Zambia and Malawi: Wowee!

We crossed over into Zambia and went to see Victoria Falls. They are the longest falls in the world at 1.8km long and were really impressive and beautiful, not commercialized like Niagara Falls. We were able to jump from rock to rock out into the Zambezi to dip our feet into the river while eating our lunch, maybe 30metres from where it poured over the falls.

We were really impressed with the number of bicycles in Zambia – it is the most common form of transportation, which means lots of thumbs up and bell ringing from the locals and very little motorized traffic on the roads. People carry so much on their bicycles, including enormous stacks of wood, corn, coal, and even other people. Lots of the back racks have built in cushions so that people can use their bicycles as taxis.

We went into another national park and game reserve, called South Luangwa, and had lots of really close encounters with wildlife, mostly from the safety of a truck. We went on an evening drive, and saw more lions (stalking a baby hippo), a leopard, spotted hyena, and lots of other incredible animals. The campsite we stayed in had platforms up in the trees for the tents, because elephants and hippos regularly wandered through camp.

From Zambia, we crossed over into Malawi and are now cycling north up the lake. People here are very friendly and every kid (and many adults) calls out to us as we cycle by – mostly saying “Muzungu”, which means white person. There are not a lot of white Malawians, so we are a bit of a spectacle. Malawi was a British “protectorate” before independence but not many colonists lived here. Livingstone did a bunch of exploring around here, looking for the source of the Nile, and it was near where we are now that Stanley found him and uttered the famous, “Livingstone, I presume?”.

We can’t really stop to stretch, eat, pee, or buy food (all important things to do while on a cycle tour) without getting quite a lot of attention. We stopped for lunch one day in the most remote stretch of road we could find, and before we knew it, we were surrounded by more than two dozen people. It is nice to get to meet the locals and chat, as usually at least one person speaks some English and translates for us. In every country/region, we learn at least how to say “hi, how are you?”, “thank you”, and a few other useful phrases, which always surprises (and, I like to think, impresses, people). We certainly get a lot of big smiles from people when we speak their languages.

We have been buying lots of food along the roadsides, which is delicious and really fresh. We made fish/ mango curry one night, on locally grown rice, which was delicious. Nelson's favourite snacks are these cookies and crackers we are finding everywhere, though.