Day 87: 10/07/2011 – South Luangwa to Bridge Camp – Zambia

I was woken up at 3:30am with an ellie crashing through the bush near our tent, it then went off and sniffed around our table, knocking over a few dishes. Just as I was settling down, I heard a stomping sound and immediately knew it was a hippo, it’s amazing how quickly one  tunes into the sounds of nature. It clearly fancies the area around the girl’s tent as a dumping ground and the helicopter sound was as loud as ever. Over the next ½ hour we were visited by more ellie and another, less than constipated, hippo. I eventually got to sleep, to be woken up by baboons at 6:00 but we wanted an early start, so it was time to get up anyway.

We were packed and ready to leave at 7:00, the kids are getting pretty good at dismantling tents. We set off on the dreaded road ahead and for the next 3 hours we rattled around on that most horrendous road. You can’t occupy yourself in any way as it’s too bumpy to read or write. Eventually, we arrived at Chipata and headed off to Shoprite to stock up.

While we were unpacking the groceries, Gray noticed that the top of the trailer, the section holding up our bedroom had torn loose in places. Clearly the African roads are taking their toll on our car and trailer; we have left parts all over the continent. This is definitely a concern and we stopped along the road to ratchet strap the tent down, in case it flew off along the way.

The road from Chipata to bridge Camp was about 300km of tarred road, littered with potholes but certainly a whole lot better than the 120km we had endured earlier. After a long day on the road we crossed a huge modern bridge, over the Luangwa River and arrived at Bridge Camp around 3:30.

There is nowhere else to stay along the route and we had been warned not to expect much. The camp site is a dust bowl and pretty crummy but there are hot showers, which were very welcome after our dusty trip and trailer repairs. There is, however, a pretty decent bar and dining area, with a pool, overlooking the Luangwa River. It was very windy and a little chilly, so swimming was not an option. However, a couple of Mosi’s and G & T’s were definitely an option and helped relax our aching bodies.

                                          Strapping the tent to the trailer

                                          Bridge over Luangwa River