charcoal-cooked steaks are worth it

Some call Zambia "the real Africa" due to its "sparse untouched population" and fairly big land mass. With only a mere 15 people per square km and 45% of them living in the cities, we didn't see too many people on our route while traveling the long distances mentioned in our LP. The people we did see were busy carrying firewood or water to/from their home. Being a land-locked country, it seems that the major roads are just connecting the villages, dot to dot.

In 2005, Zambia was one of the African countries deemed a Heavily Indebted Poor Country and so most of its $7 billion US debt was eliminated. Still, the country suffers from high unemployment, a rapid population growth rate, and a government which is plagued with corruption and political shenanigans since it became independent in 1964. Still, the biggest dilemma remains, that of HIV/AIDS, where it is estimated that 35% of the population is infected.

With a lot of big trucks and transport vehicles careening up and down the road, making every town and village a potential "trucker's stop", one can easily see how it can bring about good business, but also spread HIV. According to the LP, due to the chronic HIV/AIDS dilemma, life expectancy is a horrific 33 years old. We saw a lot of evidence of HIV/AIDS campaigning, urging people to "play it safe" and to reaffirm "AIDS doesn't discriminate. Get Tested".

After the road from Livingstone to Zimba, i thought i would need to buy myself a little rubber ring to sit on from then on. There were more potholes than smooth road.

But then suddenly, after we passed Zimba, shining in the distance was silky smooth tar road, painted lines and all! I have to admit i was very impressed.

Tonight we camped at Eureka Camp, just a few km south of Lusaka city. There was a sweet retired British couple who were also doing an overland trip. They had their 4x4 shipped to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania and were meandering their way to South Africa over a few months. Their plan was to ship their car to Singapore afterwards and sometime next year fly down and explore SE Asia overland. It's always nice to meet others doing a similar journey, visiting similar places and even sleeping in the same Eezi-Awn rooftop tent!

Eureka Camp was a nice spread out kind of place. We bought some fresh meat from the bar/restaurant and braai'd it to perfection over the last of our charcoals. Divine. While going to the toilets for one last visit before turning in for the night, we heard the 1st leg of the Semi Finals between Liverpool and Chelsea being aired on TV in the bar! And we were told it would be on April 30th! Apparently that is the when the 2nd leg will be played.

So along with a few other tourists and locals, we watched the game which concluded in the devastating own-goal (a header no less!) by Liverpool's John Arne Riise at the last possible second. Shame!

There was nothing more to do but go to bed.............


Start: Livingstone, ZAM. 8:48
End: Lusaka, ZAM. 17:15
Distance Traveled: 489 km
Road Conditions: horrendous pot-holed road from Livingstone to Zimba, and then pretty smooth sailing from there. There does some to be some evidence of road works being done, so that is positive.
Temperature: rather cool.