adri and johan snyman's namibian and zambian trip diary
adri and johan snyman's namibian and zambian trip diary
adri and johan snyman's namibian and zambian trip diary
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Tuesday 18 September<br />
While making our way south through the Park my oversight of the 5 th of September finally caught<br />
up with us when our L<strong>and</strong>y lost drive to the rear axle. The s<strong>and</strong>, which I had not removed<br />
properly when the dust cap went astray, had ground the splines of the half shaft down….<br />
Fortunately this did not present a major problem as I had the required spares <strong>and</strong> tools <strong>and</strong> with<br />
the tse tse flies giving us ample encouragement, it took 24 minutes to get the spares <strong>and</strong> tools<br />
out, complete the work, pack everything away, clean up <strong>and</strong> drink a cup of coffee !<br />
After we exited the Park we drove east on the M9 <strong>and</strong> turned off to Mukambi Camp Site. The<br />
cost to camp was US$10-00 per person <strong>and</strong> there were actually 3 other sites occupied.<br />
We again cast some lures into the Kafue River <strong>and</strong> caught a few small pike. They are vicious<br />
fighters with a set of very sharp teeth.<br />
Total distance for the day was 107 km (10 km on tar- <strong>and</strong> 97 km on gravel roads <strong>and</strong> -tracks)<br />
<strong>and</strong> travelling time was 7¼ hours.<br />
Wednesday 19 September<br />
We made our way westwards towards Mongu on the tarred M9. This road is badly potholed <strong>and</strong><br />
some sections are extremely dangerous as they have started with preparations to repair the<br />
potholes by cutting them into a square shape <strong>and</strong> leaving them like that. In Mongu we topped up<br />
the fuel tanks with enough diesel to reach Katima Mulilo in Namibia at about R12.23 per litre.<br />
From Mongu we drove south on the M10 to Senanga on a tarred road that is mostly in good<br />
condition although there is a section of about 20km where you have to drive next to the road. On<br />
this part of the route the effects of major tree felling are visible as there are very few big teak<br />
trees to be seen near the road. It takes 3 people 2 days to fell the tree <strong>and</strong> chop the logs into a<br />
rectangular shape by axe. The log is then dragged to the roadway where it is loaded onto trucks<br />
<strong>and</strong> they receive about 300 000 Kwacha (± ZAR 550 or US$78) as payment for their effort.<br />
© J Snyman Page 30 of 45
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