Day 15: Katima Mulilo to Livingstone, Zambia

Saturday 06 April 2019 | Distance travelled: 208 km (1720 km total)

What we had thought was going to be a painfully slow day's driving on a road was not so bad. The road from the border of Zambia with Namibia at Shesheke is truly bad, but I managed to zoom along it relatively quickly. We did bounce about a bit, and I probably pushed the boys patience a bit with the speed at which I navigated through the potholes, but it at least meant that we got to Livingstone in time to have a good look at the Falls.

The day started early after our first night under the stars in Africa. None of us slept well at all, as there was some sort of rave happening on the other sides of the river from where we'd pitched. The Zambians were definitely partying! Isaac and I woke at about 6am and watched the sun come up over the Zambezi and enjoyed the serenity of the riverside start to the day.

We packed up and went into town for breakfast and then tried to get on to the border. We'd arranged last night to meet once more with Davis, Munya and Whitney and so hooked up with them at the service station after a pretty grumpy breakfast. I was in a generally bad mood and did little to hide it from Jason and Isaac. Perhaps it was the tiredness, but I just wanted to get on and do things my way, without having to explain every decision. What ends up happening is that I don't communicate what's going on and I can see the Jason in particular and Isaac don't really like the lack of control. I shall work to try to be more transparent.

The border was refreshingly easy. Of course, we didn't get everything right first time and there was a lot of toing and froing, but once they saw the carnet, there was no issue with getting the car and equipment out of Namibia and into Zambia. I had to pay for a carbon tax, community tax, and get various pieces of papers stamped, but the whole thing only took about an hour. The border post was busy with trucks and cars and people all hustling to get through, but I never felt intimidated and was met with smiles all the way through.

No-one even looked at the car or what we had in it.

We then travelled the 'worst tarmaced' road in the world. Stopping and starting to get across the potholes an deterioated road. I was driving quickly, but I felt that I was probablh in the best position to drive the team on this bit of road. We got to Livingstone around 2.30pm, and by the time we were at Victoria Falls it was gone 4pm and had started to rain.

We were greeted by the most incredible views when we arrived at Victoria Falls. The water was shooting over the top of the 100 metre drop. Who knows if it was raining, or if it was just the spray from the Falls, but it was impressive to think of the amount of water coming of the top. But then the wall of water just goes on and on and one, it gets longer and what started as the mose incredible view becomes the most awesome natural feature I've ever seen in my life. I was blown away by the majesty of the water. It was truly breathtaking.

We had dinner at Cafe Zambezi, a little restaurant serving great African food. I ate caterpillars, crocodile, goat and pap (maize meal). It was my first truly African meal and one I'd been waiting weeks for.