Back to Zambia

The drive back

Our return trip to Zambia was always meant to be a quick one and I thought we did well to get back to Lusaka in around 3.5 days, although our days were very long!

From Diani Beach we headed south back into Tanzania, a very quick border and the Tanzanian customs officials were great giving us a cheaper visa for transit ($30pp for 7 days).

We were dreading the drive back through Tanzania; many of the roads are 50km because of the back to back “towns” (does three huts REALLY qualify as a town?), the endless speed bumps and the MOST CORRUPT police we came across during our entire time (all 2 years) in Africa. And Tanzania didn’t disappoint!

Baobab Central

Day one of the drive was pretty easy. A couple of issues with police but we felt $6 for the day was ok J. However the second day, the road between Mukumi and Mbeya, was particularly bad. At one police stop they wanted to get us for speeding, the crack in our windscreen and Mike’s “open” shoes (he was wearing his Havianas as per usual). Tough negotiations from Mike saw the price come down from 60,000tsh (~$40) to 30,000 (~$20). Still too much but better than it could have been.

We also had another problem when somehow, a guy driving a Toyota Starlet managed to run into the back of poor Ruth, while she was MOVING! We still have no idea how he managed to do this; we hadn’t stopped, slowed, etc. But he definitely gave us a bit of a shock. Fortunately the police turned up at the accident seen and the guy’s employer was forced to pay for the damage to our bumper bar, which was the ONLY damage we received. We really were very lucky but at the time it was definitely something we didn’t need.

Poor Ruth

A crowd: This must have been the most excitement they'd had in weeks!

Day three went perfectly. We left Mbeya early and headed straight for the Tanzanian-Zambian border, passing through all of it in around an hour. A surprise given how busy this border was!

From the border we headed south, making great time, arriving at the “Africa House” by around 12:30pm. Initially we had planned on staying there for the night in the nearby campground, however we soon changed our mind when we realised that we wouldn’t be able to view the house until the following morning. We were also keen to keep moving given the good time we had made so far that day. And so we took a few photos of the house from the outside (it really was  nice house too) before we headed off further south.

Africa House

Path up to Africa House

By a bit after 5pm we had made it to the town of Serenje where we opted to stay at Mapontela Guesthouse, a family run business which was very clean, with hot water and overall very comfy. A great find and nice place to stop.

Our fourth day, was a short one with a brief stop at the Fig Tree Café, just outside the town of Kabwe, before getting to Lusaka and our friend Rob’s house, around lunchtime.

All in all a successful trip; not exactly the same as getting to Ethiopia, but nonetheless, achieving the desired outcome.

Our last week in Zambia (and Africa).

I won’t go into too much detail here. Our final days in Zambia were very enjoyable catching up with friends, eating nice food, a birthday party, a braai and a final visit to Olga’s in Livingstone. I even got to see my puppy dog Rambo, who is now living with our former landlord, for one last sad (and teary) goodbye.

An old friend

My happy puppy Rambo

One super cool thing we did do was the “Devil’s Pool” at the top of Victoria Falls. Despite living in Livingstone for nearly a year and a half we never actually got around to doing this one and had been regretting it. So when the opportunity once again presented itself we went for it.

We did the Livingstone Island tour on the breakfast run; this includes the boat to/ from the island from the Royal Livingstone Hotel, the swim out to/ in the pool and then breakfast. It is run by Tongabezi, cost $70 and can be booked either via Tongabezi or most hotel and tour operators in Livingstone.

Moments before the big jump

Awesome shot of Mike taking the big leap

I on the other hand was more focused on what was in front of me

The Devil's Pool....

A totally crazy and exhilarating thing to do!

...on the edge of Victoria Falls

Back on Livingstone Island for breakfast

Coffee, cake and scones, yummy!

All topped off with Eggs Benedict

And so we went out on a bang before a long journey back to Australia!

Back in Lusaka for Rob's birthday

I’m not sure how to wrap up….clearly travelling in Africa is not meant to be easy and at times was incredibly frustrating. However without the work you will never get to see the things we saw and we saw some amazing things!! Even if travelling in Africa self-drive is not for you, just make sure you get there at least once to experience sights, people and events that can’t be experienced anywhere else in the world.

South Luangwa National Park

After a year and a half of living in Zambia, FINALLY I was able to visit South Luangwa National Park, in the East of Zambia.

I had pretty high expectations for South Luangwa having heard such great things about the park and animal viewing and I can now gladly say that I wasn’t disappointed! I loved, loved, loved this park. Like Kaufe National Park it also felt a little bit wilder than some of the other parks we've been too, but at the same time developed enough that we could have still done self-drive if we had wanted to.

Unfortunately the road to actually get to South Luangwa is not at major tourist site standard and it took us just over 3 hours to travel the 130km from the provincial town of Chipata to the park. On the way we had LOTS of children and adults for that matter, with their hands out indicating they wanted food or money; that was a clear sign of a major tourist attraction ahead! Making it worse was that it was dark by the time we arrived, after we had sworn that we would never drive in the dark.

The road up to South Luangwa NP. It wasn't all as bad as this, but bad enough!

We stayed at Croc Valley Camp who gave us a great price on tented accommodation, including full board and two activities per day. What we paid per person per day is normally what it would cost just for the activities alone, so we felt pretty happy with ourselves!

Our tent at Croc Valley Camp

When we arrived at Croc Valley Camp the power had just gone out, so we sat at a dark camp with no people or cars wondering if we were at the right place. Fortunately we were and after a few minutes some of the staff came out to meet us and help us settle in. The power outage a good reminder that we were still in Zambia.

Beware of wild animals! They weren't kidding!

The camp is set on the Luangwa River and the park is on the opposite side. While the river wasn’t the nicest we’ve seen, the hippos in it were great and I loved just sitting there listening to them. 

Not a nice river but cool hippos

Facilities were basic but nice; food was basic (carb central!) but we never went hungry and couldn’t complain given the price we were paying. And we did have animals in the camp at night, so we had to be escorted every night back to our tent after dinner. Pretty cool!

Croc Valley Camp pool and relaxation

Never seen frogs like these before- Weird!

Entree: Tuna pancakes

Main: Beef stew and rice

Inside, the park was green everywhere! The plants, which normally I don’t really notice, were different than I’d seen in other parks and the smell very fragrant.

Safari ride

South Luangwa landscape at sunset

South Luangwa landscape

Sausage tree :-)

I had been told that South Luangwa has a higher ratio of leopards compared to other parks, so I felt pretty certain they’d I’d get to see my second leopard ever. I’d also heard reports that the elephants in the park were feisty, although they seemed pretty easy going to me and we got quite close to a few of them.

We didn’t do any early game drives in the park (we’re a bit lazy), doing two afternoon/ night drives. But that was all we needed to see not one, but two leopards (yay!), a male lion, elephants (with babies), a ton of hippos, hyena, giraffe and zebra. And this was all in low season!

Mum and baby elephant

Two mums and two babies (one baby is hiding)

Zebra filling up on grass

Beautiful Baobab tree

Mum and baby elephants

Good spotting at night: Male lion on the hunt for dinner

Leopard "hanging out" in a tree at night

How cute are Spotted Hyena?

More great photography from Mike!

South Luangwa is a very pretty park and definitely one of my favourites! Had we been based in Chipata as volunteers, I’m sure that we would have made many trips there despite the condition of the road. 

Loving the animals...

Back to Lusaka

Our trip back to Lusaka didn’t start off quite as planned; to be blunt it was slow and painful. Ruth had a small radiator issue and so our 5-6 hour trip turned into a 9 hour one.  Fortunately we had our friends Brett and Claire with us for the ride who helped to keep our sense of humour along the way. At one point we decided to give Ruth a break, stopping just outside of Mazabuka for a quick drink!

Quick drink by the road just out of Mazabuka

The reason we stopped for a drink..RUTH!!!!!

Back in Lusaka the trip preparations continued, with more work on Ruth and just general running round.

Mike with the Carnet de Passage: Essentially Ruth;s very own
passport

I haven’t given a good view of Lusaka yet, so thought I’d show some pictures below of some of the restaurants and shopping areas, roads, etc. I thought it might be interesting for people who haven't been to an African capital before and are expecting something different (although also keep those images because they also fit in other areas of Lusaka).

At Delish cafe in Kabulonga, Lusaka

The car park at Arcades Mall in Lusaka- Yes that is an Audi in front, one of many

Arcades Mall

Lusaka traffic

Cocktail hour at Mint Cafe, Acacia Park, Lusaka

At Mint Cafe with our friends Brett and Claire

Sichuan Chinese Restaurant, Lusaka Showgrounds (Check out the shed it's based in!)

Fillet and chips at Micki's Restaurant in Kabulonga, Lusaka. By far the best I had in
Zambia

Vasilis Bakery in Manda Hill Shopping Centre; familiar sign in the background

The dirtier side of Lusaka: Our apartment blocks waste disposal method. This rubbish
is burnt every few weeks, no recycling, no council pick up! Lovely, isn't it?!