Crossing the border from Botswana into Zambia turned out to be a real Africa experience. It started with a very shabby, run-down ferry we had to take to cross the Zambezi River. We held our breath, but arrived safely on the other side. We were immediately ‘taken care of' by somebody that guided us through the army of money changers and helped us to obtain the necessary permits, pay road- and carbon tax and clear customs. What a hassle! Crossing the border cost us 240 US dollars, about 2 hours, a lot of patience and left us feeling like a milked cow, but we were there: Zambia.

Our first stop in Zambia was Livingstone, named after the European explorer that first set foot in this region and claimed he discovered it. We pitched our tents in the courtyard of Livingstone Backpackers Lodge, which turned out to be a popular but rather noisy place. There was always a large television playing, as well as music in the open air bar. One time we asked if the television could be switched off, but this was not possible. It must have been part of their strategic positioning as a funky kind of place to be. Shortly after we arrived, three Dutch girls arrived and pitched their tents. They had been doing an apprenticeship in South Africa and were enjoying some last weeks of holidays. It was full moon, and the Victoria Falls were said to be special in the evenings with full moon. Peter went to see the falls at full moon, and gave the Dutch girls a lift. It was indeed a nice experience, as the full moon painted a beautiful rainbow in the mist of the falls. The next day we went as a family to see the falls during daytime. Again a stunning, but also very wet experience. We decided against going to the Zimbabwean side of the falls, as this would again cost us 60 US dollar for an entry visa. We did watch the braver amongst us, who were bungee-jumping and swinging from the bridge that connected Zambia and Zimbabwe. An awesome sight. We stayed longer in Livingstone as planned, because Peter fell ill and had to see a doctor and take anti-biotic for some days. Claudia took the boys into Livingstone, an experience by itself, and visited the historical museum. Somewhat to her surprise, the museum turned out to be very nice and informative, and was set up in a very hands-on manner, inviting the visitors to feel and experience things for themselves. Luckily Peter got better and on our last night we had dinner together with the Dutch girls at the local Italian restaurant. It was a restaurant, annex internet café, annex work-experience place for young Zambians learning to be waiter and/or cook. A nice experience and, not unimportant, they served good food.

As soon as Peter got better, it was time to move on. We drove to Monze, a small but ‘real African town', with lots of small shops, trading on the streets, very lively. We camped at Moorings Camp, a beautifully landscaped camping site at a pig farm. We met a group of American high school youngsters and their teachers, who were doing a project at the local primary school. They prepared and taught some lessons, helped making a fruit and vegetable garden and sponsored the school with teaching materials. The head teacher had been doing this for some years and became much befriended with the local school. We happened to be just in time for the closing ceremony the local school had been practicing and were invited to join, which we happily accepted. When we arrived at the school, Lasse and Sil attracted much attention. Soon, they had a large group of ‘followers' and they were playing soccer together and handing each other self-made presents. Claudia was helping out inside the school with putting the teaching materials in different bags, one for each teacher, while Peter took pictures. After some time, it was time for the ceremony, with dancing and singing performed by the local kids. Really nice to see their sense of rhythm and the joyfulness with which they were at it. We were struck by the children's sense of discipline and authority. You won't find that at a Dutch primary school! The next day we returned to the village and visited the school, which was closed for holidays. But we again attracted much attention and again had a large group of children walking along with us.

The first week of July was nearly gone, and it was time for us to move on. Our next goal was South Luangwa National Park, which was close to the eastern border of Zambia. To get there, we had to pass through Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Lusaka is a very busy and felt as an unsafe town. When we were driving past a market in Lusaka, a man climbed on our 4WD, trying to steal things from our roof rack. Not a nice feeling when you are in your car, waiting at a traffic light and cannot really do anything against it. Peter reversed and quickly shot forward again, thereby throwing the guy from our car, so we could continue our ways. We were, however, rather upset by this event and the unfriendly atmosphere radiating from Lusaka and we took a wrong exit at the roundabout. Unfortunately, we only noticed this 70 km further, which meant we made a 140 km detour, again pass through Lusaka, to get on the good road. It also meant we would arrive in the dark again. We made a stop-over in Luangwa Bridge, at the Bridge lodge run by a Dutchman from Eindhoven. It was a nice lodge, but way too expensive. We did see our first crocodile there, which eased our pain a bit. The next day we drove on to Chipata, were we stayed one night at Dean's Hillview lodge. Time for some shopping, as the next day we would be going to Mfuwe, a small village at the gate of South Luangwa NP, only to be reached via a 140 km long dirt road. We met Anna, a Dutch primary school teacher at the lodge, and we offered her a ride to the NP. Otherwise she would have had to take a minibus, which would have been a very long and arduous drive for her, so she gladly accepted.

When we arrived in Mfuwe, we dropped of Anna at her camping and drove on to Wildlife camp, which was set at a beautiful spot, overlooking the Luangwa River. The river was also the border of the NP, and we could see lots of hippo's, croc's and elephant from our tents. Small monkeys and baboons also like the camp a lot, so we had to be very careful and not leave any food unguarded. One baboon stole a loaf of bread from our table while we were having lunch! We only found out the second day that a dead elephant had been laying a little bit up the river yesterday. We were too late to have a look, as the local people and croc's had eaten it completely. Claudia stood in the washing room while next to her a man carried in a big chunk of elephant meat and started cleaning the blood from his body. Right in front of our tents we saw a large herd of elephant crossing the river; what a magnificent sight! One evening, we took an organized night-safari tour. We were really lucky, as we spotted leopards, lions hunting for buffalo, spotted hyena's and hippo's. We stayed for four nights in South Luangwa NP and simply enjoyed life at the campsite, looking at the wild animals, teaching Lasse and Sil and meeting other travelers. Peter went to another camp to watch the WK finale and saw Spain beat the Dutch team. Glad that life here in southern Africa can turn back to normal again.

We went back the same heavy road to Chipata and stayed one more night at Dean's Hillview Lodge. The rear brakes of our 4WD had to be repaired, as they were burnt after heavy descends. We also did a lot of shopping and stocked up for the next couple of days as we would be traveling into Malawi tomorrow and we were not sure when we would be able to do some shopping again. We're curious about Malawi, as we heard a lot of good stories about the country; beautiful countryside and very nice people, but very poor also. We'll see.