Zambia World Wide

Next day – more beautiful forests – and eventually we found the pontoon.  This was located by grasses tied in knots marking the way!  The pontoon was very small and very wobbly and operated by three small men with radios and a gun (to scare off hippos and crocs).  The operation to get each vehicle on to the pontoon was hectic, and closely watched by a pod of hippo.  The ramp was so sharp that even the four wheel drive vehicle could not get on.  Eventually our companion managed to winch his vehicle on to the pontoon whereupon the whole contraption veered seriously towards the water and I really thought that the Land Cruiser was headed for the drink.    The expedition vehicle was eventually steered to a more stable central position on the raft and headed for the north bank. 

Our Ranger would just not go on to the pontoon.  One of our friends and the Zambians tried to push her on – to no avail.  At this point, another Italian arrived.  He runs Delia Lodge and he couldn’t believe that my car had got this far, so he was taking photos for his website!  Small comfort to me – I was on the north bank of the Luangwa and my husband and car were firmly on the south bank.  My car was also flooded and we nearly lost our cellphone and passports.  We eventually managed to make the winch rope long enough to get the Ranger onto the pontoon and she got up the very steep north bank under her own steam and Otto’s brilliant driving.

Now, with a drowned cellphone, we continued to Buffalo Camp which took us about four hours to find as the signage had been knocked down by ellies.  Whilst we were trying to find the way we had excellent sightings of Cookson’s Wildebeest and the biggest buffalo both Otto and I had ever seen. We eventually got there at 16h00 and found a wonderful site with beautiful straw chalets where we had a lovely meal and spent the night listening to hyaenas fighting over a kill near the camp and lions roaring close by. 

The following morning we went on a two hour walk.  There are no game drives in North Luangwa National Park, only walking safaris are allowed.  We then left for Shiwa Ngandu.  Once again, our companion driver had the directions and left a couple of minutes before us.  Consequently we were soon horribly lost and headed back to the camp where Sunday and his staff were preparing to go to Shiwa, so we followed them.  No problems getting through this park – apart from a small glitch on the escarpment where we got stuck, but Sunday and company pushed us up over the short problematic part and we were on our way.  We drove through a large electrified camp which holds 17 black rhino donated by SA and looked after by the Frankfurt Zoological Society.  We didn’t see the rhinos, but the Zambians are very proud and protective of their rhinos which have been reintroduced to the valley after being totally wiped out by poachers in the 80’s.