The underestimated puddle of mud

On our way to Lusaka where I will be dropping Daniel at the airport we make a stop in Lochinvar National Park. Very strange place.

First of all the secondary roads in Zambia seem to be the worst of the worst. Off the main road we move at just 25 km/h in average for two hours! Car-sized potholes, filled with water. River crossings. In general, starting from Livingstone everything is flooded. And everything is crowded with people! Everywhere, even in the remotest spots someone is riding a bicycle or strolling alongside the "road". Wtf? Apparently someone exchanged impalas for people here.

We reach the park's entrance gate after 6 p.m. and are advised to continue and to register the next day. A park once founded by WWF but totally run-down. We rush north over the unrushable mud road and ... discover a newly established gypsum mine in the middle of the national park. We ask and they answer: "Yes, not long ago all animals moved further north-west, so we were allowed to open this mine here.". Jaja, is klar.

Dark falls and suddenly zombie-like creatures appear along the muddy path in the night. One more. Many more. A truck next to the road. Wtf 2.0? For six (!) hours some 20 people (they call themselves scouts) are stuck in the trench with a truckload of beer and groceries (already unloaded). Finally! My first recovery of the whole trip! The truck's rear differential housing is blocking on the trench's ridge and has to be freed over and over again. They push, I pull with my tiny 4x4. After 1-1.5 hours we manage to get the truck out of the trench and my equipment is brutally worn. The kinematic bungee rope did a good job and I hope my transmission and clutch survived.

At around 9 p.m. we reach Chunga campsite. There is nothing here but still rangers hang out and build us a fire. The next morning we have baked beans, Daniel chases some birds away from the lagoon and we do a short hike to some hot springs because the road is not drivable. We nearly got stuck in the mud but somehow managed to reverse out without having had the need to pray. The hot springs feature hot water with boiled cockroaches, crispy frogs as well as well-done little turtles.Read more