Traveling with our New Safari Family in Zambia

Day 9

We left Victoria Falls and crossed into Zambia with an extra crew member and a new group of travelers. Ahead of us was two long days of driving but Jojo said it would be worth it because we were going to his favorite location, South Luangwa Wilderness Camp. The first driving day was uneventful and we arrived at Camp Eureka outside Lusaka right after dark. We enjoyed my favorite dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce which was prepared by Nash. Around the campfire, we met our new group of travelers on this Nomad Tour: A Swiss couple traveling around the world like us, a mother and adult son from Australia, a German couple celebrating their anniversary, a retired traveling duo from Australia, a Dutch couple on holiday, a German vacationing from her job in Cape Town, a Korean on break from school, and a Welsh right out of high school. We also met our third crew member, Tabi, who is also from Victoria Falls and is the same age as Jojo. Nomad schedules a third tour guide through East Africa because the travel is more demanding than their South African tours.

Day 10

On the way into Lusaka city center, we got stuck in morning traffic for the first time in Africa. We did not expect such a big town! We finally made it through and stopped at a supermarket for Nash to restock supplies. While everyone shopped, Sara and I rushed to find a post office. When we had bed bugs in New Zealand, everything was heat treated in a dryer and Sara’s shoes shrunk. She attempted to replace them by purchasing a pair online which Sam brought from Florida but the new style was too small as well! Now we had to ship them back for reimbursement. None of the stores opened till 9:00 and we had to be back at the truck for a 9:15 departure. When we finally got in the DHL store, the guy was moving super slowly until we told him that we had to catch a bus which seemed to speed him up. We finally got the shoes mailed at 9:20 and rushed back to the truck. Luckily Nash was still packing up his purchases.

The rest of the drive was uneventful. We stopped for lunch on the side of the road and three local children came to investigate. After lunch, we gave them our leftovers which them seemed happy about. A couple hours later, we briefly stopped at a village near the Luangwa River. It was a bustling local market selling mostly woven baskets and fish caught from the river. It seemed like we were making great time to our next campsite but after crossing the river, the drive slowed considerably. There was constant road construction and almost all of the afternoon was spent on bumpy dirt detours.

We again arrived at our campsite, Chimwemwe Lodge, after dark. The campsite was pretty basic with cold water showers. But our family splurged for accommodations so we got a drizzle of warm water in Sam and Erin’s room – just enough to to shower with. While laying in our tent that night, I heard cows and either dogs or hyenas barking… Maybe something was attacking a cow! It didn’t keep me up though because the campsite is secure inside a fence enclosure. Although, the next day we’ll be at the wildlife camp where there are no fences (and where Jojo says hippo could be grazing right by our tent)!

Chimwemwe Lodge

Typical lunch - custom sandwiches with fruit

Abnormal = traffic accident

Nash picked up potatoes for dinner form roadside stand

Sara and Will enjoying a typical breakfast at Eureka - cereal, yoghurt and fruit Photo credit: Sam

School children transporting branches as part of a lesson

Luangwa Village market

Roadside lunch - typically set up under the shade of a tree

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Day 11

Making sure we get the most out of our safari, Jojo had us leave early in the morning even though we had a short drive to South Luangwa. There wasn’t much construction and we arrived at Wildlife Camp before lunch – what a beautiful site! We were perched on a river bank where hippos live below. The camp owner gives us a briefing on what to do if we encounter a hippo at night which gets us all excited that we are actually in the wilderness with no fences separating us!

After lunch, we piled into two safari trucks with local guides and headed into town to visit a textile factory and a historic cultural village. At Tribal Textiles, we had a very quick tour and they showed us how they put their designs onto fabric:

Draw design using water/flour mixture in a squeeze bottle and let dry.
Paint the fabric, under the flour there will be no color.
Let dry and then scrape off the flour mixture.
Wash, dry and admire the neat design!

The guides gave us ample time for shopping, of course, before we headed to the Mambwe Cultural Village. I didn’t learn much at the village because I was busy playing with the kids. My favorite was how the kids built toy truck out of wire and anything round for wheels. They were very resourceful. The villagers showed us a traditional dance and I even joined in. Sara caught my dancing on video:

That evening, Sara and I fell asleep listening to the hippos grunting in the river while we wondered if any would visit us on the middle of the night! Tomorrow we head into South Luangwa National Park to find more wildlife.