We spent two days at Mayoka Village, had a good rest and some laundry done, they managed to loose two socks in the process, one of Larry’s and one of mine, so effectively 2 valuable pairs. We are now heading south to northern Mozambique to spend sometime with a friend, Russell Lovemore on his hunting and fishing concession on the Zambezi River, near Cabora Bassa Dam.
We headed to Senga Bay and a campsite called Cool Runnings, lots of lovely grass and ok ablutions. We had our steak and chips that we had bought further back and had been frozen at each lodge and then carefully put into the cooler box with plenty on frozen waters to keep everything cold, this has worked really well and it is great to have home cooked meals. The steak was rump but didn't look great when we pulled it out of the packet, but once it was cooked it was really great meat.
The next morning we packed early and got ready for the sandy tracks out of the village again. Just before we left a family arrived with a young boy of about 8 who had been burnt down one side, badly burnt arm and a little burn on his side and face. The lady running Cool Runnings is a retired nursing sister and she helps villagers with this sort of injury, the burn looked horrific and it was carefully cleaned and bandaged, not one tear from the little boy, really brave!
The road was good leading to the border between Malawi and Zambia and we were stopped at a road block just before the Zambian border, two officers came over and asked for our licenses and I gave them my international drivers license and Larry took his license out of his wallet. They then demanded to see our insurance, we had to get off the bikes to get our document wallet out of my pannier and give them the Comesa Insurance documents, one stood next to my bike and the would not let me get on the bike and the other did the same to Larry. After a little pushing and shoving we managed to get on the bikes and then the reason became clear, what are you going to do with the money that is in your wallet? Larry carefully explained that we were going to buy petrol with the money and we were not going to give it to them, after a few minutes they realized that we were not going to be intimidated and they eventually waved us off.
When we arrived at the border post it was plain sailing, immigration and customs is getting easier the further south we get. While I was inside doing the paper work Larry was keeping an eye on the bike he met up with five British cyclists, we exchanged information about road conditions and places to stay. They were heading north and I don’t envy them the Great TanZam Roadworks! We are definitely doing it the easy way. Our bikes are heavily laden but at least we have a motor to keep us moving! They were all very sunburnt and fit looking!! They suggested that we stay at Dean’s Hillsview Camp in Chipata, I had already found this on the GPS, they told us that there were two motorcyclists in the camp and so we decided to try that camp.
Shoprite was again in the village and we stopped to stock up on a few fresh goodies before heading to the campsite.
We arrived at the campsite and it looked ok and there were the two bikes that we had been told about. Two Husquavanes 690 (apparently the same at the KTM690) both with very uncomfortable looking seats!! Tom and Caroline are two journalists traveling the world and writing about their experiences on motorbikes, unlike us they go looking for the gravel rough roads, the longer the better!! It was great to meet another couple and we stayed up much later than normal chatting about our different travels, they are heading south eventually when they will ship the bikes to South America from Cape Town. We hope to see them in Grahamstown towards the end of July.
Dean's Camp was a huge disappointment, they have tried to combine a farm yard with a campsite and it doesn't work, we had chickens, ducks, geese, goats, turkeys and three puppies in and around our tent all day, doing what animals do!! The stench was terrible and the puppies chewing on the tent and eventually one managed to get into the tent and chewed one of Larry’s socks, so he is now down two pairs!! The owners are a very young Italian couple, she has just had a baby, just over a month old.
Tom told us about an app to download called I-overlander, it is a mapping program but also gives you places to stay, shop, internet and general over landing information. It also gives you reviews on all of these and we have so far found it to be extremely accurate. Our next destination was The Bridge Campsite, the review said that it is overpriced and the campsite is very run down – spot on. The only problem is that it is the only campsite in the area and so has a captive market. We had just chosen out campsite when a land cruiser and a Ford double cab bakkie pulled up, the most obnoxious fella and his family climbed out of these two vehicles, the swearing at his staff was unbelievable! Eventually he came down to us to apologize, but it did not stop the swearing and screaming.
We packed up early and headed to the village of Luangwa, where Russell told us to meet his staff at the filling station and they would show us where to park the bikes in a safe place. We arrived 10 minutes early but they were there waiting for us, we headed into the village were we met Kenny and Lesley, an American couple working as missionaries for the Baptist Church. We parked out bikes in their yard and left most of our gear in the laundry. We cleared immigration in Zambia and then headed to the Mozambique side via boat on the very fast flowing Zambezi River and to the village of Zumba to clear immigrations on the opposite side. Three countries meet at the confluence of the Luangwa and Zambezi River, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, the locals move freely between these three countries with only a exercise book that is sometimes stamped at the border posts. This was the most efficient border post into Mozambique that we have ever experienced. Just a 20 minute trip by boat down the river and we arrived at the camp, it was really great seeing a friendly and familiar face again. Thanks for inviting us Russell.
After a delicious lunch Russell loaded us into a boat and we headed into the different channels on the Zambezi river, lots of hippos and crocs.
We will be here for a few days and will then head towards Lusaka and Vic Falls, then into Botswana.
We headed to Senga Bay and a campsite called Cool Runnings, lots of lovely grass and ok ablutions. We had our steak and chips that we had bought further back and had been frozen at each lodge and then carefully put into the cooler box with plenty on frozen waters to keep everything cold, this has worked really well and it is great to have home cooked meals. The steak was rump but didn't look great when we pulled it out of the packet, but once it was cooked it was really great meat.
The next morning we packed early and got ready for the sandy tracks out of the village again. Just before we left a family arrived with a young boy of about 8 who had been burnt down one side, badly burnt arm and a little burn on his side and face. The lady running Cool Runnings is a retired nursing sister and she helps villagers with this sort of injury, the burn looked horrific and it was carefully cleaned and bandaged, not one tear from the little boy, really brave!
The road was good leading to the border between Malawi and Zambia and we were stopped at a road block just before the Zambian border, two officers came over and asked for our licenses and I gave them my international drivers license and Larry took his license out of his wallet. They then demanded to see our insurance, we had to get off the bikes to get our document wallet out of my pannier and give them the Comesa Insurance documents, one stood next to my bike and the would not let me get on the bike and the other did the same to Larry. After a little pushing and shoving we managed to get on the bikes and then the reason became clear, what are you going to do with the money that is in your wallet? Larry carefully explained that we were going to buy petrol with the money and we were not going to give it to them, after a few minutes they realized that we were not going to be intimidated and they eventually waved us off.
When we arrived at the border post it was plain sailing, immigration and customs is getting easier the further south we get. While I was inside doing the paper work Larry was keeping an eye on the bike he met up with five British cyclists, we exchanged information about road conditions and places to stay. They were heading north and I don’t envy them the Great TanZam Roadworks! We are definitely doing it the easy way. Our bikes are heavily laden but at least we have a motor to keep us moving! They were all very sunburnt and fit looking!! They suggested that we stay at Dean’s Hillsview Camp in Chipata, I had already found this on the GPS, they told us that there were two motorcyclists in the camp and so we decided to try that camp.
Shoprite was again in the village and we stopped to stock up on a few fresh goodies before heading to the campsite.
We arrived at the campsite and it looked ok and there were the two bikes that we had been told about. Two Husquavanes 690 (apparently the same at the KTM690) both with very uncomfortable looking seats!! Tom and Caroline are two journalists traveling the world and writing about their experiences on motorbikes, unlike us they go looking for the gravel rough roads, the longer the better!! It was great to meet another couple and we stayed up much later than normal chatting about our different travels, they are heading south eventually when they will ship the bikes to South America from Cape Town. We hope to see them in Grahamstown towards the end of July.
Dean's Camp was a huge disappointment, they have tried to combine a farm yard with a campsite and it doesn't work, we had chickens, ducks, geese, goats, turkeys and three puppies in and around our tent all day, doing what animals do!! The stench was terrible and the puppies chewing on the tent and eventually one managed to get into the tent and chewed one of Larry’s socks, so he is now down two pairs!! The owners are a very young Italian couple, she has just had a baby, just over a month old.
Tom told us about an app to download called I-overlander, it is a mapping program but also gives you places to stay, shop, internet and general over landing information. It also gives you reviews on all of these and we have so far found it to be extremely accurate. Our next destination was The Bridge Campsite, the review said that it is overpriced and the campsite is very run down – spot on. The only problem is that it is the only campsite in the area and so has a captive market. We had just chosen out campsite when a land cruiser and a Ford double cab bakkie pulled up, the most obnoxious fella and his family climbed out of these two vehicles, the swearing at his staff was unbelievable! Eventually he came down to us to apologize, but it did not stop the swearing and screaming.
We packed up early and headed to the village of Luangwa, where Russell told us to meet his staff at the filling station and they would show us where to park the bikes in a safe place. We arrived 10 minutes early but they were there waiting for us, we headed into the village were we met Kenny and Lesley, an American couple working as missionaries for the Baptist Church. We parked out bikes in their yard and left most of our gear in the laundry. We cleared immigration in Zambia and then headed to the Mozambique side via boat on the very fast flowing Zambezi River and to the village of Zumba to clear immigrations on the opposite side. Three countries meet at the confluence of the Luangwa and Zambezi River, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, the locals move freely between these three countries with only a exercise book that is sometimes stamped at the border posts. This was the most efficient border post into Mozambique that we have ever experienced. Just a 20 minute trip by boat down the river and we arrived at the camp, it was really great seeing a friendly and familiar face again. Thanks for inviting us Russell.
After a delicious lunch Russell loaded us into a boat and we headed into the different channels on the Zambezi river, lots of hippos and crocs.
We will be here for a few days and will then head towards Lusaka and Vic Falls, then into Botswana.
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