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| Sunset Cruise, from L to R: Meagan, Mel, Me, Brian, Salim, Helena |
It was early and I hadn’t slept much after a farewell night at The Shack, the expat hotspot of Wednesday nights. I managed to put together enough early morning sense to gather my things for the trip to Victoria Falls in the neighboring country to the West, Zambia. Mel, Meagan, and I packed our things into the rented car and went to pick up Helena, Salim, and Brian (all visiting medical students). Helena and Salim, being from Sweden, of course had never driven before while Brian didn’t know how to drive manual and Meagan had gotten her license taken away by police weeks ago. That left Mel and I as the only eligible drivers for what was an 18 hour drive each way that would include a layover in Lusaka.
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| Hour 9 of 12 hour drive to Lusaka |
Mel started the driving and rushed us out of Malawi to the border where we paid the $50 Zambian visitor’s visa and the subsequent car entrance fee. After being thoroughly (and awkwardly) searched by a surprisingly intimidating and unnerving Zambian border patrol guard the gate was openned and on we drove into the fuel-filled lands of Zambia. The sun shined bright overhead and bicyclers began appearing on the shoulder instead of the one lane road. We immediately stopped in the city of Chipata, only 30km from the border to fill up on diesel, take out Zambian Kwacha, and have a quick lunch. After a long stretch looking for a good place to use the bathroom on the side of the road we switched drivers and I took the wheel. We moved from long, straight stretches on into the mountains where I’d hold my breath and my foot to the pedal every time we passed a car. Knowing the sun was now on the downward trajectory and we still had plenty of km before reaching our Lusaka stopping point I began pushing 140 km/hr until a particularly harrowing incident in which while trying to pass a truck I had to slam on the breaks to avoid going head on into a bicycler that for some reason or other was riding in the lane instead of on the shoulder. After this, it was just squinting into the setting sun shining right into my eyes.
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| Driving with the sun in my eyes was a challenge to say the least |
Finally, we reached Lusaka just after nightfall and fellow Grassroot Soccer interns came and showed us the way to a great Indian restaurant with all-you-can-eat options. Then we went to Smugglers, a local bar where I had a drink and played pool against a couple of Zambian regulars. After lots of trash talking, joking, and betting I decidedly lost and we all returned to the intern house for a night’s rest.
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| Breathtaking |
The next morning began at 5am and by 6am we were back on the road, a mere 6 hours from Livingstone, the city of Victory Falls. Outside of a couple roadblocks and police stops we arrived in the afternoon without incident. We checked in and promptly signed up for the sunset cruise to give ourselves a low key entrance to the wonder of Vic Falls. I expected the cruise to just be an open bar along the Zambezi (the river that Victoria Falls is a part of), but we got much more as we saw groups of Hippos, a small herd of elephants, and crocodiles all in addition to a beautiful sunset. We got back from the cruise thoroughly exhausted and went straight to bed at Jollyboys, the hostel we were staying in (highly recommended).
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