Week Three (Zambia)

Zambia, a beautiful country with lovely people. Crossing the border into Zambia already presented some surprises. Nowhere in Botswana, Namibia or SA could we find Zambian Kwacha. On the border they only except Zambian Kwacha, problem, you are forced to trade with the people doing private trading outside the customs office because the ATM was out of service, lost a couple of rand in the transaction. The people at customs are however helpful and it was fast and painless except for the exchange part.

We drove to Livingston the first day and also experienced our very first very big potholes, you can fit a Land Rover in them, 195 km took us 4.5 hours to drive. It however does allow you to see all the small settlements next to the road. People in Zambia live next to the roads, you have informal settlements all the way alongside the road.

We spend three days in Livingston, visited the Vic falls national park on the Zambian side and also went for english high tea at the Royal Livingston Hotel. Livingston was nice but horribly expensive in comparison with the rest of Zambia.

Our next big stay over was Kariba Dam, where we stayed at a place called Sandy Beach. We went to see the Kariba Dam wall, very interesting achievement considering it was built in the late 50’s the dam was on 95% capacity in August 1963. It was also here that we ran into our first bribe challenge by a gentlemen claiming he is Interpol and although we are traveling with a Carnet, trying to tell us our documents is not in order. After a big and lengthy debate were we able to leave without giving him any money.

The stay on the beach was wonderful and a real gem, we had local fish and chips and it was lovely.

Being in Zambia and not visiting Lusaka would be a mistake, we drove to the CBD of Lusaka and I have to say, this is something to experience, it is busy and lots of shops and people all over.

Then it was time to see the south part of Zambia, we will do some parks on our way back home when passing through Zambia. It is really beautiful and the roads are good, traveling is slow due to all the villages next to the road. Our last evening in Zambia are we spending in a town called Chipata before we cross into Malawi.