Border crossing

An early start and by 8.15 am we were at Tunduma on the Tanzania Border. By 9.15 am I was about to text and say were about to head into Zambia. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Two Shukrani staff were with us, Costa was driving us, and Mr Michel Nshiga was coming to visit a secretarial college in Lusaka as a study trip. It was easy to get the people through, but not so easy to get a vehicle into Zambia. Costa needed a letter of authorization, including all the car details and stating that it would be returning to Tz. We didn't have one. One hour later, after a visit to an internet café in Tunduma, we had one, signed by me on behalf of the Principal of Shukrani College. Right to go now....wrong, wrong, wrong!

There was a little matter of insurance. Insurance? We hadn't heard anything about insurance. We did need it though, according to the Lonely Planet Guide to Zambia. The agent had a form filled out for 300,000 Kwacha - about $60 US. What? Not in or budget. Then there was the little problem of the Name of the Insured - he had entered Costa's name. So our 300,000 piece of paper would have been worthless if anything had happened because the vehicle belongs to The Salvation Army. We went to his office...the outer office was dark, the inner office darker (almost pitch black) and he expected us to do business there by the light of ONE candle. No way! Next door in his associates office we could see, and the debate continued. Why for 3 months when the car was only going to be there for a week? The time was reduced to one month, but the price only came down to 200,000.

How do we know we are not being ripped off? Can we see a rates schedule? All sorts of questions and comments as the corrected details were being entered on the form. After a while I pointed to the address of the head office in Lusaka, and said we would check when we got there. I would ring them, give them his name and details, and make sure we had not been overcharged. No more was said about the price, but when the form was completed we paid the 100,000 Kwacha fee that was itemised on the cover note, and we were off - almost. He did indicate that there was a 15,000 Kwacha local council fee we needed to pay at another office across the way! This we ignored - and went on our way.

Immigration - one hour. A breeze!
Vehicle clearance - one hour. A nuisance!
Insurance - one hour plus. Aagh!

At 11.40 a.m. we were driving in Zambia, and on our way to Lusaka at last.