28 February 2010
I have decided to put the last three days into one entry as they have all blurred into one, with no overly significant events to report. It has been three days of solid driving, rain and putting tents up and down. We left Livingstone quite early and it was ridiculously muddy, so much so I took my shoes off and elected to wash my feet before getting on the truck.
The African mystery sickness that started with me, has struck again, it’s Yngvar this morning who I found on his hands and knees next to the truck vomiting into the mud. This sickness is so strange. It attacks one person a day and moves on. It also has, at the moment, attacked one person per tent. Siobhan who shares with me hasn’t had it. Emmett who shares will Phil hasn’t had it and Guy who shares with Yngvar hasn’t had it. It lasts for 24-hours and then the next day your back to normal.
We drove all day stopping once for lunch. We arrived close to dark at Eureka Campsite just outside the flooded capital of Lusaka. I chose to upgrade as I was still having problems with my neck and was put in one of the dingiest looking dorm buildings I have ever experienced. The bar had a pool table and I gave Phil a game and then some random guy who wasn’t very good. Just before dinner the power failed completely and we were in the dark.
Dinner was cooked with the help of our head torches and then some of us went to the bar and drank by candlelight. As we were about to leave the power came back on. Typical.
The next day I was on cooking duty so I had to be up half an hour earlier than everyone else. We left early and drove to another campsite very close to the border with Malawi. We put our tents up in the dark and then the next day took them down in the dark. I cannot believe how much driving we did today.
We headed for the Malawi border and went through formalities there. They were threatening not to let Yngvar in because his passport was wet, but Sarah said they were just after a bribe. We then drove for most of the day to get to Kande Beach.
We got there at about 4pm and it was one of the most spectacular things I’ve ever seen. It was right on the shores of lake Malawi, which looks like the sea, it’s so big. As soon as the tent was up, in I went. The water was wonderfully warm, and it freshened me up from the long drive.
We had dinner and then Siobhan and I decided to play drinking games with people from another truck. We played four kings and Siobhan got a bit drunk and ended up in the lake “Swimming in her money”, she forgot to take her money belt off. I stayed up and chatted to Phil; for a bit before going to bed.