Overlanding through Malawi and Zambia
Trip Start
Dec 02, 2007
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48
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Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Livingstone,
Zambia
Saturday, July 26, 2008
With nothing much to do, we spent far too much time dwelling on the fact that after seven and a half months of independent travel, we were now to join a group of unknown people, be told what time to get up, when and what to eat and sleep in a tent to boot. By the time the huge yellow truck pulled into the campsite we were like two children about to start a new school, and a new school in the middle of term when everyone else knows each other to boot- the other passengers had met some three weeks previously in Nairobi. Luckily a meal out had been arrranged for that evening, so we had the opportunity to meet everyone in a relaxed setting and a less pressured environment than the camp fire kitchen.
By the time we left Lilongwe to make the trip over the border into Zambia, we had got to know everyone quite well.
Lilongwe market
Ours is a group ranging in age from 18 to 52, from England, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Mexico. There's always someone to talk to, but getting peace and quiet may prove to be problematic over the coming weeks!Our first stop in Zambia was South Luangwa National Park, a place Piet has been really looking forward to visiting. Driving into the campsite we saw a couple of elephants and quickly discovered that we would be sharing the site with the herd as well as a few hippos. Now, we had come to Africa to see the wildlife but this seemed a little too close... After spending the afternoon viewing the animals and partaking in a few rums beside the camp fire, however, we slept soundly, unaware of the mammals traipsing past the tent throughout the night. The following day we went on both morning and evening game drives. On the first we viewed a few rare birds, a dazzle of zebra and a family of lions devouring a baby hippo, they had apparently caught the previous night. By evening the lions had moved to an even better location for viewing, and as our photos show we got extremely close!
Our real hope for the evening drive though, was to see a leopard, especially as some of the group had gone the night before and seen three. After nearly three hours of searching, during which we saw a variety of wildlife including hyenas, a porcupine and hippos, we found one. It was surprisingly small in contrast with the lions, and moving so the photos are somewhat blurred, but we were all thrilled to see one just minutes before the park gates closed.
On to Lusaka via our first bush camp to break up the long drive.
Gunga, the truck
Zambia's capital was host to another first for us, our first Oasis tour party, this time in celebration of new friend Nikki's birthday. En route to the party location, which was also our camp for the evening, we had an unexpected detour to the local police station as our driver had been (wrongly) accused of swearing at police officer. A few negotiations and a $70 'fine' later we were on our way. A good illustration of an expression we had heard our fellow travellers use several times; TIA- 'This is Africa'.From Lusaka stopping at another Bush Camp, we reached Victoria Falls. This was somewhere that Piet has visited in the past, but was a first for me. Before seeing the Falls themselves we had a rude introduction to the mighty Zambezi on a day's white water rafting. Our group achieved the best wipe out of the day on the very first rapid, and it took quite some doing to get back into the boat after being dragged into the freezing waters, but happily we stayed in the raft for the remainder of the day and had a ball. We followed rafting with another trip on a jetboat, which happily was very different to that in New Zealand but still great fun. Our second Oasis party was held that evening. This time the theme was bad taste fancy dress, which had been bought for us by the others before we had joined the group. I got off very lightly with a dress which most of the girls agreed we would wear anyway, and Piet looked very fetching in his gown.
The following days were a stark contrast to the adrenaline fuelled white water rafting trip. Having watched some of our group bungee jump (I chickened out and Piet's back problems mean bungee is a very bad idea), we spent a leisurely day exploring the falls, which were stunning from land but even more amazing from the helicopter trip we took on our final day in Livingstone, and in fact our final day in Zambia. Tomorrow we drive to Botswana and what we hope will be yet another highlight of our trip- the Okavango Delta.
