We woke to a sunny day but there is still a winter chill in the air. Mist or clear, sunny skies, the antelope graze on the hills in front of us. We have decided that it is so peaceful here that we are going to spend another night.
Today we decided to explore the northern sections of the park on our morning drive. The scenery was much the same as the southern section we had travelled the day before; gently rolling hills, covered with green grasslands. On the horizon are the sharp, black peaks of the Zambian Makutu Mountain Range. Travelling along the plateau, you feel you are on top of the world.
Every so often there is a change in vegetation. In one section, we came across the most beautiful grasses; in different shades of pink, purple and lavender, they looked like they have come straight out of a tapestry.
In the S.A. bush, coming across a roan antelope is considered something worth stopping for, taking pictures of and telling all about it on your return. Here we are fortunate enough to find them in herds.
Our return route, however, was not as peaceful and gentle as what we had become accustomed to. Gray, as only he can, will always find the most difficult and obscure roads imaginable; to make it worse, this time it was not planned and so totally unexpected. The gentle hills gave way to mountain passes and before long I was on the scariest ride I had been on in many years. The Sani Pass is like a National highway (a South African one, not a Zambian one) compared to what we encountered. We negotiated our way along a barely visible track, as it clung to the various mountain sides, that we ascended and descended at alarming gradients. To make matters worse, the vegetation, in most places, was so thick and so high that we were totally surrounded by it. On one ascent, the thick bush gave way and on the slopes were the most magnificent protea bushes; red in bud and white in flower. Gray was temporarily forgiven for his route.
Eventually, we arrived back on the main dirt road; with branches, leaves and undergrowth stuck in the bonnet and green caterpillars crawling across the windscreen. I have new and enormous respect for my Discovery and my idiot (but wonderful) husband.
On return to the camp, thick cumulo-nimbus clouds had crossed over the valley and a bitingly cold wind had blown in – making us head for our winter woollies and soup for lunch. Gray has been predicting rain since we arrived and all the locals just laugh and say its winter and it doesn’t rain here in winter. The last rains they had were two months ago. At present we are sitting in the middle of a downpour of note. I have on my fleece and my army jacket and I am still freezing. One advantage is that it is cleaning all the mud off the car and trailer.
The only other campers at Chelinda are a lovely couple from the UK, Kevin and Michelle. They are both teachers, who have taken early retirement, and have spent the last 3 years travelling around Southern and central Africa.
As the rain started to let up, we all headed for the kitchen shed to warm up. From there we had Malawian G&T’s at their site and they then came across and braaied at ours. We swopped stories of our travels around the camp fire.
We have are not sure from day to day where we will be staying that night, we have discovered that the best way to plan our routes and accommodation are by word of mouth. Fellow travellers, such as Kev and Michelle, who have travelled through Malawi are the best sources of how to plan the road ahead. Likewise, they are on their way to Zambia and we could assist them with planning.
Nyika scenery
The road ahead
The Protea
Bush buck
No comments:
Post a Comment