Zambia First Week

Well, after a relaxing few days at Kubu Lodge in Kasane we left at 6.30 am on Tuesday 20th March and headed down for the ferry crossing over the Chobe river at Kazangulu into Zambia. We finally all made the crossing by about 9.30 and started the border proceedings to get into Zambia. It was all quite quick and very official with receipts being issued but these were the costs involved:- Ferry crossing R140, Zambian 3 rd party insurance R204, Council tax R9 and Carbon tax R363. Anyway we were over the border and all 4 of us headed north for 120kms before crossing over to the western side of the Zambezi river and traveling another 50kms to Kubula Lodge on the banks of the Zambezi river. This lodge is R75 per person per night for camping but it is well worth it as there is a beautiful lawn and good ablutions. On Tuesday we just chilled at the campsite and had a braai in the evening. Wednesday morning we got up and took a boat ride up the Zambezi to some rapids. However the rapids were completely covered over as the Zambezi is flooding and is the highest it has been since 1979. Anyway it was an enjoyable trip. In the afternoon we managed to activate our satellite telephones so that was another worry off my mind.
Our car now seems to be behaving so Dave is very relieved.
Thursday we took a day trip 90kms north up the western side of the Zambezi to Sioma Ngonye Falls – however these were more rapids than falls due once again to the flooding of the river. We hired locals to take us over in mokoros to see better and so it was a very enjoyable morning ending with a lovely swim in the river. On the way up, we had stopped to help some locals fix a broken fan belt and to tow them out of soft sand but the way back was uneventful. We arrived back at Kubula Lodge at 3.30pm and there were Ingrid and Will – our 5th and final traveling companions.

Friday 23rd March
We set off bright and early – all 5 vehicles now in convoy – back down towards Katima Mulilo then NE to Katundu and on up to Mulobezi. Here we stopped to look at a whole lot of abandoned trains and an abandoned saw mill. Apparently all was closed down in 1995 and it looks like a train graveyard. We met a local who showed us around and he said he has just purchased the saw mill from the government and is hoping to get it all up and running again. We set off under his directions and a short way out we set up a bush camp.

Saturday 24th March
Dave and I took the lead as we have decided to take turns and we set off on a secondary road towards Kafue National Park. This road soon deteriorated into a grass track and in fact later there was virtually no track at all. To top this, the tsetse flies invaded us!! They are nasty flies that BITE and soon we were all covered in bites. We made very slow progress and by the afternoon had virtually given up hope of getting through to Kafue, when we met two local fishermen, Alex & Pritchard. They invited us to camp in their fishing village for the night and offered to be our guides on Sunday.

Sunday 25th March
Anne-Rose and George took the lead with Alex the guide and Dave & I gratefully slotted in at the back-no more pressure! We seemed to leave the tsetse flies behind and all was looking much more positive. It was slow going but we finally reached Ngoma camp at 2.30 pm and decided to continue up to Kalala camp on the banks of Itezhi-Tezhi Dam. On the way Brian’s water pump packed in and had to be replaced but by evening we were all safely in camp and enjoying our dinner around the camp fire.

Travelling through Africa these first two weeks has been a great learning curve – but we are surviving and enjoying it. Dave and I seem to have our packing and unpacking routine sorted now and are working together well. Dave has not had time to miss his TV as he always has to do maintenance on Garfield! Last night it was taking off the bonnet to get to the air vents to clear out grass seeds and stripping the radiator to clear grass seeds! I have my hands full cooking, washing up and doing the laundry! I wonder if Flora stands back and admires the clean washing? – I do! Iam using the sputnik that Guy & Glyni gave us – so thank you. Thank you, too, to Moira, Daryl, our parents, CJ, Rayanne and Andrew who have commented back to us via our web. It is great to know that you are all out there.

Botswana

Well on Thursday 15th March we finally set off from JHB at 6.15am to meet Neville and Lorraine Karg in Warmbaths. We left together at 9am and headed for Zanzibar border crossing into Botswana. All was going well…..then a red light began to flash! – our alternator warning light was flashing. We stopped and Dave found a cut wire. Our second alternator fan belt had cut this wire so as there was no immediate problem we proceeded over the border and made our first bush camp in Botswana. In the morning when the engine was cool, Dave made an inspection and phoned Brian Day, and after testing with meters, discovered that alternator number 1 was not charging but no problem we still had alternator number 2. Dave bridged the batteries so that alternator number 2 charged all 3 batteries and we set off towards Francistown. As Brian was still in SA he said he would bring spares to fix alternator number 1. We headed from Francistown towards Orapa so that we could take the scenic route up to Nata through the Makgadikgadi Pans. Burning rubber smell! - So we stopped only to discover that the fan belt driving alternator number 2 had snapped. Well, the engine was too hot to work on so we decided to push through to Nata as we have 3 batteries and if neither alternators were working it wasn’t too serious- bad mistake! This scenic route was slow going and rough. Next minute our fuel tank, which we had only done 26kms on, suddenly dropped to empty! Immediate stop once again but as there was no evidence of petrol leaking out, we decided it was just a faulty petrol gauge. By now it is 4 pm and this scenic route is never ending, in fact we only look to be about a third of the way! Neville is ahead and pushing fast to try and get us to Nata before night fall. Because of dust he cannot see us but keeps in regular CB radio contact. Six o’clock, 2/3‘s of the way and bang we get a flat tyre! Immediately I, Beryl, call Lorraine – we can see their dust. But guess what? Their CB radio has given up the ghost. So we start to change our tyre, and at 10 to 7 in fading light, we are on the way again. Unbeknown to us, Nev and Lorraine have realized we are not behind and have turned back to look for us, but as there are numerous tracks, have missed us and now are behind us! Eventually we have to put on headlights to see where we are going and of course our batteries are draining. By 8.30pm our headlights are like candle light but we reach the main road and head on the last 30kms to Nata. Our headlights are basically off and we are getting rather nervous. We stop, without turning off our ignition, and start our petrol generator up, in the back of the vehicle, to try and charge our batteries. However, a few minutes later Garfield stops-all 3 batteries are flat due to the head lights, the electric ignition and the powerful cooling fan we have. We are now stranded on the side of the road in the pitch dark and I am scared! Dave says we will have to sleep where we are and I am not happy. Five minutes later a GP tour bus/combi stops and offers to help us but then, up drive Nev and Lorraine! Hugs and tears of relief and we are towed to Nata. At 10.30pm we are in the camp site and have met up with Ann-Rose and George.
Saturday morning Dave replaces alternator number 2 fan belt so it is charging again and we go into Nata to have our tyre repaired. By 11.30 we are on the road to Kasane on the Zambian border. An hour later – rubber smell! Immedaite stop and air conditioner fan belt is broken! We have not been running the air con and don’t want to, so no problem, we carry on. A while later, I am driving, and wham, our temperature gauge zoots to the top – off the scale. “STOP” screeches Dave and we stop only to discover that the main fan belt has snapped. Of course this has to be replaced, so Nev and Dave don gloves and set about working on a hot engine in the heat of the day! We are on the road again and only an hour to go. The one fuel tank is empty so I switch over to the rear tank – but guess what? We grind to a halt – all 3 vehicles stopped again and the men work out that the switch to change tanks is not operating! So, we have to siphon out 20l from the front tank and pour it into the rear tank and we are off again. We arrived in Kasane at Kubu Lodge camp site at 4pm and since then nothing as gone wrong. This morning(Sunday) Dave has found the broken common earth wire, which was the cause of the faulty petrol gauge and the faulty petrol tank switch over switch. Tomorrow, Brian is arriving with the spares for alternator number 1 and so all our troubles should be over. I think we have had all our troubles in the first 3 days or so I hope.

Monday 19th March
We had a very relaxing day yesterday in Kubu Lodge Camp site. There is a swimming pool in the camp ground and so when it got too hot we submerged ourselves in it. Dave worked the whole day but in a leisurely manner, and got all the gremlins sorted out. All our switches are now working and he has removed the errant alternator in preparation for Brian’s arrival to do the repair. I tidied up and sorted all things out in the inside of Garfield and then I made a start on my tapestry. During the day we were entertained by a troop of banded mongoose who obviously live in the camp ground. On the way up to the Lodge last night for a sundowner drink we stopped to observe a very active army ant colony who were very fascinating.Today has dawned a cool day and we are packing up as we hope to cross with the Kazungula Ferry into Zambia

The last few weeks before our departure.

Well about a month before our intended departure date of the 11 March 2007, we discovered that we were short of a few visas. We had intended to arrange visas as and when required at the border posts or in the neighboring country. This, we discovered would work all the way up the east coast of Africa, except for Uganda, and only up until Egypt. From Egypt and over the top of Africa we needed to pre arrange visas and we needed to do it in South Africa before we left! The next problem was that most countries only want to give visas 3 months prior to arrival and we would only be in Egypt in about 5 months time. So we started… first, Ugandan visas – R300 each and courier our passports up to Pretoria and wait to get them back. In the mean time I wrote a letter to the Egyptian Consul explaining the situation and he agreed to accommodate us! We got our passports back and decided to do our Schengan visas for Europe next and to do them via the Italian Consulate as they are in Durban. I, Beryl, have a British passport(as well as my SA) so I did not need the Schengan visa and in fact Dave got his Schengan free by virtue of being the spouse of an EU citizen! Next we had to work on Libya – they wanted us to contact a Libyan travel agent in Libya and arrange it through them. After attempting to phone them in Libya and not being understood, we decided to email them in the hope that someone in the office would understand English! Jackpot! Ten days later we had a reply saying that all could be arranged via Wings travel agent in Libya and we could do it on route as long as we gave them a months notice of our date of arrival and of course at a cost! A Libyan escort has to meet us at the border and accompany us in our vehicle the entire time we are in Libya until we leave the other side to Tunisia. Tunisian visas can be organized at the border and then we plan to go via ferry over to Italy. So at long last we were home and dry and we departed on Sunday 11th March as originally planned although we did have to wait in JHB for a couple of days to collect our Egyptian visas. This was not a problem as we stayed with our son, Daryl, who was delighted to spend some precious days with us before we left for the year!



Packing began in earnest in the last week. I arranged for the vehicle windows to be tinted with a plastic film which also acts as a protection against smash and grab. The vehicle received its last service, almost new tyres fitted with two spare tubes, one spare on a rim and one spare tyre off a rim.
We had a number of farewell parties, starting with a weekend in the berg with Mike and Wendy Brown, and then the main one which was kindly arranged by Guy & Zane Dreimeyer at Sierra Ranch. Thirteen couples spent a lovely weekend of the 2 March 2007, with much partying and we were given a lovely pair of Bushnell 16X50 binoculars. The weekend ended with a few tear jerking last farewells. Then we had a number of smaller home dinners, a function at our home on Friday the 9th and rugby and another farewell at Guy’s new home on the Saturday!
On Sunday we had breakfast with our parents and finally the last goodbye to our daughter Carmen-Jo. She has been burdened with all the administration of our properties and general finances of our home. Without her, we would not have been able to undertake this trip. We left at 10:45am with the Adnams & Schreuders escorting us up to Hilton on motorcycles. We were on our way …….