Day 21 - 3 June 2016 Liwonde Safari Camp to Bridge Camp, Luangwa River

Day's trip schedule

Liwonde -> Balaka -> Bawi -> Mlangeni -> Dedza -> Lilongwe -> Chipata -> Petauke -> Bridge Camp

Distance & time taken

703 km
11 hrs

Accommodation

The Bridge Camp, Luangwa River (www.bridgecampzambia.com)
+/-2km off the T4 between Lusaka & Chipata before the Luangwa bridge

Trip Notes

Dawn at Liwonde Safari Camp

We are now on our way back home as Liwonde was the furtherest point on our travels. We have a couple of long hauls over the next 10 days to get us back to Cape Town but there are still a few places we intend to stay a few days. Today we don't need to drive very far but with the limitations in Malawi regarding speed, we will spend most of the daylight hours travelling.

High level of concentration & skill to get this wood to market

We rolled onto the road just after 6 & were amazed how many locals were up & about & travelling to town. Fortunately, the police were still sleeping as a few of the checkpoints were unmanned.

As we progressed, the roads got busier & busier with schoolkids & then villagers heading to market with their produce - some young women / girls with big bags of maize on their heads. Just before Lilongwe, we passed this fellow transporting his firewood to market.

We made it to Lilongwe by 10h00 which was pretty good progress, stopped at Shoprite to spend the last of our Kwachas on Kuche Kuche beers that we intended to give to the mates back home to taste.

The only fee that we needed to pay was the Community Levy of ZMK40 as all the other requirements were still valid from when we entered at Kazangulu a few weeks before.

The lesson here is to purchase sufficient coverage at your first point of entry to cover you for any decisions you might make to leave the country & then re-enter a short while later.

Traders in one of the village markets en route to LilongweWe also made good progress to the border at Mwami arriving at 12h00 & were processed through both sides within an hour. 

Villagers on foot to the market with their wares

We refueled in Chipata & purchased some of the essentials for the next few days. We stopped in Katete to buy an MTN sim card so that we were not at the mercy of the various lodges for wifi.  This process proved to be more difficult than in Malawi as you now had to provide a passport before the transaction could be concluded but while we waited, we had lunch.

We then pressed on to Luangwa river as we decided to try the Bridge Camp again - Pioneer Camp in Lusaka being too far & we would need to travel at night.  We arrived as the sun set behind the surrounding hills but were at least able to recce the site better before setting up camp - we settled on pretty much the same place as before.

We had a quick pasta for dinner & then I worked on the computer for a while & Ang read.  By the time I had turned the computer off, the camp was in absolute darkness as the generator had been turned off by the staff - the only guests were those of us in the campsite.  I literally sh#@ myself when I went to the loo as a rat joined me  & proceeded to nibble to my toe.  After I had him in my torchlight, he went scurrying around to find an exit.  I made a haste & went back to the vehicle. Ang couldn't wipe the smirk off her face when I relayed the story to her.

Costs for the day

Accommodation	Bridge Camp	US$20,00
Community Levy	Zambia	ZMW40,00
Diesel	Engen Chipata	ZMW740,03