Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Day 73 - Chipata & South Luangwa, Zambia

We had planned to set off quite early in the morning as we needed to get to our next camp site at Chipata before dark, but we got caught up in trying to get the papers from Avis to let us through the border with Lisa and Warwick's hired car. Oh what a performance and very annoying! Especially so Lisa had to let them know she would be taking the car into Zambia for a few days and they had told her it would be no problem. Then Avis all of a sudden changed their minds and said Warwick had to go back to Lilongwe to get a police clearance certificate to go over the border and that it would take at least 4 hours to get one. This would also have meant driving for an extra 3 hours. In the end we figured to hell with it and left for the border. We decided that we would try and get through without the papers, if not we would just leave their car at the border post, pile the whole family into The Queen and head for South Luangwa together.

So with all the delays we only left Makuzi at about 10.30 and hightailed it straight for the border. We went through some very pretty countryside climbing up and up away from the lake. The further we got from the lake the poorer the people looked and the vegetation became very sparse and more desert like with the usual herds of goats all along the road side. I must say Ernest has got the hooting down to a fine art and I do love seeing how clever those goats are, they scatter so fast, even the babies know to run for the hills as soon as they hear the hooter. This area used to be dense forest but they have just cut more and more of the forest away to make the cursed charcoal.

Eventually we climbed up higher and higher into a very mountainous game reserve called Nakotakota and the vegetation became thick and lush again... Such a contrast from what we had just been through. We got to the border post at about 4pm.  A bit late but still on time to make it to Chipata before dark - but never underestimate the surprises of African travel as there is always a detour or a delay around the corner.

So it came in the challenge of the border post and oh dear, as we had thought they were not going to let that car out of the country without all the police papers etc. try as we may we couldn't shift the guy so we rapidly packed all the Goosens luggage into the truck, parked the car outside the immigration office, hoping it would be there when they came back in a few days and set off for the Zambian side looking a little like a traveling circus.

This proved to be a very difficult crossing.  African authorities have suddenly decided that anybody entering or exiting any country must be fully screened for Ebola. Not a bad thing of course but heaven help you if you just had flu or a cold.

They insisted on seeing all our inoculation certs! Yellow fever certs, and then made us fill out big questionnaires as to where we had been in the last month and just to top it off they took everyones temperature. Shew! It took us at least on hour to get through that mess, especially because the lady that was doing the whole process was new and she got all the papers muddled and generally made a dogs breakfast of the whole thing, she kept pushing the button on the temperature gun and then staring at it for ages with this puzzled look on her face. Then came the usual third party and insurance etc. which took another half an hour!

So eventually it was nearly six by the time we had all dragged ourselves through and onto the road again and off to Mamarula's, a campsite that we had heard about and had on our GPSs. - thank goodness for GPSs as it led us straight there, in the dark nogal (mind you)

This is the real gathering place for overland trucks and there were two of them already there, in the best spots of course and loaded with people from Holland. It is so strange we have only crossed paths with one other of these trucks in Nairobi compared to the last time we were up here, we must have seen at least 30 of them. These particular guys had started in Cape Town so the industry has changed, it seems, they are now working the southern part of Africa instead of East Africa. The worlds perception on what is dangerous has obviously shifted somewhat.

We found our spot, set up tents and went for dinner; we had been told this was where you get the best T-Bone steaks in the world. Well, ours were tough and just awful and the men went to bed feeling very cheated as they had been talking about this steak at the end of the tunnel for the whole day" - ah well you never know hey!

Next morning up early, to the usual bank, supermarket and service station to get supplies and then we got Kim to go into the fresh market stalls to get fresh veggies. Oh the stall holders thought he was very funny as he picked out the potatoes one by one and wouldn't take the bucket that they kept trying to give him. He is the best one to send into the market as 1) he is a man and 2) he used to run a fresh fruit and veggie shop - nobody can fool him with rubbish and believe me they try and palm all the bad stuff off onto us!

The road from Chipata was such a pleasant surprise, we were expecting the worse but it was new, wide and beautiful, thank goodness as with all of us in the truck if would have been a real bad experience for the kids, or should I say the parents as the kids would have loved a roller coaster ride considering all the bad roads we have been on

When we got to the  "Tracks and Trails"  camp at South Luangwa, where Lisa had booked, I was quite disappointed as the actual campsite was not on the river banks. We particularly wanted to be able to sit in our chairs and watch the river with its crocs and hippos, so off Kim and I went to scout out the area and see if we could find the camp site we stayed in last time. I just couldn't remember the name of it so we set off blindly looking for somewhere else where we could actually camp on the rivers edge. No luck, the one I remember has simply disappeared so we stayed put at Tracks and Trails and as it happened it did actually turn out to be a great site and the best in the area.

South Luangwa is different to all the other reserves that we have visited because the camping grounds are all outside the reserves on the Luangwa river banks and you can take daily trips across the river into the reserve itself. There are a few 5 star lodges inside the reserve where you can stay but at very hefty prices and to be honest, not one of these lodges are up to the standard that we have in SA.

It was simply beautiful sitting on the edge of the river as this camp did have beautiful green lawns and huge Pod Mahogany, Apple ring Acacia and Sausage Trees that we would kill to have in our front gardens.

Lisa and Warwick had booked a family unit and had been allocated the one right next to the pool which was the right place for them to be. The pool was built up about 12 feet above the ground, just high enough to be out of reach of the Elephants which were constant visitors at the lodge. The pool was beautifully positioned right under an apple ring acacia tree which gave incredible shade plus shed its pods every day and it was a great source of delicacy for the elephants. So we spent most of the day swimming in this cool, blue, shady pool with the Ellies picking up the pods all around us. I have never been so close to a wild elephant in my life, you could actually touch their heads if you had wanted to and believe me these animals were not tame, they were pretty used to people but if you got in their way they would chase you. We witnessed a few guys running for their lives when they got too close.




The kids could just go down a set of back steps to their room so it was much safer for them to go backwards and forwards and even Cammie who is quite terrified of the Ellies became quite brave.
Our campsite was another story! We were warned not to leave any fruit or veggies in The Queen or vehicles as the Ellie's could smell them and would get them using any means they could.... Of course we are know-it-alls and left some fresh beans in the truck and went off to swim. We had closed the screen door and figured that would be sufficient. Oh boy that trunk went straight through the screen door, into the van and found all the fruit. I think it would have had the fridge open and got to all the stuff in there as well if the manager hadn't arrived and frightened it. It very reluctantly left but the door was very the worse for wear and we knew we were beaten and moved everything into the lodge fridges.

The monkeys and baboons also proved to be a huge problem. They would jump down from the trees and actually grab anything, even out of your hands. They were total pests and I am not exaggerating when I say there were perhaps over 100 of them running around the camp. The men spent a huge amount of time trying to shoot them with Ken's catty. They would sit in the trees above the hippo and just taunt us, dash down grab stuff and dash back again.... Little crafty bastards.

What can I say about South Luangwa other than we all voted it as the best reserve we had been to. There is an abundance of game of all kinds, tons of elephants, lions and had the best Leopard sighting that any of us had ever had.... Even Warwick who has spent years in the bush as a guide! We saw two leopard cubs so close up we could have almost touched them as they were tucking into an impala kill and then later watched a hyena try and catch one of the babies before it stole the kill from them.

The open plains where you could see tons of game just peacefully grazing in the sunset taking no notice of us or the arrival of 40 or 50 Ellies. We had a fantastic guide from the lodge who was just a delight, was very knowledgeable about the area and the game. He was quite outstanding and would love to have had him at Safari lodge.

We had three fantastic days of experiencing Africa at its best with the family and friends that we have spent nearly three months with, with hardly a cross word or upset... I am sure a record for anyone traveling together for so long. We sadly packed up on day four and headed back to the border to drop off Warwick and Lisa and then start our long journey home and back to the drudgery of everyday life in Joburg.  


Sigh……signing out!





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