South Luangwa NP to Livingstone We had to drive all the way back to Chipata to rejoin the main highway to Lusaka. There is a short cut but it involves two river crossings (without the benefit of bridges) which are do-able in the dry, but not in the wet season with the amount of rain we have had. But driving back meant that we had to negotiate the deep water-filled holes in the dirt road that we had encountered on the way to Croc Valley. Of course, they were...

Croc Valley and South Luangwa National Park Crossing the border into Zambia was a quite painless affair and we continued on through the small dusty town of Chipata to turn off towards South Luangwa National Park. The road deteriorated with with every kilometre. Huge potholes were scattered all over the road, filled with the recent rain. The muddy, slippery slalom course went on for 75 kms. Zambia has the lowest population density in Africa and we found tha...

Malawi We entered Malawi through the northern border with Tanzania. Our first encounter with the people was a police road block about 10 kms from the border. The barrier across the road was only open on the other side so we went across to pass by. An impatient policeman waved us to a stop and demanded to know why we were in such a hurry. Apparently it was an offence to drive on the wrong side. Sorry sir, we said. Now we were informed that it was an offence to ...

Dar es Salaam to the Malawi Border We arrived back in Dar after a fast ferry ride from Zanzibar. We headed for the campsite south of the city where Thiemo had been camping and looking after the cars. The others had stayed there before going to Zanzibar, but this was our first time there as we had had other things to distract us! The minibus that picked us up was supposed to be big enough for 9 people but only seated 6. The driver insisted that we could inde...

Zanzibar Zanzibar has always seemed like the ultimate exotic destination so we were very glad not to have missed it. Our passport problems could have meant days and days delay and we could easily have spent time cooling our heels in Nairobi instead of cooling ourselves in the Indian Ocean. So armed with a replacement computer and camera, we headed for the ferry in Dar for the crossing to Stone Town, Zanzibar. Instead of the fast 2 hour catamaran, we were st...