Blogs from Livingstone, Zambia, Africa - page 21

We crossed the border into Zambia with much difficulty. Now that I am actually out of Zambia I can say that the Zambian border is particularly notorious for being corrupt. I paid $50USD Rach paid $150 USD (naturally all poms should have to pay extra). Took an eternity and after they finally took our money they wouldn't open the gate. We spent the next couple of nights getting to Livingstone, one night in Chipata and one in Lusaka (highlight Lemon Meringue pie on the fire). I noticed an almost immediate change crossing into Zambia. Zambia is a lot more modern than what we have seen so far. A large number of obviously new shopping centres, the homes were more modern and it feels a lot more densely populated. Near the campsite in Chipata there was a ... read more

Ilios - Disaster Averted Tuesday July 1 - 9:42AM We didn’t sleep much last night. We didn’t end up going to bed until 10:00PM after we managed to repack our bags and get set for our 3:15AM wakeup call for our 3:45AM transfer to Cape Town International. Our flight would leave at 6AM, connect in Jo’Berg at 10:40AM, and arrive in Zambia at 12:30PM. Our transportation up until this morning was sensational. On time every time, always willing to stop upon request for a quick bite or bathroom break, and unofficial tour guides, Ilios is a new travel company that has 14 vehicles and has earned a reputation of reliability and punctuality. Our wake-up call came from the hotel manager, Ben, who apparently does not sleep. He had driven us to and from dinner the ... read more

Let me just start by saying I've been white water rafting before. Several times actually, maybe half a dozen. Some meandering, some exhilerating, one with members of my family bailing their boat into mine. One recently with a family who was massively overweight, couldn't swim, and couldn't balance to save their lives. The dad fell overboard getting in the boat, and managed to fall out several other times without the aid of any whitewater. But I digress. You know you are not in Kansas (or Colorado) whitewater anymore when the rafting guides informs you that there will be four rescue kayakers with you to pick up the human detrius that gets knocked out of the raft. Its cold in the mornings in Zambia, and still chilly in the open aired safari vehicle that gets us to ... read more

Another month on an overland truck comes to an end. Livingstone reminded us just how expensive Zambia is compared to the other African countries. From here, we fly to Jo'burg and begin a month of independant travel in South Africa. We're looking forward to the time on our own and the freedom to go where we want when we want. It will also be nice having a month off from sleeping in tents! Our rough itinerary has us flying to a private game reserve near Kruger National Park for a 5 day luxury stay. Then we will be flying to Durban where we will rent a car and make our way to Cape Town. Stops along the way are still to be decided, but we are looking at spending some time on the Wild Coast, doing ... read more

Lots of stuff to update today, in part because I've been very busy, and in part because it's been several days now since my last posting. So last weekend I took my first real outing of my trip here. Amanda, Rebecca, and I went to Livingstone, which is the town on the Zambia side of Victoria Falls. Our bus ride there was excruciatingly long, over 8 hours, but we eventually arrived safely. Saturday was our day for a walk in the park. Granted, the park had an enormous waterfall in the middle of it, but it was a walk in the park nonetheless. We started out on the Zambia side, which is well-known as the wetter side of the falls. After about 5 minutes of being there, I was drenched from head to ankle (my boots ... read more