Driving through Zambia

We then drove on through the Zambian countryside. Many people in rural areas make a living from producing charcoal, so swathes of land are black and burnt. Even though there is obvious poverty in these areas, the people seem happy, friendly, and outgoing. Being a Sunday, there were whole groups sitting outside socialising.

The landscape is stunning with mountains, rivers, and forests.

We stopped for a roadside lunch of sandwiches and salads. We arrived at our campsite in Petauke at about 4.30pm, put our tents up, and spent the time before dinner chatting. Fortunately, the verbose member of our group had upgraded, so he wasn’t there to dominate the conversation! Dinner was beef stroganoff with mashed potato and vegetables. It was very tasty. After dinner, we sat around the campfire discussing modern Zambia with Laban. The former Northern Rhodesia gained independence at the same time as Rhodesia itself, but the nation has been much more successful than its southern neighbour in the years since.

Before bed, we chatted to some tourists from Slovenia who have rented 4 x 4s with roof tents and who are travelling around southern Africa for three weeks. They were happy that we were familiar with their country and were praising their capital city, Ljubljana.Read more