16 June Old Farm House
We left Tan Swiss early on Thursday morning and had a very easy ride to Iringa about 200km away, they are working on the road and the pass coming up onto the plateau gets very conjested with trucks and busses all wanting to overtake but just don’t have the power. There were a number of trucks stopped on a corner either filing up tanks with stolen fuel or just having a rest, the oncoming traffic hardly slows down.
We arrived in Iringa and went straight to the very nice coffee / book shop that we found last time we were in the area hoping to get something for lunch only to find that they are not serving food anymore, very sad to see a shop which was vibrant 6 months ago just about dead. We rode the last 50km to the Old Farm House and very quickly got some washing done and Larry cleaned the chain on my bike and did a bit of maintenance.
We will be moving very quickly to get to Maun by Wednesday next week to meet up with Johan and Ralph, anyone wanting to send something nice please contact Ralph, carrot cake would be very nice!!
We went in for supper at the Old Farm House and had a very nice surprise waiting for us, Jo, who we had met in late January at the Old Farm House and arranged to meet up in Dar Es Salaam was at the table next to us but behind a small wall, we heard her talking to the manageress, both of us shot out of our chairs when we heard her voice, she joined us for a very pleasant evening, what a co-incidence! It is amazing how small the world can be, and how fate brings people together!!
The next morning everything was very wet from the dew, including our newly washed sleeping bags! But we packed everything away and after a goodbye to Jo we started for the border post just other side of Mbeya. Easy roads with relatively light traffic and then we were caught doing 65km in a 50km zone, we only had about TS20 000 with us which we had saved to put fuel into the bikes before crossing the border, after much apologizing from our side they let us go with a warning, most of the vehicles coming into the town were caught speeding. As we reached the border town the traffic became completely chaotic and stopped completely about 2km away from the actual border post, mainly huge trucks trying to cross, we drove in between vehicles and on pavements, on the wrong side of the road and eventually got into the gates of the border control. While trying to get into the gates the touts start shouting and running next to the bikes, when we stopped I could not put my feet down without putting them onto their feet. We eventually had to use a tout and it still took us very close to 4 hours to get through the border, the place where you paid the road tax was closed for lunch so a wait of an hour in the boiling sun was fun. This was the worst border crossing that we have had. Carbon tax and road tax cost us about 90USD!
Immediately the roads had changed from fair to shocking, huge pot holes, sometimes right across the road and for about 100m, and to make matters worse the trucks that had been in the queue waiting to through the border were streaming across and in front of us. We had been warned that there was no fuel between the border and Mkushi, so we bought 10l of black market fuel at Isoka. We were charged 8000 Zam Kwatcha, which we thought was very expensive, only to find that it costs 8670 ZK at the fuel stations, about 1.80 USD per litre!!
With nowhere in mind to stay, and the sun starting to get low, we continued, while looking out for somewhere to spend the night. Just before sunset we pulled off the road, at a small local school, and asked if the teacher was around. He happily agreed to let us camp in one of the two classrooms, which worked out well, as our tent and gear had a chance to dry. Lots of kids watched us unpack with big eyes, until the teacher asked them to move off, close to dark. Fortunately we had a bit of stale bread, salami and cheese for supper! (Sandy we are looking forward to that sweet and sour pork!) 550 km covered!
18 June
The next morning we set off early, as we had woken very early and were expecting crowds again. We needed to do 630 km, to a lodge near Mkushi, that Wayne had told us about. The riding through Zambia was very nice, with beautiful un-spoilt countryside, not many villages, and great scenery. The roads were initially very bad, with lots of huge potholes, sometimes right across the road. One long sandy stretch almost threw Larry off, as the sand was very unexpected. Then the roads got better, and we were able to average a better speed. The 630 km still took us nearly 8 hours. When we got to Forest Inn, we decided to take a room, to catch up on laundry, and have a good rest. After the last few long days in the saddle, our backsides are starting to feel decidedly tender! Larry even told me that my backside had calluses on like the baboons next to the road!!
19 – 20 June
We had a good breakfast at Forest Inn and left there at about 8.30 heading to south of Lusaka, the ride was easy and as we approached Lusaka the traffic was very bad on a small single lane going into the city, but once we managed to pass some of the big trucks the traffic was light going through the city as it was a Sunday. We were unsure of where we were going to spend the night and we decided to start looking after we had done about 100km from Lusaka. We were lucky to find a very nice camp site by the name of Moorings, we were the only people in camp and it was wonderfully quite, just don’t order any food there!! We had a steak and rice with tomato gravy, just about the only thing available and the steak was the toughest that we have ever had!! 450 km.
The next morning we were heading for Livingstone and the border between Zambia and Botswana. When we reached Livingstone we decided to pop in and see Brian Fitzhenry, a friend of Ralph’s who is flying helicopters and microlights over Victoria Falls. I think he was very surprised to see us and is looking forward to getting back to the Eastern Cape in the next short while. We then stopped at the local Steers for lunch, the first time that we have seen a South African take away in a long while and then headed for the border and ferry at Kazungula. Getting out of Zambia was simple and the ferry crossing just as simple, getting into Botswana, expensive but very easy and we could use SA rands again for the first time.
We arrived late afternoon at the Chobe Safari Lodge and set up our tent in a very pleasant camp site (very noisy elephants and hippo next door all during the night), we met up with a fellow biker from Austria who we had last seen in Jungle Junction, Nairobi in March. Even the campers were the noisiest we had encountered in the last 6 months – but this seems to be common where South Africans camp. Most tourists that we meet are not impressed with South African behavior in campsites. Shame on us!!!
Today we will rest our weary butts, after pushing hard for the last week, and tomorrow we will do the 600 odd km to Maun, to meet Ralph. We heard this morning that Johan had to cancel at the last minute, so Ralph will fly up to meet us, visit his girlfriend, and look into the job market.
Internet very expensive here, so text only, will post pics when possible.
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