6.15 on the road and again we are truly lucky to spot another leopard heading south to Hook Gate. A very impressive total 4 leopards in 6 days.Leaving Hook Gate we join the main road west and come across our first sign of civilization, further in another 100km our first Petrol station since Livingston, excited to see cooked chicken we indulged. Maz spotted a chap selling bow and arrows, wooden spoons for mixing Nshima, stools with cow hide etc and he knows I ha...

6 am start, pack up and our driving ambition is to get phone signal after 4 days of none, the kids are anxious to touch base with friends. Maddalena lost signal on a cliff-hanger of a conversation with the boyfriend, Arabella was mid flow in a conversation about spotting Hippos on a group chat, now she's thinking her friends may think she's been eaten by one and Luca just desperate to download a new game as I've been told boys don't keep in touch as much as girls...

Early start in the morning from Livingstone, off the tarmac and onto gravel road. The direction we are heading is deserted no vehicles heading our way or opposite direction just the locals hitching lifts and walking between villages. After several hours driving we reach the Kafue National Park gates, we park up to hand over the high park costs for all 5 of us ($100 US per day). Onwards we go and stop in Itezhi tezhi to top up with diesel as it's the last place we...

Once again Maz pulls a corker of a surprise, not wanting to tell the kids sooner as it leads to a bombardment of constant questions and sometimes paranoia.We are not really into the idea of exploiting wild animals in any way so was a little dubious about walking with Lions and how this was even a thing. After lots of questions asked we had a much better understanding of the set-up which eased our scepticism. Basically, due to the depleting numbers through hunti...

Driving across Zambia to South Luangwa NP It sure feels like our time is coming to an end with about 6 weeks left and we need to be selective to what we see, we decide to go quick through Zambia and spend more time in Malawi and Tanzania, so we spend 2 full days driving across Zambia to Chipata near the Malawi border, there are many police stops but we are surprised to be waved through all of them. I use my Marriott points once more to get a free night at the Pr...