We woke up at 4h30 for our early start –
we’d designated Christmas Day as a pre-dawn takeoff and a lengthy stretch to
Lusaka and beyond if possible. Him Outdoors was impatient to get more traction
on the route and as the cats had been uncomfortably hot on the sweltering
journey so far, the plan was to travel as far as possible as early as possible
and rest up for the rest of the day. The aircon fan belt stretching to
screeching point was of concern to HO, who preferred to use it as little as
possible. If that snapped, a bunch of things under Henry’s weeny bonnet were
likely to cave in as well, so it wasn’t only the felines who glowed, although
they sulked when tossed off my lap. I was perfectly overheated enough without
donning a fur lapblanket.
Yikes – a late night thunderstorm had
marooned Henry on a muddy island, and our campervan was now a houseboat.
Squelch, squelch we went, disconnecting the power cable and packing the final
bits and pieces, including Anushka. The Idiot Cat had gone midnight walkies and
wound her leash around the front tyre. She was now muddy, soaking, sulky and
very, very noisy. I was pretty mad with her as well – the luminous yellow
leash, so useful for finding her when she holed up and preferred to be lost,
was now a gritty chocolate colour. Grrr.
Henry’s 3 litre diesel engine gunned,
wheels spun and we were away through the damp, grey morning. Leftover Christmas
dinner in the coolbox and plenty of hot water in the Stanley thermos for some
very necessary Jacobs coffee. The road was almost deserted and we purred
through pristine countryside. This part of Zambia is lushiously green and
fertile and even at this early hour, splashes of bright yellow, orange and
cerise pink shone through the emerald green as women hoed and weeded their
fields. Ploughs drawn by oxen became commonplace on the route which gently rose
and fell as it wound it’s way through an abundantly fertile landscape. The soft
drizzle couldn’t mute the rich colours and all was very well with our world
until the first comfort break. HO needed an urgent stop and Anushka seized the
opportunity to escape. Without her leash. We spent 15 minutes tramping up and
down the soaking verge and into the bush, the drizzle stirring my frizzy mop
into a frenzy and my feet squelching in drenched canvas shoes.
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| Anushka exploring Zambia |
Defeated, HO began emptying Henry to see
if, by chance, she’d hidden herself under the spare wheel and voila, there she
was. Dry and snug with that smug cat look all over her furry face. I was so
stressed, cold and wet by this stag that the only thing to do (at about 9am!)
was to take the open bottle of bubbly out of the fridge and slug it back. After
a while, it was a very merry Christmas day indeed!
Lusaka on Christmas afternoon didn’t offer
much in the way of wow, so we pressed on towards Kabwe, getting another 196kms
under the belt. But Kabwe wasn’t on our trip planner, nor did we have Zambian
data on our phones so we spend a fruitless hour driving the town looking for lodgings
of a sort.
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| Lusaka |
Deciding that when in directional doubt,
ask a policeman we pulled into the Police Station and did just that. “Camping?
Nowhere in Kabwe,” was the reply. BUT, the Police Chief on duty kindly offered
us the use of their front lawn for the night. Why not? Ignoring the 3 guys in
the outdoor cell, hanging through the bars, we moved Henry around the station
onto the front lawn, causing quite a spectacle. The Chief hurriedly came out to
request that we turn Henry around so that the side door opened onto the station
rather than the street side, thus blocking the onlookers view. “This is
Africa,” he insisted, “the people will keep watching you all night, and it will
make our job easier if you stay with your vehicle at all times and the access is
close to our front door.” Reassuring
thought indeed.
Meanwhile, a passerby referred us to a
lodge on the other side of town and for the same cost of a campsite in
Livingstone, we had a lodge to ourselves. Our suite of rooms was basic to say
the least but a decent bathroom, large bedroom, lounge and kitchen, including
fridge and kettle, was a welcome sight in the cool, wet weather. HO haggled
over the price, seeing as it was after 18h00 on Christmas Day and we were the
only guests, and the canny receptionist agreed, providing we were out of there
before 8h00 the following morning and didn’t complete the guest register. Hmmm.
Weirdly, the cats immediately made
themselves at home and settled down for a snooze on the couch. Anushka was an
escape artiste supreme, at every opportunity she was off out of the door to
investigate the premises and we spent ages over the next 12 hours walking her
in and out of plants, the guardhouse, restaurant and whichever nook and cranny
she could find. This was the first brick and mortar building they’d been into
in a week and clearly, they thought the neverending journey had, in fact,
reached it’s endpoint.
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