We spent most of the day in town - a very busy regional centre. We didn't have any luck finding an inner tube - this is a concern as we've effectively only got 5 tyres due to this. We did manage to get most of our grocery shopping though (but it's expensive here!), bought airtime/mobile internet, had lunch at an Indian restaurant, got malaria and bilharzia treatments, bought a panga for cutting overgrowing tree branches, went to the hotel bookshop and bought a VERY dirty well-thumbed copy of the Bradt guide to Tanzania (Sue negotiated a good discount - does anyone know how to fumigate a smelly book?!), whilst there she also managed to come back out with a tiny ceramic jug from a local pottery and some nail polish! The National Parks Office next door told us that the road to the park gate has been graded but could be very dusty as their water bowser has broken down - he didn't mention anything about not walking in the park unguided - nut we didn'
Sue woke up absurdly early (her words!) - probably before 5am, made coffee and made me wake up! Not happy and shattered all day. We could both have done with a lie in really. Several groups of men singing went past on the main road - probably from the local barracks.
We spent most of the day in town - a very busy regional centre. We didn't have any luck finding an inner tube - this is a concern as we've effectively only got 5 tyres due to this. We did manage to get most of our grocery shopping though (but it's expensive here!), bought airtime/mobile internet, had lunch at an Indian restaurant, got malaria and bilharzia treatments, bought a panga for cutting overgrowing tree branches, went to the hotel bookshop and bought a VERY dirty well-thumbed copy of the Bradt guide to Tanzania (Sue negotiated a good discount - does anyone know how to fumigate a smelly book?!), whilst there she also managed to come back out with a tiny ceramic jug from a local pottery and some nail polish! The National Parks Office next door told us that the road to the park gate has been graded but could be very dusty as their water bowser has broken down - he didn't mention anything about not walking in the park unguided - nut we didn'
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It took ages to take our leave of all of the people we had met at Makuzi Beach, we gave our wok to Agnes and a small folding seat to Patric, then left for Mzuzu. The road took us through forest and rubber plantations and almost 1000m up the rift valley escarpment. Passing through the rubber plantations people were running into the road bouncing rubber balls - probably made from stolen rubber - and definitely for sale! Mzuzu turned out to be a surprise with a two-lane road in the middle of town with flowering purple jacaranda(?) trees in the central reservation - reminding us somewhat of Tsumeb in Northern Namibia. We found banks and a coffee shop (Mzuzu is famous for its coffee), so we stopped and had a light lunch of omelette, coffee and ice cream! There's a bookshop at the Sunbird hotel in town, we wanted to get a more detailed guide to Tanzania and knew that they stocked them - but the hotel entrance was swamped with people as there seemed to be a big wedding going on. We drove back towards where we had come from to get to Pinetree Lodge where we negotiated with Paul the owner from Gloucestershire in England to camp in his parking lot right in front of the lodge (there is no campsite around Mzuzu). That evening we met Catherine and Lewis - Catherine is a trustee of the Nyika and Vwaza Trust - she felt that we could drive up to Nyika and most importantly walk there, so we decided to think carefully about it as we had decided to discount going there as the South Africans at Makuzi Beach had been very disappointed by the new rules banning anyone from walking anywhere without a guide. Just as dinner was being served, Lewis got a phone call and told us all to dash outside to see what was happening. In the night sky there was a strange, large, glowing cloud - we initially thought that it must be the moon behind some vapour - but the moon wan't uop and wouldn't be up for some hours. It then slowly changed shape and drifted out of sight whilst dissipating. Most odd. A large green praying mantis had been "harassing" me all evening - landing on my shirt even though I kept taking it gently away - it even followed us inside when we went for dinner - and came back in when I took it outside again! Lewis told us that the local name for it means "the one who licks the spoon" - very appropriate! Friday - we took a couple of single-seat kayaks out early - this time we managed not to capsize, the lake was calm and we got great views of the shoreline looking north and back towards the campsite. We went out beyond a rock on which white breasted cormorants perch flapping their throats and making "gok-gok" noises, then continued right out to a small island where fish eagles can often be seen. A lot of other campers arrived, so the place started to feel quite crowded, but all was well. During the afternoon the breeze dropped completely, the waves disappeared, so when we waded out into the lake to go swimming, it was into mirror-smooth water, quite remarkable! Even when standing up to our necks, it was possible to see the bottom clearly. Saturday - Sue got bitten by a borer-beetle when she accidentally covered its hole with a finger - it stung, but not too badly. We ate at the bar again, Donald from the South African group chatted with us about driving conditions in Tanzania (we're still trying to decide what route to take). In the late afternoon we took the kayaks out again - this tome to Bandawe Point itself - Sue got a bit nervous about the rocks so turned round and went back towards the middle of the bay. As she did so she started to feel nervous but found that she was making good progress (when I turned round she had become a small shape on the water) - apparently she suddenly "felt a great sense of peace and acceptance of her life so far". (Maybe I should buy her a kayak for Christmas? Maybe kayaking on Windermere in January wouldn't have the same effect?!) It's amazing what 8 days camping in such a beautiful spot can do. Richard & Sophie who we met at Mama Rulas in Chipata turned up today, so we had a chat with them in the evening, along with a young south African couple who have just driven down from UK in 6 months. sue found this to be quite an encouragement for going further north. We came into Malawi on Tuesday 17th September, we’d set off late from Chipata due to the tyre/inner tube issues, but the border crossing was relatively quick – although the visas are free for Commonwealth citizens, they sting you for road tax and insurance. Malawi looks a lot greener than Zambia, the border crossing is in the hills so it was a lot cooler, the villages and fields on the way down to Lilongwe look a lot tidier and better kept than those in Zambia, in spite of Malawi apparently being one of the poorest countries in the world. We saw a lot of big square sheets with what was obviously white maize flour spread out to dry in the sun in the various settlements at the side of the road. The first police roadblock we came to was manned by a very smart, friendly and welcoming policeman, the second roadblock in the next town was also friendly, but not at all in uniform (he appeared to be wearing an American basketball T-shirt – most odd), the third was very smart again with a sign up proudly stating that the roadblock was sponsored by the local secondary school – odd again! The road to Lilongwe is exemplary – smooth, comfortable and well maintained tar. In Lilongwe we stayed at the “Sanctuary Lodge” which is situated in a reserve in the middle of town! We heard a lion roaring at night – we later learnt that there is an “animal orphanage” within the reserve – and they have a lion! The campground was good – no power but decent ablutions and lots of trees (not really suitable for any vehicle much larger than a Mog though). Overnight it was MUCH cooler than Zambia – in fact we were really pleased to actually feel cold during the night! The duvets made a reappearance! We were almost the only people on the campsite – the only other vehicle being an Australian Toyota Landcruiser being driven around Africa for 2 years by Liza and Jason from Melbourne. We had made a decision to get the fridge re-gassed as it was still playing up (running almost 25 hours/day and draining the batteries), so we asked around the lodge and the general manager phoned the person they use for their fridges (Joseph) and got him to come straight away! When he turned up, he took one look at the fridge, agreed that it needed re-gassing, took out a valve that he’d already brought with him and got on with soldering it onto the compressor. After maybe ½ an hour the fridge was modified (why don’t the manufacturers put re-gassing valves on in the first place?), re-gassed and working – I could see the difference as ice was starting to form on the pipe returning to the compressor rather than the compressor over heating – this all cost us the princely sum of 11000 kwatcha – about £20. We set off towards Senga Bay on Lake Malawi – but we had a couple of jobs that we wanted to try to get done whilst in Lilongwe – first was cash – we spotted an ATM at a fuel station and tried to get money out – my usual UK card wouldn’t work (not an unusual event), so I tried my French card – no problem (as usual) – but limited to only 40000 kw each time (about £80) – so we took 2 lots – each withdrawal was quite a bundle of notes as the largest denomination seems to be just 1000 kw (£2)... There was a small supermarket at the filling station, and as it seemed to be in quite an affluent area we decided to have a look – we were pleasantly surprised by the selection available so stocked up on a few bits. On the way out of Lilongwe Sue spotted a sign for “tyres, tubes etc” (the inner tube supplied by the “tyre-wrecker” in Chipata turned out to have the wrong valve – aaarrgghhh!) – so we followed it – into an industrial area and around and around looking. We asked – no-one seemed to know – we drove some more, nothing, so we gave up and left.....The road to Selima and Senga Bay was good with a lot of changes of altitude, shortly before arriving at “Steps Campsite” we spotted another ATM outside a pub (!), so we got another bundle of Kwatcha out! A little further and Eagled-Eyed Sue spotted a “Clinic” sign – so we popped in to find out if “clinic” really meant “pharmacy” – in a way it did – it was a small two-room shop with a few packages of common medicines on shelves and a gentleman who turned out to be some form of health worker. When we asked him if he could supply a specific anti-bilharzia medicine he said “yes”, weighed both of us and then gave us two lots of tablets to take after leaving Lake Malawi (it wasn’t clear exactly how much “after”, but we were glad to have got our hands on them...) – all this for about £6.. When we got to the camspsite, we found it to be on a large, empty white sand beach right on the shore of the lake! We found a spot under a tree with power and a view right onto the beach and got settled in, then a truck arrived .......it was Vince & Ellen! Hooray!!!! They told us how we had been “ripped off” at the border – somehow they had discovered that the rate for insurance is actually negotiable! We had paid 26000 kw – they got it down to 15000. Poo! Vince and Ellen parked up on a lawn and we had a few drinks on the beach to celebrate our arrival at the lake, as darkness fell a small group of locals who had been swimming were joined by some others who all started to drink and make noise, but they soon left when security asked them to....we went to bed early but were woken a little after midnight by a noisy group of 8 drunk Chinese who had arrived sometime in the meantime and had decided to have a party on the beach. Security this time were totally ineffective (or had been paid off), the hotel management did nothing in spite of Vince & Ellen ringing them, so we tidied the truck up and moved to the other end of the campsite as the Chinese were now running around and acting suspiciously in the dark. Vince was out and about checking on what was going on, we eventually got the hotel manager to come and do something – he told them to be quiet, by the time he was 100 metres across the beach they were all jeering again – probably at him! Finally they threw them out at 3am – then we could go to bed and try to get some sleep. Unluckily for Vince & Ellen, the Chinese had left all their undrunk alcohol behind – security now moved in and partied until their shift changed at 5am – we didn’t hear them as we were far enough away, but we all agreed that we weren’t staying another night. We refused to pay for camping, the hotel management offered us the “discount” of a 2nd night for free (did they REALLY think that we wanted to stay at their place for another night!!!!?) – we refused and left. Not happy. V&E headed south to Cape McClear, we took the road north towards Nkhotakota to try a beach resort called Fish Eagle Bay – the road to the campsite gradually got smaller and smaller with more and more overhanging mango trees which we brushed through collecting mangoes on the roof until after a small junction it became a sandy track leading to a bridge – a wooden pole bridge. We stopped, got out, had a look and decided that we had the wherewithal to quite thoroughly break it – a 7.5 ton truck! We reversed out with a growing audience of children (where did they all appear from?!), did a 20-point(?) turn and went back to the main road. Plan B – Bua River camp in the Nkhotakota National Park – so another 40 km of main road followed by 11km of dirt road – some good, some bad. After paying to get through the park gates we drove towards the lodge, our GPS indicating that the very last section was “Very bad road” – we took the turning to “reception” and luckily met John the owner (from the Wirral) coming the other way, he told us that we probably wouldn’t be able to get the truck down to the campsite due to trees etc, but he had built an area for overland trucks but it hadn’t been finished....would we like to stay there? This was just outside “reception” which in fact is a thatched roof on poles with comfy chairs marking the entrance to a long steep footpath down to the main lodge buildings in the valley below! We asked John if we could have a meal in the lodge, he sent the chef all the way up to confirm the menu and ask us how we wanted the meat cooked – all the staff here are very friendly, open and seem very happy. In the afternoon we took a guided “stroll” for a sundowner with an Australian/Japanese couple, on the way we saw a dead croc in the river being eaten by another croc, then back to the lodge seeing a magnificent moonrise from the river bridge for supper by candlelight (there is no apparent electricity here, so lots of oil lamps and candles). Dinner was delicious, Godfrey had cooked the steaks to perfection (even Sue agreed) – the accompanying aubergine bonne femme was superb.A perfect nights sleep followed – cool and very quiet! The following day we started slowly, then headed off to Chinteche further north. The road doesn’t follow the lake shore, but heads slightly inland through villages and small settlements, but still quite scenic. We stopped at Dwangwa and sue bought a couple of chitenges (not too good but very cheap) and we got a SIM card for the phone. On to Sunga Moyo lodge – again down a tiny track towards the shoreline, just 300m from the campsite we found another mango tree, this time far too low to pass – do we get the saw out and cut it? Sue suggested walking the rest of the way and having a look at the campsite – off we went. The camp is right on the shoreline, with a gorgeous white sand beach and shady trees – perfect. The owner dispatched a man-with-panga to cut the branch down and we were in! A fabulous spot! A hawker came round with paintings – we ended up buying one even though neither of us really wanted one – we must learn to communicate better! We went for a short walk but there wasn’t really anywhere to go to, so had a quick drink at the bar and learnt that the owner would be leaving the following day – we therefore decided to move on too as our experience of lodges-without-owners hasn’t been too good so far! Saturday morning – major panic! I couldn’t find my credit cards anyhwhere! We searched the truck on the roadside, couldn’t find them, so we bought bread in the village and went to Makuzi Lodge just a few km away. This place is beautiful! A lovely bay, superbly landscaped and planted campsite and another white sandy beach! The Australian couple we met in Lilongwe were here too! A more thorough search for the cards, still no joy – then I found them – in the pocket of the shorts I was wearing! Too many pockets – in odd places. Oh dear. Lunch in the bar, reading guidebooks, another hawker (artist) came by and Sue bought some postcards, went for a swim in the lake, a simple supper and early to bed. We’ll probably stay here a few days. Sunday – another lazy day camping on the beaches of Lake Malawi! Hard life. Sue got laundry done (10p/item!), I continued looking at the fridge problem (it’s STILL running all the time!), we chatted with the Aussies, more swimming and cooked on the fire. Perfect – a great spot for a break. Monday – Patrick (the local artist/vendor) brought us bread, bananas and papaya from the village (he had come round the previous evening with a young girl selling tomatoes), the lake was choppy so we enjoyed swimming in the surf. Sue had a long chat about malaria, bilharzias and campsites with the aussies. Dinner on the deck of the lodge by candlelight – chambo (local fish) – but with flies falling onto the table/meal/drinks! Most of the accommodation here seems to be filled wityh Jehovas Witnesses from the US/Europe who are doing some work in the area – so the beach has been very quiet! Tuesday – still at Makuzi – we’ve got a big list of things to do, but this is such a nice place it doesn’t bother us too much. However, we found a big wet patch on the bed – the mattress was soaked – the aircon the box hasn’t been draining properly! An investigation showed that the drain pipe was blocked by a wasps nest – the 3rd one!!! The pipe is now clear, we’ve had to do the impossible (turn the mattress over) and dry it, but it’s now sorted. Sue made chapattis from rye flour – they didn’t look too good but apparently taste good (they’re reserved for Sue as they are wheat-free) – a nice change from ryvita and pumpernickel for her. In the afternoon we tried out some of the lodges canoes/kayaks – a dipping was very quick – not sure if it was one of us or the equipment, but we couldn’t get it right! Hilarious, we haven’t laughed so much for ages! Wednesday – we decided to stay until Sunday as we don’t want to be in a major town (Mzuzu) at the weekend – particularly not the last weekend in the month (payday). It’s likely to be busy here too as there are some large groups coming.....Sue saw a snake – it fell from a tree with a “plop” – a long thin green snake heading more or less towards her with its head up, but she lost sight of it when it got to a tree. Maybe a boomslang (treesnake)? We've spent the last week in and around South Luangwa National Park - we left Chipata last Monday via a tyre dealers - we wanted them to simply swap our new spare (on the roofrack - anyone remember the Keetmanshoop story from last year?) with the tyre on the spare wheel carried under the truck.....sounds simple? Well it should have been - BUT they managed to destroy the bead on the old tyre, effectively wrecking it for normal use. These tyres aren't easily available here, and they're horrendously expensive. We talked with the owner of the tyre place, a Mr Patel (we're in East Africa now, so there are more and more people of Asian descent here) - he told us that whilst we were in the park he would see what could be done..... Off to the park we went - following Vince and Ellen who had left earlier in the day and met them at Wildlife Camp - they were a bit despondent as they had had similar problems with getting their truck into national parks as us in Zimbabwe and had asked about the possibility of driving in South Luangwa. The response had been non-commital, so they were assuming the worst. We decided (after our Hwange experience!) to "give it a go" the next day.... Early in the morning we arrived (as quietly and discreetly as possible in a Mog) at the park gates, a few questions, a form filled out, a big chunk of money handed over (park fees) and we were in! We didn't hang around near the gate, but made sure that we disappeared as quickly as possible! We spent the entire day in the park, only coming out just before the gates closed for the evening - it was hot, so every now and again we stopped in the shade of large trees, got in the back, had a drink, ate and even had showers to cool down! The only other people we saw this day were on organised "safari" tours in open top vehicles, many of them looking hot and bothered (not surprising considering the amount of tsetse flies around). We explored a lot of side tracks, many of them slightly narrower than the Mog, so found ourselves gently pushing through the brush and through quite a few small washed out areas. Sue spotted a large number of birds (she's got a list somewhere of all those seen in the park alone), there were small groups of elephant (quite docile - hopefully a good sign that there isn't too much poaching around here), zebra, giraffe, a lot of antelope, large numbers of hippos and crocs (some very large) in and around the river, but no cats...... The next day we decided to give our eyes a rest (game spotting can be quite tiring as we discovered last year in Etosha), so we went shopping in Mfuwe village where we paid "Mzungu prices" for veggies, fresh bread and a Chitenge for Sue, then back to camp where we had sundowners with Vince and Ellen who were still wondering whether or not to give the park a go in their vehicle. Next morning we decided to check out the other campsites, said our (hopefully temporary) farewells to Vince and Ellen and moved on. The two other sites didn't meet our expectations and we decided to go to Chipembele to find out what was being done there (there's a separate post just for this). We stayed here for 2 days before returning to Wildlife Camp and going back into the park for another full day on Saturday - another early start, we presented the form that had been given to us previously at the gate, it was dutifully copied and we were in again. Our first sighting was of a herd of buffalo who were grazing/browsing either side of the road, we waited for them to slowly pass before moving on. Crossing a bridge over a dry riverbed, Sue spotted something in the sand - it turned out to be a spotted hyena taking a dust-bath! We stayed and watched until it decided to move further upstream. In the afternoon we returned to a nice spot that we'd found the previous time - on a sandy cliff above the river with great views down onto the hippos, crocs and birds doing what they do. As the sun got lower and the time that we would have to leave the park got closer, we kept on remarking how long certain safari vehicles were spending watching an elephant drinking...until we noticed some tails flicking - lions! We moved over to find a pride of maybe 17 lionesses and cubs sprawled in the shade of a tree, some just getting ready to wake up for the evening hunt. We spent as long as possible watching them - until we HAD to leave to get to the gates before "closing time" - but still no leopard ;-( Whilst we were in the park, the temperatures have soared - we saw 43C "in the shade" on the axle temperature monitor, with 47C in the cab - time to move north!!! We've moved back to Chipata, have re-visited Mr Patel who has told us he can get us an inner tube suitable for the tyre by tomorrow morning, so we're planning on leaving for Malawi tomorrow - Insh'allah. This morning was a particularly busy one for wild creatures, possibly because the campsite was quite empty. The vervet monkeys are always early arrivals, scouring the site for any human left-overs or other goodies. In fact they will happily pop their heads into the truck to see if we have left anything edible within reach. In the shower block there is the usual collection of geckos, one of them a really big one that makes me jump every time. But a new sight for me are the toilet frogs. Sometimes they sit on top of the cistern, and sometimes they sit just inside, with their heads and front feet poking out. Rather a frog than a spider, anyway! This morning we were just talking to another camper when he pointed out a family of about 8 elephant browsing their way across the back of the site, taking more or less no notice of humans. The last one in the line was an elephant with a short trunk; we had seen it a few days ago in the park. Presumably it was got by a crocodile at one time, poor thing. We also had a visit from the banded mongoose(s); about twenty of them rippling their way along, scavenging for scraps and insects. The monkeys seem to keep well away from them, as apparently they give a nasty bite. Behind our spot was a tiny water-hole and the other day we saw a mother giraffe with baby come and think about drinking, but there was too much noise on the campsite at that time. Anyway, we left that all behind this morning, as the heat at South Luangwa was just too much for us - we were getting 43C in the cab during our game drives, and the outside temperature only went down to about 21C in the coolness of the very early morning, so we haven't been sleeping well. We are back in Chipata and will do a utilities day tomorrow before heading to Malawi.
For the last week or so we've been in Tsetse fly country. These little blighters are like a cross between a housefly and a horsefly. they seem to follow anything that moves - particularly vehicles - and when it stops - they try to get in to bite whoever/whatever is inside! The bite feels like an injection, so you're mot keen on getting too many. Once in the cab, they're difficult to kill, you can hit them as often as you like, but unless you actually get a very direct, crushing hit, they just seem to bounce back! As a result, we're trying to close our windows every time we stop - this isn't working 100% of the time yet....
Steve from Chipembele pointed out to us a positive benefit of the Tsetse fly the other day....if it wasn't for their presence, theirt would probably have been cattle farms here years ago, so the wildlife would have been destroyed..... If you've been managing to keep up in spite of our computer difficulties and infrequent blogging, you may remember that in Maun we met a couple from Oxford, Tom and Malgosia. They suggested that while we are in the Mfuwe area in Zambia we might like to visit some British people, Steve and Anna, they know who run an environmental education centre for local children ... so we did. It was even more interesting and enjoyable than we expected, and their work in protecting wildlife and the environment goes so much further. Please have a look at their website http://www.chipembele.org/ (and make a donation if you can). We have been carrying around since 2010 a collection made by Ian's colleagues at Areva in Stafford to be used for an educational cause in Africa, and we decided that Chipembele was the organisation that we wanted to give it to. From our experiences so far in Zambia we feel that environmental/conservation education is really essential for the future of the country, and Chipembele are also giving youngsters an extra hand up in life. Brilliant! Steve is also involved in anti-poaching and anti-deforestation activities in the area. We met Anna on the way in. She was trundling along with a truckload of young people, taking them home after a day at the centre. Steve met us at Chipembele, with Malik, a vervet monkey they have raised, more or less wrapped around his head. But the star of the show has to be Douglas, a young hippo. Have a look at him on you-tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReX9EQk0HEU&feature=youtu.be Too dark to rtype now. Sunday 8th September
On Wednesday we spent the morning at Pioneer Camp, doing some more detailed planning for the next few weeks. This was enlivened by the nearby convention of 7th-Day Adventists, with their wonderful singing and loud amplified sermons. At the supermarket in the afternoon, we were very excited to find hummus! The idea had been to set off again to Luangwa Bridge on Thursday morning, but both the fridge and the domestic batteries were misbehaving, so we decided to stay and see what was going on. The campsite also needed fridge “engineers”, so that was handy. They decided that all we needed to do was defrost and all would be well. We tried this, but there seems to be more to it and the fridge is definitely making the batteries work too hard, which is not good when we seem to have had a run of campsites without power points. On the upside – this is one of our best camps ever for morning birdsong, and last night I saw two white-faced owls sitting together in a tree and peering back at me. Later in the day I noticed a beautiful shiny clean truck-home arrive. It was Vincent and Ellen from Namibia. We saw inside their truck the next day and it really is lovely – bigger than ours and very well designed by them and made by Herr Fleiss in Swakopmund. It was probably their truck that he was busy with last year when we hoped he could help us with our axles. Having decided to manage the problems with the fridge, rather than hang about trying to find an expert, we set off again for Bridge Camp, and so did Vincent and Ellen, so it was nice to feel that we were with friends, travelling in convoy for a change. Instead of forking out for a chalet and a meal, we camped. It was cool enough to sleep, but the campsite isn’t up to much. Yesterday the convoy continued and we kept an eye out for each other on the long drag from Luangwa Bridge to Chipata, which is almost on the Malawi border. Ellen and Vincent had forgotten to fill up with fuel at Lusaka, so we waited for them after travelling for an hour so that they could get ahead. We also followed them into the fuel station at ......... to check that diesel was available. On the way we decided to buy tomatoes from one of the little roadside stalls. We had been warned that this might be stressful, so we chose a small one. No hassle, although the women were disappointed that we only bought one basket of tomatoes, and it was about half the price of the supermarket. We still made a quick call at the Spar in Chipata, though, for a top-up, before heading to Mama Rula’s. Ellen and Vincent were already installed on the level, grassy, shady campsite, and after choosing our spot we joined them for a beer and a chat. We had been planning to get the spare tyre seen to this morning and then head to South Luangwa National Park, but the tyre place looked very closed for the weekend yesterday, so we will wait until tomorrow. Meanwhile Barney is having a go at fixing the diesel water-heater while I get the computer charged at the bar. The internet won’t work for me as usual! Sunday 8th September
On Wednesday we spent the morning at Pioneer Camp, doing some more detailed planning for the next few weeks. This was enlivened by the nearby convention of 7th-Day Adventists, with their wonderful singing and loud amplified sermons. At the supermarket in the afternoon, we were very excited to find hummus! The idea had been to set off again to Luangwa Bridge on Thursday morning, but both the fridge and the domestic batteries were misbehaving, so we decided to stay and see what was going on. The campsite also needed fridge “engineers”, so that was handy. They decided that all we needed to do was defrost and all would be well.% |
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October 2014
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