I'm in Zambia

Hello!

First of all a message to all dogs, donkeys, goats and elephants.... STOP WANDERING ONTO THE BLOODY ROAD!!

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Righto, since my last update I've traveled from Gaborone, to Palapye, to Francistown, to Maun (where I stayed for a week, and of course, where my face got sunburnt).

After Maun, I drove to Gweta, which is technically in the middle of nowhere. I stayed at a place called Planet Baobab, which was one of the most bizarre lodges/hotels/places I've ever stayed at! The grounds were full of massive baobab trees, with traditional grass/mud huts (very strange) and an electricity supply that couldn't make its mind up whether it was on or off.

After a night there, I drove to Nata, filled up on fuel (at less than 50p a litre) and drove up to Kasane - which was probably the worst road I've ever been on. Potholes everywhere. The road was like this non-stop for at least 50ks.

I spent about 4 nights in Kasane, at various hotels/campsites, then on Tuesday I went into Chobe National Park with Colin. I camped more or less on the shores of the river. It was probably one of the best places I've ever camped, definitely in the top 3! It would have been better had there not been a bunch of twats on the nearby campsite running a generator...

Sunset over the Chobe River from Mowana Lodge

Me at the campsite. Had to sit very still for a long time to get this one....

Otherwise, it was a brilliant night, with brilliant views of the Chobe River, Namibia, sitting round the fire that I'd built (sitting on the spare tire as the camp chair broke), cooking my dinner and listening to elephants and hippos in the vicinity make noises.

So after a really nice, relaxing camp, I moved my merry way to Zambia and into a whole lot of stress. First of all it took TWO BLOODY HOURS to get across the border. Second of all, while waiting for the pontoon to take you across the Zambezi, there's no kind of official presence on the Botswana side telling you where to go so you just have to guess it's your turn to go onto the ferry. There's also no-one there to stop the people trying to hitch a lift with you over the border - especially the ones that just won't take NO for an answer even if you tell them to fffffff off, wind up your window, plug in your earphones and put on your sunglases, then continue to blatantly ignore them. Third of all, on the Zambia side, organisation is not something they are familiar with. if you're going into Zambia with a car, you have to make several payments - paying for the ferry (US$20), paying for a visa (US$80. Then you have to pay Carbon tax - in Kwacha; they won't let you pay in any other currencies if you don't have Kwacha, you have to have to go to the only Bureau de Change, which closes 2 hours before the border.

Then the problem is that none of the staff know what I have to do next, so tell you you can go on your way. It wasn't until I was stopped by police that I knew that you really DID have to get insurance at the border and not in town a day later. He wanted to fine me but I managed to sweet-talk my way out of it.

So today I've mainly been exploring Livingstone, sorting out insurance and the best places to eat. Only when I came back to my car, I had two very self-pleased car-washing Zambians waiting there, proud of the job they'd done and asking for payment.

Now, there's something I should explain about why, at this point, Rage had grabbed me by the nipples and was starting to spin me round the room. I did a silly thing when I left Gaborone - I left Monkey in the cabin at Ciaron's house. I'm not proud of it, but it was a genuine mistake and luckily Ciaron had him couriered up to me (which is another stressful story in itself). To compensate, on the second or third day (i forget) on the way up to Francistown, I pulled over in a picnic area (they have LOADS at the sides of the road here), and put hand-prints on the back windows. They were sort of like my mascots if you like - I was determined to complete the journey without having the car cleaned.

SO surely, you can understand why I was so furious?! To cut a long story short, they were begging me for money, quite angry that their hard work had gone unapreciated... so I threw 1 pula (about 10p AND Botswana currency) at them and drove away, only just missing running one of them over (unfortunately).








So there you go, I'm in Zambia. It's 8,637 Kwacha to 1 pound, so things are very cheap - for example, it cost me 8 pounds for 3 beers and a steak last night! The exchange rate does change by a few hundred day by day though, so you're paying for something one day then the next it is a pound or two dearer

Here are some photos that don't really fit in the rest of the blog... some are random, some are trying to be arty after playing with the camera....

Taken at Chobe.

Taken at Planet Baobab in Gweta using only light from the moon

Taken at night in Chobe (this was my view!!) again using only light from the moon

Taken at the Sedia Hotel in Maun - Camping cost £1.81 a night.