ZAMBIA …. again
Day 292 – 24th July 2010 (Kasane, Botswana – Livingstone, Zambia)
Bit of a blonde moment for Ness this morning meant the almost ruin of a cunning plan. Cunning plan – use all remaining Pula (Bot’s currency) to top up the car with diesel. Ness counts Pula … three times. There is 223 Pula and 5 Thebe’s (about £22 – the Thebe is worth so little some coins actually float). James asks the assistant to fill up with exactly P223, leaving the 5 Thebe for a margin of error. Not necessary, because the Thebe is worth so little, they don’t count them so we were spot on with P223. Or we would have been had Ness not miscounted … three times. Hence spending the next 20 minutes trying to “find” P10 (about £1) – my particular favourite was when Ness rather out of hand said to the assistant “of course it’s right, I’ve counted it three times!” seconds before it dawning on her that 190 plus 23 did not actually equal 223 … three times.
With a sneaky extra P10 of diesel in the tank – we headed for Zambia,
our final destination. And joys of joys, a ferry border crossing … usually the
worse kind, typically with trucks, donkeys, chickens and people all trying to
get on one wooden barge the size of a Ford Cortina that looks like it should
have sunk 40 years ago because no one is quite sure when the next barge will
turn up, err if at all. However, we were pleasantly surprised. The barge did
look like it should have sunk 40 years ago especially under the weight of a
fully loaded articulated lorry that would be joining us on this little
expedition. But it was punctual (although with only about 200 meters to cross,
even these guys should be able to manage that – you would have thought with all
those diamonds they might have built a bridge … anyhow) and it only took three
attempts before we were loaded.
Miles travelled: 55 miles (total 29,256 miles) Highlight of the day: Celebration banana milkshakes at Kilimanjaro
coffee shop
Comment of the day: “Africa
wins again” Random fact of the day: The border between Botswana and Zambia is,
arguably, the shortest international border in the world – 170 meters
Days 293-297 – 25th–29th July 2010 (Livingstone, Zambia)
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh – our morning wake up call of the tourist microflights over Vic Falls. And now the sad admin to end our trip …
1. sell William – tick :( (time taken: very little) 2. book flights – tick (time taken: about 8 hours of internet trauma)
3. exchange all our old clothes and camping sh** for African wooden sh**
- tick (time taken: best part of two days of hard core bartering with the Rasta
Kennedy and Justin and his young
wife … exhausting) 4. avoid over-excited overland bus gap year people, mostly drunk – partial tick (time
taken: immeasurable)
and we’re ready to go :(
Miles travelled: 88 miles
(total 29,344 miles) Highlight of the days: Enjoying our last few days in Africa with lots
of BBQ food, fires, beers and biltong
Comment of the days: “Alreet!” James (in his best Geordie) to a somewhat bemused Robson Green in the car park of the Victoria Falls National Park
Days 298 – 30th July 2010 (Livingstone, Zambia – Johannesburg – Dubai, UAE)
Our last night in Africa and we decided to spend it in style, at the Royal Livingstone – a colonial style 5* hotel on the edge of the Vic Falls. Afternoon tea yesterday was a fabulous colonial affair involving far too many cakes! After a restful nights sleep, we woke up early to watch the sunrise over Vic Falls followed by eggs benedict – what better way to spend our last morning in Africa!!??
It was with heavy hearts that we left the luxury and took our final
drive in William along a dusty
concrete road lined with yellow srub and African tat sellers - but we did get a
massive heard of elephants cross our path on the way to the airport, our final
goodbye from Africa…
Miles travelled: 2 miles (TRIP TOTAL: 30,540 MILES*- yay!!) Highlight of the day: watching the sunrise over our last day in
Africa
Comment of the day: I can finally say “we’ve driven from London to Cape Town, over 30,000 miles, without one
single puncture, yay!” Sightings of the day: elephants and zebra came to say goodbye!
*for any eagle eyes among you, something went wrong with the maths in the diary (maths has never been my strong point, I’m a lawyer) … this is the final mileage according to William's odometer, far more accurate than my maths!!!