Moving on

We caught a ‘flying matatu’ (Kenya Airways) from Cape Town to Livingstone last Tuesday afternoon to begin the northward journey. Fairly uneventful once we had squeezed ourselves into the small seats of a full plane, amongst people who had no idea what “one piece of hand luggage” actually means; and surprisingly, no live chickens on board and as far as I could tell, and  nothing strapped to the roof of the matatu either. 

Only a handful of passengers got off in Livingstone, so we were though the airport in minutes - how travel used to be. Arrival at the riverfront hotel was delayed as a large herd of elephants, probably around 100, was all across the road - and they have priority over vehicles. While nice for us to see them, they are a major problem for the local people - it’s the dry season so vegetation is scarce, and the animals go for whatever they can track down, and do massive damage to compounds and gardens in the process. The neighbouring hotel had its wire and electric fence trampled one night we were there and the animals got in and had fun in the manicured gardens. Later there were some swimming across the Zambezi river to Zimbabwe to take their chances there, but we also saw some swimming back later and the herd was still around two days later. 

I’d booked ‘adventure tents’ in the hotel grounds but with the elephants, and signs warning of hippos and crocodiles, I did begin to wonder if that had been a wise decision. It was: the tents were good (beds, power, fans etc), and beyond the mosquitoes the only wildlife nearby was an aging hippy character who played his ‘meditation music’ somewhat louder than he needed to, while staring into space and ignoring everyone else. 

Livingstone, the former capital of Zambia and its main tourist town, because of the Victoria Falls, is a rather faded and dusty place, but busy enough. We caught up with Abraham, who I worked with in July, and hit the museum which gave some good insight into modern day Zambia, but also  the connections with Dr David Livingstone and his years of African explorations. Because of very low water levels in the Zambezi, the Falls themselves were dry on the Zambian side, but still flowing on the Zimbabwe side, so we decided to make a day trip across the border, helpfully coinciding with a national holiday for Zambia’s 60th anniversary of independence.

So a taxi to the border, a walk across the iconic arched steel bridge, and on into Victoria Falls town itself revealed a very different scene. It is a small town - basically two principal streets - but totally geared to tourism with curio shops, travel agencies, banks etc in abundance, as well as a craft brew place which helped us while away the time. It was interesting to see how VF had capitalised sensibly on its major attraction, but Livingstone as a town has not - beyond a handful of upmarket hotels, and a range of activities to keep tourists occupied and spending money.

The Falls themselves, the principal draw for both places, were a mere trickle when compared with them at full force - which they were the last time I was here. There is this thunderous roar you can hear from a mile away, and spray which rises into the sky like a cloud - none of that at the moment. Paul said they were impressive enough even so, but I didn’t go into the national park to see them this time.

We also discussed the next steps of this journey … Plan A or Plan B.  Plan A involved a long  series of bus journeys from Livingstone to Lusaka (7 hrs), then on to Lilongwe (Malawi) (something like 12 hrs), another north to Mzuzu (5 hrs), and a fourth (2 hrs) to a place called Nkhata Bay, on the shores of Lake Malawi, where we would pick up a ride on the MV Ilala (https://www.malawitourism.com/transport/ilala-malawi-shipping-company/) to its northernmost port of call. The problem was the boat only sails north on a Sunday morning, and we didn’t really have the time to be sure of getting there on public transport (the idea of back-to-back buses journeys hours was already a bit off putting). We’d then have to get into Tanzania, and find a way to Dar es Salaam, etc etc. All a nice idea, but …

Plan B took a different route: getting onto the Tazara train (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAZARA_Railway) from a small town 4 hrs north of Lusaka to travel the 1,860 kms through Zambia, across the border and then northeast through the Tanzanian highlands to Dar es Salaam. The problem here was that the train only leaves on a Tuesday and (we found out) currently only goes as far as the border … after which it all gets a bit uncertain.  Decisions, decisions.

 

But we moved onwards: a bus to Lusaka, advertised for 7 hrs but took more than eight, through the parched Zambian countryside. We decided to take a break and booked into a private game reserve called Chaminuka Lodge (https://www.chaminuka.com/), just outside Lusaka, which I visited 20 years ago. It’s a lovely, tranquil spot, with food and activities thrown in (for a price) but has been good before the uncertainty begins.

All through the time in Zambia, now and during my last trip in July, the country has been affected by extended power outages called ‘load shedding. The mains power goes off for hours on end, sometimes scheduled and sometimes not, so businesses and folks with the resources have to rely on generators; those without have nothing. This is put down to not enough water in the dams for the power stations, but it is most likely the result of years of poor planning, poor management, corruption and no investment in alternatives to hydro power. Phones can’t be charged, machines don’t work, the internet and wifi systems are offline: everyone struggles to cope, often in temperatures in the high 30s (C). We were in a large supermarket in Livingstone and had to do the shopping by phone light; arrived into the InterCity Bus Terminus in Lusaka in a blackout; in a shopping mall the same evening when all the lights went out; and here at Chaminuka it was out for about 36 hrs before going on earlier this morning. It is crippling businesses of all sizes and is hard to understand how the government can allow this to continue, while apparently still exporting fuel to South Africa. At what point will enough be enough for the people of this country?

Right now it is raining, a very welcome respite for the people (and animals) in this dry, hot and powerless country. But in the meantime, for us: Plan A or Plan B?  Or Plan C? Watch this space.