Kariba weekend

We left Lusaka at 07h10 on Good Friday morning for Siavonga which is a village on Lake Kariba’s northern side. I quickly realized that, even though I knew of the potholes, people, trucks and animals, I would have to concentrate a lot more on the road than in RSA.






The road was very good in places ( for about 50km) with even lines on the road and in other stretches so bad that one would have to stop to get through the potholes because they stretches right across the road, although this only happened 3 or 4 times.

The rest of the time if you spot the pothole you can go around them.
Our speed never went over 80km/h which I can now tell you is not such a bad thing. We took some nice photos, could look around, (while the other one watched the road) and enjoy the trip. Even at 80km/h one still can’t react quick enough.








Potholes





We went through about 5 police stops on our trip there and about 9 stops coming back. I don't mind being stopped as there is at least some form of policing on the roads.




Queue at Police Post

The road edges are maintained by people cutting it with pangas. Don’t know if they work for the authorities or just cutting it so their village along side the road has a better view.
The trees are Marianne’s favourite and with some of them now throwing their leaves off for autumn. We saw some lovely sites.






We were not sure if we would get time off working for a Muslim company so we only booked on Monday and could get only a camping spot with a tent and mattress provided at one of the five places we contacted. Well Eagles Rest proved to be the right site. Very laid back with a beach bar and very nice people in Peter, Karin & staff. Peter worked for a while in SA but said Zambia was the place for him.

After a telephone call from Marilou at 08h30 telling us she was in hospital and that we were going to be grandparent that day the whole day changed with added excitement. I was a very nice feeling. We only found out later that she had actually gone through a very difficult birth but the little iron lady came though it with a smile and a joke at the other end! Just after Marilou phoned Jess started reporting back and we had lovely updates from her throughout the day. One can always rely on her! (Takes after her dad)

Approaching the lake is quite spectacular when one sees the mass expanse of water. Almost as impressive as when one comes down Great Brak Heights and see Mossel Bay for the first time.

Light blue=Sky
Dark blue= Water
Green = Bush


After we turned off the national road we then really hit a beautiful area with real crappy roads.






Protea hotel manages a huge hotel river boat. Never got to see it but we went in but the whole place closes down when the boat goes out for a few days.







We arrived at Eagles Rest at 10h30. 3 & half hours for roughly 190km!


Entrance gates and Reception to Eagles Rest.



We could chose where we wanted our tent pitched by one of the workers.


We were under a huge maroela tree with a nice view.



See maroelas on the ground.
The bar didn’t have champagne and we decided to go buy some in in the village. The village actually consisted of a shanty town and there were a lot of chickens, vegetables and Chelsea & Manchester United towels for sale but no champagne.
We saw a procession of people & stopped to check it out & found out they were doing a passion play on Good Friday. The singing was incredible.



We drove around looking at all the sights then decided to check out all the places we emailed and in one of the more upmarket lodges (R1500 p/p/p/n) we found a bottle of JC Le Roux at R225 (Bar Prices). For Charlie it was worth it because “die kind se kop moet nat gemaak word!”. On our way back at 14h00 Marilou phoned again (at the only spot we had a signal) and told us that Charlie had been born at 12h00.

Back at Eagles Rest Beach pub I announced very proudly to all the strangers that we had just become grandparents and everyone seemed happy for us and had a drink on us.
To cap it all Hugo (Boss) the wild hippo that visits there made an appearance and flopped down






Under a mango tree at the water’s edge right in front of the beach pub!

He ia respected and while everone leaves him alone completely he does not harm anyone. He keeps the camping site’s grass short and also composts the area! I thought he was a tame hippo and did not bother to take more photos when he got up and walked around. We did not see him again.

Our ablution block a bit of touch ups here & there and it reminded me of Franskraal’s ablution blocks way back in the early eighties. But, the water was warm from the donkie outside and the sieve wire windows were great in the 27 degrees we had here at 18h00.

Drinks and sunset at the beach pub

We had supper at the restaurant that night and at 21h00 had nightcaps at the beach pub again before going to bed.
Very hot through the night, I was up at 07h30 and decided to put in a bit of reading under the maroela tree. I read there for about an hour before Marianne came to sit & within 5 minutes a maroela fell on her head aggravating the results of the “becoming ouma celebrations” of the previous day.

After a nice breakdfast & took this shot out of the dining room onto the pool area with the lake in the background.

At breakfast we were told that we had an option to take a 1 bedroomed chalet which was good news as the designers of the mattresses in the tent did not have our weight in mind!
After breakfast and moving to our new chalet

We visited the Kariba dam wall which was quite a process as we are going thru customs on the Zambian side but not on the Zimbabwean side. We had to give up our passports which made me very worried because things can get lost very easily. The dam wall was very impressive. Pity the depth is lost on the photos. The only souvenirs of our trip there was a 500 billion Zimbabwean dollar I bought for R7.




Marianne at the board welcoming tourists to Zambia from Zimbabwe

Then back to the beach pub and a nice chat with the others there. One guy from Cape Town is the Tiger Brand manager here, another is the head of KFC Zambia and another is a manager of sorts for Group 5.

At 16h00 we boarded The Bateleur, the Eagles Rest River Boat for a sunset cruise.

We met a really nice young couple on the boat who joined us for the beach braai later the night. She is a civil engineer looking for a job & just out of university in Johannesburg & he manages "The Duct Shop", which fabricates ducting for air conditioners.
In bed by 21h30 and up early the next morning to do part of this blog & to enjoy the view.

We were back home at 13h00 on Sunday to attend the Lusaka Greek Easter Festival. When it started getting late I saw a Greek and an indian complete with turban dancing on the tables! What a great party! Full marks for the Greeks who party with ouma, oupa, children & grandchildren deurmekaar! Brilliant!