Trip 2016: Zambia and Malawi - Week 1

Zambia/Malawi McBrock Family trip 2016 Week 1

Saturday 11^th June - Cathy - Day 1

We sooo nearly didn’t come on this holiday so to find ourselves finally on the road gives us quite a sense of achievement!

Why you ask? Well the combined efforts of the whole family NEARLY conspired to nip the holiday in the bud before it even started;

We started out on our holiday later than we thought we would because Alex’ last exam was moved from Wednesday to Friday – so the boy had to fly up to Windhoek quick, quick on the early morning Saturday flight. He was also not sure whether to attend the Chemical Engineering winter school which would have taken up a chunk of the holiday and he took a while to decide – meanwhile Chris and I went through from plan B to plan Z in case this happened – we didn’t tell Beatrice in Tübingen because we didn’t want to upset her.

We changed Beatrice’ flight to bring her home a little earlier (before we knew about the Alex dilemma) but through a series of miscommunications the ticket was not altered. We only found out about this when Wilfried (brother-in-law) tried to get Beatrice a boarding pass via on-line booking – and she wasn’t on the passenger list. Last minute dash to Air Namibia on the morning of her evening flight – fortunately still some places on the plane and again Beatrice knew nothing about the problem! Pictures ran through my mind of Beatrice arriving at the check-in desk in Frankfurt to be told that she had no seat – thank goodness for Wilfried.

My nerves! (As my mother used to say.)

Anyway – all’s well that ends well and 7 o’clock this morning found Beatrice’ Christof and me at the airport waiting for Alex to arrive. We knew he was on the plane (which was coincidentally flown by our neighbour Karl) and so we did not herald his arrival with the same depth of gratitude that we did Beatrice’.

After a quick shower for Alex, a quick breakfast of MEAT for the kids who have been too long away from Namibia, a quick visit from our friend Paul Goodison and a lightning fast car pack we set off for the North – we have not yet noticed what we forgot to pack – passports everyone?

With four drivers now in the family the driving load is so much lighter and the drive north to Kombat to stay with our friends Peter and Sieglinde Zensi was very straightforward with very little traffic. Peter and Sieglinde live on the most beautiful farm called “Hamburg’. We don’t see them too often but when we do we feel as if we saw them yesterday – I thinks that’s a mark of true friends.

The Zensi’s farm has been ‘de-bushed’ quite extensively and so is composed of large tracts of golden grassland that feed herds of very healthy looking cattle and some wild animals; ostrich, hartebeest, eland and oryx.

It is always such a delight to visit the Zensis, it happens usually when we are on our way to our holidays or on our way back. They are such a welcoming couple and always treat us so very well – we feel totally spoilt. Our afternoon tea was enriched by an amazing cake – Beatrice was taking notes – and our supper, after an invigorating walk on the farm to check out the animals and enjoy the sunset was eland steaks – delicious! - and salad – also delicious. Lucky us! We liberated a fair amount of wine and beer and hit the hay quite early. The only problem for me was the flock of geese living not so far from our bedroom. They were somewhat confused and heralded the dawn at regular intervals through the night. Apparently everyone else slept through the racket but for me – geese – no!

Sunday 12^th June – Beatrice

We got up just after the crack of dawn and were served a most wonderful breakfast fit for a queen! There was not only delicious homemade farm bread, but also warm Brötchen accompanied by Rauchfleisch, eggs and even a rasher or two of bacon. 

After being well fed and reassuring Sieglinde that we really had eaten enough, we quickly packed. We chatted about the inconvenience of transporting baskets while travelling in a car, a trait both Daddy and Sieglinde seem to share. And with a last good bye we were off! 

I took the first shift, which enabled me to watch Alex scamper to open and close all the farm gates. I obviously gave him enough leeway to use up a bit of his morning energy.

The road was uneventful. Good tar roads, without potholes and only a couple of small bends- roads we will learn to treasure and surely miss in Zambia and Malawi.

On occasion there would be 90km/h speed limit zones, when going through little settlements, where cattle, children and an array of plastic bags would cross the streets at free will. On one such occasion a suicidal goat lingered on the white line on the middle of the street. I slowed down to a comfortable 80km/h, and could see the goat was tending to move to the right side of the road, leaving me a free pass. Unfortunately my family could not understand the goat’s intensions and started shouting and screeching for me to stop. To make the awful racket stop I slammed on the breaks and low and behold the poor goat rushed away and so once again the road was clear.

The terrain varied intensely from dry bushes, past Makalani-palms to the lush community forests of the Zambezi region. And with the intensification of the greenery so grew the amount of settlements near the road. We only stopped a few times to tank and swop drivers, yet had to slow down every so often from our comfortable 120km/h for the many police stops on the way.

The rest of the way to Katima Mulilo was nice and smooth- 800km with 4 drivers is quite manageable. We had lunch in the car and spotted quite a few wild bucks in the foliage near the road.

Finally we arrived at the Protea hotel, with beautiful campsites on the Zambezi river. Our choice of campsite was slightly limited, for half the campsites still had the sprinkler system going on full blast. Nevertheless we chose a beautiful spot with electricity and a braai place to set up camp. 

Daddy and I sprinted off to town to fill up the tank and buy some firewood before the shops closed. We walked into the nearest Pick’ n Pay, which was being renovated. It hardly had any stock, no wood or candles but therefore German Kinder chocolate and so we came out almost empty handed. We rushed over to the Woermann & Brock and dashed to collect some necessities before the shop closed.

We made it back to the campsite to see the last of the spectacular sun set. Nothing can beat an African sunset. We slathered ourselves with mosquito repellent, even though it is winter, one can never be too careful in a malaria region. Accompanied by the party songs from the Zambian side of the river Daddy braaied some huge pork chops and served them with an excellent salad.

The temperature started to drop and we slowly got ourselves ready for bed. We packed everything back up into the car, since past experiences of stolen items made us wary of the little boats lining the riverbank. And so we retired into our tents at camper’s midnight (aka 9pm), ready for an early start tomorrow.

Monday 13^th June – Alex - Day 3

Hmm, so where to start? Maybe with the worst road imaginable or maybe my mother throwing a tantrum or maybe the sunset cruise on the Zambezi. . . . but that would be giving away too much. Let me rather start with the sun rising over our peaceful camp at the Protea hotel in Katima Molilo. Tranquil and peaceful, much like the sleep I was busy having until I receive a loud bark from my father, saying: “Alex bist du wach? (Are you awake). With the decibels of the bark I doubt anyone would be able to sleep through that, even in the next 3 camps. He must have been glad when I turned over and mumbled a yes, shortly after which I had my tent packed and was out and about. Then I went for a very lovely shower and then joined everyone at the table for breakfast and the dozen or so cups of tea our family downs as they break their fast. Next came the packing of the car, which went quickly and then we were off on our adventure, into the unknown and all that.

It did dampen the spirits that after only about a few kilometres we had to exit our vehicle to go into the departure office of the Namibian border post. Luckily this was painless and in a few minutes we were off again. I wish I could say that the Zambian immigration office was painless as well, however that was most definitely not the case. The moment we even neared the parking our car was surrounded by hordes of people wanting to exchange Namibian Dollars for Kwatcha, then we had to have a thermal scan for Ebola and once we had cleared that we had the privilege of joining a queue that took close to 2 hours to clear. While queuing we realized we had to swap some money to Kwatcha for one aspect of the whole spiel. Some things needed to be paid in US Dollars others in Kwatcha it made absolutely no sense however in this case we conformed and so joined by someone my father happened to know (a common occurrence) we exchanged the money. R1.4=K1. Even after running around the office we joined my mother in the unchanged queue again. Once we finally had our stamps, visa (no cost for Namibians but otherwise U$50pp), carbon tax (100 kw per vehicle 2000cc or less), local council road tax (50kw per vehicle), national road tax (U$ 38 per vehicle), we then realized they had only given us 3 days in the country and so had to squeeze to the front of the queue to ask for an extension which luckily we received. In short: The Zambian border post was a challenge.

Onwards! With a bit of guessing we managed to find the road that led to Livingstone. We had been warned that this stretch of road was absolutely dreadful as it was pothole ridden. Up until about 5km in we thought that the person who had told us this was trying to pull the wool over our eyes. As I said only for the first 5km. Then we saw them, the weaker among us nearly fainted, potholes as far as the eye could see and as we discovered much further. “Easy-does-it” was the motto and we painstakingly slowly made our way onwards. I reckon every time I get into a car in future I will have flashbacks of the events, maybe this isn’t the space to speak of it all, maybe I will need to see a psychologist for PTSD treatment, but in short it was dreadful! Luckily it was only a stretch of 120km to Kasangula and we managed to clear it in 2hours. Unless you want to ruin your rims and tyres you cannot do this stretch quickly, so a recommendation is to meditate beforehand. However the Zambians did brighten our day, by playing songs on the radio where the chorus spoke about potato salad, which had us laughing even in the darkest of times.

After Kasangula the road improved a lot and by 14h30 we were at our camp just outside Livingstone called Maramba, here we checked in and booked a sunset cruise on the Zambezi, for which we had to be back at the reception by 15h30. We have stayed here a couple of times before and is probably the best place to camp near Livingstone and for the fair price of U$10/person per night. Then we picked our campsite and set up camp, with my mother throwing a complete temper tantrum (reason still unknown), alas it didn’t last too long and then by 15h15 we had the camp set up and were sitting at the bar using the Wi-Fi.

At exactly 15h30 and a few minutes the shuttle came to pick us up, driven by a man called Wilfred. We were then driven to the waterfront, where we paid for the cruise and then were kindly shown on board.  The crew introduced themselves and in order to make up for the

quite steep price of U$60/person we started drinking immediately. We were joined by a couple from Chile, a couple from Australia and two ladies from Austria, so definitely not packed and we made ourselves comfy on the top deck. Many a drink was had, many a laugh shared and many a story was told as we cruised along the Zambezi with our guide/captain Michael at the helm. Many glasses of G&T were drunk, many beers opened and Beatrice started experimenting with vodka and Mazoe. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and saw a couple of crocs, hippos and many other birds and reptiles. The guide and barmen were very friendly and kind, making the whole experience even more enjoyable. The sunset was absolutely stunning as only an African sunset can be. We then made our way back to solid ground and then received a shuttle ride back and enjoyed the free wifi at the camp’s bar. Then back to our camp, still chatted, laughed and then made our way to bed.

I was very enthralled in my book and so only ended up going to sleep at about 23h30, hopefully I don’t regret it tomorrow.

Tuesday 14^th June – Christof - Day 4

Livingstone to Luangwa Bridge Camp

It had been an awfully cold night: 6,8 °C with heavy dew, I put both my (light) blankets over each other, but had to put on my fleece jacket to be comfortable. It was an early but chilly morning with welcoming sun rays. The showers were hot with good flow, just the mozzies in the bathroom were a bit much. After our breakfast ritual we packed up, deferring to our master packer Alex. Then off to town for 1. Money, 2. Simcard with internet credit and 3. Some shopping at the huge Shoprite.

Money: Just put your Namibian debit card in the ATM and voila Zambian Kwacha are spewed out at the precise bank rate (1 Kwacha = R1,4). Simcard: very professional service and the card only costs Kwacha 5. The big Shoprite is well stocked: meat, chicken and beer on a par with Namibia while wine is double. Yet alcohol can only be purchased after 10am.

Finally, by 10h00 we're heading for Lusaka 473 km NE, the road is mainly good, but for every village one has to slow down to 60 km/h and there are numerous rumble strips and vicious, often unannounced, speed bumps. While the speed restrictions INTO town are prominently marked (90 and then 60) there is no such luxury when you are getting out of towns and villages, so it remains a gamble when to put the foot down. Sometimes you can see the corresponding entry speed signs in your rear mirror to guide you. But luckily no speed traps at all. A few potholes just before Kafue. After Kafue the Harare road joins the Livingstone road and the road gets terribly crowded with trucks. Therefore we only get to Lusaka by 16h00 and we take a snap decision to push on the additional 230 km to Luangwa Bridge Camp. It is not rush hour traffic in Lusaka but still it takes us over an hour to get out the other side on the Great Eastern Road.

Beatrice has kindly volunteered to drive the bit after dark from 18h00. While the road is good it gets hilly and winding and plenty of trucks are on the road from both sides, forcing Beatrice to overtake all the time. It is a babtism of fire for poor Beatrice! But she keeps up a face of confidence until we finally arrive at 19h15, where she admits to a very high pulse rate.

While 8 years ago the camp had been full of over landers and we were forced to squeeze into a tiny corner, this time round we had the whole campsite to ourselves. At US$10 ppn a good deal. It was a more pleasant night, drier and not so cold. Beatrice cooked a wonderful whole chicken with a tomato, onion and red wine sauce in the pressure cooker, served with an excellent salad and washed down with red wine we had brought from Namibia. All is well that ends well!

Wednesday 15^th June – Cathy - Day 5

Today we woke up to find that the Bridge camp, where unlike last time we were the only campers, was actually rather lovely. We were camping under fig trees and the fruit lay everywhere – quite a sweeping up job for the workers. The night watchman had kept the fire under the donkey going all night to keep himself warm which meant that the water was lovely and hot for our morning showers. The kids can take their instant tents down in a trice, our tent, a heavy canvas model takes a little longer and so breakfast intervened – ah! A cup of tea is what one needs – or three.

Our drive was still conducted to the percussion of occasional smacks of hands against the windows as the remaining mosquitos that we had collected in Livingston were despatched. Compared with last night there were relatively few trucks on the road. OK Chris had to do a fair amount of overtaking but I had feared more of a nose to tail scenario. Our destination today was the South Luangwa Park. We hope to see a different variety of animals to those we are used to in Namibia. As I write this on the bank of the Luangwa River, the hippos are calling to one another, such a melodic sound! Actually I love the sound of hippos, as long as I’m not too close.

The road to Chipata where we turned off to the park is for the most part really good. There has been a serious effort to remake the road and apart from a couple of stretches that are still being worked on or are waiting to be worked on, the road is wide, smooth and well-marked. One problem that had maybe not been foreseen is that now that the road is good the cars travel faster and so rumble strips and the occasional sudden hump are being installed next to the settlements to slow down the traffic. You’d better watch out for the rumble strips and slow down or the hump will get you!

One advantage of having to slow down is that you get a chance to inspect the market stalls and the shops as you drive past at a regal pace. Perfect pyramid piles of tomatoes, melons, squash and sweet potatoes and beautifully tied and stacked bundles of kale and various other greens line the market stalls along with the inevitable emptied bales of second hand clothing, the better quality stuff on hangers, the rest in great piles on plastic sheeting, the ‘bend down boutiques’ as the Zambians humorously call them. The shop names indicate the preoccupations of the people; “Oh God Help Me Boutique”, “Help us Lord Auto Repairs”, “Faith Conquers Fear Butchery”, and another inexplicable one ‘Uncle Mukus Bar” (really?).

The roadside is thronged with people as we drive, children going to school or coming home, people returning from the market with bicycles laden with produce and huge sacks of maize meal. People just chatting by the roadside. The new road has a nice wide hard shoulder and so people can cycle and walk safely and gather round friends’ cars for a chat while the traffic whizzes past.

It was only at Chipata that things got a bit more chaotic and road rules are obeyed a bit more flexibly. However the traffic is slow and quite friendly so driving is not too worrying. We stopped to fill up with diesel (no new diesel available – sorry car) visit the Spar supermarket for the produce that we couldn’t buy from the market ladies outside and turned onto the road to the park. Our destination was Croc Valley Camp – a US$10 a night camping spot near to the park. The park fees are very high and so staying for two nights in the park is far too expensive. Which is why several camps have sprung up near to the gate. After a while you get used to the almost total lack of road signs in Zambia – nothing is marked apart from speed limits and if a town is marked it is clear that the town itself paid for the sign. Fortunately we had Alex’ GPS to hand and so we found our destination without trouble, only bewildered at one point because the road just disappeared to a strip of battered tar for a few kilometres before resuming its pristine state.

We have experienced this odd road behaviour before in Mozambique.

Croc Valley is a lovely camp with tall shady trees, green lawns and flower beds around a bar that overlooks the river as do all of the campsites. Our greeting was friendly, there was plenty of space but we were warned to put any fresh fruit in the storeroom because elephants can smell it even in a locked car.

The camp is not fenced and the hippos come up at night from the river, the trails are clearly marked. Elephants also come to dine on the trees and the odd lion has been spotted. I feel that I won’t be drinking that second beer with my supper. Going to the loo at 3 in the morning might be a bit perilous! Alex is on for cooking this evening he is grilling pork chops and some sausages and boiling some beans. We won’t be leaving anything out for the elephants and certainly not encouraging the blooming vervet monkeys with any bits of greenery on the table. At least vervets sleep at night – elephants not so much!

Thursday 16^th June – Beatrice - Day 6

Lying in bed and realising that for the first time this holiday, we do not have to get up and pack- what bliss. Yet that air of content did not last for a long. A shout cut through the air and I sat upright in my tent, watching Alex fend off the baboons and chasing after our stolen objects.

Welcome to camping near a nature reserve.

Thankfully the baboons and vervet monkeys are easily intimidated by ketties (catapults – every car should have one), giving us the opportunity of having an almost peaceful breakfast. 

Leaving nothing edible or even colourful at our camp, we left for a day of game driving.

At 8am we stood at the gates, having seen already a giraffe on our way there. We, as SADC members, “only” paid 30US$ per person and 15US$ for our car as an entry fee to the South Luangwa Nature Reserve. Even though it is rather expensive, it was worth every cent. 

Just a few meters past the gate, we encountered our first elephants accompanied by herds of lechwe and impala. Unfortunately they did not hand out maps, so we had to take a photo at the entrance and navigate from a small cell phone screen. This was not the only problem, for there were small roads used in the dry season that were not marked on their map. I had a frustrating time navigating Daddy, but the amount of wild life easily made up for it. Zebras, giraffes and a ginormous herd of buffalo. Massive log-like crocodiles, hippos galore and loads of birds. To top it all off we even saw a pride of about 10 lions dozing under a large bush. 

It was reaching midday and the animals started searching for shade, so we decided to follow suit. We set off back to our campsite, since our day pass allowed multiple entries, and settled down for a shredded cabbage and tuna salad in the shade. We decided to fair out the hottest past of the day by either cycling in the make-shift gym, lazing next to a hippo friendly pool or reading a book at the camp site.

Just before it was time to be off again, we spotted an odd furry object drifting up the river. Consulting the other campers we decided it must be a dead hyena that had been killed further downstream. To our surprise the crocodiles did not snap at the animal. We could not understand why.

At 3pm sharp we drove back to the nature reserve with Alex at the steering wheel. We firstly stopped off to check on the sleeping lions, who were still sleeping and continued on a new route. We passed a huge Baobab and to be honest not much else, since this route led away from the river. We decided to head back and were rewarded by a plentifully populated field of wildlife, with the odd combination of baboons and impalas living in harmony. 

We continued to drive with the sun slowly setting and saw the impressive sight of two male giraffes fighting on one side and on the other side a family of elephants on a stroll, walking neatly in a row, taking turns to take the lead.

Enjoying the beautiful sunset and fighting off an awful horsefly that would not leave the car we had to head back to the main gates. On our way we managed to see a lone hyena, a rare sight indeed! Checking once again on the lions we were positively shocked to see the lions had moved to the side of the road, enabling us to get a fantastic view of their beauty. Very satisfied by the quantity and array of wildlife we went home.   

Mummy made a delicious supper with local oyster mushrooms in a cream sauce, while Daddy talked to a few Zimbabwean campers to exchange knowledge on recommended camping places.

A calm and peaceful evening ending with a Mosi and a slowly burning fire.

Friday 17^th June – Alex - Day 7

My turn again already!? Gosh how time flies when you’re having fun. Today is another day of driving, crossing into Malawi, and then Lilongwe. That sums it up nicely. . . . Now I’m being told that that isn’t enough and I should write a bit more about the day.

I awoke at 7am to the sounds of my parents bustling around camp and so shortly here after decide to join them. I pack my tent quickly and then go about having breakfast. The baboons and vervet monkeys are far less active than yesterday much to our delight. I then have a shower and then it’s time to pack the car and get going. As we were just finishing off the packing we had the wonderful sight of a big elephant family storming through the river. We had decided the previous day to rather just go to Lilongwe instead of Ntchsi, as we weren’t sure how long it would take to get there or whether Ntchisi had camping, so today’s driving would only take us about 4 hours.

It was then time to say bye to Croc Valley Camp. We took the same road back to Chipata, seeing more shops with fun names such as “3 Brothers – hair salon, butchery and bar”, quite the combination! Also to be seen at the road side were people selling rocks, which they had sorted by size and grade by hand and thus ideal for builders to buy. We then stop off in Chipata and buy more oyster mushrooms, Mosis and other necessities. We also decide to swap U$ for Mkw (Malawi kwatcha) from some of the guys at the road side, we did a Google search for the exchange rate which was roughly about U$1 equal to Mkw 700 or R1 equal to Mkw 46.5. My father nearly managed to be conned: firstly when they tried to give us Mkw 3500 for U$50 and then when after having given them the U$ 50 they quickly swapped it for a U$5 and said he hadn’t given them enough. Luckily we all picked up on their tricks and got the right price to their dismay.

About 30km after Chipata we reached the border to Malawi. The border control here was far less painful than the previous one and so in about 45mins we had cleared both posts. What we had to pay was: Mkw 10 000 for Road Fund and then Mkw 25 000 for vehicle insurance, this amounting to a total of U$ 50. The insurance had to be bought at a different place than the border, only a few hundred meters on, there are people informing you about it at the border post though.

What really struck us was that as soon as we entered Malawi the bicycle traffic picked up a lot, so a bit of weaving through them was necessary. What also was interesting was that most bicycles had no gears, so going up mountains was challenging and then that they carried absolutely massive loads of water, charcoal, fire wood, you name it. We had lunch in the car as we cruised on to Lilongwe about 300km further.

Once we reached Lilongwe the first thing we did was find a mall, where we were able to pull money, buy water, a sim card and a SD card for Beatrice’s camera which she had forgotten in her laptop in Germany. We found such a place and so I went in search of a sim card and airtime to buy data bundles, which I managed to do with much help and assistance for locals. I ended up buying an Airtel sim and enough airtime to buy 2GB worth of data. Beatrice managed to sweet talk a shop clerk into giving her a micro-SD to SD card converter for free, she can so use her phone’s micro SD card for her camera. My parents then had a bit of difficulty with the ATM and managed to have a crowd form around them much to our embarrassment. They then also went and bought 10L of water. Once the internet was set up on my phone I directed my father, using google maps, to the place we would be staying, Mabuya Camp, which is highly recommended and camping is only U$7 pp per night - I had done some research on it the previous night. We had to battle cars, bicycles and tuk-tuks to manage to get there and it felt close to a Windhoek rush hour at only 3pm.

We finally arrive, have a brief disagreement of where to pitch the tents, then set up camp, much like a well-oiled machine. We then go for a walk to the golf course where we camped 8 years ago, the summary is that not much had changed and we were very happy with Mabuya Camp. We noticed that besides tuk-tuks and minibuses, bicycles were used as public transport. The back of the bike having been converted into a cushioned seat. We dared my father to go up to them and ask them to take him up the nearest hill, sadly he didn’t go for it.

Back at camp Beatrice and I go about planning and convincing my father to go to Cape Maclear for a few days, as it’s one of our favourite places and we were 2 days in front of our schedule (having done the route from Livingstone to South Luangwa in 2 days, not 3 and having left Croc Valley a day early). We eventually manage to convince him, after hearing that there was now a tar road going nearly all the way and so the time to get there would be closer to 4 hours than 8 hours. This bit of information we got from the very friendly guys at the reception and the camp’s owners.

We were in urgent need of ice now for the cool-box and so the reception guys got another guy to come by who sold us big ice blocks for the steep price of U$3 per block. As he had a monopoly and we were quite desperate we agreed to his price and bought 3 blocks.

My father then cooked a delicious stew consisting of chicken, onions, mushrooms and aubergine. We then hit the hay as it was getting a bit cooler and we were going to get up earlier tomorrow to drive to Cape Maclear! Very much looking forward to that!