Spent an hour or so crossing the [Livingstone] bridge [the border crossing] mostly on the
Zambian side where we were harangued by a large baboon. Then a long drive up the T1 then
the T2 to Chirundi in the Zambezi valley.
The big change with Zambia is the lack of animals roaming the road and that the average village hut looks classically African -- mud/mud-brick and a straw roof. One of the strangest things about the trip so far has been that every single roadside sign we've seen has been in English -- advertising billboards, shop names and descriptions, departments of works signs. The locals still speak in some other language, though. Wierd.
Zambia has from the word go undulated at the very least and [is] quite mountainous at times -- most of Africa so far has been dead flat. We pass some very picturesque villages (failing to get a picture as Paul drives at breakneck speed [over the twisting bumpy roads]) before heading down a pass where every bend has the remnants of a severe accident. The brakes start to smoke. Allegedly, they're new.
At the bottom we hit a traffic jam of lorries [we're in the middle of nowhere!] -- Chirundu is a border crossing with a tiny [access] road. We head off down a bumpy track to Gwabi camp on the Kafue river. We spot a hippo in the middle of the river with the villagers trying to frighten him off by banging pots whenever his ears are above water.
Gwabi camp S15.95156 E28.85964 Elev. 377m.
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.