On Sunday we popped down to Lake Kariba from Choma. "Popped" doesn't quite express the journey - only about 100km, most of it on tar, but the road went down, down, down and then went down some more. As we descended we could feel the temperature rise - we reckon by as much as 5 degrees C (maybe more?). The tar road was sometimes quite good, then suddenly the hidden potholes loomed and we were braking/swerving to avoid the worst. From Sinazongwe to the coast and Lake View Lodge was only 17km - but 17km of quite rough dirt road - it took almost an hour (we drive slowly to protect both our vehicle and our backs/teeth etc!). The road down was interesting - 100km took almost 3 hours, but there were interesting landscapes and lots of African life going on - the area around Kariba is very fertile, so supports quite a few people - small markets selling vegetables and so on. We passed a group of youngsters bathing in a pool right next to the road and another four playing naked in a mud pool like elephants. Everyone seems happy to smile and wave at us.
When we got to the lodge we were told that we wouldn't get the truck into their campsite due to its size, however we could camp at the lodge itself, so we set up in the carpark with a nice view of Lake Kariba through the trees. It was hot and humid, so we sat quietly in the bar area and had a couple of beers until it cooled down a bit (this was after I had tried to fix the diesel water heater which today of all days decided to "go on strike"). The ladies from the lodge saved the day by letting us use the shower etc in one of the chalets. In the "cool" of the afternoon we went for a stroll over to the campsite to have a look - it turns out that it is practically abandoned due to an access dispute with a neighbouring lodge - there is a track to the campsite, but it passes up and over a very steep hillock with lots of low trees - it doesn't look feasible
There are quite a few fishing boats on Lake Kariba - some quite large with nets hung out the back - they use spot lights to attract fish into the nets at night. We had dinner in the lodge restaurant - we were the only diners there - Sue's Kariba Bream was good, the steak was very overcooked (worst steak of my life?)
On Monday we woke to the sound of Lake Kariba lapping on the shore, and had breakfast sitting on boulders on the shoreline watching the sunrise over the lake, the sounds reminded Sue of the Maldives. We met the people now managing the lodge and chatted about what is happening In South Africa (it doesn't sound promising for the country) and Zambia. We then drove back to Choma to visit the museum there - it is in an old colonial building with lovely teak floors and interesting ceilings, but is actually tiny. As it was still only lunchtime we decided to head off towards Monze where we nearly stayed outside the Mayfair Guesthouse until we realised that the highly recommended Moorings campsite was only another 30km away, so after a coffee off we went. As we left Monze heading towards the campsite, the road follows the main rail line from Livingstone to Lusaka - we spotted a group of children playing on the line with a handcar (one of those small manually powered workers' vehicles) - can anyone imagine this happening in Europe?!!!! At Moorings we had a friendly welcome on the gate (always a good sign) and found a huge lovely campsite with mature trees, power, water and an English family on holiday who we interrogated for information on places to go in Zambia. It's very unusual to meet anyone else English travelling for some reason. The campsite is part of a huge farm with cattle, pigs and arable, although none of this is visible from the campsite. We did however go to sleep to the sounds of pigs somewhere in the distance!
When we got to the lodge we were told that we wouldn't get the truck into their campsite due to its size, however we could camp at the lodge itself, so we set up in the carpark with a nice view of Lake Kariba through the trees. It was hot and humid, so we sat quietly in the bar area and had a couple of beers until it cooled down a bit (this was after I had tried to fix the diesel water heater which today of all days decided to "go on strike"). The ladies from the lodge saved the day by letting us use the shower etc in one of the chalets. In the "cool" of the afternoon we went for a stroll over to the campsite to have a look - it turns out that it is practically abandoned due to an access dispute with a neighbouring lodge - there is a track to the campsite, but it passes up and over a very steep hillock with lots of low trees - it doesn't look feasible
There are quite a few fishing boats on Lake Kariba - some quite large with nets hung out the back - they use spot lights to attract fish into the nets at night. We had dinner in the lodge restaurant - we were the only diners there - Sue's Kariba Bream was good, the steak was very overcooked (worst steak of my life?)
On Monday we woke to the sound of Lake Kariba lapping on the shore, and had breakfast sitting on boulders on the shoreline watching the sunrise over the lake, the sounds reminded Sue of the Maldives. We met the people now managing the lodge and chatted about what is happening In South Africa (it doesn't sound promising for the country) and Zambia. We then drove back to Choma to visit the museum there - it is in an old colonial building with lovely teak floors and interesting ceilings, but is actually tiny. As it was still only lunchtime we decided to head off towards Monze where we nearly stayed outside the Mayfair Guesthouse until we realised that the highly recommended Moorings campsite was only another 30km away, so after a coffee off we went. As we left Monze heading towards the campsite, the road follows the main rail line from Livingstone to Lusaka - we spotted a group of children playing on the line with a handcar (one of those small manually powered workers' vehicles) - can anyone imagine this happening in Europe?!!!! At Moorings we had a friendly welcome on the gate (always a good sign) and found a huge lovely campsite with mature trees, power, water and an English family on holiday who we interrogated for information on places to go in Zambia. It's very unusual to meet anyone else English travelling for some reason. The campsite is part of a huge farm with cattle, pigs and arable, although none of this is visible from the campsite. We did however go to sleep to the sounds of pigs somewhere in the distance!