Zambia or the republic of Zambia was formerly known as Northern Rhodesia, a British colony. In October 1964 it was renamed Zambia, after the Zambezi river, on achieving independence from Britain. It is a country full of huge open spaces teaming with wildlife and vast bodies of water. It is the water-richest country in Africa containing the Zambezi, Luangwa and the Kafue rivers and countless lakes, the largest being Lake Kariba. The most widely spoken languages are Bemba, Nyanja or Chewa and English. It is also rich in mineral and gemstone deposits and is a major exporter of high-grade copper. It is a safari country and offers some of Africa’s top end safari experiences. But because of the size of the country and the bad infrastructure a lot of these safari destinations are reserved for the richer segment as you have to fly in, to the lodges.
Zambezi River
I was in Zambia at the end of the rainy season. That is also the worse time for Safaris as the parks are saturated with water and a lot of the tracks are closed due to flooding. But also because of the abundance of water the animals rarely go to the water holes. They stay deep in and drink from the fresh rainwater holes. Plus, everything is thick lush vegetation making it difficult to spot the wildlife. All this is of course leading up to me admitting that I did not do Zambia justice. I was there for a short space of time. Read on.
Baboons around Victoria Falls
I was in Victoria, Zimbabwe and it was a short hop to Zambia. I rode across the Victoria Falls bridge to Livingstone. I had to go through all the customs formalities, but it was painless. In Zimbabwe customs I asked them to put my TIP on hold as I was coming back, which they did. The Zambian customs asked me for the carnet, and they knew exactly how it worked. I also bought 3rd party insurance for Zambia from an agent who was waiting at the border post. Livingston was just 16 km from Victoria Falls. But the bridge was really spectacular. It has a train track on one side and a one-way road on the other, with pedestrian paths on both sides. Only one truck is allowed to cross the bridge at a time. About halfway across you ride through a wall of spray from the falls. The bridge was completed in 1905. It is considered to be no man’s land as the border posts are on both sides of the bridge. The views from the bridge are spectacular, on the one side the falls and on the other side the deep green Zambezi gorge. Vehicles are not allowed to stop on the bridge. I walked across it the day before to get the photos, though some are from my action cam.
Victoria Falls view from the bridge
The town of Livingston is a historic British colonial city. I had arranged to stay in another backpacker’s place called Fawlty Towers. This is a well-known place to stay for travelers. Once again, I met up with Kristal and a few others of the people that I kept bumping into.
My hotel in Livingstone Fawlty Towers
Kenyan biker Mozes Ndeturi from Nairobi and his wife of home
Livingstone is also a border town and a hub or visitors to Victoria falls. The Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park encases the Zambian side of the falls. There are still some spectacular views of the falls to be had here, but the highlight for me was the Boiling Pot. This is a pool with swirling water created by the falls. I just sat here for a really pleasant couple of hours chatting to the locals. I had also, once again, teamed up with Kristal to explore the falls. Unfortunately, because the falls were in full flood the “Devils Pool” was closed. This is a pool where you can swim to the edge of the falls and look over the edge. All in all, the Zambian side of the falls was also worth the visit.
Victoria falls Zambia
Victoria Falls Zambia
Getting soaked taking pictures of Victoria Falls Zambia
The Boiling Pot Victoria falls Zambia
Local family and Kristal Victoria Falls Zambia
I wanted to go look at the train museum. But they wanted a massive amount of money to enter. They have two prices, one for locals and another for foreigners. But this time the difference was out of proportion, so I refused to pay it.
Train Museum Livingstone… picture taken from the outside…
I paid a visit to an insurance company, Nico, to buy COMESA insurance for the bike. COMESA is a yellow card valid for most countries and is cheaper than buying on the borders. It is a bit like the European green card and works the same way. Zambia was the first country on my route that would sell COMESA to foreign registered vehicles. They gave me all the info but advised me to buy it in Lusaka as the timing was wrong. You buy it in blocks of 3 months, and I would have lost a month if I had bought it then. Plus, it is coupled onto your Namibian 3rd party insurance. It was better, in my case, to wait and buy it in Lusaka.
3 people who kept meeting up
I also went to visit the Livingstone Museum together with Nick and Kristal. This museum documents the life of Dr David Livingstone and contains some of his letters. On the way to the museum, we passed through an art project called the “Forest of faces”. This was commissioned in 2021. It was created by a Non-Government Organization with a view to creating some more tourist attractions in Livingstone. A few local artists worked on this, creating excellent carvings up to 4 meters high. See like named photo album.
Forest of Faces Livingstone
Forest of Faces Livingstone
Livingstone museum
After the museum we went to a little café for lunch. I had a veggie wrap and a black coffee. The following morning i was gonna check out, but when I woke up I got violently sick. There was no way that I could ride, so I extended my stay. I felt really bad, slept all day. I kinda knew that I had an acid problem. Went to the chemist and bought some Omeprazole. Next day I left I wasn’t throwing up anymore. Crossed back over the border into Zimbabwe. I rode around there for a couple of weeks, that is documented in my last post. At lake Kariba I crossed back into Zambia. This time over the dam. Once again, the border posts are on each end of the dam wall and the dam is no man’s land. The dam also generates electricity. There are two power plants, one for Zimbabwe and one for Zambia.
Zambia on the way to Lusaka
Baobab fruit sellers
Fruit and veggie sellers on the road to Lusaka
On the way up to Lusaka I got stopped for speeding, I was doing 62 km per hour instead of 50. They let me go with a warning. Further on I was stopped once again, by the police, this time for my insurance. I was staying in Natwange Backpackers and once again the old crowd were there. In Lusaka I needed to do a couple of things. One was to buy COMESA insurance, this I done at the Nico head office. The other thing was to get a visa for Malawi. Malawi had changed its system to online visa or E-visa. This is extremely difficult as you need to have a letter of invitation and an application letter, and they have to be scanned in. You also need a credit card to pay the 50-dollar cost. For the invitation letter I got in contact with Mushroom Farm in Malawi. This is an Eco lodge, and they are prepared to help people get the visa. The embassy agreed to do it after a bit of a hassle and two days, as they want people to do it online.
Me at Natwange Backpackers
Nick, Kristal and Ian
Natwange also helped out by printing out the invitation letter and my application letter. But before I could leave, I got roped into going to a comedy show called “The Colonial Hangover”. Nick was performing a standup comedy act as the only English and white performer, what could possibly go wrong. It was really interesting to see the local artists perform. Some were really good. One in particular, a female Ventriloquist with two black dolls, she was amazing. It was as if the two dolls were talking to each other and arguing. The jokes were, off course, at the expense of the white colonizers and the whites in general. Nick put on a good show though. It took a lot of guts to do that.
Nick performing on Comedy Night in Lusaka
Ventriloquist at Comedy Night Lusaka
Nick’s farewell
Then it was time to head on to Malawi. I stopped for the night in a town called Petauke.
Roadside stop to Petauke
On the road to Petauke
Lunch on the way to Petauke
Then on to the border the next day. It was a boring run. About 15 Km before the border, in Chipata, the money changers started offering their services. I spoke to a few but waited until I was up at the border before I did any serious negotiations. I noticed that they were eager to give me a good rate, kinda worrying. But I finally settled on one guy and got a really good deal. With the benefit of hindsight this is because the Malawi Kwacha is worthless outside of Malawi and they pay peanuts for it when you exit Malawi. You can’t change it anywhere else, that is what I discovered when I left, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Petauke Zambia last stop before the border with Malawi
If you want to experience some of the sights of Zambia, then plop yourself down in your favourite chair with a nice wee cup of tea and a sticky bun and click your way through the like named photo album on my Facebook page. Facebook photo album Zambia
Thank you for reading the posts, looking at the albums, liking and commenting. Thank you for sharing this incredible journey with me, I appreciate it.
My real time location is Mbarara, Uganda. You can check out my route, tracks, see “Follow my tracks” on the menu above.
Asante Kawaheri hadi wakati mwingine ……. Swahili for “Thank you bye, until next time”