Zambia.
This blog post is going to be short and sweet as nothing really happened through the rest of Zambia.
This country is extensive so it is mainly long driving days and lots of time spent on the truck. I spent most of my days reading and getting to know the new people on the truck. I can’t say I was surprised to meet another bunch of equally crazy and awesomely fun new people. I have a feeling that this could be the trend here. Luckily we all get a long so well. Spending hours sitting side by side making small talk conversations would be hard to do with someone who you would rather not have to be in the same country as would be nightmarish. Most of the group had been traveling together since Cape Town and a couple of others since Jo’Burg so their friendships were already formed and the inside jokes had been established therefore it made traveling with each other very easy. For us newbies (5 in total including me) it was quite daunting. It wasn’t long before everyone slotted in and we became a truck full of a strange and crazy family. You would think it would be quite dysfunctional but we all seem to compliment each other, take the piss out of one another and work well together that any competitive sports team would be envious. Luckily as well we all had a taste for cheesy music which again seems to becoming a trend on my overland trucks. It wasn’t long before Disney was being played over the truck speakers and all of us we singing a long. When we weren’t trying our luck at truck karaoke we all had our heads down in our books. I have started to realise how much I actually enjoy reading and I am looking forward to having a chance to read all the serious books I skimped out on in South Sudan. We have some long driving days coming up so its a good thing to be in to reading. There isn’t really much else to do over 12 hours in a confined space with very little on offer.
I am really struggling to write anything more than this for these few days we spent in Zambia. The main reason for really visiting this country is to head to the falls so when that is done its hard to find much else to do. I am definitely not doing this place any justice and some of you who know Zambia will probably be wanting to shake me awake and talk at me for hours about how awesome this place is. Don’t worry, I do realise this. Which is why I am adding Zambia on to my list of future destinations. I would love to come back, not on a truck but in a car with a bunch of friends who have endless lists of must do’s and have to see’s. Sadly I don’t make the itineraries so its all about Livingstone and not much about anything in between. We really did zoom through the rest of Zambia. Don’t worry though, I shall be back and hopefully the next time my blog post will be more exciting. I will say this though, I do love how Zambia can be very South African if you know what I mean. On a shopping trip I really struggled to remember that I was in fact trawling the shops of the small towns in Zambia and not the high streets of say Cape Town. It’s civilisation like nowhere in Africa or at least the Africa that I am used to. The endless choices of supplies and goods just isn’t the same as the Nakumatt selection we get back home. You must all be thinking that I don’t make any sense and wondering why I am talking about shopping but if you have ever had the opportunity to shop in South Africa and in Kenya you will know what I am talking about. Zambia still has the Africa spirit that I know but there is also a little something extra that is a lot like an Africa that I don’t know. I definitely look forward to returning one day. There is something so special about it.
