An Adventure to Victoria Falls, Zambia

2 weeks….3 countries….6 friends….5 modes of transportation….102 hours of travel….4100km….1 giant waterfall!

That’s how I spent my last school break before the third trimester.  Accompanied by Ellen, Leah, Adam, Tony, and Ariel, fellow PCVs, we began an overland adventure to Zambia to visit Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, the largest waterfall in the world with a width of over 5,600ft and a height of 355ft.

The first leg -- Nampula to Cuamba -- 360km -- 11 hour train ride

View out the window of the train 

We woke up bright and early at 4:30am Saturday morning to walk to the train station for our 6am train.  Adam and I had taken this long train ride last year, not really knowing quite what we were getting ourselves in to.  This time we were much more prepared, bringing along lots of snacks and drinks, cards, and music.  With six of us, we had our own second class train car to ourselves, and we fortunately got the good train which has 6 beds in the car.

The train was pretty much exactly how I remembered it – a beautiful though slow ride passing through the mountains of Mozambique, people rushing to the train windows at the stops to sell tomatoes, bread, tangerines, bananas, onions, beans.  We discussed how crazy it must be for some of the villagers living in these towns, who probably earn their entire livelihood by selling produce to the two passing trains each day.  We passed the time playing cards, reading, singing along to our ipods, and chatting.

We arrived in Cuamba around 4pm, totally caught by surprise that we had gotten there in less than 12 hours!  Another PCV Zackaria lives in Cuamba and was a very gracious host, providing the perfect resting point before another long day.

Day 2 -- Cuamba to Lilongwe -- 490km -- 15 hours

We began day two with another 4am wake up and Zackaria guided us by starlight through the Cuamba neighborhoods for about an hour until we reached the chapa (minibus) station in town.  We all squeezed in to the chapa, our backpacks on our laps, sitting 4 to a row meant for only 3 people, chickens, sacks of dried fish and even a dead pig under our feet, the form of transport we have all grown accustomed to. 

We were headed for Mandimba, the town bordering with Malawi.  After about 3 hours on an extremely bumpy dirt road, one Zackaria describes as the road that makes your whole body into a milkshake, we arrived in Mandimba, greeted by ten people pushing their way in the doorway of the chapa to sell us Malawian money and take us on their bikes to the border post.

We each chose our bike taxis, looking for the bike with the strongest, fastest rider and the most cushioned back seat above the back tire.  After about 20 minutes of climbing up and down small hills, our tired bike drivers dropped us off at the border post to get our passports stamped for exiting Mozambique.  Then it was another 10 minute bike ride to the Malawi border post.  Fortunately, however, the Mozambique police car offered to give us all a ride in the back of his truck.  We were all relieved to give our bottoms a break from those uncomfortable bike back seats.

We hopped out of the police truck in Chiponde, getting our passports stamped to indicate our official arrival into Malawi.  Then we boarded into another pickup truck headed to our next destination, Mangochi, about 50km (~31miles) away.  Overloaded with too many people, too many bags, and several bicycles in the bed of the truck, we gritted our teeth and sucked it up, knowing the ride shouldn’t be too long.  But after stopping every five minutes to pick up more people, squeezing them in to spots seemingly on top of other people and of course a flat tire, I think all of our patience were tested. 

Over an hour and a half later (yes, an hour and a half to go 30 miles) we finally arrived in Mangochi.  But of course the pickup could not cross the bridge to take us to the actual chapa station, so we got on to another bike taxi for a 10 minute ride to where we could catch a chapa to Lilongwe.  We got on a chapa, all of us happy to be on the last ride of the day, a long ways but at least a straight shot to Lilongwe… or so we thought.

While waiting for the chapa to fill, a man approached, handing Leah a baby saying, “Take this, Take this.” Then “Put this [a bag of flavored ice] in her mouth and she will be happy.”  What was Leah to do but take the baby and hold her in her lap?!  We did soon learn that the baby’s mother was also on board the chapa, but never did she ask for her baby back. 

We left Mangochi, but just an hour later we were told that we had to switch chapas because this one was not going all the way to Lilongwe.  Then, just ten minutes later, we were told we had to switch again!  All of us were on the verge of hitting someone, our patience reaching its limit, frustrated by the lack of English understanding in an English speaking country, thoughts of ‘are we there yet?’ circulating in our minds.  Of course this chapa also blasted excessively loud dance music the entire ride.  But finally, we seemed to be on a chapa actually headed to Lilongwe and by 8pm we reached the capital city…finally. 

We stayed at the backpackers Mabuya Camp in tents with mattresses on the floor, but which were surprisingly comfortable, especially for people who had travelled for over 15 hours.  We quickly learned that we could get pizza delivered to the hostel, and ravenously ordered 5 large pizzas for the six of us.  Then straight to bed.

Day 3 -- Lilongwe to Lusaka -- 720km -- 16 hours

Grudgingly, we all woke up again at 4am and took a taxi to the chapa station in Lilongwe, today headed for the capital of Zambia, Lusaka.  First, we would have to take a chapa to the border town Michinji, then cross in to Zambia, take a taxi to a town called Chipata and find a bus to Lusaka.  It was going to be another long day, but we hoped luck would be on our side today.

Getting to the Zambian border was uneventful until we got in our taxi to Chipata.  The six of us squeezed into a small sedan, the taxi driver saying it was “No problem”, me sitting on Leah’s lap in the front seat.  The drive should have only been about 30-40 minutes, only about 40km to town on a paved road.  After about 15 minutes, our taxi driver stopped the car and turned around, pulling off the highway onto a dirt road amongst some trees.  He informed us there was a police stop ahead and we would have to wait, who knows how long, for them to leave so he wouldn’t get fined for having extra people in the car.  I’m sure you can imagine our reactions.  At first, it was kind of amusing.  Of course this would happen!  Then, as time kept passing and while discussing our options, we knew we needed to get to town. 

Ariel had learned from some Zambians at the border that there was a 12pm bus direct to Lusaka.  It was already after 10am.  We started arguing with the driver that he needed to call a friend to meet us and take the extra people in a different taxi or take us back to the border to find a different car.  Eventually, we convinced him to take us back, but then he told us about a detour we could take on a different road around the police which would take about 20-30 minutes.  We figured it would take about that time to get back to the border and to that point anyway, so fine, let’s do it.

Well, a super bumpy dirt road through the outskirts of Zambia and over an hour later, we finally arrived in Chipata.  Throughout the entire ride, the six of us sat in silence, glaring at the taxi driver for taking us on this “detour”, frustrated with ourselves for believing it could have gone any other way.

Lucky for us, there were exactly 6 tickets left for the bus to Lusaka and we boarded right away.  Another pretty uneventful ride, except for the excessively loud gospel music on the bus the entire way.  We soon learned that this was very common in Zambia, an apparently very Christian country.  Finally, by 10pm, we arrived in Lusaka and headed to our hostel, Lusaka Backpackers.

Day 4 -- Lusaka to Livingstone -- 480km -- 9 hours

Comfy travelers

Before the trip, we had heard that this leg of the travel was the shortest and by far most comfortable part - only 6 hours on the Mazhandu Family Bus renowned for its punctuality, comfort, and distribution of delicious snacks during travel.  We had hoped to take the first bus at 6:30am but due to complications at the backpackers with not making reservations for us, the late arrival of the staff member we had to pay, the lack of functionality of the credit card machine and a lack of cash on hand, we opted for the 9am bus.  (Apparently Zambia is a pretty trustworthy country as the backpackers informed us to pay the taxi driver in cash for the rooms after we had gone to the bank and he would bring it back to them.)

We boarded the bus, amazed at the fact that we would each have our own assigned seat, there was space below the bus to store our bags, plenty of leg room, AC, and comfortable cushioned seats that even reclined!  We all settled in comfortably. 

Of course, as luck would have it, the bus left about an hour late.  In our eyes, the company made up for it as they passed out newspapers, cookies, and cold sodas to each passenger.  Unlike the other transportation we had taken previously and were accustomed to in Mozambique, here a rest stop was not just a bush on the side of the road.  No, we stopped at actual bathrooms!  For 2 kwatcha, one bathroom we stopped at had blue lighting, clean marble and tiled floors, walls, and ceilings, automatic hand dryers, toilet paper, and pleasant music.  We definitely weren’t in Mozambique anymore!

Due to construction along the highway and traffic exiting Lusaka, the supposed 6 hour ride turned in to about 9 hours, and we were all extremely grateful to finally arrive in Livingstone at Jollyboys Backpackers, where we wouldn’t have to move or go anywhere for the next 5 days!

Livingstone, Zambia

Livingstone is comparable to a small American town, complete with plenty of restaurants, banks, and grocery stores, everything we hoped it would be.  During our first day in Livingstone, no one was super eager to get on another bus to rush to Victoria Falls right away.  Instead, we spent the day exploring the town, spending a couple hours at the craft market perusing items like woven baskets, carved animals, paintings, and jewelry.  

Michael, the artist, signing my painting

For lunch we headed to the big Shoprite grocery store and bought three kinds of cheese, plenty of crackers, apples and veggies, bringing them back to feast first world style at Jollyboys, celebrating our arrival and relaxing poolside and in the hostel’s reading pit.

Cheese!

The reading pit at Jollyboys

Feeling more adventurous, on our second day we headed to the falls.  Jollyboys provided a free bus transport there at 10am. Finally no more 4am wake ups! 

In the local language, Victoria Falls is known as Mosi-oa-Tunya which translates to “The Smoke that Thunders”, a name we quickly came to appreciate as we heard the falls well before we saw them for the first time.  Finally, we had made it!

From left: Adam, me, Leah, Ariel, random tourist, Tony

We spent several hours walking along nearly every path on the Zambian side of the falls, taking lots of photos, watching the baboons run and play, and relishing in the incredible beauty.  

Knife Edge Bridge 

Boiling Pot trail

We hiked down a steep trail to the Boiling Pot, a spot at the base of the falls where water swirls creating a back flow and upsurge of water, just at the base of the expansive bridge linking Zambia and Zimbabwe.  There we sat watching brave bungee jumpers plunge off the bridge.

Then we headed on to the bridge ourselves, technically leaving Zambia with a stamped piece of paper with a 6 written on it by the border post guard and entering in to what Tony termed “anarchy land”, not technically in Zambia or Zimbabwe.  On the bridge, one realized just how high up 111m was, and none of us opted to follow the previous bungee jumpers this time… 

View from the bridge

That's a long way down!

On our drive home, we passed an elephant on the side of the road, just hanging out and drinking from a well.

The next day, we entered Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park and went on a two hour game drive, seeing cape buffalo, guinea fowl, monkeys, impala, warthogs, baboons, giraffes, zebras, monitor lizards, and even some squirrels.

Our safari car - Tony, Adam, me, Ellen, Ariel, Leah

Monitor Lizard

That evening, we went on a sunset/booze cruise, definitely something I would recommend to any future visitors.  The cruise lasted for about two hours, first travelling upstream passing hippos, crocodiles and elephants before reaching an open area to watch the beautiful African sunset.  Unfortunately, we think the food on the cruise may have made us all sick the next day, but it was still worth it.

Makumbi Boat

Tony, Me, Adam, Ariel, Leah, Ellen

Hippo!

The girls being goofy

Our final day in Jollyboys was spent relaxing, eating delicious foods like nachos and burgers, and playing cards and board games. 

Livingstone to Lusaka-- 7 hours

The following day, we headed back to Lusaka where we had originally planned to spend two nights before continuing back towards Mozambique.  However, we learned that on Wednesday there would be a bus direct to Lilongwe, so we extended our stay an extra night.

Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, could have been any major city in America.  We visited three huge shopping malls, saw Despicable Me 2 in 3D in a real movie theater, then opted to see two more movies including World War Z and Turbo,

Movie Theater

wandered around another craft market, ate awesome Thai food, and even got Subway (as you can tell, food was a major theme of this entire trip).

Kabwata Craft Village

 Then it was time to head back…

Lusaka to Lilongwe -- 15 hours

Packed bus

We arrived at 4:15am for our bus which was supposed to leave around 6 or 7am, only to find that almost all the seats were already occupied either with people or huge boxes, the upper storage areas completely packed including a huge mattress.  And then the gospel music videos started, and we all laughed to ourselves thinking, here we go again!  After filling in the aisles with more bags and boxes, we finally left at 6:15, travelling along smoothly, fairly quickly and efficiently, until we reached the Zambia/Malawi border.

We all filed off the bus to get our passports stamped, crossed the border and entered into Malawi, a fairly simple process.  Unless you are travelling from another country and only have three visas for five people, as some of our fellow passengers apparently did.  We proceeded to wait at the border for over an hour and a half as they sorted out their situation, and then finally we were on our way again.  We made it to Lilongwe around 7:45pm, and ordered 5 pizzas for 4 people this time.

Lilongwe to Mozambique…or maybe not -- 8 hours

This part of the trip was the part I had been most nervous about from the beginning.  We knew the Malawi/Mozambique border closed at 6pm and that transportation in Malawi is extremely slow, with frequent and excessive stops.  Our hope was to get back to Cuamba in one day, or at least cross the border into Mandimba, Mozambique and stay with a PCV there. 

Overnight, we had learned that there was a bus direct from Lilongwe to Mangochi that left around 7:30 or 8am and arrived around 1pm, giving us plenty of time to make it to the border and into Mozambique if things went as planned.  This bus though didn’t get in until almost 4pm!  It was incredible the frequency and duration of the stops on the 200km road!  There was no need for it to have taken over 8 hours to go 200km on a paved road.  Also, somewhere within the first hours of the trip, I managed to partially dislocate my right shoulder when I stood up and twisted my body awkwardly.  Fortunately, it popped itself back in and could have been much worse, but was still extremely painful.

Around 3pm, we realized it was highly probable we wouldn’t make it to the border before 6pm and should begin to formulate a Plan B and stay somewhere in Mangochi.  We tried searching on the internet with my cell phone, asked friends who had travelled through the area before, but no one knew of anywhere to stay overnight.  A friendly Malawian sitting next to us though recommended a place down the road called Villa Tafika which turned out to be comfortable, safe, and not too expensive for the night.  We were all extremely tired and had wished we could make it to Mozambique that day, especially not wanting to spend more money on lodging, but we opted for the safe route and didn’t want to be caught somewhere, at night, in the dark, with nowhere to go.

Attempt Number 2 to Mozambique -- 8 hours

We woke up early the next morning, taking the first pickup truck back to Chiponde, the border town before Mozambique, crossed in to Mandimba and got in a chapa to Cuamba.  Of course, just 20km outside of Cuamba, the chapa broke down, but fortunately a semi-truck passed by soon after we stopped and allowed us to ride in the back into town.

Train from Cuamba to Nampula -- 9 hours

Finally, all that was left was a train ride back to Nampula.  Another early morning wake up to walk in the starlight to the train station, but we all felt a sense of relief, knowing the train would make certain stops along the way, knowing it would be slow and take a long time, but also knowing we would get in around 4pm.  Unfortunately, on the way back we had the bad train, meaning there were just two “beds” for us all to sit on, which had somewhat disgusting mattresses none of us inspected too closely or let our bare skin touch.

After just 9 hours, we were finally back in Nampula!

It was a long way, but I think everyone would agree with me in saying it was definitely worth all the frustrations and overall was quite an incredible trip.

2 weeks….3 countries….6 friends….5 modes of transportation….102 hours of travel….4100km….1 giant waterfall!