Livingstone to Chipata, September 2022

The Great North Road or the Great East Road?

Leaving the Zambezi River and Livingstone behind us we head up to Lusaka and one of the Great roads. We haven’t decided which one as of yet. We can take the Great North road from Lusaka and drop down on to the Luangwa Valley and ultimately the Great East Road or we can “just” travel along the Great East Road. We need to visit Lilongwe along the way as I have family there that we haven’t seen for many years. This ultimately means the Great East road will need to be done at some point of the through-drive.

The scenery up to Lusaka is ever-changing and the flat land of thorn bushes in Botswana and south western Zambia gives way to rolling landscapes with some more far reaching vistas. Some trucks trundle along their way but they are nothing as compared to the trucks found in and around Lusaka itself. Hundreds of trucks carrying thick sheets of copper from the mines of DRC and Zambia block the roads with mini-bus taxi’s and entire buses making hair raising diversions off-road and down steep roadside embankments to avoid the Lusaka bottle-neck.

We find a good looking place to spend the night at Fringilla Farm north of Lusaka. We need to figure out which route to take before continuing. Fringilla Farm accommodation turns out to be relatively cheap with access to cappuccino on tap, good hot dogs (my favourite travel food), pies, farm produce, a butchery as well as a full restaurant if desired.

The choice! We can head up the Great North road and then drop down on the Luangwa Valley via Route 05 which connects the Great North road to the Great East road through some significant countryside and down the escarpment. Otherwise, we can take the week or so we have to head directly to the Luangwa Valley and enjoy the area. This is one of those “a lot of a little or a little of a lot” choices.

After some research we learn that Route 05 is “doable” but will require a few river crossings and we might need to wild camp along the way if we don’t make the national park gate by a certain time. It is September so it’s the dry season and there appears to be a few dry river beds to cross as well as at least one all season wet river crossing. The wet river crossing is apparently usually sand bagged. The route runs from a turn-off on the Great North Road before Chilonga (heading North). It then becomes predominantly a sand road for most of the way down. Almost immediately, you need to navigate the Muchinga Escarpment which is reported as rocky and with steep drops on the sides. Apparently you really need to hope that you don’t meet another vehicle coming up as it is a single track the whole way down.

Also along the Great North road is the Kasanka national park with it’s annual fruit bat migration of millions of bats. This happens October onwards though so we might be a little early.

Risks for a couple in a single vehicle for the Great North road route:

• We might get stuck on the dry river crossing. Mitigating factor: we have a winch, shovel and sand tracks
• The sandbags on the wet river crossing might have disappeared during Covid times. Mitigating factor: umm.. we can work it out when we get there?
• Precarious pass to navigate. Mitigating factor: we are heading down rather than up and others have done it
• We are in the middle of nowhere on a road not traveled by others frequently. Mitigating factor: Garmin Inreach plus search & rescue insurance

After a day or so of research we sadly have to give up the idea of doing “the drop” from Great North road to Luangwa Valley. The route is not an insignificant route and we are only ninety percent prepared for the idea which we would need to tackle almost immediately. Plus we would also have less time to explore Luangwa Valley and the famous national park. We therefore opt for the Great East road. This time!

First View of Luangwa River

We head south from Frangilla Farm away from the Great North route and towards the Great East road. Again, we find ourselves in the bottle neck of copper and cobalt transport trucks and watch a full bus or two drive vertically down the side embankments, drive manically over a side road or walk-way and then sneakily weave back in the crowd of vehicles a few hundred metres ahead. I note a few 4×4’s doing the same but decide not to for the safety of the Lusakans as well as potential traffic stops I’m unaware of.

We anyway have plenty of time now and have our latest audio book playing: Africa Is Not a Country by Dipo Faloyin. Highly recommended although, as Dipo is a middle income author, I do question his life-emphasis necessarily applying to others around him. Good food for thought though and I very soon start to get the feeling that there are a lot more normal people rather than “poor Africans” all around me.

We are popped out of the Lusaka bottle neck and soon have a very easy journey along some rugged terrain and scenes. There is a small rural petrol station on the way which sells me a hot dog to the disgust of my traveling companion. The land changes from distance to distance with minor rises and curves, some panoramic views and people walking from place to place. We pass small settlements made up of traditional huts or newer method brick structures. There are also shelters made of timber and corrugated sheet metal. We wave at everybody and everybody waves back with ever-ready smiles.

The road is in a fairly good condition and we see some signs on the way highlighting various development initiatives from the EU and China from memory.

Our stopover for the night is Bridge Camp on the Luangwa river. We take a right before the bridge and drive along the western bank of the river quite taken at how impressive the wide and bouldered pass is. Across from our side in Zambia are Mozambican people on the eastern bank fishing with nets and poles. The Luangwa river creates a tri-border just a few kilometers south when it empties into the Zambezi between Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. A small corner of the world very much unknown to many.

The Luangwa river flows from the north east of Zambia and creates a large ecosystem protected by national parks much of its meandering way. The North Luangwa, South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi National Parks are all part of or touched by the Luangwa river before it empties as a major tributary into the Zambezi river.

We nestle in and amongst the rest of the ubiquitous Toyota 4×4 Hilux’s with roof top tents. Ours is an original however being that most of the rest are rented from Safari outfits for thousands of dollars per week. We have already paid back the capital cost of our vehicle three times over.

Border Towns and Admin

The next morning. Our vehicle is packed and loaded with the food supplies and camping chairs from the previous night and we enjoy the views of river life on the Luangwa river once more. The Luangwa Bridge is military patrolled and precarious in it’s oneness as well as exciting to cross for some more views of the river below.

The drive to Chipata is long but interesting with Dipo Faloyin talking and the normality of Africa about us.

Chipata is the fifth largest city in Zambia and this comes as a surprise. It’s quite small. It is a standard border town/city with many basic to medium level goods and services on offer. It is also the easiest access point to South Luangwa national park.

We drive around for a while trying to find what looks like safe accommodation. We will normally sleep in most places without much concern but border towns are different in our minds. We reject a decent little campsite in suburbia, breeze pass the Marriot and settle for a value for money lodge called Chiwayu Guest Lodge  which promises “breakfast included”. We are mostly interested in the fact that there is gated parking and a security guard throughout the night who we give a small tip to at the beginning of the evening. Always tip the security guard beforehand!

After a good night’s sleep in a real bed we wake up to the security guard knocking at five am to say he is off. A few more hours sleep and we wake to a small bustle of the lodge and a plate of fried egg, cheese and mini baguette which is amazing to the eyes of lowly campers. The well constructed baguettes and instant coffee joyfully fill us. A quick stop at the local supermarket for some additional food supplies and we’re off to South Luangwa national park area.