Day 6. Thu 26th September
Mpika to Mbala
Today we drive from Mpika to Mbala, about 380Km. We stop off at Kasama
to buy water, meat and rolls for lunch, and, as Ken has already allowed
us to sample his private store, Nathan and I lay in a couple of bottles
of whisky. I get stopped by a policeman while taking a photograph of the
town. I have no idea why he stopped me, he wanted to know where I was from
and what I was photographing, and finally simply let me go.
We arrive at the Grasshopper Hotel in Mbala about 13:00 and get a cup of
tea and eat our rolls, and then go down the road to the Moto Moto museum.
I am a little confused about the origins of the museum, but it is apparently
named after a tribal chief who smoked a pipe and kept shouting for fire
and was nicknamed Moto Moto (Moto means fire). The museum contains artefacts
dating back to stone-age times, and is quite interesting, but we are taken
round by a guide rather than being allowed to browse at our own speed.
It is remarkable that such museums keep going - we seemed to be the only
visitors, possibly all day or even all week.
On the way to the museum we pass the local prison, which is just a
few huts in a compound separated from the road by a barbed wire fence.
I want to photograph it but Auxies says it is not allowed.
Ken drops us off and we walk back to the hotel through the town.
After supper Ken, Nathan, Amanda and I break open the scotch and a good
time is had by all!