Cheese Rolls and Cinemas

The last time we wrote, we were in Lilongwe, awaiting a visa for Zambia. While waiting around in Lilongwe, Joey got a bout of Malawian Mud Slides, so was on the antibiotics and off the booze. For compensation we found a cafe where she could have a pot of tea and a slice of chocolate cake, this seemed to clear the matter up. Lilongwe is quite a dull town, it has one small block of ShopRites and a few bars but totally devoid of any entertainment. The touts are still there, and the poverty is very evident, much worse than any African city we have visited so far. The capital city is no bigger than a small English town. One day we walked a fellow traveller, Tapio from Finland, into town where he was to catch a bus to the Zambian border. We accompanied him to find out where the buses were, as well as the dala dalas to Lizard Island. It was the most horrific experience Joey said she has had. She was still a little delicate, and when we arrived, the smell was gut wrenching, the noise unbearable, horns going off in your head, the bustle immense. People were extremely aggressive, but then most touts usually are (i have formed the opinion that touts are the devils work), and very claustrophobic. I had to lead Joey out of there at a speed. This experience put pay to the idea of going to Lizard Island as Joey could not bear going back there to catch the dala dala. Joeys cake nose was in fully working order, and she smelt out a lovelly hidden bakery full of cream cakes, chocolate croissants and fresh breads. She ended up buying a few 'treats' to get over her trauma. Once we had left the nightmare, Joey lost her resolve on never going back, but we had then found out our visa had come through and was waiting at the border with a date stamp. The Wildlife Camp in South Luangwa wrote back to say they had sent our visa waiver to the border via a passing pick up. While we waited for our departure date we got chatting to some fellow travellers who were also looking for some charity work to get involved in, particularly aid work. He like us had found out there is very little scope for helping out on a short term basis, they don't want volunteers here, you have to pay to help or dedicate your life to the cause. We did find one American who had found a voluntary post, but it was building a church, not in my opinion what the Africans need right now. To be honest since travelling through Africa, I don't know how much good the charities do. From what I have seen and heard, these are run by mzungus who don't fully appreciate the culture and local circumstances, and the locals are not being involved. This charitable culture also seems to have instilled in the Africans that we are here to give, and they expect charity. Of course this is a huge generalisation, but it seems that a lot of people we bump into want a handout, even the relatively well off. Another highlight of our stay in Lilongwe was being interviewed by our tent for the Malawi Broadcasting Company, who were making a program on why travellers visit Malawi. Unfortunately we weren't around when it was broadcast. Friday 13th This portential(?) day, we chose as the day to enter the 5th country, Zambia. We returned to the dreadful bus station, this time into the quieter intercity bus section (no touts allowed). The 08:00 bus to the Zambian left at 9:45 (not bad for Africa) and we trundled along to the border. With lady luck on our side we found our visas waiting for us. This is quite lucky as previous attempts by fellow travellers have resulted in bribing the officials to enter the country as they have 'lost' the paper work, of course once you're out of view the money goes in the pocket and the waiver is 'found'. Once through the border we had our usual fun exchanging money on the black market. This time though the tout had decided to change his mind halfway through the deal and demanded more money or his money back. I definitely was not going to fall for that one, Andy had warned us this had happened to him, on refusing to pay more the money was swapped back, but the quick handed touts had swapped the original notes for fakes. This brought on the ire of the tout, so we just walked away, but he would not leave it at that. In the end it got a little physical, with me wrestling the bloke away from our bags and taxi. Luckily he was almost a dwarf! We finally arrived in Chipata in one piece where we sped straight to Joeys fave, ShopRite. We bought some supplies and found some lodgings. Putting the tent up, Joey was very excited as she whipped out the bread and cheese and red wine. Lying in the sun on our carry mats it was heaven with our cheese sandwiches, steak sandwiches and red wine. The next morning, we were heading for South Luangwa the premier game reserve in Zambia, unfortunately being the wet season most of the road had been washed away, and it was a bumpy 7hr ride over the last 120km. Once again the touts had been in cahoots with the devil, and failed to fulfill their part of the bargain. We were abandoned in the village of Mfuwe, as their minibus could not make the last 10km. Luckily we found a radio in the village and managed to contact the camp who sent a 4x4 for us. But the hellish day was worth it as we arrived in the wonderful camp on the side of the Luangwa river. Our first night we were advised to leave our food in the bar area as the local elephants can smell a chupa chups a mile away and you don't need a visit from them in the night. While lying in our tent at night we could here the surrounding elephants, hippos and on one occasion a growling lion. We weren't allowed to leave the our camping spot during the night due to the predators lurking in the dark... The views from our camp were magnificent, helped of course by the well stocked bar and the swimming pool. We treated ourselves to a night drive and an morning drive. Unfortunately because of the rains most of the animals had dispersed but we did manage to see a lot still. We were even treated to a charge of an elephant on more than one occasion. It was with much regret that we had to leave but the littlest hobo in us was calling. We were dropped off again in Mfuwe to wait for a pick up to Chipata. It was here that my vision of Jo was severely dented. On the journey from the camp to the village we had been cuaght in a major drenching. Jo was a little miffed at this, and when we got to the village she asked someone if she could use their loo to change. Suprise suprise, nothing in Africa is free and they wanted $2! The language coming from Joannas mouth when she re-appeared on the street would make the devil blush. She wasn't finished there, after asking others and not being able to change this profanity had lasted for around 15mins. I was most shocked by her language, and lord only knows where she got it from. To add insult to injury while i was checking out another minibus for transport, Joey was kidnapped in the first bus, where she was hiding to change her trousers. Obviously the driver was just as appalled as i was by her fury and they soon let her out again. We finally got dry and managed to find a lift to Chipata that arrived around 22:00, where we hung around another bus station until 03:00 to catch a morning bus to Lusaka, saving ouselves a nights accomodation. The journey was through wonderful Zambian countryside, and mountains. A long but a very nice journey. We are now relaxing in Lusaka, at last a city that is a city. They have many streets, and shops, and bars, and cafes, and best of all a cinema! Aslan rules! We are gorging ourselves on city life here, after being stuck out in the remote African sticks we deserve it. So we will treat ourselves here before heading off to Victoria Falls some time soon. Grandad - Happy birthday for the 22nd, hope you got your card in time.