......as per the previous blog, we were heading for the Zambian border, this on a Sunday when everything seems to grind to a complete halt in Africa, yes even slower than what it usually is. We were also made aware that there would be up to 5 taxes to pay before entering so made sure we had loads of Malawi currency to exchange for this purpose as there are usually no ATM's on the borders.
As it turned out, the border was rather painless, just the usual ten thousand forms to fill in before we could be on our way, when it came to paying the taxes, the only one asked about was the carbon emissions tax (yes Zambia), to which i made a joke that our bikes did not qualify for this and they believed me, we ended up paying not a cent. as we did not then have to change money on the black market at the border, we decided we would do it the next day in the bank.
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| Buck at Eureka lodge |
We carried on and as the sky was clear and the roads not too bad we opted to pass Chipata, just stopping to draw some Zambian currency from the ATM, and headed for a little town called Petuka where we found a quaint little lodge to camp at. Luckily there was enough space and light for me to swap my front tyre around as it had once again started to wear unevenly. We also had a bit of forethought to buy some boerewors earlier in the day at Lilongwe, which Delilah had made while i was busy with the bike, this was really a treat and heelped us to a good nights rest even though there was load music being played by the neighbour.
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| Eureka Lodge |
Early to rise the next morning, not that we had an option with the music coming back on at 6am, we pushed on the last 400km to Lusaka and headed straight for the banks to change our Malawi money. This took us 3 hours before we finally realised that there was no way we would get it changed, what a nightmare, they change to Botswana Pula but won't touch the Malawi Kwacha. With this in mind we decided just to hold onto the money and try to change it in SA, and headed for our campsite Eureka Lodge, brilliant little place just outside of Lusaka. They had a pool, a brilliant bar and animals including zebra, buffalo, buck and loads more, just roaming around. I also managed to exchange our money with some overlanders heading towards Malawi, what luck.
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| Vic falls dry as ever |
We thought we would push on again the next morning as it would give us a chance to catch up with Andre for the last time before he headed on a different course for Bloemfontein, and arrived in Livingstone at about 4pm to the really nice Fawlty Towers lodge, where again we decided to camp out by the pool, nice. Before leaving the morning, i did manage to go to BMW in Lusaka, a car dealership, and persuaded them to call BMW Windhoek to order the parts needed for our bikes to expedite the repairs when we eventually arrived, lets hope it helped.
Well we stayed in Livingstone for 2 days, had dinner with Andre on his last night at Ocean Basket, mmmmm, and also went and saw Victoria falls, not much to see at the moment as there has not been any rain falling, but take a walk to the Zimbabwe border bridge, and you can see as much as you would ever need to. Livingstone is a lovely place, and loads to do there. We may have to go back as the Zambesi has one of the best white water in the world.
Tomorrow we head for the Namibian border.........
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| who comes up with the colours of these corn chips |
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| the rest of the gauge as viewed from the bungee jumping platform on the Zimbabwe side |
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| from a different angle, it did look as if there was steam coming from the falls |
Well we stayed in Livingstone for 2 days, had dinner with Andre on his last night at Ocean Basket, mmmmm, and also went and saw Victoria falls, not much to see at the moment as there has not been any rain falling, but take a walk to the Zimbabwe border bridge, and you can see as much as you would ever need to. Livingstone is a lovely place, and loads to do there. We may have to go back as the Zambesi has one of the best white water in the world.
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