Afrique 28 – ZAMBIA 1 – ZAMBEZE RIVER TILL LUSAKA

 So after having our new stuff we decide to fly to Zambia, in Lusaka. In one hand we save money on the fly, in other hand we deny the bad luck the right to change our trip. We arrive out of the airport and the taxi sent by the hotel is waiting for us but it is a commun sedan car. Well we manage to put the 2 bicycle boxes in the cargo behind, tied with the climbing rope I ever bring. We arrive at the backpacker where a little hut is waiting for us. We stay one day on Lusaka for shopping. We find mostly all in the neighbour mall in front the bus terminal. We buy too the bus tickets for tomorrow in the bus terminal, chasing away the flies who try to sell us tickets and goods. Then we have to go downtown to buy benzene for the stove. This place is just a big bazar, with hardware and electronic shops, all nearly the same stuff, and high car traffic, very noisy and dusty. A lot of people are wandering or selling things on the shoulders. All the buildings are basic concrete and corrugated roofes. Well it is just a bit better than a slum. Anyway all the town is like that apart a few rich districts with houses and gardens. After a long while, we find benzene in a pharmacy.

On Monday we take an early bus to Mozabuka. It is 100 km West of Lusaka, and on the map it said it has a nice countryside. It take 3 hours to get there, and Mazabuka is nothing more than a little basic town with a mall and a few shops. We finish the shopping and move away. The road is climbing 500 m and hilly for 20 km. At the km 15 we make a short stop by the shoulder of a police station. A policeman comes to chat with us and suggest us to camp in Neary farm entrance with 24h guards. So we start the downhill, and when we join the farm we stop and ask for camping to the gards. After a few calls to the owner by radio it is OK and we pitch the tent behind the guard house.
Tuesday we finish the hilly downhill by the forest and large fields and crops, white people farms living a few km inside, what we see are blacks living in groups of huts, mud or concret walls but hay roof, and bore water from a pump well. Arriving near Kafue we turn on right way to Zimbabwe border. At the cross 2 lanes of sitting women sell bananas tomatos and mangoes. I buy bananas and mangoes. We follow the hilly and steep road, climbing 400 m and then going down and hilly till Chirundu, the border. It is a hot day. The road goes throught a forest with mostly middle high trees, 5 to 8 m, and a few big and beautiful trees. I can distinguish a lot of varieties. All around it is very hilly and green. Times to times we see a group of huts with some crops and vegetable gardens, or a lane of shops looking more a slum than buildings. Along the road we see often people selling wood coal in big bags. We stop at the T junction with the road going to the lake, to camp in a primary school. It rains all night with thundering.
On Wenesday we continue the hilly road till Chirundu. We make a stop in Oasis bar to take a breackfast in the shadow. Chirundu is just a big slum made with corrugated iron and wood. There are shops and market and a minibus stop, some restaurants and a few hotels, but nothing built in real concrete. Apart the main road, all the streets are ground and dust roads with rubbish along. We hardly find rice beans and cornbeef cans, and fruits. I continue to eat mangoes, a dozen by day they are perfectly sunny and juicy. Then we continue by the gravel road on left, passing the minibus terminal for 5 km, along small bush, fields and crops and huts with vegetable gardens. The basic way of life is everywhere. We turn on right and join Breezers lodge, along the Zambezi river, recommanded by Pedro, a portugues cyclist who has done from Luanda to Pemba and Maputo in 2009. The owner of the lodge still remember him. Well it is a nice place with mown and trees along the river, and out of the season it is very quiet. We see a few hippopotams in the distance in the river, amd we spend the day relaxing. Some woman plays guitar and sings nicely, and then I play some mandolin. We have a good dinner and a good night.
On Thursday we go back to Chirundu to take a bus to Lusaka. As the big buses coming from Harare are arriving only after noon we go to the minibus terminal to try the luck. At 10 am a driver proposes us to tie the bikes on the roof of the minibus and bring us to Lusaka. We put all the panniers under the seats, and for 3 hours we are shaked by the bus. He lets us in front the supermarket Spar. We make some shopping and get a lunch. Then under the rain we take the street with heavy traffic, which cross the ralway, pass the bus terminal, and joins the backpakers. We find again the hut where we relax.