Set off on a self-drive road trip beneath the

big skies of Zambia, roaming among big game

by day, camping under the stars at night and
casting off in a canoe at the roads end.
BY OLIVER SMITH @OLISMITHTRAVEL
he
PHOTOGRAPHS BY PHILIP LEE HARVEY in t th
r d ess f Sou Park
o
@PHILIP_LEE_HARVEY_PHOTOGRAPHER opa tor nal
A le fu sec Natio
e a
Ns angw
Lu

Rules 4754 of the Zambian Highway Code
concern animals. They offer considered
advice, including Do not carry animals on
vehicle rooftops, If you have an animal
in your car . . . make sure it cannot disturb
you and, most concerning of all, Be careful
around larger game animals [which] may
charge your vehicle, causing damage and
endangering your life. For further study on
this last point, an excellent resource is
YouTube. There, you can carefully identify
hazards such as monkeys prying windshield
wipers off a Land Rover, a rhinoceros
enthusiastically sinking its horn into a
Renault hatchback, and an elephant flipping
a minibus on its side. This is all required
homework if, like photographer Philip Lee
Harvey and me, you are about to set out
on an 800-mile road trip across Zambia in a
Toyota Land Cruiser, driving unsupervised
among the big beasts of the African bush.
The important thing is to respect all
animals, advises Mark Geraghty, who works
for the 4x4 service Safari Drive, as he hands
me the keys to said Land Cruiser in the
parking lot of the Lusaka airport. The
animals were here before you. Remember:
in the wild anything can happen!
Where most safarigoers travel in the
company of a knowledgeable guide, who
knows how to deal with difficult situations,
on a self-drive safari you are your own
guide, driver, navigator, cook, emergency
medical technician and engineer. Some
would say self-driving heightens the best
elements of a safari, including the dizzying
sense of being truly alone in the wilderness.
There are few places better for such an
adventure than Zambia, one of the most
sparsely inhabited countries in Africa, with
remote swathes of forest and grassland
Dri ush t th Lua
bisected by mighty rivers and arrow-straight
highways that stretch to the horizon.
50 LONELY PLANET / Fall 2017
We set out on one such highway, the Great
East Road, bound for the wilderness country
of South Luangwa National Park. Soon the
chaotic traffic jams of the capital, Lusaka,
retreat behind us. Potholes appear in the
road: big craters that jolt the car, send loose
items airborne and instantly scramble any
eggs stored in the on-board fridge.
These potholes are all the more difficult
to dodge when youre distracted by an
exquisite landscape. At first, low forested
hills rise on all sides, growing taller as the
road skirts the border with Mozambique,
before lapsing into infinite green plains on
the cusp of the Luangwa Valley. Homeward-
bound schoolchildren shuffle along the
roadside, heading for villages where bonfire
smoke swirls about thatched roofs.
In the market town of Chipata, people
sell peanuts through the car window. A
policeman flags us down at a checkpoint
for a symposium on British soccer player
Wayne Rooney. Most of the time, however,
we are alone on the road. Now and then
freight trucks from Malawi, Congo and
Zimbabwe barge past; seemingly unsure if
Zambians drive on the left or on the right
side of the road (its the left), most go for a
compromise and drive down the middle
with the horn blaring.
Night descends swiftly, and soon the
vehicles headlights pick the shapes of
sleeping villages out of the gloom. An owl
swoops into the glare of the beams. It is
many hours before we arrive at the gates
of the national park and the last hiccups of
pavement give way to rusty-brown earth.
g
lon to
i n g a acks ngwa
v r
b ou
S
Fall 2017 / LONELY PLANET 51

Like any highway, the bush tracks of South
Luangwa National Park have their own
particular set of rules. For instance: you
should slip the clutch delicately when
approaching a leopard snoozing on a log;
when attempting a three-point turn on a
riverbank, you should check the rear-view
mirror for oncoming hippos; and, above all,
you should be respectful to other road users.
Soon after arriving in the park, I have to
make an emergency stop as a young bull
elephant lumbers onto the road. It becomes
clear he is the inconsiderate driver of the
Luangwa traffic system, honking angrily at
our vehicle and anything else hoping to
overtake him. Keeping a sensible following
distance are a convoy of giraffes, their heads
gently bobbing above the tree line. Its often
said that safari is one long drama and in
driving yourself you soon realize you are, if
not exactly a starring cast member, at least a
nonspeaking extra in the production. Upon
accidentally bashing the car horn to reach for
a sandwich, I send about 20 tons of panicked
hippo pods bundling into a lagoon.
Finding your way around requires skill in
South Luangwa, a labyrinth of tangled foliage
and oxbow lakes where water lilies grow. It
means that even self-drivers are advised to
sometimes park at lodges and enlist the
services of an experienced guide, such as
Yona Banda, a local who, ever since he was
president of his high school wildlife club,
Lio prid a lion iles i
has honed a Superman-like ability to spot
animals at long range. With Banda at the
wheel, we soon happen upon a herd of 40
52 LONELY PLANET / Fall 2017
more elephants crossing the Luangwa river,
their trunks raised like periscopes as they
slowly wade through the current.
When you look into the eyes of an
elephant, you can see they are thinking like
us, says Banda, studying the herd through
his binoculars. They mourn like us too. Ive
seen elephants returning to the place where
their friends have fallen just to hold the
bones in their trunks.
He soon scouts a group of 14 lions and
cubs, all watching intently on a riverbank
as one of their pride swims across the water,
three crocodiles in pursuit. Transfixed by
the plight of their comrade, the lions dont
seem to register our vehicle, and they come
close enough to us that their whiskers
brush the car door.
That evening, we are the only visitors at
our bush campsite, arriving just as the sun
slips beneath the canopies of sycamores and
tamarind trees. We pitch the SUVs built-on
roof tents (complete with mattresses and
soft pillows), shaking 500 miles of dust off
the outer sheet. Cape turtledoves coo in the
ebony trees, and tufts of wild cotton drift My Teflon-coated poly-cotton ripstop tent
through the evening air. Logs are chopped, can repel rain, sleet and snow. It can stand
sausages are grilled, beers are clinked, and firm in raging winds. But its all-season
stories are shared. outdoor performance specifications do not
Each day on safari is essentially a harvest extend to withstanding a sharp feline claw.
for tales around the campfire. Then the last Lying inside the tent at night, you soon
embers crackle and die, and it is time to realize that only a few millimeters of fabric
climb the ladder to my rooftop bed. At separate you from all the animals you have
this point, tales laughed over by the warm seen on the road, and that for all you know,
glow of the fire acquire a new, sinister all the elephants, lions and crocodiles youve
resonance in darkness. spotted could be standing just outside.
It takes about 45 minutes for the human
eye to fully reach maximum sensitivity in
darkness. I poke my head out of the tent into
the inky blackness, and 10 minutes pass
before I spot bats flitting through the patch
of sky around Orions Belt, and another 15
before I spy baboons stirring in the high
branches of nearby fig trees. But compared
to most mammals, the nocturnal vision of
we Homo sapiens leaves much to be desired. It
e Mfu cubs, ed
h
f t ir as r
s o the ch rive takes a full nine hours before I climb out of
e sse with being n the
n e
my tent in the slanting morning sunshine,
d
ing oco yawn, reach for my toothbrush and see the
a tch by cr
w footprints of a leopard crossing the tracks
of the Land Cruiser on the far edge of camp.
Fall 2017 / LONELY PLANET 53
I SPOT BATS
FLITTING
THROUGH THE
PATCH OF SKY
AROUND

ORIONS BELT.

ow
oxb te,
e an ampsi rgest a
c
esid a c e la fri
g b lovi th in A
m pin at Ka one of tions
Ca lake e to pula
s
clo po po
hip

m sense of smallness than seeing a herd of
fro ks
d awn e ban
t th
ff a on
i n g o amp bezi
t c
Cas wild e Zam
a f th
o elephants are juveniles spurting water over
For all the off-road capabilities of our SUV,
some Zambian bush highways cannot be
reached in a 4x4. These are the tributaries
and sandy lagoons of the Lower Zambezi
National Park thoroughfares for hippos,
crocodiles and elephants, and, at certain
times of the year, Anthony Elton and
Tavengwa Kangwara.
Elton and Kangwara pioneered canoe
expeditions on the Zambezi three decades
ago and now lead clients on multinight
canoe journeys through the backwaters,
sneaking past hippo pods by day, camping
on uninhabited river islands by night. And
these trips are not without incident.
On one outing long ago, Elton awoke
one morning looking up at the underside
of an elephant. On another, he pretended
to be asleep as a pride of lions peed on him,
one after the other, to mark their territory.
Some people in Zambia think a canoe safari
is dangerous, says Kangwara, stocking the
boats with tents and supplies. But I have
been paddling here for 21 years. I still have
all my arms and legs.
We drift with the current on its slow
procession to the Indian Ocean, listening
to the slosh of the paddles and the calls of
fish eagles from the treetops. The Zambezi
changes character with passing each mile.
At first its wide and serene, with woods of
acacia and winter thorn forming the boundary
between water and sky. Then it turns into a
muddle of channels with large crocodiles
basking on the sandbanks, and hippo pods
blocking the way, bearing their tusks.
56 LONELY PLANET / Fall 2017
Kangwara soon spies a herd of elephants
watering upstream. We paddle against
the current until the folds of their metallic
gray skin are just yards away. There is
nothing more likely to restore a childlike
elephants from a canoe, your body measuring
only 2 or 3 feet tall from the water line, while
gazing up into a forest of legs. Among the
each other and a matriarch, perhaps 50 years
old, ponderously scratching her backside
against the bark of an acacia tree.
In the decades since this herds matriarch
was born, the number of elephants in Africa
has plummeted by an astonishing two-thirds.
Most recently, a poaching epidemic has
annihilated elephant populations across the
continent. The Lower Zambezi population is
healthy, but not far away, poachers have
targeted elephants by lacing waterholes with
cyanide, a poison that will shut down a
heart the size of a car engine.
The current takes us out of sight and the
sound of faraway pachyderm trumpeting
carries downstream. At moments like this,
safari feels like an experience more precious
and profound than seeing millennia-old
pyramids, or wandering around museums
filled with centuries-old artifacts.
For the big beasts of the Zambian
wilderness are masterpieces of evolution
hundreds of millions of years in the making.
They are Mother Natures Mona Lisa, its
Michelangelos David, Taj Mahal and Angkor
Wat but living, breathing, roaming the
bush highways of Africa and scratching
their backsides on acacia trees.
Fall 2017 / LONELY PLANET 57
 s
eek s
b u ck p reed es.
r e o
ate h th can
A w hroug ssing
t tp a
a

e n
ors n a
i ver Hamp o bezi
R
r a ng c Zam
e t ove anoei g the
s c n
Sun afaris d alo
S slan
i

Fall 2017 / LONELY PLANET 59

 MAKE PLAN YOUR SELF-DRIVE ITINERARY
IT
HAPPEN

1
Your first step is
organizing a suitably
2
Once youre fully
acquainted with your
3
When you return from
your canoeing trip,
4
One hours drive
from Nsefu Camp in
5
Not far from Kalovia,
Chikoko Camp is an
6
Getting to Luangwa
River Camp involves
equipped vehicle for vehicle, set out from follow the same road a remote tract of bush excellent base for the some fairly advanced
a road trip across the Zambian capital, back to Lusaka. It takes outside the South walking safaris for map reading. However,
Zambia. A number Lusaka. It takes roughly roughly nine hours Luangwa National Park, which Zambia and its the perfect place
of companies rent three hours to drive to drive northeast to Kalovia is a community- South Luangwa to spend your final
4x4s; one of the most south to the Zambezi South Luangwa run campsite for National Park are night in the park, with
comprehensive is Breezers camp near National Parks Milyoti self-drivers. Facilities renowned. Its handsome villas,
Safari Drive. Its heavily the town of Chirundu, Gate (park fees $25 per include a campfire- accessible only by knowledgeable guides
customized Land where canoe trips person per day, $30 heated bush shower foot. Guests park their and a lawn frequented
Rover Defenders and depart. Canoeing the per person per day for and toilet. Close to the vehicles, cross the by mischievous
Toyota Land Cruisers Zambezi requires no self-drives). Nsefu camp is the Changwa Luangwa by canoe, monkeys (from $460
come with a fridge- previous experience, Camp is the oldest Channel, home to one and take a 10-minute per person, including
freezer, gas cooker, though you need to safari lodge in Zambia; of the largest hippo stroll; porters carry meals, drinks and
satellite phone, be reasonably fit. River its close to the gate, in populations in Africa; luggage and supplies. game drives; robin
navigation system Horse Safaris is among one of the most its reached from the Accommodations are popesafaris.net).
and roof tents. The the operators running wildlife-dense parts of camp via a bumpy 45- stilt houses that are
tour operator trips from March to the park, with a huddle minute drive (camping rebuilt from scratch
organizes custom December. The of circular cabins set from about $70; every year using
itineraries that allow company offers two- by a bend in the campzambia.com). bamboo and thatch.
guests to choose the to five-night itineraries, Luangwa River. Be sure Visitors take game
balance of lodges paddling in canoes by to spend some time in walks with a guide
and rooftop camping. day and camping in the well-concealed and an armed ranger
A 13-night itinerary the wild at night. Rates hide overlooking a (from $570 per person,
based on the locations include three generous small watering hole including meals, drinks
6 1 in this article costs meals each day, use of (from $590 per person, and guided walks;
3 from about $6,700 camping equipment, including meals, drinks remoteafrica.com).
ZAMBIA GETTING THERE & AROUND per person transfers back and game drives;
5 4
2 MALAWI (safaridrive.com). upstream and local robinpopesafaris.net).
FLIGHTS While no direct flights to Zambia are available from North America, a good guides experienced
option is South African Airways, which offers daily flights to Johannesburg; in dodging hippo
from there, its about a two-hour flight to Zambias main international airport, pods (two-night
in Lusaka. Other airlines flying from the U.S. to Lusaka include Emirates and Zambezi canoe trail
Ethiopian Airlines. An increasing number of international airlines also fly to from about $490;
the airport at Livingstone (for Victoria Falls), and some fly to Mfuwe (for riverhorsesafaris.com). WHEN TO GO
Map Key South Luangwa National Park) and Ndola. Zambias peak wildlife viewing
1 Chipata season runs from May to October,
2 Chirundu coinciding with the dry weather.
3 Lilongwe TOURIST VISA A tourist visa, generally issued upon arrival, is required ($50 for single entry). Be aware that many lodges are
4 Lower Zambezi closed for the rest of the year,
National Park and some bush tracks
5 Lusaka DRIVING If you plan to do the driving yourself, an International Driving Permit is required; may be impassable.
6 South Luangwa you can obtain one for $20 through AAA (aaa.com) or the American
National Park Automobile Touring Alliance (aataidp.com).

PUBLIC TRANSIT Public transportation infrastructure is limited in Zambia, though long-distance

buses run between major towns, such as Lusaka and Chipata (around $13).

For More: See Lonely Planets Zambia, Mozambique & Malawi guidebook ($26.99) or download the Zambia chapter from shop.lonelyplanet.com ($4.95).

60 LONELY PLANET / Fall 2017 Fall 2017 / LONELY PLANET 61