Sunday 14th October
Crossing the border from Namibia to Zambia was fairly straightforward. The whole thing took about two hours, which we thought was OK. There was quite a lot of admin to do, and various sums of money to be handed over, but people were chatty and helpful, which made it all seem less stressful. It may have been helpful that we crossed on a Sunday.
We then drove about 100km to Kubu Cabins, where we were camping for the night. It was a bit tricky to site the truck, but after a bit of faffing around we got settled and met the other campers - a group of South Africans. The campsite was on the banks of the Zambezi again, this time with Zimbabwe on the other side. Campsite staff suggested we might see some animals on the far bank in the Zimbabwean National Park, but the SA group told us that there had been poachers shooting on Friday night and since then there hadn't been any game around. A shame. Apparently 3 elephant had also been shot very close to the campsite a week or so ago. We have been hearing a lot about how poaching of rhino and elephant is still going on at quite a rate, also other species such as pangolin. The poachers seem so determined that it's difficult to know how they could be stopped. The poaching of rhino in southern africa seems to be getting out of control after many years where the populations had been stabilised through huge efforts. There is a lot of effort being put into combatting it - see: http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/ = reading the "tickertape at the top gives an idea just how bad the situation is getting. At this rate there won't be any wild rhino left in a few years - and all because of human greed.
Anyway, we spent part of the afternoon at the pool, as usual, and started spotting some birds, including an African finfoot, which I was very pleased about. Back at the camping area, the SA group offered us some space on their braai, which was great as we didn't feel like getting our own fire going (lazy again). They showed us some of the things they were cooking, including whole mushrooms with butter and honey, which were delicious! It seems you can cook anything on the fire, as long as you have enough cooking foil (and patience).
Monday 15th October
I got up very early and went to watch the sun rise over the Zambezi. It was a wonderful huge red sun which rose in classic style with a thorn tree silhouetted in front: very dramatic. I enjoyed the peace and cool air, watching the water and the birds. After a while B came to tell me that I had missed 3 hippo in the water by the campsite. Oh, well! We packed up and got going to the place where we had been hoping to store the truck. There we found that the entrance to the facility was too low! Oh, bother!!!!! Now what to do??? Again!
The person we wanted to talk to was away until tomorrow, so we decided to stay nearby and return the next day, with our fingers crossed that he would have a good idea. We had to try several campsites before we found one we were happy with, then went into town to sort out a few bits. Back at the campsite we had an overpriced late lunch and a very good value beer in the shady restaurant. It's noticeable that Zambians are different from Namibians, but it's hard to put your finger on what the difference is.
Crossing the border from Namibia to Zambia was fairly straightforward. The whole thing took about two hours, which we thought was OK. There was quite a lot of admin to do, and various sums of money to be handed over, but people were chatty and helpful, which made it all seem less stressful. It may have been helpful that we crossed on a Sunday.
We then drove about 100km to Kubu Cabins, where we were camping for the night. It was a bit tricky to site the truck, but after a bit of faffing around we got settled and met the other campers - a group of South Africans. The campsite was on the banks of the Zambezi again, this time with Zimbabwe on the other side. Campsite staff suggested we might see some animals on the far bank in the Zimbabwean National Park, but the SA group told us that there had been poachers shooting on Friday night and since then there hadn't been any game around. A shame. Apparently 3 elephant had also been shot very close to the campsite a week or so ago. We have been hearing a lot about how poaching of rhino and elephant is still going on at quite a rate, also other species such as pangolin. The poachers seem so determined that it's difficult to know how they could be stopped. The poaching of rhino in southern africa seems to be getting out of control after many years where the populations had been stabilised through huge efforts. There is a lot of effort being put into combatting it - see: http://www.stoprhinopoaching.com/ = reading the "tickertape at the top gives an idea just how bad the situation is getting. At this rate there won't be any wild rhino left in a few years - and all because of human greed.
Anyway, we spent part of the afternoon at the pool, as usual, and started spotting some birds, including an African finfoot, which I was very pleased about. Back at the camping area, the SA group offered us some space on their braai, which was great as we didn't feel like getting our own fire going (lazy again). They showed us some of the things they were cooking, including whole mushrooms with butter and honey, which were delicious! It seems you can cook anything on the fire, as long as you have enough cooking foil (and patience).
Monday 15th October
I got up very early and went to watch the sun rise over the Zambezi. It was a wonderful huge red sun which rose in classic style with a thorn tree silhouetted in front: very dramatic. I enjoyed the peace and cool air, watching the water and the birds. After a while B came to tell me that I had missed 3 hippo in the water by the campsite. Oh, well! We packed up and got going to the place where we had been hoping to store the truck. There we found that the entrance to the facility was too low! Oh, bother!!!!! Now what to do??? Again!
The person we wanted to talk to was away until tomorrow, so we decided to stay nearby and return the next day, with our fingers crossed that he would have a good idea. We had to try several campsites before we found one we were happy with, then went into town to sort out a few bits. Back at the campsite we had an overpriced late lunch and a very good value beer in the shady restaurant. It's noticeable that Zambians are different from Namibians, but it's hard to put your finger on what the difference is.