Viewed game in South Luangwa National Park for 4 days. There was even wildlife (Elephant, Hippo and Baboons) in the camp! We went on three night drives on which we saw Genet cats, Civets and even a Leopard (the fifth of the trip!). Flatdogs was a great place to stay for the park, just outside the gate.
Onto Lake Malawi next via Lilongwe
Got the fuel leak fixed and a service done. I waited while they finished reinstalling the tank only to find the fuel guage didn’t work. They then decided to remove the fuel sender without draining the tank and I stood there exasperated while they were leaking my (expensive) diesel on the ground. Then when I left the yard the fuel guage wandered all over the place but it proved to be just the float settling down (they get caught on the baffles in the tank). Just as well as my nerves couldn’t stand another charade!
Stayed in Jollyboys backpakers lodge in Livingstone where we met an Aussie couple Kevin & Sarah who had done the eastern route in a 1981 ex army Land Rover and had all sorts of useful advice for us. They were coming to the end of their trip.
Went to see Mosi-oa-Tunya (‘the smoke that thunders’) or Victoria Falls (for all you colonials). Very little water indeed on the Zambian side so we went across to the Zimbabwe side. The horseshoe falls were actually empty of water. A great contrast to when we were here before in May when we got so wet we had to wring our T shirts out! Mr Mugabe got his pound of flesh in an extortionately punitive visa fee (for British citizens especially!). There was actually a guy fishing right next to the edge of the falls, crazy! Nobody was bungee jumping from the bridge and we declined the opportunity.
Headed off to Lake Kariba for a few days. Long 7 hour drive to get there on the most difficult mountain road which is the main trade route from RSA to Zimbabwe. We saw several broken down lorries and one carrying maize that had completely overturned. Lots of lorry chassis down in the valley! At the lake it was really hot, around 40 degrees celcius and the Mosquitos were unbelievably bad even with a net inside the tent. To add insult to injury there were a group of lads who were paralytically drunk, expert only in the F word and were showing one another their penises at 3 am in the morning!
Visted the Kariba Dam which is very impressive (but power generation is lowering the lake by 20mm a day). It was so hot we just loafed for most of a day reading by the pool.
Moved onto Lusaka and went in search of Diesel. There is a shortage in Zambia at the moment, the refinery closed for maintenance and following that broke down! It is taking some time to get back to normal. We have managed to get fuel although some stations were rationing to 20 litres (but were easily persuaded to put 20 litres in the tank and 20 in a Jerry can!!). Drove on from Lusaka towards South Luangwa and stayed at Petauke a very small place where we were the only people in the campsite and their massive chest freezer contained one cold bottle of coke!! Still we provided entertainment for the local kids who watched us intently. Had a storm overnight with high winds and quite a bit of rain, the last thing we expected.
We are now staying at Flatdogs camp (the quaint local name for crocodiles) and will venture into the South Luangwa Park for (yet more!) game viewing.