This is the fourth of a series of blog postings from Clare Bottle, who will be telling us about her travels in Zambia - supported by transport charity Transaid - to see what the transport industry is like out there:
In my shower, the water runs down the plughole very slowly. I think it’s going clockwise, but it’s hard to tell. As well as an intermittent supply of hot water, there’s a modern toilet, the single bed is clean, reasonably comfortable and furnished with an effective mosquito net. I’ve got adequate storage space, a noisy fridge, a rickety desk and a rather grand mirror on the wall, so I have no complaints about the Fairview Hotel.
Gary picked me up at 11am today for a trip to Chaminuka Lodge. It’s about
25 miles away but the journey took longer than you might expect because of the roads. Lusaka’s Great East Road runs all the way to Africa’s East coast, through Mozambique. All the parts of the road I’ve seen are dual carriageway with an asphalt surface which makes for easy driving conditions, but turning off the Great East Road, this no longer applies. The remaining 20 miles of our route was mainly wide and straight, but its orange sandy surface was constantly punctuated by obstacles such as rocks, 3-foot potholes, meandering pedestrians and even occasional speed-bumps.
Chaminuka Lodge does the best impala steak I’ve ever tasted. OK, so it’s the only impala steak I’ve ever tasted, but on the strength of that one, I plan to sample as many DLTs as possible (that’s Deer Like Things, to the uninitiated). After lunch we toured the huge estate in a Toyota Landcruiser with a group of Arab speaking tourists and a politely encyclopaedic Zambian.
Our glimpse of distantly fleeing zebras and giraffes was slightly disappointing but the elephants made up for it. During the drive we also saw hyenas, a warthog and a plethora of DLTs including three hartebeest which galloped across the path in front of us. There were some pretty impressive insects too, such as a menacing black and yellow spider in a massive web and a baby praying-mantis that survived the journey on our radiator grille.
Best of all were the lions. Having caught sight of them resting under a bush in the afternoon, Gary and I ventured back to their enclosure on foot when the temperature had dropped a bit. We were supremely privileged to have a perfect view for about 15 minutes, watching two mothers playing with their cubs alongside the boundary fence. The two boy cubs are about 9 months old and seemed curious to look at us humans, pressing their faces up to the railings, just a couple of feet away. Their more cynical mothers rolled in the grass and growled amiably, each yawn revealing a perfect pink tongue flanked by lethal teeth.
Upon our return to Lusaka, the hotel was in darkness, which Gary expertly interpreted as a power cut. The staff explained that the electricity had stopped working about an hour earlier. They had lovingly lit my way upstairs with candles. Who can deny the romance of getting changed by torchlight and creeping under the mosquito net like a fairy princess? As I said, I have no complaints about the Fairview Hotel.
If you’d like to know more and would consider sponsoring me, please visit my charity giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/clarebottle.
Clare Bottle is a freelance logistics specialist, with experience and market knowledge in storage, packaging and transport; she is also a Board Director and Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport UK.