser and headed off into the park hoping to see nocturnal animals, which are difficult to spot during the day. After an hour driving, we suddenly stopped, surrounded by lions. The atmosphere was intense three huge lions eyeing us with only two meters between their teeth and me. The guide reminded us not to make any moves as we vigilantly watch as the huge cats warily eying us. Sensing we were no threat and obviously not hungry they simply rolled over and went back to sleep. I could feel the adrenaline pulsing through me as I sat there knowing that with one leap it would all be over. After driving to a beautiful spot on the shores of the Luangwa River to watch the sunset we started the 2 hour drive back to camp. There were great shouts of amazement
Dugout Canoe when we spotted in the beam of our spotlight an aardvark. These strange looking termite-eating creatures are so shy that they are seldom seen. Even the guides where thrilled.

The following morning Tom emerged from the tent and headed for the washroom. “Can’t go there,” I said, “There is a large black cobra in the doorway even the locals are nervous about removing it.” So, without the refreshing morning shower we packed with baboons and monkeys watching our every move. Despite our vigilance they did managed to take off with some of our food .

BUSH MECHANICS

There are occasions we are reminded we are in Africa and not in the North America. Driving back along the bad road from South Laungwa, Tom informed me, “The brakes are not working properly." Stopping to check the brakes Tom turned and said, “Actually we have no brakes, the car’s emergency brake system has kicked in.”

Anyone for a Container

We quickly realized we had a serious problem, as we still had over 100km on an extremely bad road before we would arrive at our destination, Chipata. We had no option but to drive on slowly, hoping the emergency brake system would hold the heavily laden Landcruiser.

Arriving in Chipata, we met Naph the owner of the local garage. I looked in amazement around the garage lot. Wrecks lay everywhere many rusting away, components of car engines and parts of every description and in every condition.

“Do you have a jack?” Naph asked, “We don’t have one.” Not a good sign I thought.

Tom drove the car up the cement ramp and they jacked up the car. With the wheel and brake drum removed, we saw the remains of shredded brake pads.

“Uh you are lucky I have 2 new brake pads” and with that they put on new brake pads.

New Shoes

“Must have been driving with the hand brake on” he said.

As Naph was putting the wheels back on Tom was insisting the brake fluid was still leaking but Naph insisted it was “not a problem” and put the wheels back on.

Tom tried the brakes but they were still not working, after removing the wheel again, they discover the washer on the hydraulic piston was torn
.

“Not a problem,” advised Naph, “I don’t have a replacement seal but will go to town and find one”

He then went off and 2 hours later returned with “second hand piston,
Friendly Locals “Not a problem we can fix this one.” he said. Several minutes later we were on our way to the local campsite, feeling thankful that the repair had not cost us more time and money. Our relief was short-lived however since on checking the next morning brake fluid was leaking from the recently replaced piston cylinder. We could definitely not drive the 200km to Lilongwe in Malawi with no brakes and being a Sunday so we were forced to have a down day. Monday morning early, we too off to locate Naph and get the necessary repairs completed. Life is not that simple in Africa, he was at the hospital getting a malaria test. His keen but very chaotic bush mechanics started the repair. Their first attempt to jack up the car failed and the whole vehicle came crashing down. Tom nearly had a heart attack since he thought there would be some crushed bodies underneath. However, everything was OK and after some hearty laughing, they proceeded to build an even more elaborate structure and finally the vehicle was secure enough to be worked on. The leaky piston was removed and after much chatter, arm waving and shouting it was “fixed”
Failed Brakes and replaced. Within minutes, Naph arrived and insisted that the piston be replaced by another despite the bush mechanics disagreement. Off once more to search the village to look for one, he returned with another 2nd hand one but “in better condition” he advised During this time at the garage we made many new friends and exchanged views on politics and their respective countries, and families. After exchanging addresses we were on our way to Malawi. The people of Zambia are friendly, curious, and well versed in many aspects of world affairs. The broken brakes allowed us to get to know some of these people a little better and certainly their reputation of being able to fix anything in a Land Cruiser in Africa was confirmed. These bush mechanics are amazing.

MAMA RULA CAMPSITE AT CHIPATA

A great campsite in a great location, great dogs, great toasted cheese sandwiches, and great people. Located at Chipata a great campsite to stay on route to South Luangwa Park.
http://www.mamarulas.com/index.htm

We then headed for Malawi.