Common sense versus Carnivores

Please do yourself a huge favour and check out road conditions
before attempting to drive long distances in any African country.

When we did finally make it to Chipata - what lay ahead
was another 3 gruelling hours of driving.
Was it the geriatric in us that said - enuff's enuff.
Or was it plain common sense - whoever spoke to us said
turn around.
So we did.

Lions, leopards, wild dog, jackal, caracal and serval are just
some of the park's carnivores.
Large elephant herds as well as buffalo, hippo, zebra, giraffe,
impala, puku, eland and duiker are also residents at
South Luangwa.

So we will come again another time to South Luangwa but
next time we take the plane - a much better idea.

Livingstone - named after the Doctor himself - sits on the
Zambian side of the Victoria Falls.

Any visitor to the Falls wants to be as close to the Falls
as is possible - if not a birds eye view then pretty close.
Thus there are hotels and lodges close to the Falls.

Miles upstream there are also safari lodges overlooking the
Zambezi as she tumbles along on her way to the chasm.

Livingstone is growing as a favoured tourist destination.
This at the expense of Victoria Falls but that's another story.

Good quality bed and breakfast accommodation can also be found
in the town centre.

We opted for the Zambezi Waterfront.

Day 6 - Mythbusters

Before heading into Zambia we need to stock up on
fuel - fuel for the car and fuel for the humans.

Well we got fuel without a hitch and we also got foodstuffs
and other provisions.
There goes another media myth about avoiding travel
in Zimbabwe.

So here we come Zambia - a couple of geriatric gypsies in
search of adventure.

Zambia has 19 wildlife reserves - there must be adventure
there.
Some are well known such as Lochinvar, Kafue and South Luangwa.
Others not so famous. In our geriatric wisdom we opted for the well known ones.

By the way - Zambia is a BIG country - 752,614 sq. km
to be exact.
It is the 39th-largest country in the world (after Chile)
and is slightly larger than the US state of Texas.

So big country means BIG roads.
Not a lot of them but easy enough to remember.
The Great North Road (self explanatory) and the Great Eastern
Road which runs roughly from Lusaka to Malawi (or thereabouts).

Once you have safely worked your way through the hussle and
bustle of Lusaka - set a heading of 570kms east to
Chipata (this is the turn off to South Luangwa).

Now do the maths. Travelling at a steady 80 kmph means
that it should take about 7 hours to get there.
Wrong.

There are potholes along the way - which need some skilful
Schumacher driving to negotiate.

In Africa elephants have right of way - as do the goats, cattle,
horses, pedestrians etc. etc.
Potholes and elephants aside, the scenic beauty of the country is
awesome but 7 hours ??? later and still no Chipata insight.