Sunday, May 11, 2003 (Somewhere near Lusaka - Zambia)
Our only way out of the country. A shocking
surprise at the border. Another campsite in the middle of nowhere.
Day 60. Up relatively early again this morning
to catch our northbound Wildlife truck to Arusha. It was due to pick us up at
seven thirty in the morning and I was starting to get very worried when they
hadn’t arrived by eight thirty. It would be just our luck to get stranded
in Harare. Pretty much every other plan we’ve made to transit up North has
fallen through so it should be fitting that this one does to. Just when I was
starting to think about how I was going to pay for a flight out of town (using
the credit card in Zimbabwe is ill advised), Craig from Wildlife called to let
us know that their driver was a little delayed and that we should not worry; we
would be picked up after all. The truck arrived not too long after that and the
two smiling drivers seemed like nice guys. We said goodbye to Harare and headed
out of town.
As anticipated, the long
drive was boring and tiresome but it was interrupted after several hours of
plugging along by the Zimbabwe/Zambia border crossing. A stinging surprise
awaited us there. As a British citizen, I had to pay a whopping $60 for my
single entry visa. Sandy, being a Dutch citizen, had to pay $15. I
wouldn’t mind but we will only be in the country for a day or two until we
pass through it into Tanzania. Just as well that I was able to buy some US
dollars from Bertie the other day otherwise we would have been in a real
predicament.
We just arrived at some
nondescript campsite just outside of Lusaka. It’s now eight o’clock
in the evening and we have been motoring since nine thirty this morning. To make
matters worse, we will have an early start in the morning. Having spent the past
few weeks getting up early in the morning, I was not too concerned when Kenny,
the driver, told us about the early start but then he said that we would be on
the road (having already eaten and packed away our tent) by four
o’clock!
Posted: Sun - May 11, 2003 at 08:13 AM