Day 3. Mon 23rd September
The road to Kasanka.
We are up at 05:30 to find the Defender once again in working order (well,
as near as it gets to working order) and we set off on the 500km drive
north to Kasanka National Park. Much to everyone's relief Sue rejoins the
party well before the 06:00 deadline, so we are now a full group of seven.
Ken always drives the Discovery and Auxies the Defender. I travel with
Nathan and Amanda in the Defender with Auxies. It turns out that the Defender
has quite a number of interesting little character traits. For one thing
the front seat belts have no buckles and are not actually anchored, so
that every time we pass one of the police check points which are scattered
seemingly at random around the African road system the driver and passenger
wrap a couple of yards of belt around themselves, and the people in the
back hold it down with their feet. Also, although the vehicle actually
has no wiper blades, both the washers and wiper motor run continuously
unless the fuse is removed. This, however, also disconnects all the dials
on the dashboard, so in order to see how much fuel there is, or to check
the engine temperature, we must stop and temporarily insert the fuse.
Our first port of call is Pete's house outside Lusaka. A third driver
is necessary as we will leave the vehicles at Mpulungu when we embark on
the ferry up Lake Tanganyika, and pick them up again after the train journey
at Dodoma. Ken will travel with us while Auxies and Pete drive the vehicles.
Pete joins us in the Defender. As a professional hunter he has an excellent
knowledge of wildlife, and has an easy, laid-back manner which endears
him to us all. (It turns out he is half Scottish, and still has family
living in Scotland). Auxies says little, partly because his English is
not as fluent, but has a tremedous sense of humour and a huge infectious
laugh.
Having collected Pete we head North to Kabwe, and then turn right in
Kapiri Mposhi onto the Great North Road. This road has only been paved
in the last two years, and apart from the two towns mentioned, the only
habitations are villages of a few thatched huts. Traffic is virually non-existant,
although we do see people walking or cycling. The women nearly always have
a basket or a load of firewood balanced on their heads, and every village
has a hoard of grubby children who run out grinning and waving and shouting
"Mzungu" ("white man") at us.
We arrive at Kasanka National Park about 16:00 - this is to be one
of the two longest drives we do. Although the drive is largely uneventful,
the Defender is not letting us off completely, and decides to assert its
presence by dropping its rear drive shaft in the middle of the road a few
miles before we reach our destination. Auxies once again proves his worth
by refitting it, with Pete's help (Ken is no mechanic), in about 20 minutes
flat.
The camp at Kasanka National Park is wonderful, with little round thatched
huts along the side of a lake. It is all very clean, with proper loos and
showers. There is no electricity, but lighting is provided by 12v flourescent
lamps which run off batteries that are charged during the day from solar
cells. The shower water is also heated by the sun, and distributed to the
huts by a man with a large bucket and a ladder, who climbs up each hut
in turn and pours luke-warm water into a tank on the roof. The main building
houses a dining room, and a terrace with a view over the lake. As with
much of the accomodation in Africa, especially in the National Parks, no
food is provided, but there are cooking facilities, and the lodge staff,
aided and abetted by Ken, Auxies and Pete, soon prepare a fine meal from
the provisions we have brought. As we sit on the terrace sipping cold beers
and watching the sun set, we can hear two hippos grunting in the
water below us, and fish eagles, whose cries are so reminiscent of the
British seagull, wheel in the sky. The chirrup of cicadas is all around
us, and we feel that we are now really in Africa.
