A quick zip through Zambia.

Border crossings seem to leave us shattered! The road from Chirundu to Lusaka did not start off well and we were a bit concerned about the conditions and the other drivers. Slowly, slowly does it. 

We holed up for two days at Eureka campsite on the outskirts of Lusaka with giraffe and Zebra grazing nightly right next to us, and Necia was able to run, at last! 

Traffic in Lusaka is crazy but we tackled it slowly and left on 19 August on the Great East road. Km's of road works made travel really slow but we loved the trees and Zambian countryside. A bit perturbed by the pall of smoke that hangs everywhere from the charcoal makers.

We never did find out why they have to fill the bag so much?!

We stopped off at The Bridge River Camp on the Luangwa River.

One South African Subaru, two Swiss overland motorbikes and 7 bicycles (Germans) cycling from Arusha to Livingstone. Hard core company for the night!

Hunting for 'Mosis' at the local shebeens - dying of thirst and way over the top prices at the Bridge.

Rod befriended these two little guys and bought supper off them. They were so chuffed!

Attempt to keep moisture drinking miggies/Mopane flies out of eyes. 

That is a Mosi in my hand, for those of you that don't know! 

After a one night stop at Mama-Rulers in Chipata to restock, we headed for the Wildlife Camp just outside South Luangwa National Park. We were so chuffed to bump into John Munroe at Mama - Rulers who we had met at the Ranch in Polokwane. It was also with great sadness that we heard of the passing of a dear family friend, Ted Mallon, in Harare. We had been very fortunate to have at least had one visit with him in Harare.

Wildlife Camp next to the Luangwa River.

We camped overlooking the Luangwa River and took two drives into the actual Park. We loved staying here . The facilities were great and all so peaceful.

One of Rod's highlights of this stay was four individual sightings of leopard in one day!!

A very full hyaena - she did not even move off the road!

 Necia's "high" of this stay was watching an elephant from the roof top tent at about 4am, casually working his way through some trees meters from us, eating his fill. I was so sure he was going to stand on one of the overlander ground tents! 

We actually ran out of food and decided we had to stop buying from the road markets and start moving towards Malawi. Zambians are lovely friendly people and we would have liked to explore a bit more, but the driving distances are vast from one area to another. Besides which, we decided that we had actually had enough of "being on safari" and Malawi was calling!

"Wherever you camp in the bush you leave a part of yourself behind. "

En route from Harare to Mana Pools, we stopped off at Chinoyi Caves, eerie and mystical. In fact we "stopped off" for so long that we realized we would not get down the Escarpment and make Mana Pools before the end of day. 

This is now a really deep hole in the ground! Depth unknown.

Water is so blue and clear.

Underground exploration of the Caves.

So we pulled in to Makuti Travel Lodge for the night - rather deserted but they were so pleased to have guests for the night and could not do enough for us! Rod, however, ended up sleeping in the car halfway through the night - it was so dark and we had seen freshly broken car glass lying around !?

A bygone era but they are trying!

15 Aug 2015

Mana is wild, make no mistake. The nightly cacophony of noises, oh so close! , made us very pleased that we were off the ground. But daytime drives and walks revealed not much in the way of numbers or variety of game. We were a bit disappointed with the lack of game, but actually more heart sore, because what has happened to all the animals? 

Of course these creatures were in abundance.

We were camped at Nyamepi campsite beside the mighty Zambezi River and longed to jump in and swim but the multitudes of crocs and hippos made us ultra cautious.

This Ellie passed Necia within 2m.

Early evening visitors sent us scurrying with the salad in hand!

The landscape is dry, bare and interspersed with spectacular trees. We really did leave a bit of our hearts there and fervently hope that continued poaching does not destroy this legacy further.

After three nights we decided to head for Chirundu border post and Zambia. Kariba can wait until we return with our family and significant others and hire a houseboat ( soon! )

Chirundu was interesting - even Interpol tried to get a bribe from us but we acted extra doff and madala !

Been wonderful, but goodbye Zim, hello Zambia!

A quick hello!

Just to let you all know that we are camped at Senga Bay in" marvellous Malawi" next to the Lake.
 I think we have died and gone to heaven!
Internet coms are dodgy at the best of times.
We will try to update the blog properly somewhere when we can.
Lots of love to you all, especially Megs and Heath.
xxx

Harare to the Highlands

We cruised up to Harare trying not to feel too despondent about the obvious lack of farming and general deterioration along the way. However, the road was in excellent condition and after a quick stop at Shangani store for some sadza and stew, we arrived at Raye and Therese and Keiran early evening.

We leave here tomorrow morning and they almost have to throw us out! We have become entrenched in their household and have really enjoyed catching up with Rod's eldest sister and family. They have entertained and regaled us with stories of life in Zim - make no mistake, it is not easy here, but what prevails is an indomitable spirit of the people to make do and get on with the job of making a living.

We have been blown away by the creativity and ingenuity of the people, and the cheerfulness by which they accept constant change.

Rod could not wait to get his teeth into a "gortchered" mealie!

Gail and Necia - overseas traveling partners many years ago!

Beit Bridge to Bulawayo

We approached the Zimbabwe border at Beit Bridge with mild trepidation. We had received many well meant dire warnings from folk with first and secondhand knowledge of the shenanigans involved in crossing over. We, however, were of the opinion that we had lots of time, were not in a rush etc etc.

Needless to say, I totally lost the plot with the " touts" and an irate Roderick banished me to the sweltering car for the next three and a half hours whilst he proceeded to navigate his way through the chaos.

Rather bleak, we set off for Bulawayo, and whatever else lay ahead. Truth be told, to date we have been met with the epitome of politeness, friendly faces and efficiency at every road block and toll that we have encountered - and there are many in Zim!

Necia's childhood home still in pretty good shape.

A time warp visit to Nesbitt Castle in the suburbs.