Zambia
We entered Zambia after an annoying few hours at the border and the plan was to try to make it from the Namibian Caprivi strip at Katima to Livingstone before nightfall, an easy enough task I thought having pored over the map… An hour or two I reckoned. But no, not according to all the truckers lined up by the border. “That road is shit, full of holes” they informed us. I tend to listen to truckers, they possess nuggets of transport wisdom. And sure enough they were proven correct, we couldn’t get out of third gear as the road looked like it had been bombed to pieces… more holes than Swiss cheese or some other metaphor you can imagine… So after 3-4 hours once again we broke one of our cardinal rules and drove into the night. Hopefully the Chinese can help them fix this road. The Chinese are currently investing massively across Africa, of course in exchange for natural resources, access to cheap labor and trade deals. It’s a double edged sword but hopefully a good thing for Africa, all across which they are building roads, train lines, hydroelectric dams and such. We would often come across road works in the middle of nowhere with 100 guys out working and sure enough there was always 3-4 Chinese there running the show. Africa has become China’s China. Decades ago when the West wanted cheap tech gadgets and products they went to china for cheap labor to produce them but now that the average wage in China has increased and many of these Chinese companies are building their plants in Africa for even cheaper labor. Hopefully this works out for the Africans.
I have to admit I did not know much about Zambia apart from Livingstone (named for “Dr. Livingstone I presume”), Victoria Falls and Lusaka being the capital. We managed to get to Livingstone and from there saw Victoria Falls (real name: Mosi-oa-Tunya—"The Smoke That Thunders") During the day we hiked all around the Falls, and momentarily sneaked onto the Zimbabwean side of the border. And from the top of the Falls we hired a local to illegally guide us across some sections of the river to the center of the Falls. We did so right in front of a cop who obviously looked the other way. I asked what about the cop and our guide said “ don’t worry, we bribe him to do this”. Fine by me, and even though we had to walk across the river to get to the center of the falls it never felt that dangerous. Due to the drought the Falls were not as wild as usual. That evening I did a Micro-light flight tour of the Falls.. Amazing. Like a motorbike in the sky. Basically a chair glued to a wing and a motor, with nothing holding you in but a seat belt. I may buy one of these at some point, apparently you don’t need a pilots license to fly them. What could possibly go wrong?!!
From Livingstone we headed North to Lusaka and spent a few days there running errands and sorting future visas at African embassies (fun times!) One thing I have to say about Africa is there are people everywhere, even when you think there aren’t, you think you have left a town and pull over to take a piss and sure enough ten people will pop out of nowhere to say hello. There is always a hut nearby. But everyone is friendly, mostly curious of these strange bikers but always friendly. When traveling through the African countryside we can often go days without seeing another white person. When we are in small towns everybody stares at us, inspecting our every move and wondering who the hell are these white people and where did the hell did they come from. And if I spot another white person in a rural town I think to myself who the hell is that white person and where the hell did they come from!? Every day on the road throws up a multitude of dangers, if you ride for 8 hours you can be sure that at least 20 times you will swerve to avoid goats, chickens, donkeys, children, crazed truck drivers and Liam Neeson sized potholes that appear out of nowhere. You have to ride at your best at all times, Africa is a full time obstacle course. From Lusaka we rode on to Chipata, a medium sized town on the Malawi border. And I got another speeding ticket, 40 in a 35 zone, this one I’m pretty sure went straight into a pocket…
