3 AUGUST 2010 - We rock Zambia
Rolled into Lusaka last night, went straight to Chachacha backpackers, and then suddenly we were at a karaoke restaurant run by an Indian guy, on stage with smoke machines and disco ball singing Land Down Under. Things got weird.
Lusaka has been a pleasant surprise so far. For the capital of an extremely poor and predominantly agricultural country, Lusaka has it going on. It's clean, shops are shops not shacks, and we're hoping that - in stark contrast to Zim - the supermarket will be well stocked. Shame that it costs an absolute packet to get into the country.
We are planning to head northeast towards Malawi and a rest on (and in my case: in) the lake.
SC
7 AUGUST 2010 - We leave Zambia
Our lightning tour of Zambia is over. By "lightning tour" we mean we entered the country, drove to the capital, drove east to its most famous national park, and now are leaving. So it was more lightning and less touring, really.
South Luangwa National Park is a beautiful national park, perhaps the most scenically beautiful yet (depends who you ask - Mark rates it number 1, I rate it number 2, behind Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana). Somehow, though, we managed to avoid most of the animals it's famous for. Don't get us wrong, we saw lots of animals. Elephants and babies again, millions of hippos and crocs, zebras fighting, and new brands of the ubiquitous antelope (this time: puku), but we also had to listen to our fellow travellers coming back from their professionally run game drives with stories of 9 lions on the right, a leopard on the left... Often we find ourselves a game vehicle, swing in behind, crack a beer, and wait for the pro to stop when he spots something. Our dastardly plans were frustrated in Zambia by park regulations that usher the private vehicles out of the park just as the game action hots up and the pros get busy. To be honest, though, we were due for a run of game-viewing bad luck: we have had our fair share (or more) in recent times. Overall, we really enjoyed South Luangwa.
I'm not sure how much Toy enjoyed South Luangwa though. After our final game drive in the park, I noticed that most of our Hi Lift Jack, which is mounted on the rear wheel carrier, was... missing. Simply gone. Somewhere along the way, the corrugations of African travel must have shaken the entire foot/climbing mechanism off. This is NOT an insignificant chunk of metal - somewhere in South Luangwa there is a 12kg+ chunk of so-called "heavy duty" steel lying on a bush track. Great product Hi Lift. We sold our Tmax Tuff Lifter jack before leaving and replaced it with a Hi Lift, which has a heavier lifting rating. Well, the one time we did use our new Hi Lift the mechanism was stuck and wouldn't lower the car again, so we had to tie a rope to it and pull the car off the jack. CRASH. And then half the jack falls off! TIA.
We have really enjoyed our 5 days in Zambia in general. It is a beautiful country to drive through, and the people are the most remarkably friendly and hassle-free yet. But Lake Malawi calls!
SC
Rolled into Lusaka last night, went straight to Chachacha backpackers, and then suddenly we were at a karaoke restaurant run by an Indian guy, on stage with smoke machines and disco ball singing Land Down Under. Things got weird.
Lusaka has been a pleasant surprise so far. For the capital of an extremely poor and predominantly agricultural country, Lusaka has it going on. It's clean, shops are shops not shacks, and we're hoping that - in stark contrast to Zim - the supermarket will be well stocked. Shame that it costs an absolute packet to get into the country.
We are planning to head northeast towards Malawi and a rest on (and in my case: in) the lake.
SC
7 AUGUST 2010 - We leave Zambia
Our lightning tour of Zambia is over. By "lightning tour" we mean we entered the country, drove to the capital, drove east to its most famous national park, and now are leaving. So it was more lightning and less touring, really.
South Luangwa National Park is a beautiful national park, perhaps the most scenically beautiful yet (depends who you ask - Mark rates it number 1, I rate it number 2, behind Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana). Somehow, though, we managed to avoid most of the animals it's famous for. Don't get us wrong, we saw lots of animals. Elephants and babies again, millions of hippos and crocs, zebras fighting, and new brands of the ubiquitous antelope (this time: puku), but we also had to listen to our fellow travellers coming back from their professionally run game drives with stories of 9 lions on the right, a leopard on the left... Often we find ourselves a game vehicle, swing in behind, crack a beer, and wait for the pro to stop when he spots something. Our dastardly plans were frustrated in Zambia by park regulations that usher the private vehicles out of the park just as the game action hots up and the pros get busy. To be honest, though, we were due for a run of game-viewing bad luck: we have had our fair share (or more) in recent times. Overall, we really enjoyed South Luangwa.
I'm not sure how much Toy enjoyed South Luangwa though. After our final game drive in the park, I noticed that most of our Hi Lift Jack, which is mounted on the rear wheel carrier, was... missing. Simply gone. Somewhere along the way, the corrugations of African travel must have shaken the entire foot/climbing mechanism off. This is NOT an insignificant chunk of metal - somewhere in South Luangwa there is a 12kg+ chunk of so-called "heavy duty" steel lying on a bush track. Great product Hi Lift. We sold our Tmax Tuff Lifter jack before leaving and replaced it with a Hi Lift, which has a heavier lifting rating. Well, the one time we did use our new Hi Lift the mechanism was stuck and wouldn't lower the car again, so we had to tie a rope to it and pull the car off the jack. CRASH. And then half the jack falls off! TIA.
We have really enjoyed our 5 days in Zambia in general. It is a beautiful country to drive through, and the people are the most remarkably friendly and hassle-free yet. But Lake Malawi calls!
SC
ZAMBIA DIARIES
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