Day 187-192

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ZAM 5th - 10th June 2007, Zambia

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Day 187 5/6. Track & Trail, South Luanga NP, Mfuwe gate, Zambia
13°06.05'S 31°47.42'E. Miles today 112, Total Miles 17920
it works road blockTook the back roads from Petauke to the national park, hoping it would be a short cut. Well, the road we chose appeared to be no more than a donkey track. There have been some terrible floods here recently and the damage was horrendous. We stopped several times to check with the locals if we were in fact on the right road and they ensured us we were. After driving through fields of cotton plants and sunflowers, negotiating our way across a small river and towing some locals out that were stuck in the mud, we were still some distance from the camp and it was dark already. There was an immense amount of wildlife (elephants and more) about, so not sure if stopping and camping in the bush was an option. Decided to push on in the dark and we finally reached the camp of Track and Trail. We set up camp in the dark, while the manager warned us not to walk around alone in the dark. Excellent, no way am I peeing in the middle of the night tonight then! After a quick dinner of suprisingly delicious nshima and meatballs, we climbed into bed. At 2am, I heard the familiar cracking of branches outside, (always indicates the presence of elephants) I nudged (okay, poked!) Rob in the ribs. "Honey, I think there are elephants outside" As he unzipped the tiniest peekhole in the tent, I heard "Holy crap, they're right here" They were literally about one or two metres away from our tent. Turns out we had parked right next the tree that they usually frequent for scratching their bums on! Awesome experience just watching this family of five hefalumps wandering around. Suddenly the main dude was staring right at me, eye to eye and we wondered just then how much Dino resembled an elephant with the Hannibal tent open on the roof. An hour or so later, a group of hyenas passed through followed by a few hippos. Geesh, are we glad we bought this roof tent! Nothing wrong with a bit of altitude.
Day 188 6/6. Track & Trail, South Luanga NP, Mfuwe gate, Zambia
13°06.05'S 31°47.42'E. Miles today 0, Total Miles 17920
hippoWoke up to the most amazing view of the river, with groups of hippos grunting and lazing about. Organised a night drive for later tonight (they let us tag along with a group of Canadians) and spent the day watching hippos and playing in the pool. Track and Trail have been blessed with a Dutch film crew who are making a documentary for a very popular TV show abroad. A bit like the Channel 4 one where they follow the lives of people starting a new life somewhere exotic. They were following the new managers, Robert and Ingrid about and word spread fast about our "longroadtripsouth" and the wedding and they pounced on us. Well, let's just say, we are gonna be famous. Now known as "The Honeymoon Couple" and every corner we turned in the next two days, they managed to shove that blinking camera and fluffy microphone thingy in our face. Could they not have waited until I at least brushed my hair and we weren't looking quite so grubby. All I can say is, that's it's not gonna be pretty. The night drive was awesome. A hefty price again at $35 each plus $20 each park fees. Aah but that did include a glass of Oros (orange cordial) and a Marie biscuit! And your park fee is valid for 24 hours. No lions or leopards were spotted but the suspense and excitement of tracking them was cool. Plus we saw pretty much everything else and the Canadians were hilarious company. "So how many giraffe is that now, Macy?" giraffe
water buck
water bufalo
Day 189 7/6. Track & Trail, South Luanga NP, Mfuwe gate, Zambia
13°06.05'S 31°47.42'E. Miles today 71, Total Miles 17991
impala warthog baboon baby hippo
A quiet night last night with no visitors so we were up at dawn and ventured into the park in our own vehicle. (after more Dutch TV Show antics, of course!) Our park fee was still valid until four pm so we had the whole day to trundle around. We still had to pay another $15 for the car though. And that included…um, nothing. No map, nudda. Be prepared to get a little lost but we saw loads of animals and my little Nikon Uber-nerd was in his glory. The highlight was a pride of four lions a metre away from us snoozing with full bellies under a tree .Not only, am I now a celebratory but I have a new purpose on this trip. Rob's official camera lens holder and passer! On the way out, our nerves were shattered a little when a group of thirty elephants surrounded us and wouldn't let us pass. A lot of ear flapping and swaying about and we were both actually pretty nervous. We eventually managed to back up a bit and waited for a gap before hooning it outta there. Another delicious braai at the Track and Trail with just a few hippos in the night and more Dutch Reality TV highlights.
bird lions lion
Day 190 8/6. Mama Rulas Campsite, Chipata, Zambia
13°34.92'S 32°36.59'E. Miles today 88, Total 18079
Thought it was best to avoid our donkey track out of the park so took the main dirt road to Chipata. Still quite a nasty road actually, which took us three hours to do the bumpy 120km. Chipata was huge and we stopped at the ever-popular Shoprite. There's never any bread in the Shoprite bakeries apart from a horrendously long queue. All the locals buy the bread stocks out for KW 2400 a loaf and sell it outside on the pavement for KW3000. That's entrepreneurship for ya! We checked out Dean's camping, which was nice enough but a bit quiet so we decided to stay at Mama-Rulas instead. ($6pp) Nice place with shade and grass and stupidly expensive internet but geesh, when you got a wedding to organise, you'll pay anything. Here, we met a South African called Ernest, who was travelling all over this vast continent on a bicycle. Now, he had some adventures to tell.
Day 191 9/6. Mama Rulas Campsite, Chipata, Zambia
13°34.92'S 32°36.59'E. Miles today 0, Total 18079
Quiet day with more wedding panic and a long walk to check out the cotton farm at the end of the road. Bought some veggies from a family run stall on the road towards town. When I told her to keep the change, she launched into a song of joy, "Oh bless you madam, bless you." Back at the campsite, the owners had managed to talk us out of taking the back roads up to Tanzania and convinced us to go to Malawi first. Spent the evening in the bar, where the owners had stupidly entrusted the running thereof to a local Cotton Plant managing director. We tried to leave several times but he insisted we stayed for just one more "dop" (drink) and promptly bought us and dinner (awesome lasagne) and many, many drinks!
Day 192 10/6. Zambia-Malawi border, Mwani
13°45.11'S 32°47.78'E. Miles today ?, Total ???
Ok, onwards towards Malawi. Guess that means another border crossing today. Number sixteen now, I think! We still had heaps of Zambian Kwacha left due to this change of plan but managed to change it easily (okay, after a tremendous amount of calculator waving and "negotiation") just outside the Zambian Immigration. With both of us feeling a little shady after last night's party and not really in the mood for shirty border officials, we crawled towards the Malawian border.
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