Clocking up the kilometres and the hours

A summary of the week in Western Province, mainly to show that getting around just one province in Zambia can be a lengthy, time consuming and bumpy task.

1. Lusaka to Mongu: 8 hrs by bus (passed through the centre of Kafue National Park but no animals in sight)
2. Mongu to Kalabo: 3hrs by boat but first a 3hr wait for the boat to fill up with passengers
3. Kalabo to Mongu: another 3hr wait after buying the ticket and this time the return trip by boat was longer, around 4hrs, as we ran out of fuel within a few kilometres of Mongu harbour and then had to wait to be towed in by another boat
4. Mongu to Kaoma: should have been only 2hrs by car but took 3 as we got a puncture along the way
5. Kaoma to Lukulu: 3hrs along a very bumpy road which meant we got covered in dust
6. Lukulu to Mongu: 5hrs, more dust and bumps
7. Mongu to Mumbwa: 6 1/2hrs by bus which was to be expected
8. Mumbwa to Lusaka: 1hr waiting time followed by 2hrs by minibus and then a taxi ride home.

And finally 30 minutes spent metres away from my house waiting whilst the taxi driver went searching from house to house for some change.  He was definitely not going to get a 100% tip so stubbornly I waited and waited.

Interesting road logic

Over the weekend I travelled north to the Copperbelt using the Mazhandu bus company who in terms of reliability, timeliness and safety tend to be the best in the country. At one point, just outside a town called Kapiri Mposhi (approx 3-4 hours from Lusaka), all heavy vehicles are forced to enter the weighbridge to be weighed. We queued up in haphazard fashion along with tens of other buses and trucks with each driver trying to manoeuvre their vehicle through the smallest gaps in order to get ahead in the queue. When it was our turn to pass through the weighbridge the officials found that the bus was overweight. In fear of being sent all the way back to Lusaka the solution was simple. The bus drove a few metres up the road, half the passengers were asked to depart and wait by the roadside, whilst the bus went through the same time consuming process again at the weighbridge. This time the bus passed the weight restrictions (possibly with something exchanging hands), we picked up the waiting passengers and continued to travel northwards. Now the point of the weighbridge is what exactly . . .?

A long journey back

A quick summary of the transport that we used to get back to Mazabuka from Tofo:

1. Local bus (very uncomfortable) at 0400hrs in the morning from Tofo to Maputo – 9hrs travel
2. International bus (luxury and I was so comfortable that I talked in my sleep and woke up half the bus at one point) at 1900hrs from Maputo to Johannesburg – another 9hrs
3. Commuter train and then shared taxi to get from the intercity bus terminal at 0500hrs in Joburg to OR Tambo airport – took a bit longer than it should have done but was good fun
4. Plane of the Easy Jet kind from Joburg at 1000hrs to Livingstone – less than two hours
5. Bus (semi luxury) from Livingstone at 1330hrs to Mazabuka - and 6hrs later back in Maz

Then time to sleep.

The luggage saga

Take a closer look and some of you might be thinking that Mike was wearing the same clothes again and again during his Zambia holiday. Some of you might argue that there is nothing unusual about this but on this occasion the people to blame were British Airways (BA).

To recap, Mike arrived for his holiday in Zambia minus his luggage. BA was pretty clueless as to where his bag actually was (the UK, Zambia or who knows where?). Their customer service staff failed to contact us with any updates, their telephone number was switched off on non Zambia flight days and they were generally pretty unhelpful. Mike contacted BA by email and simply received a standard response which bore no relation to his problem. Two days before the end of Mike’s holiday we were informed that his bag had arrived though as we were in Livingstone we could not collect it. So on the morning of his return flight he finally got his bag, discovered that it had been tampered with as a few presents for me were missing and then checked in the bag for the UK. Putting aside the frustrations of the bag going missing in the first place, the customer service, or lack of it, from BA was surprisingly poor; we had expected much better. We await a response from BA . . .

Driving test of sorts

So my international driving licence had expired and after various form filling, photos, handing over money and some waiting around, the day of my Zambian driving test arrived. Not being too sure what to expect and thinking of course I can drive I was a tiny bit nervous. There was little to worry about, however, as before the test had even begun the test plates, on instruction from the examiner, were removed from my vehicle because I had a UK (yeah!) licence. As well as the examiner getting into the car, his young son also jumped in so my driving test ended up consisting of driving around Mazabuka town to drop off the boy, a quick stop at a bank for the examiner, a chat about HIV and AIDS, and then back to the test centre. I paid out some more Kwacha and got my paper licence; all nice and easy, and just in time for driving around my parents and brother who are flying out next week.

Wheels

It sounds strange but it is nice to be driving again, even if I will only have this car for a few weeks. Basically a friend of mine is back home in Europe for Christmas and I have been trusted with looking after the car. This is all perfectly timed as over the last week or so the rainy season has come down upon us heavy and hard, meaning that Mazabuka is slowly becoming swallowed up by water and mud.