Looking out from the bus, Zulu's Kraal is quite anomalous in the bush. Paul says it's one of two campsites on the Great East Road (phew!). White-washed stones and "amenities." It started as a truck repair shop and people just stayed longer. No trucks last night, though.
We left camp at 7am -- waking at 6am is becoming almost natural, mind you, you go to bed at 10pm! -- and headed further up the Great East Road to Chapata. This part of the GER is marked by its poor quality -- lots of potholes, sharp braking and swerving of the road. There are no wild animals in this part of the world, the locals have eaten them all and now survive on maize and world handouts. Cattle are all you really see and they are a prized possession. The few goats are less prized.
The road is obviously less well maintained but a subtle difference is that the bush reaches the road edge -- maybe having no wild animals makes this less of an issue. There are lots of bicycles, though which seem a popular form of transport.
Between the mountain ranges there are large outcrops of rocks (200 ft high) that dominate the landscape. Every sizeable village has its own football pitch (a small pitch for a small village). The roadside shops continue, a toilet sized hut advertising itself as "carpenter, workshop and grocery" and a room sized hut as "shopping centre and supermarket."
We turn off the GER and onto a dirt track that is a higher quality. Towards the end of the run we're passing through Mfuwe which seems to be the most affluent place in Zambia outside of Lusaka and Livingstone. Lots of shops, bars and restaurants (all African style -- hard to describe -- rather than Western) which is surprising considering Mfuwe is 100km off the main road.
Finally, into Wildlife camp. Plenty of warnings about not straying as lions, elephants and hippos go where they want. Then to the pool to relax for the afternoon and fnd the hole in Helen's Therm-a-Rest. The camp is on the Luongwa river, the far side of the river is South Luangwa National Park.
Wildlife Camp S13.10869
E31.75364 Elev. 560m.
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.