Trip 2016: Zambia and Malawi - Week 4

Zambia/Malawi McBrock Family trip 2016 Week 4

Saturday 2^nd July – Beatrice – Day 22

Even though the sun was already rising when we got up, the rays were not yet strong enough to dry up the heavy morning dew on our tents. We packed up our soggy belongings and had a cup of hot tea. Unfortunately we had no more eggs left and so some of us opted for cold Wieners, while others preferred nothing at all.

With an easy jump start from our kind camp neighbours we hit the road. And stopped again after only 20km of dirt road to look at the grand estate of Shiwa Ngandu.
Shiwa Ngandu is a majestic English style country estate built by the English aristocrat Sir Stewart Gore-Browne in 1920. Its name is based on the nearby lake Ishiba Ng’andu, which translates from Bemba to “lake of the royal crocodile”. The Estate itself follows the tradition of the 19^th century utopian model villages, with its own hospitals, schools, shops and brick cottages.
We drove through magnificent forests, fields flecked with cattle and drove onwards towards the Shiwa house, where Gore-Browne spent his life. 

It was as if we entered a film set. A ginormous house with towers and terraces looking over a manicured garden with horses grazing nonchalantly on the stretches of lawn. Nearby fruit trees and vegetable gardens were attentively looked after by local workers. The Estate is now run as a hotel and furthermore continues farming livestock. We took all of it in but decided not to spend the crazy 15U$ pp to enter the building. 

Soon our cell phones begin to beep ferociously after spending a couple of days without cell phone reception and so for the next half an hour there was absolute silence in the car.
We stopped in a small village nearby, where I bought a few fresh products, eggs and beer to replenish what we had consumed. In the next slightly larger village it was Alex’ turn to scavenge. After wondering around in circles for quite some time we found the local market, where Alex bought coal and water.

With nothing stopping us now we shot off to the Kundulila Falls just before Kanona.
We arrived slightly after lunch and abandoned our plan of overnighting quite quickly after realising that there was no security, there were no showers and to top it off the toilets were atrocious.

Nevertheless the waterfall was beautiful. We took it in turns to look after the car, while the other two members of the family investigated the area. Alex on the other hand decided to sprint to the bottom of the waterfall and run back up the mountain on the opposite side. As one does of course. 

The waterfall had many trickles coming over the wide rock face, which all came together to take the final plunge. It is always amazing seeing such a mass of water splashing into the river below.

Due to us having no intention of staying we did not have to pay the 15U$ pp entrance fee and so a small visiting fee was negotiated. The moment we hit cell phone reception again Alex frantically started googling places to stay on the great north road. He did an excellent job and found the Forest Inn near Mkushi Town around 300km further on.

The forest in was luxurious compared to the camp at the Kundulila Falls. It had an abundance of trees on a wide lawn, security guards, electricity power point, a big Lapa with chairs, a great ablution block, a braai and a washing up area. To top it all off it is situated close to the road. In short; a perfect camp for a stop-over.

We pitched up our tent and throughout the evening embarrassingly took over the entire Lapa area inch by inch. Luckily there were not very many other campers, two of which we had met at the hot springs and the other a very interesting English man, who was on a one year journey from London to Cape Town and back again.

Daddy had been looking forward to cooking this supper for about 3 days. First he parboiled the chicken and then braaied the pieces over the crackling fire. It was absolutely divine and lived up to our increasingly high expectations. We enjoyed the rest of the ever so cold evening next to the roaring fire and slowly made our way to bed.

Sunday 3^rd July – Alex – Day 23

I woke up naturally (i.e. no alarm clock) in the dark at 5:30am, I then promptly got up, got the charcoal burner going and woke everyone. We packed up camp, had showers and then had breakfast. We are aiming to get to Livingstone today and so it was necessary to have an early start. I was pretty glad that I had awoken at that time, as I discovered that no one had set an alarm today and so who knows what time we might have only hit the road.

At 7:30am we left the Forest Inn, my mother taking the first shift of driving. Not much happened on the drive. 

At the Kapiri Mposhi Junction we needed to top up the tank with fuel. My mother drove past a fuel station accidentally, we thought there would be another one further up, but there seemed to be no more within the next few kilometres and so drove back. This meant passing a police stop for the second time, we refuel and then had to drive through the police stop for a third time, much to the amusement of the policeman. He tells us that the town of Kapiri Mposhi was another 5km away, with an entertained smile on his face.

In Kapiri Mposhi we stop at a Barclay’s to pull some money and then discover that both Monday and Tuesday would be public holidays, in contrary to what my father had thought.

On the road again we are now forced to overtake many lorries driving in convoy with big copper ingots from the Congo. These were quite a mission to overtake as the convoy seemed endless.

We made stop off at a “curry house”, about 70km north of Lusaka, for a mid-morning snack (excellent samosas) and drink (coffee or masala tea). Watching many of the cars and lorries we had overtaken drive by was quite heart breaking. But this was to be my father’s task as he had now taken over the driving. We then soon entered Lusaka, which was a lot more busy than we had expected for a Sunday morning. It took roughly an hour and a half to clear the urban traffic of Lusaka, quite a bit faster than when we had passed through loads. Once clear of Lusaka we have lunch in the car.

Around Bataka, my father had had enough and so Beatrice took over driving, with me navigating. By around 5:30pm we arrived in Livingstone, still comfortably light, having driven about 75km/h on average. 

We stop off at a restaurant called “Flavours of India” to find out if it was open for us to have dinner there later, which it was.

We set up camp at Maramba Lodge again. Setting up the basics of the camp didn’t take long, we’ve been doing it for nearly a month now after all. Then back into the car and off to the Indian restaurant. We discover it is a place where we can bring our own drinks and that there was a buffet. So promptly the ingredients for G&Ts were brought from the car, as well as wine, soda water, you name it. Then plates were filled with delicious curries, bits of chicken, rice and a ton of naan bread.

It was a very pleasant evening at a very decent price of K 90 pp. We watch the beginning of the Iceland vs France football, hoping for Iceland to win, however after France scored their first goal we decided it was time to leave anyway.

Back to camp and then bed. We’ve decided to spend tomorrow in Livingstone, much to my sister and my own delight.

Monday 4th July – Christof - Day 24

Today we are having a relaxed day, having arrived in Livingstone a day ahead of schedule. A very relaxed late morning, reading in bed while waiting for the sun to warm up the 5 degrees C that we had during the night. Leisurely breakfast - we are quite routined in the charcoal cooker department.

After 10 we are taking the kids down to the Vic Falls. Cathy and me have seen the falls soooo many times, especially when we were living in Bulawayo, that we do not feel like spending the US$20 each. The kids will insert their experiences here:

Beatrice:

Alex and I set off to the Information and had to pay 20U$ each as well as provide our identification documents. Mummy presumes they need our identification in case anyone falls over the edge. Lovely.

We walked past the craft market, where people were trying to sell us Nyami Nyamis (the Zambezi water spirit) and were rather disappointed that we knew the story better than they did. We decided to go down to the so called “boiling point” first, a place we have oddly never been with our parents. Downwards we went. Steep, sloped stairs. Down and down we went. Feeling quite proud of the speed I was going down, I felt most disheartened as a jogger came running up the steps proclaiming that it was his 4^th or 5^th time up and down. At the bottom we saw the Zambezi gushing into a whirl pool filled with strong currents and sharp rocks. Maybe I understand now why we were not taken here as children even though it is a magnificent sight. Up again and slightly red in the face- Mr. Jogger now on round 7- we walked through the autumnal forest towards the bridge connecting Zambia and Zimbabwe. We enjoyed the view-points and even saw a bungee jumper dangling under the bridge.

Now the fun stuff comes. Into the thundering smoke of grand Victoria. 

Let me firstly explain how we were dressed. Please note- do not follow my example. I was wearing normal clothes, make-up and flip flops. Alex had his swimming gear on, under a waterproof light jacket, closed shoes, a hat and a waterproof bag. Well. At least I had sun glasses!

Soked to the bone as all other locals we grinned at each other as we passed by, while most tourists opted for the rented raincoats and umbrellas. We slogged over the narrow bridge to the sighting platforms. Unfortunately we could not see all that much, due to heavy spray of the quite full Zambezi. Nevertheless is was amazing seeing the rainbows and glimpsing the broad and sheer cliff face of the Victoria Falls. We went to the Devils pool after that, an area above the falls, where people can swim right at the edge of the falls, when there is little water in the river. We dried off in the sun and walked along the top of the river to the water turbine.

Soon the parents were due to pick us up, so after running into the sprays one last time, we went to wait for them outside.

Christof again:

We agree to pick them up at 13h30 and we are off to search fpr block ice, which proves to be a wild goose chase. In the end we buy 2 times 5kg ice cubes, which will probably last us until Windhoek on Thursday afternoon (in time for the choir rehearsal for Ernst van Biljon's funeral).

After shopping we take the liberty of having a GOOD coffee at the Kubu Craft Cafe next to the Shoprite entrance ... and a few samoosas.

After picking up the kids from the falls we rest for a while at the camping place, also making use of their good wifi (ours is used up and by tomorrow lunchtime we should be back in Namibia).

By about 15h30 we drive to the Royal Livingstone (now part of the Avani Group) to have sundowners on their deck with a beautiful view over the Zambesi river and the 'smoke that thunders' in the background. A very good spot and the drinks appear less expensive than 8 years ago (Mosi 375ml = ZK18= R27), but forget about wine. We are taking a lot of photos, some of which are posted on fb and whatsapp.

Back to the camp at last light, the kids are making use of the camp's wifi, while Cathy and me are cooking: pork braai, oyster mushroom sauce, cheese filled sqashes and a small salad. Applauded by all. A quiet early night: we want to get moving early tomorrow morning to be in Katima by noon and in the Bambwata National Park (west side of the Kwando at Nambwa camp near the famous Horse Shoe) in good time to see the approx 100 elephants at the Horse Shoe.

Tuesday 5th July day 25 – Cathy

Today was a moving on day. Our holiday had developed a kind of rhythm. A day to arrive a day to enjoy, a day to move on. Although the rhythm has changed now as we are on our homeward journey. The Maramba campsite was very quiet this morning; most of last night’s campers had left, and so we didn’t feel guilty about our early morning getting up arguments. The microlights began their racket at about ten to seven, with so many of them zipping around like mosquitos, trying to catch the first rays of the sun over the falls. We wondered whether they had a flight plan or just hoped for the best.  We were awake already but I couldn’t help but wonder how the guests at the expensive lodges felt about being nudged from their slumbers at this early hour.

We showered, breakfasted, packed and then collected Beatrice from the wifi zone where she was busy catching up on her messages. We filled up with diesel, spending what we thought were our last kwachas. Unfortunately once we were out of Zambia I found that I still had 400 Kwachas in my wallet – blast! We could have had another round of cocktails at the Royal Livingstone yesterday! We were on the road by eight fifteen knowing what lay ahead of us – Oh boy! The road to Shisheke is not for sissies!

The road from Livingstone to Kazungula is good, thank heavens! I speculated that perhaps quite a few travellers take the ferry across the river from here to the point where Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia meet and then travel through a bit of Botswana before they hit Namibia, all the passport checks may be seen as worthwhile when compared to the road to Shesheke.

As the road gradually deteriorated we wondered what the road maintenance fee might be spent on since it is clearly not spent on road maintenance. But who knows, there were men in hard hats chopping out trees beside the road, perhaps they were creating detours for the upcoming road repairs? Hope springs eternal.

If one uses the texture of fabric to describe road surfaces one could say that the new road surfaces were like silk, corrugated dirt roads are like corduroy and to continue the simile the road from Kasungula to Sisheke is Broderie Anglaise. Frilly round the edges where the surface has crumbled into the sand and with elaborately and decoratively shaped holes of interestingly varying dimensions and depths.

At least we knew what to expect and Chris, without any assistance of tranquilisers (I did suggest a dose of Valerian) managed to cover the distance from Livingstone to Shisheke in three hours. On the way we passed a couple of cars with punctures and a couple of cars that appeared to be abandoned in a hopeless kind of way. Another car was a burn out, I imagined the driver torching it in desperation after it died in the attempt on the road.

On a road like this a kind of camaraderie of hardship develops. Fellow drivers greet each other from their shared adversity as did the adventurers of the past and should the number plate be of a fellow Namibian the greeting becomes even more enthusiastic. At a police check Chris made a remark about the road and the officer smiled in a stoical kind of way and said ‘we must just endure.’ I found myself wondering whether a special descriptive vocabulary had developed among local people. Is there a word for small scattered potholes as opposed to deep lonely potholes? Are certain potholes given names that indicate that they are likely to bring you closer to your maker than others?

Negotiating the potholes reminded Alex of the old Packman computer game. It was a test of nerve with more consequences than a ‘game over’ sign if you got it wrong. As the border post came into view we were all overcome with gratitude. ‘Game over’ and with nothing broken! We cleared the immigration and customs quickly after negotiating our way around all of the parked lorries waiting to cross the border, including for some strange reason an genuine, yellow American school bus – why? On the Namibian side they had not made a separate queue of the local Zambians coming over with only an ID for shopping in Katima Mulilo and the rest of the travellers who had passports. The queue snaked across the arrivals hall but eventually we arrived at the front only to be told that we need first to go to the Ebola check and bring the receipt. Heck! Over to the Ebola check and back to the queue again. Even still we were through immigration quite fast.

Next stop was the Katima Mulilo supermarkets. We should have guessed from the queues at the border and the fact that today was a holiday in Zambia that the shops would be seething with people and the queues were a test of patience that neither Alex nor I passed. Eventually we emerged at the other side of the till with our purchases and joined Chris and Beatrice who had been to fill the car with fuel. We left Katima and headed in the direction of Kongola and the entrance to the Bwambwata national park. Our plan being to camp at Nambwa Camp in the middle of the southern section of the park next to the Kwando river.

While I was doing the paper work and paying the park fee (only N$50 forall of us for 24 hours) the kids and Chris let down the car tyres because the tracks are very sandy and the enlarged surface of a flatter tyre gives a better grip. On the way to Nambwa we passed lots of antelope but none of the elephants that we had promised the kids. Alex and Beatrice started to bemoan the lack of pachyderms when a small herd of elephants appeared from the right and crossed the road behind us. Well at least that was a start.

The guard at Nambwa told us that the camp was full but he could put us to share a camping site with a party of only two people if we were agreeable. The two people were not there so we pitched our tents as far away from their camp as possible and offloaded as much weight as we could from the car in order to make it easier to manage the deep sand. Just as we were about to leave for a drive the couple returned and we knew them! It was the farmer couple from South Africa, JP and Mrs JP who we had last met at Chitemba camp near to Livingstonia. Chris had recommended this place to them. They told us that they had not had much luck spotting elephants which was a bit disappointing to hear but we decided to go out anyway and headed for the place called the Horseshoe. We had been making big promises to the kids so we were hoping that they wouldn’t be disappointed.

The Horseshoe is a big bend in the river that sooner or later will probably become cut off from the flow but at the moment makes a lovely dramatic sweep with white beaches on its outer edge. The road at this point is very sandy and deep which is a nice challenge for the 4x4 driver. It is very easy to see animals when they go down to drink they stand out clearly against the white sand and so it’s a great place for spotting. When we arrived there were some kudus and the odd warthog but no elephants at all. Never mind, we decided to drive up to the highest view point and have a sundowner under some shady trees as the sun sank in the sky.

After a bit of a wait our patience was rewarded by two large male elephants coming down to drink. They stayed for quite a while as we poured our second glasses of wine and kept waiting. Alex climbed a tree, that’s just what he does, and we all watched the water and the sun going down. After a little while more a small herd with some very young elephants came onto the beach but this just signalled the arrival of the large number of elephants that had been kicking up dust among the trees. They came down to drink in groups, some walking towards us, some away and in the end there must have been around a hundred elephants drinking on the beach below us. What a lovely mix; sunset, unwooded chardonnay and elephants! (Okay Alex was dinking some of the Mosi beer that we had brought back from Zambia but the effect was the same.) We waited until all of the elephants had finished dinking and then almost all of them turned back together towards the trees and were gone. They are such quiet creatures most of the time, we heard the odd stomach rumble, some hosing noises and a bit of splashing but that was all. The bushes rustled a little as they moved away and then there was silence.

We returned to the camp to find that we had been joined by four other campers, also South Africans and JP being a very outgoing person soon had started up a conversation with them that brought in everyone else. Our campsite became quite a social centre. There were jokes made about the likely snore-fest that we would have in the night.

Beatrice cooked supper over the charcoal burner, Gem squash and a delicious cream, ham and green bean concoction. As Alex was washing up we could see torch beams flashing onto something by the river. It turned out to be a hippo that had decided to join us in the camp and was happily grazing despite the audience that it had attracted. Gosh they are huge creatures and with massive, chomping, canoe snapping jaws way more powerful than you need to graze a bit of grass at night. When the torch beams caught its eyes it stared quite malevolently, but maybe that’s just experience talking. So any midnight bathroom visits would need to be cautious.

We slept to the sound of hippos grunting and in the night I woke to the snoring symphony that had been predicted. Maybe that’s why the hippos stayed away from our camp!

Wednesday 6^th July – Beatrice – Day 26

We woke up to a tranquil 4 degrees. You might ask how I could possibly call 4 degrees tranquil, but you see, when I looked out of my tent, everyone was wearing shorts and JP went the extra mile not even to put on a jumper!

Everything was going swimmingly until we got a puncture. Thick sand and wild beasts are not the ideal conditions to change a tyre and so we drove a slowly, slowly, hardly daring to breath in case it would somehow cause the tyre to flatten faster. Every beep of the tyre pressure monitor sent a chill down our backs. Stopping on such thick sand was not an option. The road seamed to go on forever but finally we reached the gates and with it hard ground. The puncture was minute, hardly the size of a toothpick wound but as air gushed out the pressure gage read only 0.76 bar.

We wanted to stay at Hakusembe, a great lodge with four camping sites and a lovely floating porch on the river, but there were no camping places left. We continued further down the river and went to Samsitu, a new lodge next door. And we had fallen on our feet! Samsitu has much better campsites for a lot cheaper. Fantastic clean and spacious ablutions, with the best shower I have had all trip, a big braai area, washing up area, a pool, grand lawn, big trees and what a view! Happily, we unpacked our tents and did not have to worry about intruding other campsites, for once again, we were the only guests.
The moment the sun set the cold swooped in and so we retired early to bed for one last night in our tents.

We had breakfast and went for a game drive to Horse Shoe and managed to see nothing. Well nothing rare at least. And even the impalas were sparse. Not down trodden, due to last evenings experience, yet nonetheless disappointed we dashed back to camp and packed everything up to drive onwards.

Now it was action time- a ritual we are very accustomed to. Daddy pumped up the wheels, while Alex and I changed the tyre in a few swift movements. A well-oiled team, where Mummy shouts out encouragement and takes pictures. Sooner rather than later we were off on our way to Rundu.

The drive was pretty uneventful until my father decided to switch on the radio. And not just any radio station- he turned on the German radio station exactly in time for their kiddies’ programme. You have never experienced such torture through a single song if you haven’t heard ‘Hänzchen Klein’ being sung by a small child as a hard rock cover. Daddy enjoyed it. He probably enjoyed our aguish of not being able to block out the sound more than the actual song. But he who drives, choses the music.

We stopped off for gas and minimal shopping, where I purchased my beloved guava juice. A slightly too sweet, bright pink concoction with minimal amount of actual guava in it- but it is delicious to all Namibians. Onwards.

We enjoyed our last afternoon of holiday with a bit of wine or beer looking over the beautiful river and enjoying the stunning sun set.

Alex catered for the last supper and expertly managed to use almost every single utensil and crockery available. Yet it had to be said that his braai and additions were very tasty and even though I had to wash everything up, it was only half as bad due to the hot water from the washing up facilities- a seldom experienced phenomena.

Thursday 7^th July – Alex – Day 27

So last and final day of the trip, also my dad’s birthday.

Pretty darn early we awoke, packed up our camp and then went and had the breakfast buffet at Gondwana lodge next door to celebrate my father’s birthday as best as we could! Really nice breakfast, however they didn’t have enough pastries to satisfy my or Beatrice’s desires.

Ok now that I’ve given an introduction to the day I can write that I am actually writing this entry quite a while after the actual day. The events of that day are therefore quite a bit more summarised as I would like and small details are not currently present in my mind. The gist of that day however I feel are being conveyed and not everything of that day is forgotten. Now back to that day . . .

Next we all jumped in the car and onwards to Windhoek. The drive went really well as we all did some of the driving and so around 5pm or so we were in Windhoek. On the way we messaged Romana telling her that we’d be home later that day and then the message came that our house had been burgled the night before. The full extent of this only found out when we got home. Fortunately Romana, Faith nor the dogs had been harmed in any way. Much was missing (including my entire safe that had been anchored to the wall) Romana was quite shaken. Not the best way to end a holiday.

Now before I summarise the whole holiday I can say that the person who had stolen from us was caught by the police, however as he was an ex-policeman and had friends still on the police force all the forensic evidence that had been collected mysteriously went missing and so he went free. Such is the situation in Namibia sadly.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing holiday and one I with experience I will forever cherish. It was amazing to revisit places, such as Cape Maclear as well as to get to know new places. The VW was tested thoroughly and passed every test we threw at it. This trip took Beatrice and me the furthest north in Sub-equatorial Africa that we’ve ever been and showed us more amazing sights of Africa than was thought possible. I would recommend such a trip to everyone and hope more people take the time to explore Africa!

Until the next one!

-McBrocks