The Zambian Diary…

Safari 2 Day 8: Today we left Kande Beach early with a full day of driving and a border crossing into Zambia. We helped time pass with numerous games of 500 – Pete and Rainer only just beat Elissa and Marlene (15-3, they smoked them). We arrived at Mama Rula Campsite around 5pm where it poured and poured. By 8pm our amazing cook had managed to prepare dinner and then it was very early to bed.

A rare sight of Pete sleeping on the truck and not taking in the amazing African Topography. Seriously I didn't sleep like everyone else did - Marlene timed this photo well.... I go her back though.t

We couldn't resist putting up this pic of our Austrian friends, Marlene and Rainer sleeping on the truck, AGAIN...

Mama Rula's campsite in the pouring rain.

Day 9: Another long drive day today (We only stopped for lunch (which generally consisted of yummy fresh salad sandwiches on the side of the road and supplies in Lusaka – capital of Zambia). We arrived at Eureka Camping Park which we affectionately called Zebra Camp around 4pm. This campsite, 15mins outside of Lusaka was located on a private Game Reserve and therefore many friendly zebra can and did make their way into our area while we pitched tents and prepared dinner. We almost got close enough to pat them.

Pete and his zebra friend at the campsite. This is the closest Pete has ever been to a zebra.

Incidentally zebras were never domesticated because their backs are too weak to ride them.... Clever evolution by them we say?

The dog in this photo with our cook Dom was impressive too. It had the biggest head we had ever seen on a canine...

Day 10. Today we headed to the border into Zimbabwe  but before we crossed the border we stopped by a Microlite and/or helicopter organisation just outside Livingstone Zambia.

While only 3 of our crew had decided to do the Microlite Flight prior to our arrival – in fact 13 ended up taking the 15 minute flight over Victoria Falls having been influences by people’s reactions when returning from the flight. By all accounts it is an amazing experience & well worth the $125USD.

Marlene in her Microlite flight over Victoria Falls.

Vic Falls from the air

As we had done this flight in a helicopter in 2007 on our honeymoon, we opted not to spend $125usd each to fly over it again. It was however very tempting but we managed to hold back….

We eventually (after all the flights were done) crossed the border into Zimbabwe. The border crossing was an interesting one…

Inspection at the border. This vervet monkey found nothing incriminating in the cabin thank goodness. Lucky he didn't check the main carriage....

After the Zambia side checkpoint you need to cross over the Zambezi River via a magnificent bridge in ‘no man’s land’.

The view of the falls from the bridge between Zim and Zam border posts.

Although Zambia was really a transit country for us, this is not to say that there isn’t heaps to see here. There are some great National Parks such North and South Luangwa NP, Lower Zambezi NP and Sumbu NP among others in the north. We had friends who were on another overland truck company called Absolute Africa (the company for our first safari) who hired house boats in a lake/river somewhere in southern Zambia (we will find out where if people want to know) for a few days and said it was amazing. We would have really liked to have done that and also explored one or more Game parks in Zambia while we were there. Food for thought if you are booking an overland trip…. Compare company’s itineraries.

Please check out some more photos from our time in Zambia:

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