We walked the short distance upstream to Mutumuna Waterfall, which is quite a good one.
Left about 09.30. Before we got to Kasama we got stopped at a police roadblock. It looked as if they were giving everyone a hard time. Having seen B’s driving licence and our road toll certificate, they asked us to pull over and took a walk around the truck. We felt that they were trying to come up with a reason to “fine” us and we sat tight waiting to see what they could come up with. They claimed that B needed an international driving permit. Not true for the first 90 days in Zambia but I went in the back and, after some rummaging, found it. At that point they gave up and let us go.
Bit of a farce over fuel. We assumed there would be fuel stations outside the town as we were on the main road to Lusaka but no, we had to turn round and fill up at a very rubbishy looking place. Once we really got on the road we realised why: there is almost no traffic! No public transport, few private vehicles, no boda-bodas. It’s amazing. We drove on the old great north road. All along there were individual small-holdings or farms with a very occasional small village. We bought tomatoes at one of these. Nearly every home seemed to have something for sale beside the road. Lots of charcoal of course, and lots of wild mushrooms. They are obviously abundant at the moment. We didn’t try them, though.
We turned off the main road to get to Kapishya. It was nearly 50km on sand/gravel but it wasn;;t too bad. WE saw a number of ant trails across the road where the ants were moving so densely that ti looked as though a black cord had been laid down. It rained. We got to the lodge at 4pm or so, signed in and went to the campsite. It all seemed very wet, especially with the river running full and lapping at the grass. Someone called Maybeen got the hot water going for us, though, so that was good. Before it got dark a zillion insects appeared and we had to close up, but they still seemed to be coming in. We ate our supper, cleaned our teeth and put the lights out at 7pm to stop any more coming.
Left about 09.30. Before we got to Kasama we got stopped at a police roadblock. It looked as if they were giving everyone a hard time. Having seen B’s driving licence and our road toll certificate, they asked us to pull over and took a walk around the truck. We felt that they were trying to come up with a reason to “fine” us and we sat tight waiting to see what they could come up with. They claimed that B needed an international driving permit. Not true for the first 90 days in Zambia but I went in the back and, after some rummaging, found it. At that point they gave up and let us go.
Bit of a farce over fuel. We assumed there would be fuel stations outside the town as we were on the main road to Lusaka but no, we had to turn round and fill up at a very rubbishy looking place. Once we really got on the road we realised why: there is almost no traffic! No public transport, few private vehicles, no boda-bodas. It’s amazing. We drove on the old great north road. All along there were individual small-holdings or farms with a very occasional small village. We bought tomatoes at one of these. Nearly every home seemed to have something for sale beside the road. Lots of charcoal of course, and lots of wild mushrooms. They are obviously abundant at the moment. We didn’t try them, though.
We turned off the main road to get to Kapishya. It was nearly 50km on sand/gravel but it wasn;;t too bad. WE saw a number of ant trails across the road where the ants were moving so densely that ti looked as though a black cord had been laid down. It rained. We got to the lodge at 4pm or so, signed in and went to the campsite. It all seemed very wet, especially with the river running full and lapping at the grass. Someone called Maybeen got the hot water going for us, though, so that was good. Before it got dark a zillion insects appeared and we had to close up, but they still seemed to be coming in. We ate our supper, cleaned our teeth and put the lights out at 7pm to stop any more coming.