Days 54 - 56

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Day 54

On waking, we all decided to buy a portion each of Faulty Towers full English Breakfast, which certainly sorted us all out. After that it was back onto the road again in the direction of Lusaka, one of our favourite cities. We were all quite looking forward to going back to Eureka and when we finally reached the lovely little campsite after a drive of about 5 hours, it really did feel like coming home. Sadly our Australian friend wasn’t there any more, he must have begun his epic drive through the rest of Central/Northern Africa and is probably somewhere in the middle of the Congo right now. We bought some beer and sat considering the bizarre feeling of having left somewhere thinking never to see it again, and then some 1 month later finding oneself installed there once again. It wasn’t wholly unpleasant but it was weird. The boys went for a bird walk but because of the rain there weren’t any birds so we all sat down and had some supper and then owing to the tiredness of not having had much sleep the previous night, went to bed.

Day 55

We had to spend another day in Lusaka because we still hadn’t bought any of our taxes. We lay in bed until about 9 (a serious rarity) and then after a prolonged and relaxed breakfast, Seren and I headed into town to buy the taxes whilst Robert and James stayed at Eureka to finish of their washing. It was great being back in the centre of Lusaka, it is such a lovely vibrant city although today it was rather full of traffic, aggravated by the rain which started pouring down just as we left the campsite. We eventually managed to find the Zambian Revenues Authority, but they were by this point on their lunch break so we headed to the Mall to check out cinema times and to change some more money. At 2 the offices were open again so after paying our 150,000 Kwacha we drove quickly back to Eureka to pick up Robert and James, as there was a showing of Body of Lies on that afternoon. What a great film…definitely would recommend it if anyone wants a visit to the cinema. I even think my father would like it, which for those of you who know him, is a serious compliment to the film. Great cast, great storyline, only a slightly Hollywood ending, but what can you expect? Afterwards we made a quick visit to the Spar supermarket and the boys were incredibly excited because they found some Cardamom to put in their Kenyeje!

Day 56

Left a little late today as there was lots of packing up to do, but did finally get onto the road at about 7. Driving the Great East Road once again was an absolute delight as a month of rain has made the surrounding landscape even more spectacular; thick lush undergrowth and innumerable different shades of green, glinting in the sunlight which finally broke through the rain clouds at about 2. The Zambian style of house is also one of my favourites of all the countries we’ve visited. The main body of the building is usually circular and made of mud. The roof is thatch and held up by a serious of wooden posts which encircle the structure. What makes them particularly lovely are the hand painted murals of flowers and animals which cover the outside walls, many of them in bright reds and blues. We witnessed quite a sad event too on our way to Chipata - we were following in the dust of some crazy bloke who’d just overtaken us at about 140 km/h and just infront of him a little black pig ran out; he made no effort to stop whatsoever, just plowed into the back of this pig. As we drove past we saw the pig trying to drag itself off the road, its two back legs turned to jelly lagging behind it like a pair of bizarre tails. I suppose its back bone must have been broken. I don’t know why but even now I can’t get the image of that pig and the expression on its face out of my head, and the way those two legs were simply no longer functioning. I can only hope that in hitting that pig at such a speed that motorist did some serious damage to the front of this car. We drove into Chipata at about 4 and were in time to visit the famous Shopright were previously on our way to South Luangwa National Park, we’d bought the most wonderfully tasting bread, possibly the best bread of the whole trip. We bought about four loaves and also some beef steaks, tomatoes, beans and onions for a beef stir-fry. Last time we were in Chipata we stayed in an Overlanders haunt called Mama Rulas, but on entering this time we saw a sign for another place called ‘Deans’ which turned out not only to be cheaper but also much more atmospheric and comfortable, which also had a self catering kitchen, which made making the stir-fry significantly easier. After supper we sat around in the eating area drinking tea, and struck up conversation with the other camper, who is also heading to Lilongwe tomorrow; in a spirit of friendliness we decided to offer him a lift which he gratefully took. His name is Scott and he lives in Oxford and is a travel addict. He works for a year and then takes all his savings and goes off to some new part of the world and travels around until he’s broke, at which point he goes back to Oxford in search of a new job. Quite sweet really. We also met ‘Dean’ that night, the owner and founder of the campsite who was an interesting if unusual man. He decided he wanted to become a farmer in Zambia, so did a 6 week training course in England on how to keep chickens. On coming out to Zambia he bought a massive plot of land and several hundred chickens; after a year all the chickens were dead so he decided to try tourism instead, building most of the campsite buildings himself as he has a degree in Carpentery. He lives on a small corner of the campsite in a sweet little house and only very occasionally goes back to visit England. I do find it amusing when you ask someone a simple question and end up hearing their whole life’s story…still he made it interesting enough to keep me from retiring to my little tent.

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