Day 9: Kapishya-Kabwe

Day 9: Kapishya-Kabwe (Tues 21 June)

Today was another long day.  We got up at sunrise and packed up camp yet again.  :)  We managed to hit the road at 8am for the very long drive back towards Lusaka.  Most of the trip was on tarmac, which was nice – no more horrible dirt roads!  However, the tarmac itself was pretty bad.  You could hardly describe them as potholes – it looked like the road had just disintegrated, the entire width of the road surface was gone and it extended for a sizable chunk, so that the vehicles had to nearly come to a complete stop to navigate it safely.

On the way, about halfway to our destination, we took a detour down a very bad road to see Kundalila Falls.  After eating a bite of lunch together we hiked the short distance to where we could view the falls.  It was quite spectacular, from what we could see of it, which was hindered by the very steep angle of the waterfall and all the trees.  We climbed around a bit but to reach a really good viewing spot we would have had to hike for hours, so after taking a few photos we returned to the vehicles and left.

We finally reached Kabwe (about 2 hours north of Lusaka) around 5pm after travel time of 8 hours!  We were all very ready to get out of the car, the adults no less than the squirming children.  Our hosts for the evening were the Kellers, friends of Marjanne’s who are involved with a Christian school in Kabwe.  Marjanne had contacted them to see if we could camp near their home and visit the school on our return trip to Lusaka, and they were very welcoming.  We set up our tents on their grassy lawn!  Thankfully though we were setting up the tents after dark by the time we finally arrived, their outside lights made the job much easier.  The Kellers were very hospitable and opened their home to us.  And Ashley Keller had very kindly made dinner for us, which was an unexpected and delightful surprise.  We had planned to throw together a pasta salad when we arrived, but having a meal ready meant that we only had to unpack the tents and everything else could stay in the vehicles!  It also meant we could feed the children and put them to bed rather than having to spend time cooking.  Our evening of fellowship with the Kellers was very enjoyable. David and I particularly enjoyed meeting them since they are both American and we’ve met very few Americans since our arrival in Zambia.  We stayed up late into the night getting to know each other.

In the morning (Wed 22 June), the Zwemstras and Marjanne left around 7.45 to visit the school before they continued on to Lusaka.  It was nice to pack up the tents for the last time knowing that soon we would be sleeping in real beds and no longer freezing cold at night!  David and I, had important business waiting for us in Lusaka that morning, so we left the Kellers at 8am and drove straight there.  The next 48 hours were full of errands in Lusaka and then we were finally on our way home on Friday morning, 24 June, reaching Covenant College that evening around 4:30!

And that is the story of our camping trip.  I hope to post a few photos shortly.