There are two parts to this page: the
Travel Facts section, and the
Diary section.
Key Travel Facts - Details that other overlanders might like to know
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Road regulations require two warning triangles, red reflective stickers on the rear bumper, white reflective stickers on the front bumper, one fire extinguisher, plus the normal lights. Police regularly check all of these, and expect fines (or ‘tokens’) if they find anything at fault.
DIARY - How we're getting on, and what we've been up to
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Entering Zambia felt like a step backwards. The border was chaotic and confused, and with signs up warning that carnets were not accepted we thought we might be in for a long ride. Fortunately the sign proved not to be true, and we were through in less than an hour.
We had also bumped into our first African overlander who was heading from Uganda, his home country, down to Namibia where he was working. He was taking this as a holiday to see some of Africa, and was most impressed by our skilled approach to tackling the border on our own – he had enlisted the help of an ‘assistant’. We continued to pass him several times on the road.
Lonely Planet describes Zambia as “the Real Africa with genuinely wild National Parks and some of the finest scenery in the region”. The Bradt Travel Guide explains that Zambia has “never really caught on with backpackers, presumably due to … the difficulty reaching the most alluring areas on public transport.. perfect if you genuinely want to get off the tourist circuit”. Driving through Zambia this was confirmed as we passed through vast expanses of gently undulating empty green bush. The occasional villages that we passed through were extremely small and basic. The people walking by the roadside looked hungry, and their tatty clothes suggested that they were poorer than those we had seen in Kenya and Tanzania. Their perpetually outstretched hands in request of food supported this. Those walking down the middle of the road reminded us what a quiet stretch this was – we would see another vehicle every twenty minutes or so, and this was the main connecting route from Zambia to Tanzania.
We enjoyed the good tarmac, and this meant that when our first intended destination turned out to be little more than a few mud huts we were able to push on to the next sizeable town, Mpika. A basic hotel with beautiful gardens provided us with a pleasant camp spot, and we settled down to watch the TV adverts in the lounge: little more than an inventory call for each sizeable shop in Lusaka. We were particularly excited to visit Elegant Bazarre which promised to stock “Suitcases with wheels” and “Tops for men if they feel Gangster”. The tops were quite Ally-G.
Prior to the road being re-built locals used their initiative to fill the pot-holes. Grateful truck drivers would throw loose change out of the window, and it was through this system that the road was maintained and locals made a living.
Next stop was the extremely pleasant Forest Inn campsite about 30km south of Mkushi. In fact it was so pleasant that we soon extended our stay to two nights.
As it happened our second day was spent at the local Farmers Club drinking beer and playing cricket. We had bumped into “Zingy” at the Forest Inn, and having chatted about Zimbabwe (his home country), he had invited us along to the Farmers Club, should we have nothing better to do. Surprise, surprise, we took him up on the offer. The Farmers Club was the most British we had been since Chelsea, a few weeks before we left UK. It was good surprising to see so many white people together, and certainly good fun to be involved in the gathering. Chatting to Zingy at the bar he told us the story of how his family had been expelled from Zimbabwe after thirty years. The farm had first been down-sized, and then when the recipients of that sharing saw his family using the land more effectively than them, they decided to evict them from the remaining plot. They were given four hours to remove any property from the house, before the building and land would move over to the new ‘owners’. All farm equipment would, by law, belong to the new inhabitants. The story was shocking, and exactly as portrayed by BBC news in UK at the time, but it was different to hear it from a guy chatting at the bar enjoying a beer.
Many of the farmers at that club had resettled from Zimbabwe, and it was ironic that after twenty years of importing grain from Zimbabwe, that Zambia had now been in the position of exporting it to Zimbabwe for two consecutive years.
After the beers a game of cricket was kicked off. The perfect opportunity for Nigel to show them a thing or two. Or rather to entirely humiliate himself. All was carried off rather well initially, and he even performed a rather convincing run whilst batting. It was quite remarkable how long he was able to stay on the green without actually hitting the ball. Bowling was altogether different, and it was best laughed off with a ‘haven’t played cricket for years’ approach.
Pushing on the next day we got some stuff sorted at Lusaka before going on to the Gwabi Lodge at Chirundu, the border with Zim. The lodge was excellent, and we were able to camp with use of the swimming pool. The view was over the Kafue river; a lovely way to spend our Valentines evening.