We pushed off at just before 8 for the long drive to our next camp site about 465kms which will take most of the day. We will be transiting down to Livingstone over the next couple of days.
The specials of the day on the roadside where rocks and rock paving taken from the hill nearby
About 20 kms got to the wildlife check point for the police to check the vehicle for illegal poaching of animals in vehicles which is the first one we had come across so far.
Post not finding a hippo or elephant in Steph we were on our way for about 20kms until we had a rear tyre blow out.
First up was the placement of the all important safety triangles ( we didn't opt for the local use of branches to flag a problem ahead
So a quick 15min change over of tyre by Jan and strapping the old one onto the roof racks we were back on our way(funnily this was my first tyre blowup I've had in 33 years of driving)
Then back into Chipata where I dropped Jo off to get a new Zambian SIM card and then refuel and had a quick shop at the Spar . The government was in the process of building a brand new road all the way to the capital of Lasaka with only about 80 kms of the whole trip on dirt roads with very little traffic at all.
I got a bit weary a so by the time we changed over Joey had the pleasure of doing the dirt road for about 60 mins
Side track and to the right is the new road under construction
Followed by a quick stop for lunch
Still lots of charcoal for salebeside the raid with a few guys making the product by burying the wood over with dirt and slowly burning it
These locals have gone upmarket and built shelters for their charcoalIlm not sure when people actually buy the charcoal as we have never seen anyone pull up and buy one yet but everyone uses it- they must come out after dark.
Other afternoon specials were wooden doors,beds and tomatoes
We hit a new part of the road that only had one lane open as they were sealing the other side so were stopped about 15 minsand set upon by the roadside sellers offering mushrooms
On our way to the camp site where there was heaps of locals on the side of the road offering mushrooms to the passing traffic . We arrived at the Luangwa cable bridge which was the third one built over the Luangwa river where it flows into the Zambezi valley. The second bridge was destroyed in 1979 by the Zimbabwe military in order to stop the planned invasion of their country. You aren't allowed to take any photos of the bridge so snapped a quick one before we made our way over to the other side for the police check point. Only one vehicle is allowed on the bridge at any one time.
A view from the other side post the police check who were very friendly and said that they were looking for any suspected terrorists but unfortunately couldn't help them with this request.
Finally got into Bridge Camp about 5.30 to set up and then have dinner (plus some locally brought mushrooms by Amanda from the road side stop)and relax around the fire.
The camp guard started a fire for us by grabbing some rook hatching from the hut as kindling to get it going.You may be able to notice the bit above the stone column at the forefront looks a bit bear as I assume this is a regular practice.
A quick hot showers followed by stir fry chicken for dinner and then bed.
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