Zambezi Zone

We are in Zambia! After passing through a reasonably fast border crossing, we rode down a fabulous long hill into a biggish town about 30 km away where we stopped for the usual new currency at an ATM and found a great grocery store next door with a very nice cafe attached. So after using the ATM which actually worked the first time, meaning we did not have to try 4 other banks for a machine our cards would work in, we went for a real cappuccino. Plus we did a little shopping so I had half a can of Pringles and a ginger beer. The store had a sign welcoming the TDA to town - a nice touch and many of the riders ended up stopping there.

The next day was "interesting", to say the least! I arrived at lunch to find a big crowd of riders hanging out in the grass. Everyone had to hold up there as in the next town there was some unrest. The information we had involved a witch doctor, a ritualistic murder a couple of weeks ago which the police were not handling to the satisfaction of some of the citizenry and there you have it, it's a riot! Eventually, things had settled down enough, the looting had stopped, the mob was dispersed and we were good to go. Ciaran decided we would ride in a convoy through the town, so away we went. We were met by a police vehicle which led us through the actual town, until they stopped and up ahead we could see a big crowd and lots of black smoke on the road ahead. So maybe the riot had not been totally calmed down....we waited for a bit behind the police truck, eying the ragtag group aboard, they looked like civilians who had been invited on, wearing this and that, but they all seemed to have a big riot helmet on. It was a little alarming when the shooting started but it was warning shots fired into the air. That is how we proceeded down the road, behind the truck, the warning shots continuing and any locals near the road wasted no time fleeing into the adjacent fields as the truck approached. The army was out in full force, standing at intervals along the roadside, looking intimidating with full uniforms and nasty looking guns complete with bayonets. We passed the burning tires, source of all the black smoke and beside them on the edge of the road were 4 or 5 guys who must have been suspects. I didn't see, but some of them tried to escape as our convoy passed, perhaps thinking the police would not dare fire at them if they were among all us mzungu. Eventually, we rode out of what was perceived to be the trouble area, the truck pulled over and we all pedalled past, back into the ordinary type of riding we are used to.

We camped at a lovely spot by a river with a great view across to Mozambique - we don't go there but it looks gorgeously green, just like Zambia! The riding has been so nice but wow, are the days ever long! In the last 5 days we've done 172 kms, 176 kms and 160 km, with slightly shorter distances the other days. The legs are fine pedalling that much but my rear end is happy about today being a rest day. I think there a a lot of others feeling the same kind of pain!

Wayne just went to the ATM here at the mall....this is a typical Africa experience..at the first ATM he wanted 2000 kwachas, but the transaction was denied. He tried the machine beside it, and pushed the button for the largest withdrawal possible which on this machine was 4000, and the machine processed the transaction with no problem!

Last night we were treated royally...Alan, a friend on the tour with us has a friend living here in Lusaka who invited Alan and his brother to stay with them for the rest day, and said bring along about 10 of your friends for a BBQ. Luckily, we were included in that elite group and did we ever get taken care of! They picked us up, drove us to their home where we sat in the lovely garden by the pool and soaked up a bunch of beer, wine and homemade lemonade. Then our hosts started cooking, warning us they had bought lots of meat and we were expected to do some serious eating! I am almost embarrassed by how much food we went through, but this guy had done a section of the TDA in a past year so he totally understood the type of appetites he would be up against. We did not disappoint them.

Today we are meeting a friend of Selena's who is here in Zambia for several weeks looking after a group of student nurses from UBC. It will be interesting to hear about her Zambia experiences, this is her third year he so I think she likes it here!

First photo: Sandy and Wayne using the ATMs in Zambia that really worked!
Second photo: we weren't supposed to take any pictures so I will only say this "might" be what the unrest looked like...
Third photo: the sign in the grocery store