Views of Africa - Diary entry #1

21 September 2003 - The journey begins...

The hardest part of our journey was leaving. Nothing could have prepared us for actually leaving our house and cats and saying goodbye to all the family and friends. A bit of planning and lots of talking does not prepare you for that. We eventually left mid-morning on Sunday, after first delaying our departure by a couple of weeks for work reasons and then by a week one day at a time so that we could "finish" our preparations, which of course is impossible - you are never really ready to leave. Eventually even the family had got tired of waiting for us to leave and told us "let us know the night before you leave...". So Sunday morning we just dumped everything in the Landy, hoping to repack everything soon enough. Even our niece and nephew must have wondered why they had to say goodbye to their zio and auntie so many times when we stopped to drop off our house keys! It was with a heavy heart that we hit the road north, knowing that the earliest we will be back would be Christmas if our money ran out faster than expected.

We stopped for a quick diversion at the Mantsole traffic control point north of Pretoria to get our Defender weighed. The officer manning the weigh bridge thought we were nuts but there were no trucks coming in so he agreed to weigh us. Front axle was 1200kg, rear 1980kg, without me. Pretty heavy, but with only 40 litres diesel in the jerry cans and a bit of wood outstanding, that would be as heavy as we would ever get on the trip, so not too bad about 3.3 tons max. Must be all those Landy spares! Just as well I fitted rear inner springs before leaving, the Landy is sitting nice and level at the back.

To cheer ourselves up, we stopped at the Jagkamp Vleismark just before Nylstroom on the off chance they were open because they have excellent biltong for a good price. They had just opened to wait for someone so we bought biltong, impala chops and kudu wors and felt much better looking forward to a great braai later. Weeks of very late nights caught up with me so Isla had to take over the wheel a few times. Unfortunately we had such a strong head wind all the way to the Botswana border that we battled to stay over 90km/h. The border crossing at Groblersbrug/Martin's Drift was quick as usual, but the slow drive caught us in Palapye at sunset. A sign saying "camping" just before entering Palapye took us to an unexpectedly nice camp site called Camp Itumela, where we immediately settled for a quiet evening. We even remembered to listen to the BBC Africa News to hear what is going on around us - this is Africa after all. The camp is very neat, with spotless outdoor ablution facilities, hot water, lights and braai facilities. For P20 per person, it's pretty good value.

Camp Itumela: outdoor ablution facilities where even the showers have their own garden.

The next morning we excitedly left early for a long drive. The good mood did not last long when I got caught with my first ever speeding fine in Botswana: 93 in a 60 zone. I drove a few km back to see if there was a sign: it was on a bend just before a bridge, where most people keep their eyes open for goats and locals. I thought the speed limit at that stage was 80 so was doing about that much but with the wind from behind, heat haze and the radar machine last calibrated "a month ago" according to the officer, an error of 20% is probable. As usual, arguing only wastes our time so I paid the fine, got an official receipt and we were off. Mood cheered up somewhat when stopped for diesel in Francistown: despite the previous day's strong head wind we still managed 9km/litre, which is a record on such a trip. We held thumbs it would last. We reached Nata at lunch, in time for our obligatory chips at the take away. Driving to Kasane, the heat became intolerable and when the thermometer reached 42 degrees it was time to forget about saving fuel and turn on the air conditioner. The Landy seems to run 5 degrees hotter with the air conditioner on and with such high outside temperatures the water temperature sat at 95 degrees.

The colourful ablution facilities at the Livingstone Safari Lodge and Camp Site

We reached Kasane just before sunset, filled up with diesel (again getting 9km/litre - looks like the heavier you load 'em the better they go) and decided we did not want to spend the night there and rather push on to Livingstone. With the previous week's Kazungula ferry disaster fresh on our mind we opted for the Zimbabwe "shortcut" through Victoria Falls, and the border crossing into Zimbabwe was no hassle at all. As the sun set we were halfway to Vic Falls, and the temperature "dropped" to 36 degrees! Leaving Zimbabwe was again no problem, but the wheels came off trying to enter Zambia: they wanted a temporary export permit for the Landy from the Botswana border. To this day I am still confused: going from Botswana to Zimbabwe you do not need one so why would Botswana customs issue it? And Zambia customs were not interested in the permit issued on exiting Zimbabwe. At first the only option was to drive back to Kasane, convince the Botswana customs people to issue a permit, and drive back, but it was dark by now and there was no way we would drive in the dark. After half an hour of discussions we got a 1-day customs import permit on condition I sort out the paperwork in the morning. It was a long day and eventually we reached the Livingstone Safari Lodge and Camp Site, had a simple meal and went to sleep. The Lodge is across the road from the well-known Maramba River Lodge but we have stayed here before, it is cheap, quiet and the ablutions colourful.

The next morning of course I had to sort out the Landy's paperwork because there was no way we could get to Malawi in the same day. I had planned to drive back to Botswana despite the customs official's recommendation that I get hold of an import/export company to arrange for the transaction (at some cost of course). But Tjisse, the owner of the lodge, suggested I simply leave Zambia and go to Zimbabwe for a short while and when I return I would get a new customs import permit for a longer period. I was sceptical because with my luck the same customs official as the previous evening would be on duty, but I decided to give it a try. At customs I said I was going to Zim for a short while and wanted to know if I would get a new permit on my return, but the officer did ask why the permit was only valid for one day, to which I answered with a blank look. I was wondering what to do in Zimbabwe to kill a bit of time when, driving on the bridge over the Zambezi, I thought of parking and going to check out the bunji jump outfit. I parked at the Zimbabwe border post (without going through) and walked back half a km to the bridge. I confirmed to myself that I do not need any convincing that bunji jumping is not for me. Lack of tourists has pushed the price down to USD50, so if it is your cup of tea, go right ahead. Back at the Zambia border post the passport side of things was again straightforward, but there was a bit of a queue at customs. So while I waited who pitches up but the previous evening's customs officer? As I said, just my luck. He sees me and we have a quick chat: he is off duty but came to see a friend. I tell him I made a plan - different from his - and he leaves. But the customs officer is the same as earlier and remembering my 1-day permit says he will only issue a new 2-day permit. I haggle a bit but 2 days it stays which is not a problem if everything goes ok. So I go back to our camp site to fetch Isla and pack our things, say goodbye to Tjisse, and head for Livingstone. There is a new VUMA petrol station just before town and they have the cheapest diesel in town.

First port of call in town was the Zambia State Insurance Corp Ltd to buy the COMESA (yellow card) 3rd party insurance for the rest of the countries on our trip (it is not valid for the country in which you buy it in). If you park at S17.84541 E25.85828 (on left hand side of Musi-O-Tunya Road going towards Lusaka) you will see their office in front of you. The COMESA insurance is a bargain so buy it even if you are only visiting a couple of countries! We paid USD40 for 6 months and it covers every country we intend visiting. All the countries up to Egypt are members except South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
The cost is based on your total length of stay and not which countries you intend visiting (the countries you are not visiting are simply crossed off).
Costs are as follows:

up to 7 days USD5

up to 14 days USD7

up to 30 days USD10

up to 60 days USD15

up to 90 days USD20

up to 120 days USD25

up to 150 days USD30

up to 180 days USD40

up to 210 days USD45

over 210 days USD55
As you can see, it is even cheaper (less than half price) to get the COMESA insurance if you only intend visiting Tanzania rather than buying their insurance at the border (USD25 for 1 month). If you cannot get to the Livingstone office MON-FRI, thay also have branches in Kabwe, Ndola, Kitwe, Chingola and Lusaka (Premium House on Independence Avenue). The office staff are extremely friendly, probably because they have one of the few air conditioned offices in town?

The Moorings Camp Site outside Monze, and me downloading the GPS track logs

A quick hop into the Hungry Lion for lunch and an ice cream for Isla, and she melts faster than the ice cream. She will be happy for a day or two. The road is "fixed pothole" up to Zimba, but after that it is excellent new tar. We thought of stopping at Gwembe Safari's camp site as you enter Choma but it was still a bit early so decided to continue. Just after Monze we passed a new sign for a camp site and it took us nearly 10km to decide to turn around and check it out. We like to support the smaller places and we were not dissappointed in Moorings. Opened earlier this year on the owner's farm, it has a large lawn, clean ablutions and a large sitting area. Better choice than either Eureka or Pioneer camp sites outside Lusaka. In the morning I check the Landy over and discover new power steering, water and oil leaks so I assume everything is working well and we drive off. The springs in the left rear are noisy over bumps, but figure that the inner springs will have to get used to living together with the outer springs and leave those alone too.

Colourful trees at sunset

We wanted to reach Chipata by dark so long drive ahead. There are lots of police and traffic checkpoints, but all are friendly and without problems. The road from Lusaka to Petauke was again excellent, so we decided that if the road stayed good to Sinda then we will push on to Chipata, else we would look for a place to camp. The road was indeed good up to Sinda so we drove past the Sinda Motel where we could have tried to camp, and of course shortly thereafter the road degenerated quickly into a potholed mess, with the worst section between just outside Sinda and Katete. So we arrived at Mama-Rula's outside Chipata in the dark after all.

Camping at Mama-Rula's

Mama-Rula's has taken over as Chipata's main camp site but unfortunately it is a bit of an overlanding truck heaven and as such caters heavily for these. Although the lawns are green and the water hot, as independent campers we would have preferred a braai place, water tap and rubbish bin instead of a well-stocked bar. Be that as it may, it is still a good place to spend a night or two to rest and catch up on things. Unfortunately we could not do that as we had to be out of Zambia the following day so it was "food and bed" for us, after a beer of course. After driving 2470km in 4 days to skip through the countries we have already visited on a number of previous trips, it was nearly time to slow down and take it easy. Our holiday would start on the Zomba Plateau in southern Malawi.

Diary entry summary:

Camp sites/places to stay:

Place	GPS position	Costs	General comments	Our rating (*)
Camp Itumela	S22.55965 E27.12766	BWP20 / person	Good place to overnight: (I) clean ablution facilities with hot water; (II) gravel, shade, electricity, braai places, water taps, lights, rubbish bins, wash-up area; (III) in a cleared closed-off area near the railway yard; (IV) good value for money; (V) bar and food available. Rooms also available.
The Livingstone Safari Lodge and Camp Site	S17.88117 E25.86975	USD3 / person	Good place for a couple of nights: (I) clean ablution facilities with hot water; (II) grass, no shade, electricity, water taps, lights, rubbish bins, wash-up area; (III) large grass area but very dry and nearby shebeen can be noisy; (IV) good value for money; (V) bar and braai area, new swimming pool. Cottages also available.
Moorings Camp Site	S16.19430 E27.54349	USD5 / person	Good place to overnight: (I) clean ablution facilities with hot water; (II) grass, little shade, rubbish bins, braai facilities; (III) can choose large lawn or thatched lapas, large clearing on a farm with big trees around; (IV) average value for money; (V) bar, kitchen and patio with furniture.
Mama-Rula's	S13.58211 E32.60971	USD5 / person	Good place for a night or two: (I) clean ablution facilities with hot water; (II) grass, shade, wash-up area; (III) well laid out and levelled property in nice gardens; (IV) average value for money; (V) bar and restaurant. Rooms also available.

(*) stars represent (I) ablutions, (II) camping facilities, (III) setting, (IV) overall value for money, (V) anything extra that warrants an additional star

Border crossing costs:

Entering Botswana from South Africa: BWP10 for annual road tax

Entering Zimbabwe from Botswana: USD15 for carbon tax

Entering Zambia from Zimbabwe: ZMK30000 for 1 month 3rd party insurance