By Jain
We say goodbye to The Old House and our friends drive us the 10 kilometers down the road to catch the Kazungula Ferry. Well it's not a ferry but a pontoon barge that makes the short 400 meter crossing, across the Zambezi river to Zambia. We read that in 2003 there was a disaster here when a severely overloaded truck caused one pontoon to fail capsizing the ferry. It was estimated 90 were on board and only 10 people survived. People either drowned or were mauled by crocodiles.
Thankfully our trip was uneventful. They are now in the process of building a bridge to be completed in 2017. Sorely needed since we noticed a line up of trucks that went on for at least a kilometer waiting to take the ferry across. With only an average of 2 trucks per ferry it makes a long wait.
The Zambian border crossing is confusing but with the help of a staff member that works at the Old House it was a little easier. It was his day off and he and his mother were traveling to Zambia to do a bit of shopping. They said goods were much cheaper in Zambia than Botswana.
It's hard crossing borders anywhere but Africa some can be especially difficult. Besides trying to grasp the rules, regulations, visa fees, there are the numerous touts vying for your attention. There are people with fists loads of money supposedly going to make you a heck of deal on a currency exchange, aggressive souvenir trinket salespersons, take away food hawkers clamoring for your attention and of course lots of taxi drivers that want to take you for a ride. It is a mess. It reminds me of other places we have been in the world that after you survive the experience, you know you can travel anywhere.
Fortunately we found our driver pretty quickly and took the 40 kilometer ride on a long, boring, straight road to our turnoff to Camp Nkwazi. After that it was another 2 kilometers on a dusty dirt road to reach the camp situated on the banks of the Zambezi river.
Camp Nkwazi is a luxury camp in the African bush. We are in the heart of Africa away from it all. This camp is billed as "not as a stopover but a destination". Sorry, but for us it's just a two night stopover before reaching our next destination Victoria Falls. We are staying in a tented chalet overlooking the river. Our room has an outdoor kitchen, large bedroom, bath and a nice verandah to watch for the crocodiles, birds and George the local hippo. Our chalet is tastefully furnished, complete with a glass chandelier over a huge bed and a cowhide rug. The owner, Leon, is a Namibian who owned a furniture store for 30 years in Windhoek. Now he has built this lodge from scratch, no cheap furniture here.
The chalets are set amongst beautiful gardens and grasses. There is a restaurant, pool, bar and supposedly a bakery and convenience store, which we have yet to find. All and all it is a very nice place that is quiet and tranquil. I bet if you stayed here more than a week you would be completely rested and recharged. Anymore time spent here you might be saying "Here's Johnny" from the Jack Nicholson movie The Shining!
At 6:00 p.m. we have drinks at the lodge overlooking the river. On the far side of the river we see elephants and giraffes. At 7 p.m. we have dinner. The lodge is not very full but there are two other tables, presumably birdwatchers carefully poring over pictures and materials with their tour guide.
Did I tell you that Africa food wasn't so hot? Well I stand corrected. Tonight's dinner was EXCELLENT. We had local fish ceviche followed by beef tenderloin, roasted potatoes, beets and carrots. Dessert was the best chocolate mousse ever. With glass of south African wine it doesn't get better that this anywhere. We walk to our chalet #3 and it's pitch dark and we already hear a variety of animal sounds. We have been warned that George the Hippo likes to munch on the grass outside our tented chalet and that you can hear lions in the distance. So for now it's good night. Hopefully we will sleep tight and won't let the bugs bite, or anything else for that matter.
We say goodbye to The Old House and our friends drive us the 10 kilometers down the road to catch the Kazungula Ferry. Well it's not a ferry but a pontoon barge that makes the short 400 meter crossing, across the Zambezi river to Zambia. We read that in 2003 there was a disaster here when a severely overloaded truck caused one pontoon to fail capsizing the ferry. It was estimated 90 were on board and only 10 people survived. People either drowned or were mauled by crocodiles.
Thankfully our trip was uneventful. They are now in the process of building a bridge to be completed in 2017. Sorely needed since we noticed a line up of trucks that went on for at least a kilometer waiting to take the ferry across. With only an average of 2 trucks per ferry it makes a long wait.
The Zambian border crossing is confusing but with the help of a staff member that works at the Old House it was a little easier. It was his day off and he and his mother were traveling to Zambia to do a bit of shopping. They said goods were much cheaper in Zambia than Botswana.
It's hard crossing borders anywhere but Africa some can be especially difficult. Besides trying to grasp the rules, regulations, visa fees, there are the numerous touts vying for your attention. There are people with fists loads of money supposedly going to make you a heck of deal on a currency exchange, aggressive souvenir trinket salespersons, take away food hawkers clamoring for your attention and of course lots of taxi drivers that want to take you for a ride. It is a mess. It reminds me of other places we have been in the world that after you survive the experience, you know you can travel anywhere.
Fortunately we found our driver pretty quickly and took the 40 kilometer ride on a long, boring, straight road to our turnoff to Camp Nkwazi. After that it was another 2 kilometers on a dusty dirt road to reach the camp situated on the banks of the Zambezi river.
Camp Nkwazi is a luxury camp in the African bush. We are in the heart of Africa away from it all. This camp is billed as "not as a stopover but a destination". Sorry, but for us it's just a two night stopover before reaching our next destination Victoria Falls. We are staying in a tented chalet overlooking the river. Our room has an outdoor kitchen, large bedroom, bath and a nice verandah to watch for the crocodiles, birds and George the local hippo. Our chalet is tastefully furnished, complete with a glass chandelier over a huge bed and a cowhide rug. The owner, Leon, is a Namibian who owned a furniture store for 30 years in Windhoek. Now he has built this lodge from scratch, no cheap furniture here.
The chalets are set amongst beautiful gardens and grasses. There is a restaurant, pool, bar and supposedly a bakery and convenience store, which we have yet to find. All and all it is a very nice place that is quiet and tranquil. I bet if you stayed here more than a week you would be completely rested and recharged. Anymore time spent here you might be saying "Here's Johnny" from the Jack Nicholson movie The Shining!
At 6:00 p.m. we have drinks at the lodge overlooking the river. On the far side of the river we see elephants and giraffes. At 7 p.m. we have dinner. The lodge is not very full but there are two other tables, presumably birdwatchers carefully poring over pictures and materials with their tour guide.
Did I tell you that Africa food wasn't so hot? Well I stand corrected. Tonight's dinner was EXCELLENT. We had local fish ceviche followed by beef tenderloin, roasted potatoes, beets and carrots. Dessert was the best chocolate mousse ever. With glass of south African wine it doesn't get better that this anywhere. We walk to our chalet #3 and it's pitch dark and we already hear a variety of animal sounds. We have been warned that George the Hippo likes to munch on the grass outside our tented chalet and that you can hear lions in the distance. So for now it's good night. Hopefully we will sleep tight and won't let the bugs bite, or anything else for that matter.
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