-- Log 27 --

 
Lake Malawi – Lilongwe

We packed up and left Nkhwazi Lodge in the pouring rain, and headed for drier pastures, Lilongwe. We went along the ‘coastal’ road, which was closed when we went through Malawi in April, due to the bridges being washed away. Most of the bridges are in need of replacing and are temporarily repaired. There is extensive road works taking place at present and this section will be incorporated in the project.



An angry lake Malawi

We passed many roadside stalls selling baskets, and cane furniture. Unfortunately there are also the few who have caught small animals, duiker and birds for example, and are selling the unfortunates for hefty prices.

Kiboko – Lilongwe – 11/11/02 – S13.59.949 E33.45.585 - 3 477 ft amsl – US$ 3.00 pppn

Shopping centres again! Shoprite! Gee it was good to walk around such a smart place – pity it also has ‘smart prices’! Exchanged money, bought stocks, fuel (MR W is chock-a-block) and a lovely table (with a goa game) from the local craftsmen.

The campsite is well suited to just about every type of traveller passing through Lilongwe. We did have an option to stay at the Golf Club (at US$ 5.00), but decided that we would meet far more people at Kiboko.

MR W got an oil and filter change, we got an opportunity to catch up with our washing and got an opportunity to dry our stuff out that soaked at the Lake.
The time has come to bid farewell to Malawi and to make our way to our beloved Zambia.

The border crossing at Mchinji was pleasant, quick and efficient.

Having gone through the formalities we drove approximately 20 kms to a lovely campsite called Yellow (Mellow) Chicken. We enjoyed being the guests of Steve and Cathy – thanks guys!
Yellow Chicken – Chipata – S13.40.743 E32.43.443 – 3 740 ft amsl – US$ 3.00 pppn – 12/11/02



View from our campsite at Yellow Chicken

We took a slow relaxing drive into Chipata, exchange money at the bank, stood in a queue for bread, and made our way to the Luangwa Valley. All was going well, the murrum road to the valley has been recently graded, and the corrugations were not too bad, when we came across an ox cart being pulled by two oxen and driven by a young boy and a couple of his friends. The kids were having a bit of fun and were not really paying any attention to what was happening on the road. The cart was on the wrong side of the road, so we went to the other side of the road, the kids corrected and went to what for them would have been the correct side of the road, we corrected, the oxen were getting fed up with all with direction change, and decided that they would do their own thing – by that time, MR W had slowed to a few kph, but eventually we made a head-on collision with the oxen. The kids fled in all directions, the one ox had broken away from its yoke and headed to a nearby field – highly disgusted, the other dutifully stayed with the cart. MR W seemed to have suffered the most, the bull bar was bent back, and both spot light housings destroyed. As usual nobody knows anything, the crowd gathered to witness the goings on. Eventually we managed to find an old gentleman who knew who the boy’s father was, and he promised to tell him what had happened, and ensure that the boys are properly trained on the rules of the road, and how to manage oxen.

Croc Valley – South Luangwa – S13.06.019 E031.47.646 – 1 769 ft amsl – US$3.00 pppn – 13/11/02 – 14/11/02

As we were enjoying the idea of having places to ourselves we headed for the much recommended Croc Valley Campsite. We were not disappointed this is a brilliant site. Adam and your team we wish you the very best and look forward to seeing your site as the number one site in the valley. We enjoyed watching the game, hippos and crocs cruising up and down the river.



Croc Valley Campsite

Although we were enjoying our stay at Croc Valley we thought we should check the other sites out, we drove through the famous Flatdogs Campsite, and decided that we did not like it, and moved on to Wildlife Camp South Luangwa, which we found to be most interesting.



View from Wildlife Camp – South Luangwa

Wildlife Safari Camp – South Luangwa – S13.06.536 E031.48.249 – 1 694 ft amsl – US$ 3.00 pppn – 15/11/02 – 17/11/02

The camp is made up of a Lodge, providing full board facilities, Chalets with self-catering facilities, Tents with self-catering, Camping and Overland Camping facilities. The have a lovely pool/bar entertainment area under thatch. They are all well thought out and catering for every need. Herman and Patsy also run game drives and walks from the camp.



Having enjoyed and taken in the ‘wilds’ of Africa (even though we did not go into the park, due to the two tier pricing structure), we left the valley and made our way back to Chipata, and onto Lusaka. We did consider taking the murrum road along the outskirts of the park to Petauke, but decided better of it, as we were not too sure how much rain they had had, and we recognized the telltale signs of black cotton soil. We chose the safer option.

The main road from Chipata has some very bad potholes and we were resigning our selves to the fact that we were going to have a very weary drive to Lusaka. At Chipata a driver told us that the road does improve (which we found hard to believe, because in our experience the closer you get to a major city the worse the roads are, and on previous visits to Lusaka we had found the road conditions to be awful).

Surprise, surprise, the road did indeed improve, quite dramatically in fact. We astounded at the quality of the road. We found our campsite on the Great East Road, Pioneer Camp.

Pioneer Camp – Lusaka – S15.23.747 E028.27.063 – 3 931 ft amsl – US$ 5.00 pppn - 18/11/02

The camp was comfortable; we enjoyed the luxury of a hot shower, and a peaceful night. We enjoyed chatting to fellow travellers, especially a couple from Nelspruit who had enjoyed South Luangwa as we had. We met a chap who was most helpful, and he gave us the address of a gent who would be able to give us some information of houseboats at Kariba.

The road into the city centre, kept improving and we found that the initiative was sponsored by the Japanese, they still had a few kms to complete this last section of the road, even the traffic lights worked! We were amazed.

To our surprise Lusaka also looked like it had had a spring clean, and the traffic islands were all well kept – a considerable change to what we had last seen of the city. We found the AFM in Longacres and went to visit our good friends Mark and Annemarie. Unfortunately they were out, but we left a message, and promised to try again later. We had a luxurious lunch at Manda Centre – ‘the place’ in Lusaka, and set off to find the Eureka Campsite. We also found the address of the gent who could help us with info on houseboats, so popped in and chatted to him – Dave thank you very much for your very useful information – hopefully we will be lucky with our quest.

Eureka Camp Ground – Lusaka – S15.30.226 E028.15.901 – 4 135 ft amsl – US $ 5.00 pppn – 19/11/02 – 20/11/02

We eventually managed to meet with Mark and Annemarie; they also visited us at Eureka. We had a very enjoyable evening, catching up on all the news. We wish you the very best with the future, we know that you will be blessed. Keep looking UP! GBU!

We also met with two very interesting gentlemen at the camp, Ray and Reg. During our conversation we mentioned how greatly impressed we were with the improvement of the roads in Zambia – only to find out that Ray had an awful lot to do with it! Ray, we salute you, you are doing a sterling job – well done. Reg on the other hand happened to be involved in banking – he was on the TV News the evening we met him. Both gentlemen have dedicated a great deal of their time to the Scout’s Association in Zambia. They are working with privileged and underprivileged youth, and anticipate holding Southern African Zonal Conference in Zambia in April 2003 – thank you for the invitation – we hope to see you both then.

While at Eureka, two overland trucks arrived for the night. One was going to Livingstone the other to Kariba.

The road from Lusaka to Siavonga had been redone, so has the road to Livingstone – these guys have been busy over the last couple of years. It was such a pleasure to travel on pothole free roads. We made Siavonga in record time. There were chaps offering to exchange money along the road, but we chose to rather do our money changing at the border – it is usually safer.

As it turns out our decision was not a wise one. At the Zambian border post – Siavonga there was no sign of money changes – they had all been chased away and were plying their trade on the roads leading up to the town! We drove back to the nearest lot of changers, we did not agree with their rate, and decided we would rather change money in Zimbabwe – so we crossed the border without Zimbabwe $.

The border crossings were no problem, all went well until we had to pay for our temporary 3rd party and carbon tax – US$ 20.00 (no change for US$ 50) or if we paid in ZBW $ effectively it would be ZBW $ 2 000 – US $ 2.00. There were no money changes at the border and the only place we could change money was at a Bureaux in town – 6 kms away. The official did say that he could arrange for someone to exchange US $ - Z$ at 300 to one! HA HA! They would not let us take our vehicle so Den decided to walk – even though the temperature was in the high 40’s! Along came our ‘knight in shining armour’ – the overland truck from our camp in Lusaka – they offered to give Den a lift to town, and then once in town, they decided to take him back to the border. Den managed to exchange US $ 1 = Z$ 1 300 – we paid our 3rd party and carbon tax and set of for the same campsite as the overlanders.