Road to Zambia

The plan was for an early start from Mbeya and a late arrival in Lusaka. The border crossing raised question marks, but the drama was not over.

The highway south was fairly good, but did not seem to be very busy, nor were there major towns on the way. Diesel was needed, but there were no service stations along the way. Isoka was the first town marked on our map, but there was no town that we could see. A sign on the road pointed us to the Total petrol station and we headed that way, a few kilometres off the highway. Problem solved, there was Isoka. U-oh, the Total service station had closed some years ago, and the supplier of petrol had no diesel Oops!

Back on the highway we asked again, this time at the police stop. With a little help from the locals we got some diesel. Some guy on a push-bike with a plastic 20 litre container had his bike hijacked by the man who came to our aid. We followed them back towards Tanzania a kilometre or so, where there was one more 20 litre plastic container of diesel Ten minutes later we had added thee diesel to the tank, and it was filtered - through a sock, stuck over the end of a plastic bottle, through which the fuel was poured (via some plastic tubing) into our tank. Costa made sure that we got value for money, and pressed for the last half litre from each container to go into our tank. He was not going to be short changed.

Meanwhile Beth gave some vocabulary lessons to the girls around the car who were pointed to various parts of her anatomy and offering the English words - she was able to help them distinguish between the belly and the breast.

Later in the day, after a 4 p.m. lunch at Mpika we had a further delay. A tube on the front right wheel split, and the tyre deflated quickly. Not quite a blow out, but close. Fortunately Costa controlled it well, and with our help changed the tyre. A half hour or so later we continued on our way.

From Mpika the road had deteriorated, and the night descended on a car with no spare. Lusaka beckoned, but was a long way off. The road got worse, and night driving in Africa is not highly recommended. After a couple of hours of 40-60 km driving we got to Serenje. That was our stop for the night - and we were all glad to be able to rest.

At six next morning Costa was up and working. There was a tyre to be fixed. With some guidance from the locals and some initiative from Costa a replacement tube was found, and inserted into the flat tyre. By 8.30 a.m. we were on our way again - and arrived safely in Lusaka for a late Sunday lunch with Jim and Marion.

Our Zambia stay had commenced.