The story so far as regards my bit of a road trip is that it has rained. Hardly surprising considering it is the rainy season.
The first day and night was a wash out and even though I managed to drive a couple of hundred kilometres down a road I wasn't sure about, I had planned to camp that night. I managed to find a reasonable place to stay, a motel type place that was clean, tidy and good value for money. The next day I drove a few hours into Livingstone and had a wander round the Railway Museum. The accommodation I had chosen was quite good and also value for money. There was the camping option had I required it but as expected, the rain put me off.
The next leg saw me travelling close to the Botswana and Namibia border as I headed west, and then not too far away from the border with Angola. I should have really called this the Zambezi Tour as I have followed it upstream all the way from just south of Lusaka and near Lake Kariba. The plan was to continue to do so, eventually crossing over it but still following it north until I had to turn right and head east back to the capital.
About an hour or so out of Livingstone the road turned to crap. What was smooth tarmac became increasingly potholed and with places of no tarmac at all. Mind you, I was prepared for this as when I drove the same stretch of road the last time, sometime in 1999 or 2000, it was exactly the same. In fact I think I recognised the same potholes. There has been no maintenance on the road at all.
This makes for slow going as the holes can be axle breakers and picking a route through them is tiring and time consuming. Speed up, slow down, swerve side to side, bump up and down, speed up, slow down and repeat continually. There were times I'd reach a hundred metres of good tarmac and not speed up, just to relax for a minute or so.
Eventually the road and I turned north-west to continue at the side of the river. I had been told this next section was brand new road but I was dubious.
My fears were unfounded and it was smooth going. After taking five hours to do a journey normally of an hour and a half, there or there abouts, it was a relief. Another hour or so took me to the turn, off the road, to a fisherman's camp on the banks of the Zambezi.
It had stopped raining but the problem can be that the rain is localised and with travelling many kilometres you can never be sure what the situation is. All I can say is that when I came to the turn, it wasn't raining. But it was threatening. I could have camped here as well but had decided to take one of their small chalets for the night anyway.
I had had instructions that when I reached the turn, to contact a certain number. I didn't really know why but suspected it was just to let them know I was close as I hadn't given an arrival time.
In Zambia there are numerous mobile operators. The government owned one is Zamtel. There is also Vodafone, MTN and Airtel and others. Mrs M advised me as she had arrived in country before me to get a Zamtel SIM card. It gave the most coverage. The day I bought it and loaded it up she asked me if I'd bought that Airtel card she'd recommended. Nope, I told her, I bought the Zamtel one like you'd said. She realised she'd made a mistake but I stuck with the one I'd bought anyway.
This was also a mistake.
At the start of the track there was no coverage. Apparently there are vast swathes of the country that Zamtel doesn't cover but MTN and Airtel do. Hence I couldn't make contact.
I thought I'd drive down anyway as I had to in order to get there.
I drove down and the track soon forked, and then forked again and again. I tried to head in the right general direction and even at one point drove across a landing strip. It became wetter and wetter and I understood now why I needed to contact someone. It was to show me the best and driest way. Even though there was in total only three to four kilometres of track, a hundred metres is too far if you are stuck.
I picked up at times a set of tyre tracks to follow but they seemed somewhat strange and disappeared occasionally. It took me a little while to understand they weren't car tracks, but that of a quad bike.
That was no good for me as he could easily go places and fit through obstacles I couldn't.
But I persevered. Somewhere just after halfway it was shit or bust.
I did get there, needless to say. I always seem to do so, but I one thing I regret not getting, and I've actually not seen any here for sale in any case, is a set of what I know as sand mats/mud mats. I had them in Egypt plus a high lift jack. It does seem if you have something you'll never need it, but I did rue not getting any somehow. It was touch and go at times with the wheels scrabbling for grip.
Bear also in mind I just have normal road tyres, not specialist mud/sand/rock or whatever tyres, nor do I have a specialist four wheel drive to alleviate the situation. Normal car, normal tyres, that's all.
More on the track later. Time for a photo or two.
Upon arrival I was the only one staying the night. They said they were virtually closed because of the wet season. Had I known I might have demurred staying there anyway.
There were a number of chalets ranging from two to four berth on the banks. None had more than a solar light but did have a toilet and shower. This was mine –
