Okay, it’s true, I have been remiss in posting blog updates. I would like to bring you up to speed, and I am planning on going back and filling in the gaps when I have the time. It turns out that, as suspected, we have set a bit of an ambitious schedule for ourselves and so even though we are on “vacation” our days are very busy.
Find fuel, keep the car clean and organized, where are we going to stay? What route, how far will we try to drive, where will provision, how much beer to carry, where will we get water next and so on.
The quick version is we zipped up to Lusaka for an overnight stay at Pioneer Campsite on the east side of town. We got an early start and made the one day push up to South Luangwa National Park, staying at Wildlife camp for a few days and then Zikomo for a few days in the Nsefu sector. We managed some great sightings, including another leopard, but not as much lion action as we were hoping.
With the assurance of the head park warden that the road was okay we drove the road up to North Luangwa National Park, a rough road, with 195 km taking 10 hrs. It’s early in the season for this and many told us the road would be impassable this early, but it turned out to be fine, if slow, and even freshly graded in a few areas.
We made our way through North Luangwa to Kapishya Hot springs, which was a great rest and relax stop. Christian had to get home, so we dropped him at the airport in Kasama and continued north. Tangyanika lodge outside of Mpulungu, into Tanzania, Lakeshore Lodge in Kipili, to wild camping in Katavi. Onwards to Jakobson’s Beach in Kigoma and a tour of the Liemba. A big push to Mwanza, yes it can be done in a long day. I will post route/road details later on. The Mwanza ferry (the southern one) runs 24/7 and cost 6900 TZ for the cruiser and both of us, about 1.5 hrs from arrival on one side to driving off on the other side.
I’m now sitting on the lawn of the Mwanza yacht club and we’re scheming our sprint into Kenya, heading to Kacheliba, the town I worked in ten years ago for an NGO, somewhere north of Kitale. This is a nostalgic stop for me and not on the tourists trail. We’ve been going far too fast, but this ridiculous sprint is the only way to make it all the way up there. After that we will be able to slow down a bit and enjoy the Masai Mara and Serengeti and begin our trip back down the continent.
Will keep you posted!
