DAY 12 - WENI WENI WA CHI MALAWI

Paid for our very pricy 6 hours in Chipata and headed over Zambian border into Malawi without a hitch. Kitty is finally starting to feel better and we’re glad to have her back.

The drive through Malawi to our campsite was very pretty and dotted with little villages teeming with life and chickens and goats and kids and people riding bikes and ladies selling tomatoes. 

Malawian people are friendly and their Kwatcha money is pretty. More and more we are seeing that China and Japan are taking over Africa and it is quite frightening.

Arrived at our campsite in record time (after covering so much ground the night before) and were happy to see the other teams and our friends again. We are calling the banks of Lake Malawi home for the next 2 days. It is beautiful here. There is a full moon reflecting on the water and we can literally watch the sun rising over the lake from our tent.

Kitty finally found the elusive mattress puncture and patched it up once and for all. We might have a mattress for the first time since day 2. Excitement.

Sat on the “beach” for a sundowner and decided to treat ourselves to some yummy Chomba fish for dinner, indigenous to the lake and a specialty. The fish is yum if you don’t mind all the bones. 

We are becoming more accustomed to being on the trip, travelling the roads and experiencing the countries we visit. We eat with our hands, we work on Africa Time, we use 1 ply toilet paper, camp now sets up in less than 5  minutes and we don’t mind a cold shower. 12 days has never flown by so fast. It really feels like a quick slideshow or preview of what these countries have to offer. Too quick. 

But we will be back. 

DAY 11 – THE ROAD GOES ON AND ON AND ON AND ON

The Kitty and Dani are losing their sense of humor with the elusive Inflatable Mattress Puncture as we patched it up for the second time and still woke up on the floor. Grump.

With Manda and Dani feeling slightly dazed from the previous nights activities but Kitty in high spirits we piled up camp and crossed over borders back into Zambia easy peasy. We’ve learnt that politeness and respect goes a long way in dealing with border crossings to the point that Mary Poppins herself couldn’t be prouder. The Carnet du Passage is also a green card into Africa. Border posts love that. Sorted.

Zambian roads are like soft fudge that has melted into tar Scale Electrics. They ripple and bulge and pucker and bloat and it’s almost near impossible to avoid a scrape or two. We’ve learnt to read the road and tyre skid marks are a good indicator that potholes follow shortly after. Tertius has been a trooper though. He now has a buncha bugs on his grill and has been sticker bombed by other Put Foot teams but still dashes like a silver bullet through Africa (Affrrriiccaaaaaaahh!!!!). He also boasts an “I Heart Zambia” sticker on his behind. Nice. 

We enjoyed a cheap lunch at a roadside restaurant; flame grilled chicken with nshima and chips. Kicked the hangover in the bum and we were off again. Little did we know how disastrous the next 12 hours would be.

We usually try to find campsites before the sun goes down so that we avoid travelling at night and also because it’s nice to set up camp in the daylight, but after four failed attempts at near non-existent campsites we were forced to drive through the 750km to Chipata. The road was tricky and used by plenty of trucks that like drive like drug cartels in getaway cars. Passed a couple villages and truck stops on the way that were drunk with lights and vibey music on their Saturday night.

Our drive / navigate / nap rotation system worked well. We arrived at 1am in the morning and crawled into Pine View Guest House after spotting a cat-raccoon-rat-squirrel-cat, a man juggler and quite possibly what might have been the Tokoloshe. Grumpy and tired we set up the tent and passed out.

DAY 10 - KARIBA KARIBA

After spending the night on the lake we woke up to the sunrise and were served a delicious greasy breakfast. We docked at 12:30 and headed up the hill to do a bit of sightseeing, buy touristy bracelets and play some soccer with the local kiddies. Put Foot issued each team with two soccer balls, which get to entertain kids with and then leave behind. 

We adopted another team member for the day. Marco from The Natives needed a ride and he was a very good
at spotting nothing in the bush. We like him.

We sat and enjoyed a drink overlooking the lake with The Silly Buggers, Pistons of Fury and the Slowvelders and then headed to Checkpoint 4 on the banks of the Kariba. Camping with hippos and crocs only a couple of meters away reminded us that we were in Africa (Affrriiccahhhhhhh!) and took precautions to stay very much away.

That night Kitty turned in early to try fix the evil bug and Mands and I drank too much tequila.

DAY 9 – ALL ABROAD

Woke up at 5am and made it to the Zim border before all the crowds. Witnessed a most spectacular sunrise over the Vic Falls as we crossed over the river. 

Driving through Zimbabwe to Kariba Lake was beautiful, and definitely one of our favourite drives of the trip so far. The road winds and turns around hills and villages and giant baobabs. We zoomed past as grumpy baboons slept in.

Excited to board the Kariba Ferry we were the first team on board. Tertius sat below in a tight squeeze with other team vehicles while we sat pretty on the deck sipping on G&Ts and basking in what felt like luxury. Being too late to dock, team Risk Africa now have a habit of making boats turn around for them.

The crew on the ferry were fantastic and we ate like kings. Shorts and t-shirts have become the norm and we are no longer freezing at night. Unfortunately Kitty had been fighting a bug for a day or two so the motion of the Ferry was not ideal, but the boat trip was a truly special experience. Fish eagles kept a watchful eye and we were all in good spirits as the sun went down, smiling to ourselves as we thought about what Joburg might be up to in its Friday afternoon in traffic. Sea Lion pushed through the night as we fell asleep to the humming of the engine.

DAY 8 – WILD THINGS AND SMILES ON FACES

What a day. The girls woke up early to pet wild stuff. Kitty got better acquainted with Liwa the ellie on an elephant safari while Manda was eyed out by three very large kitties and was even brave enough to let lady lion lick her hand / sample her for lunch. At 11am all the Rally teams lined up for a 60-car convoy to Senkobo Basic School for our first school Shoe Drop. Not only do these kids now have school shoes on feet, but also two freshly painted and newly floored classrooms, and finally a water pump with running water. 

Smiles on faces. 

Everyone and his aunty had arrived for the Shoe Drop and we were greeted with much ceremony and dancing.
Teachers, parents, the Mayor, even “Miss Independence” was there. Everyone was extremely grateful and it was
nice to chat to some of the locals. The drop was interrupted midway by a raging veld fire nearby leaving our cars
in danger. The kids were quick to know what to do to put it out while us lame folk stood in awe watching.

The awesome thing about these shoe drops is that we actually get to interact with the kids when we give them their shoes. Teachers write the kids’ shoe sizes on their hands and they lead in one by one to have socks and shoes fitted. Their English is quite good and you can get by with the simple what’s-your-name? How-old-are-you? Questions.
They are fascinated by photography equipment and always want to see a photo you have taken of them. It is very likely that you will be completely engulfed by a crowd of kids wanting to see the same picture! We played some soccer, danced with the kids and high fived all round, finished up the painting of the classrooms and then we were done.

After doing some good we headed back to the campsite for Checkpoint Party 3. The highlight of the party was Bobby Skinstad air-punching to Me & Mr. Brown’s cover of 500 Miles. He can also do the worm. We’re not going to tell you
that Kitty and Dani could be scooped up in one arm each because that would just be embarrassing for us to ask him
to do that. 

The party got pretty crazy pretty quickly but we escaped before it got too messy. We needed to be up super early
to cross the Zim border and drive the 181kms to arrive at Kariba Lake for our chartered ferry. A couple other teams
with the same plans decided to upgrade to some permanent tents to facilitate a quicker escape in the morning.
We were outta there before they even woke up. 

Go team!

(Pics to follow soon!)