Zambia World Wide

Kundalilla Falls is a place we have been intending to visit for some time, it is situated off the Great West Road just past the turnoff to Serenge. We have heard that it is a good place to camp and the waterfall is one of the best in Zambia. It is about 5 hours drive from Kitwe and we would be travelling through country we had not yet seen. Allan and Barbara were also interested in going so we agreed to spend a weekend there with them. It is quite a good run but as expected the last few kilometres are on dirt roads. We left early on Saturday morning, travelled from Kitwe to Kapiri Mposhi where we took the road west. We reached the falls at about 11.00 had a quick look round and then set up camp. The falls are quite high and narrow at the top, widening out as they go down to a large pool at the bottom. It was a good climb to the top especially for me as I was carrying Craig in a sling. However the view from the top was well worth the climb in getting there, we could see for miles across the surrounding countryside. We then walked down to the bottom where the water cascaded into a pool, it was great swimming in the pool. The water was quite cold and crystal clear, we all felt much cooler and fresher after our swim, and even Craig got wet with a little help. That evening we were sitting by the fire and in the distance we could hear the sound of a troop of baboons. We noticed the noise they were making seemed to be getting closer, after about 20 minutes we realised they were heading for our camp. It was great as they came right into our camp. It was a large troop, there were females carrying their young babies plus many young baboons and of course the troop leader, who I must say was rather on the large side. We did wonder if they might become aggressive or cause some damage as they passed through the camp, since they had a number of young with them. We need not have worried as they just looked at us watching them and passed on through. It is this kind of incident that makes camping and travelling in the bush worthwhile.

Since we had first seen the Victoria Falls we had known that we would return when there was more water flowing. The rains had stopped a month a ago, and we had also found out that it was possible to visit the Rhodesian side. We spent a few days on the Zambian side and of course the falls were much more impressive than on our first visit. The force of the water and the amount of spray was unbelievable and now we know why the Zambians call the falls Mosi O Tunya. The noise was deafening and the spray was shooting into the air many hundreds of feet. Last time we had walked across the knife edge bridge and were dry, this time even with raincoats it was impossible to keep dry however it was fun. Now we know why they call it the rain forest. From Livingstone we drove to Kazengula and crossed the Zambezi River on a pontoon ferry to Botswana and then through Botswana to the Rhodesian border and on to the Victoria Falls. When Zambia closed its border with Rhodesia, Botswana kept its border open as they relied on trade with South Africa and Rhodesia. Which is how we were able to drive to the falls on the Rhodesian side of the border. When we arrived at the Rhodesian border post instead of stamping our passports, they stamped a sheet of paper and inserted it in our passports. They told us to keep the paper while we were in Rhodesia and when we arrived back at the border post they would remove it. This way the Zambian authorities would not know that we had been to Rhodesia. Had they found out we would have been banned from re-entering Zambia. I am not going too deeply into our trip as I will be writing about a trip we made to Rhodesia a few years later. We made our first stop at Victoria Falls and then on to Wankie Game Park. We stayed a few days in the game park, then from there we drove to Bulawayo and out to the Matopas National Park which is where Cecil Rhodes is buried. The rocky outcrop where he is entombed is called World View, probably because of the panoramic view of the park in all directions. We visited some of the traditional villages and saw some of the tribal dances. It was a great holiday and we even managed to buy some pork pies which I am partial to and have not been able to get since leaving England. We were glad that we had now seen the falls in full flood. Although we were impressed the first time we saw them, they were much more impressive now they were in full flood.