Day 12 & 13 Flatdogs to Kapishya Hot Springs North of Mpika On Great North Rd - Zambia

Bridge is moving sandbags 

Day 12

We got the early start we planned leaving at around 6h30 complete with a pack Breakfast and Lunch, the girls with a high sense of adventure and me with some concern, mainly because I had read a lot more about our route and had not shared it with them, including stories of near death and breakdowns in rivers and sand beds to getting lost.

We have to enter the park to get to our destination, but despite being early we saw little game, in fact a lady remarked at the Lodge “you do not have to go in the park the animals come to you” how true that was when at dinner the previous evening an elephant walked in to the outside dining area and as we left this morning a bull elephant climbed over the 1.2m wall surrounding half of our chalet. Claudia thought Denise had been smoking her socks when she “shouted there is an elephant in the garden” having tasted the leaves there he gently walked over the wall one leg at a time. We are then ready to leave but are blocked by 3 Elephants having breakfast and they were in no hurry so that delayed us by another 15 minutes.

I have a lot of information on getting on to the 05 road, but on at least 3 occasions we were not sure which fork to take, all we know is that we must head due North with only a 5° deviation, the road was somewhat boring and we saw little game to break the monotony, just a narrow road along which you could not go faster than 40kmph. We have breakfast about 08h00 and shortly after we reach the deep sand river crossing of the Lubi River without a problem in low range.

We have a brief stop to stretch legs and we are attacked by swarms of tsetse flies, which bite sore and pester us along the way, Denise allegedly took a swipe at one on my head and my glasses shot out the window and we had to go back to look for them; sounds like at least a $5 fine, would have been $300 if we had not found the , this event allowed more flies to join us when we commenced our journey and every time we left the car to take a photos more joined us.

Roads are very narrow in Luwangwa

We then reach another crossing over the Mwamba River that has sandbags in to assist us and I say this looks a lot shorter than the photos I had seen in a magazine, but not complaining, we were not to be disappointed when an hour later we turn a corner and there is the very sand bagged river Mupamadzi I had seen in the magazine with a good flow of water. Claudia refused to test the crossing; sounds like another fine to me.

So we engage low range and set off with Claudia hanging out of the window filming the event and as we crossed Claudia’s voice got higher and higher; now we know where Sinead gets her squealing from, whether it was from nerves or excitement we do not know and she is not telling. It was not a pleasant crossing the bags moved side to side and the vehicle swung and bumped its way to the other side.

A couple of kilometres later we go through the Chifungwe park gate where we check out and are advised the road up the Muchinga Escarpment is a little rocky. A few kilometres later we start to climb up the escarpment ultimately a 1000m climb in a distance of 11kms that feels like 100kms. They said it was a rocky road; the understatement of the century, there were huge boulders, and there is no way it could be classified a road and if going up was tough I cannot imagine going down and certainly not in the rainy season in any direction. The views from the top are great although we did miss one photo opportunity near the top and nobody wanted to go back. We reach another police post presumably so they can check if we made the climb in one piece. One article said it should take 30 minutes, but that must have been in a Company car.

The road up the escarpment, did I say road

We finally roll out on to the T2 Great North Road some 30kms south of Mpika and after filling up with petrol, which we do at regular intervals as stations and towns have been known to run out of fuel in this part of darkest Africa, we travel another 87kms to the turn off to Shiwa Ngandu and another 31kms to Kapishya Hot Springs Lodge where we will stay for two nights. All in all a journey of 300kms in nine and a half hours at an average of 33kmph

A wonderful 3 course Thai meal is given to us for Dinner along with other guests and management we are 18 in total and we have an enjoyable evening with a family from the UK and the Consul from the Dutch Embassy in Rwanda and his family and the owner/manager Mike Howarth grandson of the legendary Stewart Gore-Brown, for more info on this interesting character Google his name. Mike is an out an out Colonialist and he can be a bit much.

We are pretty exhausted, not so much the mileage of the day, but the tension caused by the tightening of ones orifices for at least 4 hours of our day. I have to say it was quite an experience, but I do not have to do it again, definitely one where can say “Been there done it, got the T shirt” oh and by the way, the girls gave me my 4x4 Rock climbing badge although Claudia said it did not look to bad from where she was sitting.

I have to say the alternative of back to Lusaka and up the Great North Road some 1600kms was not negotiable.

Day 13 

We have had a deserved relaxing day although there is a fair amount to do in the area and we may still do something exciting. We are right on the River Mansha, which is flowing well and the grounds are very nice and other than the beds it is a nice place to stay for a couple of nights, there are walks, a small game reserve, several waterfalls in close proximity and some recent archaeological (2011) findings in the area including rock paintings dating back some 60,000 years, canoeing, rafting and mountain biking, but it is in the middle of nowhere.

Sinead enjoying the Hot Springs at Kapishya

Tomorrow we go through the Tanzania border at Tunduma and will be staying at Utengule Coffee Lodge outside Mbeya, the chances of up dating you will only probably be possible in 4 or 5 days time when we reach Ngorongoro as we will only be spending one night each in Mbeya, Iringa and Kongwa and we will only arrive at each place in the late afternoon, but we are thinking of you. Sinead continues to surprise us and is now a seasoned on and off road traveller.