Whilst the car was at Foley’s Africa with Nick Selby we got the chance to spend some time doing nothing at all at Maramba River Lodge in Livingstone.
It’s been a great place to chill for a few days.
We got a chance to meet Slinky, the lodge’s pet squirrel.
Who got eaten by the lodge’s pet cat the following day.
Brad & Ruth (the Lodge managers) have been extraordinarily helpful: arranging a great deal for us to stay in one of the Safari Tents while we’re without the roof-tent;…
Very comfortable, and a rare treat after many months in the roof-tent.
They printed & marked up maps showing us where to go and who to contact when we get there; gave us one of their radiator nets to protect the engine bay from grass seed & the risk of fire when driving through long grass; donated a few square meters of shade-net that Helene used to make window screens so that we’re not eaten by Tsetse Flies when the windows are open.
There’s no aircon on the Landy and in this heat it would be painful to have to drive with the windows shut.
Brad also drove me into Livingstone to try and organise COMESA Insurance for the car (a sort of bulk-buy arrangement for 3rd-Party cover where you can pay once rather than at each of the borders of the COMESA Member Countries ie mainly Eastern Africa).
His pal runs a brokers in town but unfortunately they couldn’t help. It transpires COMESA can only be bought from the broker who insures you for the country you are in, at the time you first insure the car.
The broker I bought from at the border didn’t sell it and said they had an office in Livingstone who would be able to do it for me. That turned out to be rubbish. The Livingstone office was a one-room dump manned by a woman who had never heard of COMESA. I tried a few other brokers in town but, although they were all very helpful, they could only sell me COMESA if I bought another Zambian policy. Not worth duplicating the cost so we’ll try again as we go into Malawi.
Top Tip: don’t buy insurance on entering Zambia unless the same broker sells COMESA. If they do, buy it there and then.
We had the chance to have dinner with Brad and Ruth a number of times while waiting for the car.
Brad asking “What time is it in Zambia” was a cue for the bar to be forcibly opened if necessary and someone to get him a Brandy & Coke p.d.q.
It’s funny how small a world it can be. Brad is Zambian but his family farmed in Zimbabwe for many years. Their farm was ‘liberated‘ forcibly from them by Mr Mugabe years ago. For the last 12 years or so his father and the rest of his family have lived in the UK.
More precisely in Hawthorne Way, Shepperton.
More precisely still, about 30 metres from where I lived for 18 years before leaving home – where my brothers and sister still live.
Amazing coincidence.
After 4 days the car was back from it’s spa-treatment at Foley’s. Nick’s team had done a good job in an area where spares are notoriously difficult to find.
The missing washer-bottle has been replaced.
New wheel bearings fitted.
Roofrack lifted and solar panel relocated from under it to on top of it (hopefully that will cure the poor battery life of the leisure battery system).
2nd spare wheel relocated from the roofrack to the bonnet (not sure I’m too keen on that as it obstructs view of front of car when in a tight spot and will almost certainly shake the bonnet to death on these poor roads).
Reversing light switch replaced.
Twisted speedometer brackets replaced (shaken to death in Namibia).
New brake pads (had to use some of my own spares as couldn’t get others in time).
Passenger seat fixed.
Oils changed in axels, gearbox, transfer box etc. This was where the delay had originated!
There was a lot of metal in the transfer box (fortunately I have a magnetic plug that collected it). After a few rapid emails to our personal International Rescue advisors Frank & Liz in Cyprus, it was agreed the transfer box had to come out to see if the gears where ruined.
It transpired that there are 2 bolts holding the transfer box one side and 3 on the other. Of the two bolts, both were causing problems. The top one had stripped it’s thread and was ‘hanging by a thread‘. The bottom one should have been the shorter of the two but was wrongly fitted with the longer bolt from the top (probably in Bulgaria when the gearbox drive shaft had to be replaced). This had then worn away against the end-face of the gears. Fortunately no gear teeth were damaged. It was discovered though that the flange on the gearbox had been broken off so the lower bolt was actually fitted to nothing (probably also in Bulgaria). It’s still fitted to nothing, as we couldn’t find a spare housing. Hopefully the one re-tapped top bolt at the top will hold it until we can get home.
On a happy note, Charlie’s Xmas present arrived in the UK. We had sent it by 5-day airfreight via Nampost in Swakopmund on 26th November. By 20th December they admitted they had lost it. Today it arrived. Xmas all over again.
Anyway, it was good to have the car back and we were ready to hit the road north. Brad & Ruth had previously managed Nanzhilla Plains Lodge in Kafue National Park for 5 years and convinced us that, although at this time of year the roads would be difficult, it was a beautiful place and we just had to go.
Top Tip: Get Zambian Kwacha from ATM’s. There are only ATM’s in about 6-8 towns, so get loads. The exchange rate from your own bank is almost certainly 10-20% better than given locally for US$ or Sterling / Euros in Zambia.
The route to Kafue Park from Livingstone was tiring and rough, although there have been news reports that it is to be improved.
Two hours on good tar, 120km to Kolomo (last chance for fuel: 9.20 Kwacha ie $2 per litre). Then just over 2 hours on rough dirt tracks 85km to Dundumwezi, the southern gate of the park. Finally 3 hours to do 80km inside the park to Nanzhilla Plains Lodge – the first camping available.
On the way we had dropped a bag of goodies off to Safely, the Park Gate Manager at Dundumwezi from his nephew Henry, Brad & Ruth’s chef. Safely told us the Plains Road was not passable due to the rains and we had to use the Cordon Road. “You should get through.” he said cheerfully “Watch out for the Cotton Soil, bogs and ruts“.
Oh good. My favourite.
“By the way” he added “don’t panic if you see some guys in the long grass with guns – it’s probably just one of my anti-poaching patrols.”
We set off along the Cordon Road a little nervously, with about 4 hours till dark, hoping the tracks would have started to dry after the recent rains.