Fact: monkeys can unscrew lightbulbs
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2005
1
62
75
Trip End
Nov 04, 2006
Chipata / South Luangwa NP / Lusaka,
Zambia
Saturday, September 9, 2006
Crossing over into Zambia we managed to obtain a visa waiver, saving ourselves $25 each, which was lucky as sometimes the forms mysteriously go missing, thus forcing you to pay the visa costs.
After an uneventful stopover in Chipata, we journeyed down a horrific dirt road to South Luangwa National Park for game drives/walks and a night safari. Some people were beginning to tire of game drives (why, is beyond me) and were going to opt out of the night drive, but caved under peer pressure and eventually everyone went.
The weather finally took a turn for the better so we were able to take full advantage of the swimming pool, complete with waterfall slide. I also took advantage of the desserts and managed to try all 3 in one day. I never thought I'd be having apple crumble or banoffee pie in Africa.
The campsite bordered on the national park so elephants freely wandered in and out and there were security guards on constant watch to ensure no one got trampled. Unfortunately, the guards didn't cover the toilet blocks, where Claire was visited by a cheeky vervet monkey who stared at her, then unscrewed the lightbulb and threw it at her.
The elephants frequently come through when there's food, so Claire, suddenly panicked:
"If our group is on security does that mean we have to guard the cook group from elephants?!"
Mush to her relief they didn't, although we were visited by several large elephants during dinner, and throughout the night. I awoke (eventually) to Claire yanking my arm as there was a huge bull elephant right outside our tent, chewing on the tree.
The morning drive wasn't overly exciting - we saw the usual antelopes and plenty of zebra, although not quite close enough so that Ruth could fulfil one of her ambitions - to slap a zebra's arse. We did spot a pair of lions, albeit by illegally going off track.
The night drive was spectacular though, at least for our car. We drove out before sunset and stayed for a couple of hours afterwards. We managed to relocate the pair of lions we'd spotted in the morning and they proceeded to make a somewhat halfhearted attempt at chasing and impala unsuccessfully.
After sunset, and when all the other cars had left us, we spotted another 6 lions heading straight for us which is rather scary when you're in an open-sided vehicle. We told our driver we wanted to see a leopard and 1 minute later we did just that.
We received news that the houseboats we were supposed to go on in Zambia were broken, so we had to make alternative arrangements to go with another company on the Zimbabwe side. It didn't make much difference apart from us having to return to the campsite in Chipata for another night, enduring the long, bumpy, dusty ride, during which Matt made an observation that dust has a smell but it shouldn't.
That night the cook group decided they were going to get plastered whilst making dinner, polishing off the last of Romy's wine. Ribo was almost off his head by the time dinner was served and open to practical jokes as the boys made him spin round in circles with a broom on his head.
The next day we headed to the capital, Lusaka, to pick up Michell's boyfriend, Dustin, who she hadn't seen for 7 months. I sat in the front cab with Robert, the peace and quiet being a welcome relief. I also saw a lot more scenery than being in thge back, including the places where vehicles had plunged through barriers and over the edge of the cliff.
There's often police roadblocks we've been stopped at en route through Africa but on the particular stretch we came across a different kind of road block - Tsetse fly control.
A man comes round and inspects your vehicle to make sure you don't have any of the little diease carrying buggers trying to stow away on your vehicle.
We were given the all clear and carried on to Lusaka, stopping briefly so Michelle could change into her new dress.
Zambia had a nice relaxed, untouristy feel about it, but maybe its just because we didn't do anything too hectic. I also thought it felt quite safe, until I heard that the day after we'd been in the shopping centre in Lusaka, someone was kidnapped at gunpoint on September 11th.
