Blogs from Livingstone, Zambia, Africa - page 4

Southern Sun Garden Court Tambo Hotel, Zambia to Johannesburg, South Africa--Tuesday, April 1st For a last attempt at a better view of Victoria Falls, we hired a taxi to take us at 8:00 am over the vehicle/railroad bridge into Zimbabwe (allowed just because it is a no-man’s land and there is no way to fit an immigration check point in the middle of the bridge) and then we walked back across the bridge into Zambia. Lots of pedestrians out this morning. I guess people cross the border to shop and work in Zambia. Wet, wet, wet---camera and us, from the mist and not much, sadly to say, of the Falls could be made out through the mist. Oh well, we tried, at least everything short of getting up in the air. (For a video of looking ... read more

Southern Sun Garden Court Tambo Hotel, Johannesburg--Saturday, March 29th Ugh, another early morning with breakfast at 7:00 and the bus leaving for the airport at 8:00. Our flight is not until 10:40, but this tour’s schedule is one that we have to “hurry up” to then “wait.” Boarded the plane, had a bumpy short flight, and arrived at the Livingstone Airport in Zambia at 12:30 ish. Small, but new airport you could see was still under construction. No gangways to the planes, so you have to climb down steps and cross the pavement. Why the pilot was instructed to park the plane a mile away from the gate is beyond me. There wasn’t another plane on the tarmac. We soon cleared passport control and customs and paid our $80 fee for each of us. Fee was ... read more

Despite having to ride an extra 200kms, Jaap had arrived in Kabwe before me and his bike was parked up outside the hotel we had agreed to meet at. The reunion was emotional: "Looks like your front fork is leaking Jaap". "Godverdomme". The next morning Jaap used a £4 piece of plastic I had purchased before the trip called the "Seal Mate" in an attempt to clean out any gunk that might be causing the leak from his front suspension. After he had spent a while on it, and uttered more than a few Godverdommes, I wandered over to check how it was going. He gave me the bad news - it wasn't working - but showed me the resealing process by giving it one last shot. Worked like a charm. No leak for the rest ... read more

A couple of days to relax and explore Livingstone... Day one Livingstone living... Jollyboys backpackers offered a free walking tour of Livingstone every Wednesday, so whilst we were there we took the opportunity. Our guide, Leo, took us around the main streets, of which there aren't many! We saw the first church built in 1902, the high court, the post office, and other central buildings. We went to the back street and to the market where we could see all sorts of beans, dried fish, fruits, vegetables, and even dried caterpillars for sale. We saw the hotel where the Queen once visited as a Princess, but unfortunately it is now very run down and waiting for someone to invest in its restoration. In the courtyard was a huge fig tree with figs all over the branches ... read more

Transport hubs are fascinating places. They always make me wonder where everyone is going and what they are doing. At 7am we arrived at Lusaka Inter-city bus terminal and it was already buzzing with people. 75% of Zambians are Christian, and our bus passengers reflected this rather well. When the bus left the station, within thirty seconds a man had stood up and started preaching to us about the gospel. He preached for about twenty minutes before he invited three other people on the bus to lead a prayer. Once he had finished, he made a collection so that he could get a lift back to the station and preach again on another bus. We later learned that this is not uncommon on the Mazhandu company buses! The journey gave us a glimpse of the countryside; ... read more