Dear All My header is from the Kafue River near Kaingu Lodge. Here is the last part of my story from that trip: Kafue Trip Part ‘n’ (I have forgotten where we are) We had spent the night at Mukambi Lodge and were on our way to Kaingu Lodge along the new Spinal Road on the west of the Kafue River. Stupidly we took the first turning after the Hook Bridge and ended up bumping across and black cotton soil floodplain which didn’t do much for my kidneys. When we finally arrived at Chunga Scout Camp it was a ‘village’ and we didn’t know where to go to pay fees. Why, oh why, can’t we do signposts??? Eventually we found an office and sat for a while as the receipts were written out. Then I realised I had lost a sock. I had washed my socks that morning and hung them on the car window to dry – one was missing. Very sad. We then had to find the road out of Chunga Scout Camp and after taking a couple of wrong turnings we found the new spinal road which was splendid. It is such a pleasure to drive on a smooth road in a park. It doesn’t have to be as top-notch as this one, just a road which doesn’t rattle the bits off the car and irritate the occupants of it. Kaingu Lodge is on the opposite side of the river so arrangements have to be made to be picked up and taken by boat downriver to the lodge. We had done this and were met at the river’s edge by Kali. (To arrange the pick-up is easy to Kaingu – just send an email). Climbing into the boat with our bags and taking to the river, I had the surprise of my life. The river is full of boulders. I am so used the
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Dear All
My header is from the Kafue River near Kaingu Lodge. Here is the last part of my story from that trip:
Kafue Trip Part ‘n’ (I have forgotten where we are)
We had spent the night at Mukambi Lodge and were on our way to Kaingu Lodge along the new Spinal Road on
the west of the Kafue River. Stupidly we took the first turning after the Hook Bridge and ended up bumping
across and black cotton soil floodplain which didn’t do much for my kidneys.
When we finally arrived at Chunga Scout Camp it was a ‘village’ and we didn’t know where to go to pay fees.
Why, oh why, can’t we do signposts???
Eventually we found an office and sat for a while as the
receipts were written out. Then I realised I had lost a sock. I
had washed my socks that morning and hung them on the car
window to dry – one was missing. Very sad.
We then had to find the road out of Chunga Scout Camp and
after taking a couple of wrong turnings we found the new
spinal road which was splendid. It is such a pleasure to drive
on a smooth road in a park. It doesn’t have to be as top-notch
as this one, just a road which doesn’t rattle the bits off the car
and irritate the occupants of it.
Kaingu Lodge is on the
opposite side of the river
so arrangements have to
be made to be picked up
and taken by boat
downriver to the lodge.
We had done this and
were met at the river’s
edge by Kali. (To arrange
the pick-up is easy to
Kaingu – just send an
email).
Climbing into the boat
with our bags and taking to the river, I had the surprise of my life. The river is full of boulders. I am so used the
wide meandering expanse of the Kafue River that this was a bit of a shocker. The water tumbled over rocks,
rippled between them and got stuck in backwaters. It was magic and oh so beautiful. The boat was carefully
guided through the river between the rocks. At one point we noticed a bottle in the river – this was a marker to
show a rock under the water’s surface. Kali said it was not a river for a novice driver. After about 10-15 minutes
we arrived at Kaingu.
We were met by Julie. Julie’s partner,
Gil, had gone to get the shopping. As
you can imagine going shopping for a
lodge in the middle of Kafue National
Park is fraught with difficulties. The
shopping for Kaingu is ordered by
email to company in Lusaka. There the
shopping is done; then it is packed in a
truck and driven to Hook Bridge. Gil
was off to meet the truck. A while
later the shopping arrived by boat and
boxes of stuff, cool drinks, cabbages
and lettuces were carried to the kitchens. What a nightmare.
That afternoon and evening we sat on the deck overlooking all those rocks and the Kafue River, chatting with Julie
and Gil and a couple from the campsite. This
couple lived normally on a yacht but, on arriving
in Cape Town, had bought a fully-equipped 4x4
and had been touring southern Africa for many
months. As you can imagine they had plenty of
stories to tell.
In the morning we went on a bit of a drive
through Mumbwa GMA along the river. We
came to Puku Pan which looked as if it needed a
bit of TLC. Maybe now the spinal road is there it
will bring more guests for the lodge and they can
find the funds to do a bit of sprucing up.
We then went cruise along the river through all those
boulders and enjoyed the sights. The birdlife was great
with lots of rocks being favourite bird spots evidenced by
the white poo. The animals decided not to pose for me
that day, except, of course the hippos and crocodiles.
The heat of the day was spent being lazy and then
in the afternoon some of us went for a walk up a
hill. It was a lovely spot with views over miles of
Africa. Can’t beat it. We are so lucky to live in
such a place. We sat for a while and watched the sun go down and then Gil, who had wisely brought a vehicle,
chauffeured us all back to the lodge. Another perfect day in the African bush.
So, Kaingu has some beautiful chalets and a campsite with everything you could want. Arriving on the Itezhi-Tezhi
Road is not fun because of the road, but now that the spinal road is useable, just send them an email and they will
pick you and your bags up on the other side of the river. There are plans, I think, to put at least a campsite on
that side which will be a great boost for us all.
The following morning we were back
across the river and into the car to
take the spinal road to the lake, round
the corner to Ngoma and then on to
Nanzhila Plains Safari Lodge. We saw
‘notalot’, of course, although there
was a bit around the lake – hippo,
puku, waterbuck. One tip about the
spinal road is that there are some
fairly extreme dips – fords for when
the seasonal rivers flow. Speed is not
advised, so keep to the 40 kph.
This road is supposed to be all-season
road. I was told, though, that when
some of the rivers come down in
spate, they can cover the small bridges
and that one truck, during the
construction phase, was toppled over.
So, again, take the road in the rains
but take care and also, it is better to
travel with other vehicles, not alone.
While driving along the road from
Ngoma to Nanzhila there were a few elephants and one small one trumpeted, obviously very frightened at seeing
the vehicle. He ran helter-skelter towards us and then, still trumpeting, crossed the road in front of us and
disappeared into the trees. I felt so sad for him. He had obviously witnessed ‘death from vehicle’.
We stayed at Nanzhila for two nights because it is one of my favourite spots. And then, after R&R there, we
headed home. It had been a marvelous trip and I learned so much and met some very interesting people.
By the way, my son, Peter, has just done the trip from Mukambi, down the spinal road, through Nanzhila Plains
and then to Livingstone in one day. It was a long day but do-able. The other irritating thing is that he saw heaps
of wildlife including lion!
Road Toll Fees
From Zambia Weekly
Phase 1 of the national road tolling programme will start on 1 November, tolling classes II, III, IV, V and VI (see
table).
These vehicles will be required to pay toll at Zambia’s 17 ports of entry (clockwise from Chirundu, Kariba,