Cape 2 Cairo 2 Cape Blog

Day 5 Livingstone- Bridge Camp 700 km

Last night we had a huge buffet meal in the Zambezi Sun hotel. It was a wonderful dining room which was almost completely open to the outdoors. It was decorated with massive copper chandeliers  beautiful curves in the roof and warm African art themes. When you walked into the only thing you were able to think, was ” Africa”.

As quickly as morning came the day dragged on as if tomorrow wouldn’t come. I guess leaving such a incredible place like Victoria Falls and the Royal Livingstone is not the easiest things in the world to let go of. Upon arriving at the lobby Ray as usual was “Wheeling and Dealing” paying bills and organizing breakfast for everyone.

Early morning at Victoria Falls

Archie and I quickly walked down to the falls, which ended up being one of those situations where you expect to walk for a difficult 5 minutes but end up walking for 15. Archie got hooked with a thorn bush which prompted him to tell me about his military days as a paratrooper in training . How some of the drill sergents would make them run backwards as fast as they could and then jump off the speeding trucks and how one of his mates jumped off without running, did two backflips and then landed in a thorn bush. How it felt when jumping out of a plane and then floating thousands of feet in the air with only the wind tearing through the chute reminding you that it’s there and how he wants to try to get his wife Dot to go skydiving with him. When I finally woke up from some intense daydreaming   we had hiked clear across the resort boundaries where we finally came to a “sign in” gate. Right next to it as you’d expect was a very ominous warning that we were entering the premises “at our own risk” and that it’s basically our own fault if we slipped off the edge to our end. Archie and I didn’t intend on speed walking to Vic Falls right before breakfast but it was one of those situations where it just wouldn’t feel right leaving to go without.  We literally spent 4 minutes snapping shots, and then headed back to find a shuttle to our hotel.

After breakfast the group who stayed at the Royal Livingstone met up with the rest of the group at an Engine  petrol station because some of the guys preferred to camp.  On our way there Ig and Archie contacted us via the radio to tell us that two guys did not pay their hotel bill. Ray had booked the entire crew under his name so the situation got complicated fast when we tried to figure out who slept in which room. Stupidly enough, the hotel made their accusation regarding two rooms that didn’t even fall under our reservation! So after sorting that mess out, we were finally on our way to Bridge Camp which lay 300 km from the Malawi border and of course right as we crossed very standard edge of town police block, two black men jump out of a white vehicle to try to get us to pull over. As I listened to the same story we had just heard fifteen minutes ago, they were two men from the Royal Livingstone who were sent to chase us down because of this unpaid bill.  We crushed that situation and headed back out about 15 minutes behind the group which ultimately meant that we didn’t see the riders until we got back into camp that night.

The ride through Zambia was long and “whin”dy ( pun intended) of which most of the day was spent with our foot hammering down on the pedal only to stop for diesel every 350 km. I don’t think anyone in  backup crew was happy about driving that day because we felt like we were chasing our tails with no reward so maybe we all were a little more whiny than usual! The little incident in the morning gave the bikes enough time to clear out of our sights for the rest of the day, and even when we’d get near, they’d pull out of the garage as soon as we pulled in. No break for us, just refuel, and go which is really the wrong thing to do. As a crew member it’s our responsibility to the guys just as it is to ourselves to make sure everyone is having a good time. If that means a few frequent breaks to stretch the legs and talk to one another, or a quick little roadside snack then that’s what we have to do. I think we realized that the other day and it made a big difference when we implemented it the day after. Big smiles, good stories, and something to think about to drive the time on faster.

 The difference in scenery between driving in Namibia in comparison to Zambia to me was like night and day. The huts are different and seem to be more so constructed of clay in comparison to mostly wood. The roads basically went from long and straight to long and twisty which I have yet to find a preference for. The elephant grass stands tall at least 8 to 10 ft tall and it seems that every few kilometers or so there was parts of the land charred to ash.

Archie vs Elephant grass

It seemed like around every bend there was another ploom of smoke in the distance. I’d almost go as far as to say that sometimes it’s difficult to spot the blue in the sky even on a clear day. The country side was on fire and no one who lived there seemed to take notice. I wondered to myself if these were fires that were burning because someone intentionally did it to fertilize the land for next year? or did someone do it unintentionally because they lit a fire that was taken from them by the wind?

The typical haze when entering a village

Despite the sights being bleak the kids and the people always seem to be so enthusiastic about what all this “Tours for Africa/Cytech” commotion is about. People constantly spark up conversations with me about how they don’t ride motorcycles but they have a bicycle that they ride everywhere, and how I should give them my “business card” so that they can call me. I know this happens a lot in Africa  because I’ve heard stories where these guys actually DO call but for more than just a quick “howz it going boet” conversation. These people hey want you to send them money, they want you to get them a passport, or get them a present, ANYthing you can think of. I felt real proud of myself when I though to give them my dads cell number, and of course, the phones been ringing off the hook ever since.

As we arrived in Bridge Camp my head was throbbing from a days worth of coughing and sneezing. I was in the process of helping Ray get into some contact with Leon who was still having problems with his KTM. As we pulled through Lusaka, Leon left the group to get his bike fixed with the only dealer around and Ray was charging up and down the camp site trying to figure out how to get him back into the group. The rest of the group though had a good time eating dinner, talking, and laughing about the days events with a view of the river that could mend relationships. Being the first night that the crew actually had to camp, I was happy- sick or not. We all decided that the snorers would sleep on the bottom floor, and the rest of us would sleep in the open loft which looked out onto the bending river. I set up my fancy “for crew only” mattress came in this 1 by 1 meter plastic waterproof bag. I set up my mosquito net (not taking chances with malaria) climbed in my sleeping bag and called it a night.

View from the deck

The next morning I fell down half the staircase trying to carry all of my stuff down. My spirits were were quickly uplifted when I heard that Ray had gotten into his mattress’ plastic bag because he decided to spend the night sleeping only under his jacket. I am still trying to figure out how he oragamiedhimself into a square bag but maybe desperation is the best recipe for that. One day when im cold… I’ll give it a good old fashion try.

Day 4 Katima- Livingston, Zambia 220 km

The majority of the group camped out last night, there were little one and two man tents scattered through out the lawn ready to be tested out for the first time on this trip. Camping ended up being free for the guys who wanted to and a few of the others who wanted something a little more lavish (yet still rustic) opted for a little bungalow made from wooden poles/sticks with a window the size of a compact car. It was a nice way of feeling as if you were sleeping outside, but really getting to sleep inside in a cozy bed with a view that most people would never get to experience of the Zambezi river.

This morning we were headed to Livingston in Zambia, but before we could make the very short 220 km drive there we had to cross a border only about 7 km’s out of town. A lot of people get aggravated going through the typical customs lines at airports but if they ever experienced border control in Zambia they’d have something to be happy about. The scene on the post? Chaotic at best. As soon as we pull up we’re stormed by two dozen locals trying to exchange our Rands or Dollars into Kwachas (the Zambian currency) to which 1 US dollar is worth 4800 Kwachas. Which meant that when all of us got done exchanging money we had such large wads of money in our pockets that it looked like we were smuggling fruits into the country. I think we exchanged a total of 3.4 million Kwachas which made going to the petrol station just another thing to not look forward to with all the big bills and money rolls.

As we finally got out of the car we walk into the immigration office which by some miracle about 40 people were squeezed into trying to figure out which direction to go. There was only one guy stamping passports which caused it to be a little more of a delay that I expected. Not even 2 minutes after getting inside a gentleman (who looked more like a gangster) walked into the building and asked Doc to move the truck because he had blocked traffic into the entire area with the truck. I volunteered to move it but as I started my way out I was pinned between the bikes and another car just standing in the road. The guy driving the car was signaling me that i had space, the people behind me were screaming that I didn’t. Finally after getting a bit frustrated with the situation (because by now the driver had gotten out of the car and was pointing and wowing at the mamba which still hung on the bull bar) I asked the guy to just back up and move the car which of course didn’t start. Eventually a crowd of guys helped push the car out of the way and let me though. As all this happened everyone else in the group were trying to navigate through the maze of directions and red tape.

Among all the things that we had to get were to pay about 3 different levees in 3 different currencies (it’s as if they try to make your day miserable), get our passports stamped and then register the vehicle with 3rd party insurance. All five steps probably took the group 2 hours to finish and when we were all done, there was no border control to actually make sure we did everything to standard- not that I think there is even one to talk about.

Royal Livingston

We crossed the Zambezi and headed to Livingston which lay right on the Victoria Falls. Africa got real once we crossed that border with some drastic changes to the people and also their homes. All were huts, there were hundreds of peopleon the roads going about their day side by side with an immense amount of free roaming animals. In fact we got about 10 feet away from running over a dog and watched hundreds more kids playing just feet from it as if there were some invisible barrier between the dirt and the road. Zambia was hectic and we spent a lot of time swerving across the road avoiding MONSTER pot holes along with all the other hazards on the road. Some of the holes in the road where at least 3 ft wide and probably more than a foot deep, but I know from personal experience and from stories I’ve heard from the guys that it get much worse.

When we got into Livingston we filled all the bikes, and the two vehicles and I magically struck up conversation with a man named John who was a very friendly, curious, and interesting local that gave me the scoop on Zambian culture and some of the geographic distances that we were going to travel. He told me about all of the tribal languages, and that a lot of the people who didn’t understand each other would speak to each other in English. Pretty interesting when people usually assume that people click and clack at each other because that’s what they see in movies. Africa is actually full of different well known languages that you’d probably never imagine people speaking here. French, Portuguese, Arabic etc etc. Along with the nice people you meet you always get hasseled by people who are trying to selling you things which can get frustrating at times considering the more you say now the more they are willing to give you a “special sunday price” without taking the consideration that I’m basically a grown man with no intention of wearing copper bracelets on my ankles any time soon.

Ray decided that if we’re going to be in Livingston, then we might as well stay in THE Royal Livingston, which is a Five Star situated literally 200 meters from the falls themselves and right on the Zambezi. It’s an amazing experience to everyone here to be in such a luxurious place that’s theme is “the true essence” of Africa. There are Zebra eating the grass outside your porch, and monkeys participating in “monkey business” knocking over glasses and playing on the trees and the banisters. One actually was halfway into our room before we flipped out boats a little and then chased it out and not too long ago when I was walking by the front lobby, a Giraffe casually walked by me about 20 meters away with no car in the world that he was using the road as his own. It’s a wonderful place, but that doesn’t mean that everyone gets to enjoy it to their fullest. Right now the crew is outside working on two broken down KTM’s one being Alain’s (one of the crew members on a bike) who’s an essential part of keeping the group safe and in the right direction.

Checking in with the Zambezi in the background

It’s unfortunate because you only a few times in your life that you’re going to be in a great place, with great people, and some great weather! If they don’t fix them today, we’re loading them up onto the trailer and taking them with tomorrow. If so, my dad and I will have company in the Doc Box until we are able to get everything moving again.

Tomorrow we press further into Zambia toward Lusaka.