Southern Kafue - Zambia

Despite being up at 7.30 by the time we had breakfasted, caught up with emails, paid our bill and bought fresh bread and tonic water it was 11.30 by the time we left Jollyboys and hit the road towards Kafue.

Chris McIntyre had kindly sent us the latest copy of his Bradt guide book on Zambia. Chris is an old Zambia hand and his knowledge of the country is extensive so if you plan to visit then get Chris 's book as it will make your visit so much more enjoyable.

Apart from loads of information on all areas of Zambia it has  detailed routes with GPS co-ordinates, invaluable for the likes of us travelling solo in remote areas. Road signs in Africa are generally non - existent in rural areas but especially so in Zambia and East Africa. However, as with all guides, places change and inevitably the odd errors creep in so we had promised Chris we would make copious notes of everything we found which needed changing or updating.

Even by African standards the Kafue NP is huge, about the same size as Wales; split in half by the main highway from Lusaka to the West of the country, the Southern Kafue is long and thin, being 200 kms long but only 85km or so at it's widest point. 

Sadly over the last 20 years it has been somewhat neglected as the Zambian authorities concentrated their efforts on protecting their flagship national park in South Luangwa so poaching has taken its toll on the wildlife but we were told it's now starting to recover.

We would be driving all the way through the park entering at it's most southernmost gate at the quaintly named DumDumWenze.

The first part of the journey on the main road from Livingstone to Lusaka was to a place called Kalomo, about 126km away. Although tarred it is so heavily potholed it took about two hours to reach Kalomo, Chris's guide said there was a petrol station there but we found it had closed down so it was just as well we had filled up before leaving Livingstone.

From Kalomo we turned off the tar road went through the village and headed West on a dirt track which was fairly good to begin with but which got progressively narrower the further into the bush we went. In places it had been badly washed away by years of heavy rains so at times we were driving down channels at an angle of 30^o.

By now we had left all human habitation behind and hadn't seen another vehicle of any sort for ages. Suddenly as we approached a narrow bridge we saw in the distance a dark shape on the track, as we got closer we suddenly realised it was a massive hole where the bridge had been completely washed away.

Clearly there was no way through, the bush either side of the track was quite dense and had been like this for awhile but there must be a way around somewhere.  Backtracking we found a turnoff which although not signed was the only other alternative so we took that. At first it seemed to be taking us in the wrong direction but eventually weaving our way through the bush we came back out on the track however we had lost even more time which we would come to rue later.

At 4pm after travelling 130 miles we arrived at DumDumWenze, entrance gate to the Southern Kafue. We told the ranger we were heading for Nanzhilla Plains to meet Marcus & Tanya. At first he was reluctant to let us in as he was concerned we would not make it before dark, in this part of Africa sunset is around 6pm and Nanzhilla, although we didn't know it then, was still quite a way off.

As we were signing in the entry book we found a message from Marcus & Tanya welcoming us to Kafue so we felt we had to get to them if we could. After a bit of pleading that our friends were expecting us and would worry if we didn't turn up the ranger  went off to check with his boss who thankfully after thinking it over gave us the nod.

Entry to the park cost US$ 15 each per day plus US$ 5 each per day to camp plus US$ 15 entry for the car per day, a total of US$ 55 per day. We decided to pay for just one night then decide whether to stay longer or not after we saw Nanzhilla, our first priority was to just get there before dark as with all the debates it was now well past 4.30pm. 

One of the things that gets to you in Zambia is the locals habit of indiscriminately lighting fire to the bush, sometimes with serious consequences. They say they do this to make their 'gardens' grow but you come across these fires in the most uninhabited areas with not a soul about to make sure they don't get out of control.

Sure enough, even though we were inside the park, as we made our way to Nanzhilla we came across a number of these fires. Sadly here they have a more sinister purpose as poachers often use them to make it easier to hunt game.  

The effects of all this were all too noticeable as we drove along in that game was virtually non existent, at a time of day when it should be at it's best.  However, it was just as well we didn't have too much to distract us as it was getting dark and we still hadn't found the campsite. 

Chris's book has a map of the area with some GPS points marked on it, we had shown this to Marcus & Tanya and had agreed to meet them at the old Nanzhilla rest camp which according to Chris was now abandoned. 

Marcus didn't have a GPS so he copied the map and we all just hoped for the best, it wasn't reassuring that some of the tracks were marked as "not visible or junction not visible" and Chris had said "if there is a danger of getting stuck make sure you have a back up plan"!

There are two routes Northwards from DumDumWenze, the Cordon route which goes through the woodlands and the River route which at this time of year is near impassable.

Having set the Garmin for the rest camp GPS point we could not find any track which would take us there. Eventually we found one track signposted to the camp but this just petered out in the middle of nowhere and from the tyre tracks we could see others had fallen foul of this route, turning round when they could go no further.

Just when we thought we would have to bush camp and leave Marcus and Tanya to their own devices we found another old sign for the rest camp. By now it was pitch dark and still there was not a light to be seen. It was only when we pulled into the camp that we could see a small fire with two locals sitting in the dark.   

Their English was not too good so it was difficult to be sure if we were in the right place especially when we asked if there was anyone else there and they said they had only had two visitors all year!

Either way it was too late to go any further tonight so we asked  if there was a campsite and they pointed to a track which disappeared off into the dark, it was therefore something of a pleasant surprise as we drove through the bush that we saw lights, a fire and found Marcus & Tanya parked up.

It was great to see them especially as they had dinner on the go and invited us to join them, a welcome relief for Sue. They had arrived yesterday afternoon and been waiting for us to pitch up, it transpired the rest camp had been taken over and a new lodge was being built in its stead.

Marcus & Tanya hadn't seen anyone since their arrival and by all accounts had seen very little game either. Still it was nice to get there at last and to sit around the fire with a bottle of wine. 

The campsite was in a stand of trees on the edge of a plain, as we were chatting a Hyena suddenly called out close by on the plain. It was quite eerie sitting there in the dark while the sound echoed around us, we listened as the Hyena faded away on its night patrol. Soon we all retired up to our roof tents for a good nights sleep, after the journey we certainly needed it.  

Next morning we finally could see where we were, the camp site was pretty basic with no facilities except a long drop toilet, there was an oil drum which we presume was to contain water but that was empty and looked like it had been for sometime.

As we were packing up the two local guys came around as we thought for a chat, they told us the that a pack of Wild dog had gone past the camp before dawn, given the scarcity of game that seemed hard to believe.  Mind you we had seen a big Lion pug mark on the way in yesterday so who knows.

It turned out the guys had really come around to get some money for allowing us to camp there. Marcus tried to explain we had all paid the camping fee to the rangers when we entered, I could see the guys were struggling to understand Marcus's Swiss accent but as I was up on the roof packing up I decided to cock a deaf un and let him handle it.

It seems the problem was the rest camp had been bought by a South African couple who were in the process of building a new lodge and both it and the campsite were now considered private. They were back in RSA at the moment but the guys were trying to say they needed to take some money for camping and the rangers should not have charged us. Whether by accident or by design Marcus seemed to struggle to understand what they were saying and in true African fashion rather than make a scene the guys just shrugged and gave up - good one Marcus, the site wasn't worth it anyway.

As they were pressed for time Marcus and Tanya left about an hour and a half ahead of us, they could only spend a short time in Zambia before turning towards Mozambique to meet up with Tanya's brother so they needed to go faster than us.

We made a loose arrangement to maybe meet up again at the end of the day at a camp site called Mupasha. Again none of us knew anything about it except it was on the shore of Lake Itezhi-Tezhi and looked to be about as far as we could reach comfortably in a day.

The southern part of the Kafue is an absolute maze of tracks all criss-crossing across each other so you need to keep your wits about you if you don't want to get lost. You also cross a number of Dambo's (small valleys or grassy depressions) which can have permanent or seasonal water in them so you need to be careful not to get stuck. 

All day we didn't pass one other vehicle or see anyone at all, even the game was scarce and what there was was very nervous. The only large game we saw was seven Ele's who ran as soon as they saw us, clearly all the poaching has taken its toll. 

On the plus side Zambia marks the point where some of the animals and birds  change from South to East Africa so you start to see some new species peculiar to East Africa. One is the Defassa Waterbuck which occurs only from the Kafue upwards in Zambia and differs quite a bit from its Southern cousin the Common Waterbuck.  We came across our first of the trip as we made our way towards Mupasha, but he was so nervous we  saw him for just an instance before he ran off into the bush. 

A shame that this part of the Kafue is so bereft of good game as it is a lovely place but at this rate we cannot see it recovering for many years to come and believe it will struggle to hold it's own on the safari circuit.

next