TitleIntoduction The route north from Sesheke to Senanga is fairly straightforward,
following the western bank of the river for the first 190km to Sitoti
along an intermittently good all-weather gravel road. This should be
navigable with a high-clearance 2WD all year, although sections do get
washed away sometimes and there's very little traffic on the road –
so I'd feel happier travelling this way with at least a 4WD, if not
two. On the way you'll pass several fishing camps on islands in the
river which make convenient bases for those wishing to spend some time
in the area. These are clearly signposted from the road.
Ngonye Falls area
The falls are spectacular, although the park is not easy for the casual visitor to enjoy. With travel in the area often taking much time, these are also good places at which to rest for a few days if you are travelling between Sesheke and Mongu The Ngonye Falls are a short walk from the road, about 120km as the crow flies from Sesheke, and 57km southeast of the Sitoti Ferry. Driving to them, you should first stop at the National Parks Office at Ngonye (GPS:NPSIOM), which is clearly marked beside the road. Here you can pay the entry fees, leave your vehicle safely, and find a guide to take you down to the falls themselves.
Ngonye To Senanga - Zambia Travel Guide Driving from Ngonye to Sitoti From the park's office at Ngonye Falls it's about 61km northwest to Sitoti pontoon. On the way you'll pass the turn-off west to the Nangweshi Refugee Camp (GPS:TUNANG) and a second turn-off, this time to the east, for CB Riverside Lodge (GPS:Turning to CB Riverside Lodge TUCBRI), a very, very basic establishment which is still largely under construction. There is a toilet here, but no obvious showers. About 45km north of Ngonye, and 16km south of the ferry, there's a substantial road junction (GPS:TUSHAN) with a road heading west to Shangambo, which is on the Kwando (aka Cuando) River. A sign here points to Cuando Lodge, which proudly advertises that it has 'showers and lights', and the Shangambo Mission. This turning is beside a small settlement known as Matebele, where there's a small bridge over a tributary to the Zambezi. Just north of this, the road forks and the right fork drops down on to the lower-lying grasslands of the Zambezi's floodplains – and thence to the Sitoti pontoon. The left fork here probably leads to what, in theory, is a very difficult and sandy track along the western side of the Zambezi floodplain to Kalabo. Sitoti pontoon The pontoon across the Zambezi (GPS:FERRY2) is a little over 20km (40
minutes) south of Senanga. It's a good, large pontoon which can take
several vehicles at a time. During the dry season it costs Kw25,000
for a typical Land Rover, and runs from 06.00 to 18.00. It crosses when
full; there's no set schedule. In the wet season it has a similar schedule,
though costs Kw45,000 and the crossing is longer.
From Choma we headed up to Namwala along the Zambian M11 which turned out to be as slow going as the English one when snow falls. In fairness, though, it was a veritable dream compared with the similar roads that have added blocks of tarmacs scattered along the way. We quickly came to terms with the fact that this was a typical Zambian road, and the tarmac ones near the big tourist destinations were the exceptions. Then bizarrely there was an 80km stretch of perfect tar which seemed to lead from nowhere to ... somewhere slightly busier than nowhere, but not yet somewhere. I guess the presidents Mum must live round here somewhere. From the end of the tarmac we figured we'd keep South of the Kafue river, and avoid the ferry crossing - knowing how that can turn out. Needless to say we got lost. The road split every 100m and tracks disappeared off in all directions. The track we took narrowed more and more until it was a footpath, and pushing our way through the vegetation we came into a clearing with a small kraal. One of the women led us down some paths and safely back onto the 'main' road again, so we gave her some cigarettes and the children some sweets. She seemed really pleased, and was going to give them to her husband - How many more innocents must suffer for the cause? After that we were giving cigarettes every time we came upon someone; and the occasional pen. We made sure we were gone before they could light up, just in case we were causing some kind of uprising. Another wrong turning and 12ks through the bush we stopped to find out the way to Itezhi Tezhi. Our pronunciation held them first in bewilderment, and then in hysterics. And we were in wonderment at how they could laugh and still not spill a drop of water from the buckets on their heads. After that it got a bit tricky, with people wanting to get in the car as much as giving us directions. In the end we had to drive away from a woman trying to get into the back, only to return half an hour later when the road we had taken just plain stopped. The African Consultant When we got back we passed one of the guys who had shouted after us. With his great cheery smile he told us we'd taken the wrong road. Fortunately this sage wasn't in it for the money, and he helped us onto the right road, although we quickly got lost again. The GPS really came into its own that day, as it helped us work out when we were going too far wrong, but even with it we somehow managed to get our destination from the wrong direction. It didn't help that the destination was not in the GPS, or that on the road map it was shown in the wrong place. Kafue We came up on a barrier for the Kafue National Park and found we were somehow going out of the park. Another 20 mins of chatting and wearing the guard down before he let us out without charging us an entry fee. Kafue is different to most parks in Zambia in that you pay per entry into the park, which at first seems good value for money - you don't have to pay for every day you are there. In reality you have to be quite careful as they are really quite insistent that you pay even if you accidently wander into the park. And where the road splits the park in half, it takes a fair bit of explaining to convince them that if the main road is in the park then you haven't left the park. That was the issue we had when we wanted to stay one night at Chunga, south of the main road, and 2 nights at Lufupa, north of the main road. We had to make it clear we were only going to pay once, and refused to hand over any dosh til it was all agreed. Incidentally the roads are laid out in such a way that if you want to do Northern and Southern sectors then you're paying at least two lots, but in reality about four or five lots of entry fees. So after an hour at the barrier, we negotiated that the receipt could read three nights at Lufupa, we could camp at Chunga for one night and drive through the barrier hush hush the next day. Considering the state Chunga was in, we have no idea why they'd want to make it difficult for people to stay there. Hippos came to graze at Chunga as well and the locals were very friendly. They even brought a queen termite to show us - nice!! An early start from Chunga and we stumbled upon a pair of side-striped jackal - tick!, and the barrier was deserted. We lifted the barrier and drove in and someone came running down the track across the road. He stopped to catch his breath so we drove off and headed up to Lufupa. If ever you need a nice campsite at Kafue, head to Lufupa. It's really nice, everyone is super friendly, showers are hot (after Prosper has piled the wood into the donkey boiler), and they do night drives. Michael, the tracker, was trying his utmost to find us some big cats and we were starting to despair after a couple of hours. Our eyes were darting everywhere looking for animals, but he was always way ahead of us, dismissing anything we'd already seen. At one point Hayley spotted 'hundreds of hippos' which turned out to be rocks, and I spotted a bat which turned out to be a large moth. Fortunately no-one heard us. Towards the end of the drive, Michael turned round and told us 'leopard'. Another 20 seconds of focusing and refocusing of the eyes and the leopard came trotting down the road out of the darkness sporting a beautiful glossy coat, and wiggling her backside as she gracefully passed the truck. We followed her for a while as she tried to lose us and go about her business of chasing some dinner; and eventually we had to head back to camp. The only other people on the night drive were a couple from the UK, living in Moscow, and driving a 'Just Done It' Landie. They went on the night drive the next night as well, and saw another leopard, so I think the guidebook is spot on about the trackers here. The next day we took a drive out to the Busanga Plains and spotted a diferent type of sable, hundreds of puku, some zebedees and an iguana languishing in the marsh. On the way back we saw a lion running up to some impala, trying to sheperd them. I don't know if we broke her concentration but the buck all got away and she gave up without much of a chase. Then another three lions stuck their heads up out of the long grass where they were waiting to close the trap. They all ambled back to a shady hill and we parked up next to them for a couple of hours while they slept. In the end Hayley's sneezing got them a bit jumpy, and the buck had long since gone, so were bumbled off to leave them in peace. It's the first time we'd seen lions doing anything but 'conserving energy' so it was a fantastic experience. We thought about staying an extra day in Lufupa, but our petrol was getting a bit low. We went to top up with fuel in Itezhi-Tezhi (Itchy-Scratchy as we now call it), where the electric company does a good deed in letting people fill up. The only drawback is that you have to pay up front at the offices, get a voucher, and drive down to the pump; and my estimate was short by about 25 litres. So we headed off to Lusaka, where I now sit at Eureka camp site tapping away surrounded by zebedees and impala. The zebras are amazingly tame compared to the ones in the parks who flee at the approach of a car. Here they come within 10 feet of you, although any attempt at bringing that down a bit sees them fast-trotting away. Apparently there's kudu here as well. All this in a capital city - although having said that the city grew out of nothing but a railway station. Rumour has it that Cecil John's Cape to Cairo, or Cape to Kindu, railway passed close by the village of Lusaakas, and so they named the station Lusaka. From there it grew into a small town, and then they found copper; and so a field with a train station snatched the much coveted title from Livingstone and became the capital of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. The main street of the town was called 'Cairo Road', either in memory of Rhodes' dream or as an eternal mocking of his failing in his endeavours.
|
In this section |
||
|
