25 September 2007

We are staying at the steps campsite in Senga Bay. Last night we have the whole place to ourselves. Unfortunately for us, there is a hotel next door and they had a loud party for most of the evening, so it took away from the seclusion.
We went snorkelling this morning which was really nice. Went to Lizard Island which is visible from the beach and just chilled there most of the morning. We got some fish for tonight....really looking forward to the change from chicken ;o) called something like Jumbo....I think...will see how it tastes.
This afternoon about 4 cars arrived in the campsite.all german (no surprise)...will see if tonight is any better.
I have finally finished ready Harry Potter...Rohan is soooo happy....I have had my nose in the book since we left SA...I have read the last 3 books (thanks Tam). Glad I managed that before I actually heard how it ended. Not sure what I will do with my chilling time now as that was when I was doing all my reading.
Tomorrow we are heading from here up the lake to Nkhotakota from there we plan to head to Nkhatha Bay.
Almost forgot, we had our battery checked in Lilongwe and it was indeed kaput so we decided to buy a new battery and move the batteries around (we originally had 2 deep cells). So far so good, although they have electricity here which helps. Bleak as we have 2 brand new deep cell batteries sitting in rohans folk’s garage. Besides that the car is going great, we have done close to 5000kms now and we had to put in 1 pint of oil in Lilongwe before we left. Diesel here is much cheaper that Zambia which is a relief, around R8 a litre. Although from here we won’t be doing as much mileage week as we have been. We are expecting to do most of Malawi on 1 tank.
We have noticed quite huge changes from Zambia to here. Not once did we see begging or child beggars in Zambia and in Lilongwe we saw them on every corner. I had always thought Malawi was better off than Zambia...when you look at the infrastructure here you would also think so, but we have seen so many people on the streets. Really sad. We have bought big bags of apples as I would rather give something of sustenance than money. Maybe I am wrong...but it is better than nothing. Wondering what it will be like further north.
Talking about the north, rohan’s dad informed us about the floods in Kenya and Uganda. Going online tomorrow to find out more details about it. Not sure how it will affect us, but I know a few places we planned to go have had their roads totally wrecked. Will see.

23 September 2007

3 weeks on....
This morning we arrived in Malawi. Never paid anything to get in....still can’t believe it. Showed them our comesa and our carnet while the guy chatted to us about Durban as he stamped us in...What a pleasure!!!
Amazing though, as you drive through the border there is suddenly all this infrastructure and road. It felt like we were floating in comparison the road back from south Luangwa which is about the worst corrugated road we have ever been on. Although about 1 hour down the road we had our first really scary moment of the trip. I was driving and a guy just jumped into the road...well I got the fright of my life and swerved....and nearly rolled the car, the back just slid right out. Rohan and I were pretty shaken. Especially Rohan as he was reading and as he looked up he saw the guy right in front of us. What an idiot. Felt like stopping and beating the life out of him....
Anyway....
We have spent the last week with rohan’s folks who flew out here. It was really good having some company for while. Feels strange now that they have left. But we had a great time. We were lucky enough to catch the SA v England while we were in Lusaka....all I can say is GO BOKKE.....awesome stuff. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send us updates on the rugby (CALVIN!!!)...we are really trying to catch the games....but this is Africa and DSTV is bit maar min....I saw the final is on the 20th October...let’s hope I get a belated birthday pressie from John and the boys
We went down to the lower Zambezi National Park, and under estimated the drive through the park and landed up having to head back to Lusaka. From there we drove to Chipata where we stayed the night and left the next morning for South Luangwa National park where we camped at the wilderness camp. It was awesome. We all went on a night drive. There were loads of cars out and all you could see where lights and spotlights and the guys radio was bleating...we did however get to see a hyena and another leopard just at the end of the night. But the poor thing was surrounded by 4 cars all trying to get the best snapshot. Nothing like Kafue where we felt the guys was really tracking and we never saw or heard another car. Next day we took a drive through the park looking for wild dogs...but they evaded us and so did the cats. But we saw plenty elephant, hippo, Thorneycroft giraffe (only found here), puku, impala, waterbuck, warthogs, zebra....it was really amazing....
The campsite had a nice pool and lapa right on the Luangwa River so we spent the rest of our time there, swimming, reading and watching for game. Last night we heard a herd of elephant crossing the river and one came within about 10m of our tent grazing. Was really awesome to see. He was totally oblivious to us there.
Rohan’s folks left yesterday lunch time to drive back to Lusaka and we headed this way into Malawi today. At first we thought we had killed one of our deep cell batteries as it was dead. But we found electricity in the campsite, plugged in to keep the fridge going and decided to head to Lilongwe to have it checked. We have been running the fridge as a freezer so had not noticed this before.....
It was recommended to us to head to Salima near the lake, so that is where we will be heading for some sun and snorkelling tomorrow. Zambia was amazing in every sense of the word, but it has been unbelievably dry. The Looking forward to some swimming....
Till next time.....

16 September 2007

As you can see, we have finally updated the blog. Sorry if it is a little boring as we have not really had much time to sit and write really. Up early and to bed early has been pretty much our day thus far.
All I can say is that we have really been having the most fantastic time, I can honestly say I was not sure what to expect, but if the rest of our trip is anything compared to what we have already experienced, I think we are really going to have the trip of a lifetime.

I hope everyone is well and PLEASE keep us updated with all your news as well.

I have uploaded some Pictures check them out at www.candicescholtz.com

10 - 13 September 2007

From Kafue we headed to Lusaka where we stocked up on supplies and Rohan’s folks flew out to meet us for a week.
Was very surprised to see that Lusaka had all the south African chains, down to a Mr Price and Woolworths...good for us as we could stock up on some home comforts before we head north.
We stayed at Pioneer Rest Camp which was very nice and friendly. Yesterday we left Lusaka and came to Wildtracks Camp on the lower Zambezi. Very quiet and remote. This morning we went out on the boat to do some game viewing and only managed to see birds. Rohan and I once again tried our hand tiger fishing. This time I got a strike and actually brought the fish to the boat, but he swam underneath and broke the line. Was so bleak and it was about 5 pounds....we are heading out again this evening, determined to land one now....

10 - 13 September 2007

This picture wraps up our experience of Kafue National Park. This leopard was hunting so it was extra special to see him in action. He did not seem to be fazed by us all clicking away. Before we saw him we also saw a lone lioness.
We stayed at Lafupa Lodge at a campsite right on the Kafue River. Although it was our first introduction to the Tsetse fly (National bird of Zambia) it was so amazing. We spent 3 nights at the lodge and could have spent another week. On our first night we heard lions across the river. It was amazing to hear. We could drive around the park in our own vehicle so we spent the days driving around the park and went on a night drive with the scouts. On our last day we drove up to the Basinga Plains where we saw 2 cheetah brothers shading themselves under a tree. We also saw plenty buck, zebra, wildebeest, warthogs and a pride of lions. 2 lionesses sitting above a river bank and about 7 adolescent lions lying in the riverbed.
All in all our time in Kafue was just awesome and were sad to leave. Defiantly somewhere we would like to go again.

9 September 2007

Sioma Falls was amazing. We crossed the Zambezi in a mokoro and walked up to the falls. Amazing to get that close…did not want to really leave, but we had a long drive to senanga and pontoon to cross.

7 – 9 September 2007

After Livingston we headed off to western Zambia. We planned to head as far as Luiwa Plains, but decided the cost ($100 a day) was too much. The roads through western Zambia are terrible... you could see everywhere where people had come unstuck in the rains...our winch paid for itself as we had to help a mad Chinese man who had got stuck. Weirder still was the Zambian man speaking Chinese!! Helped them out and carried on to Kabula Lodge. It was amazing as there was no one else staying in the camp, so we had it to ourselves. Went on our first Tiger fishing trip...we both got some strikes but never managed to land anything. Was very disappointing. But we are now determined to catch one...lower Zambezi here we come....

6 September 2007

White water rafting on the Mighty Zambezi.
This was absolutely amazing. We did from Rapid 1 to 23, bar 9, which is called commercial suicide...walking past we could see why. We had a good group on the boat which made it that much more fun. The rapid we swam on was our own choice, there was an easy route and a tough route...you can guess which one we chose. The boat flipped everyone out which at first is frightening, then once you relax it is quite fun...Swam through one the rapid which was also fun. All in all it was exactly what I expected it to be. Next mission is getting down on a Kayak one day ;o)
Our fun was short lived as when we got back from the day we found that baboons had ripped open our tent to get to our veggies and had eaten everything edible...we even found some chewed blitz(hope that baboon was sick for days)...was bleak as the tent was ripped was one side to the other. Never realised baboons could actually do it. Lucky for us there were permanent tents in the camp, so they had a tailor, so he came and fixed it for us...almost as good as new. Was to angry to take pics...but I will tell you it was not the best thing to come home to...needless to say Rohan got to test out his catty!!!

5 September 2007

We are currently in Livingston. Staying at a campsite called Maramba. $10 each per night. It is 5km’s from Vic Falls and the zim border.
Coming through the Botswana border was painless. We managed to make it through to Nata and spent the night at the Nata River Lodge. Can’t really say much as we arrived 1 hour before dark and left at 9am for Livingston. The road from Nata to Kazangulu was terrible. Between the HUGE potholes and the crazy traffic system of slowing traffic to 60km/h whenever you pass a small village, it was tough going. We arrived at the border around Lunchtime and got had by some eager locals who wanted to “help” us through the border. Big Mistake...think we paid close to double going through....can’t be sure as they paid everything for us and we to refund them. We only had rands on us, so they gave us their own exchange rate. Won’t be doing that again. Very frustrated with ourselves, but I guess you live and learn.
As I said, we are in Livingston and we went to the falls this morning. It was amazing. The river is flowing but nowhere near like when it is in flood. It def did not disappoint.
We are off White River Rafting tomorrow. Can’t wait....something we have always wanted to do. Will let you know how it goes.
As far as the car and camping goes, it is great. We obviously will have to tweak out system a little, but we are getting there. Car is running well. Were surprised at the number of land cruisers we saw in Botswana, all the official cars seem to be land cruisers...gave us more hope that we should be ok ;o)