ZAMBIA

We had a super long Easter weekend here and decided to get out of dodge and do something other than go to the beach. Zambia is just a short drive away (according to the map) and has some of the best game parks in Southern Africa. Thus began a long weekend drive on probably the WORST, bone jarring roads I have ever had the displeasure to drive on. This "short drive" turned out to be just about 7 hours. Our AVERAGE speed from Lilongwe to the camp was 44 kilometers per hour. This equals about 30 MPH. And, it must be mentioned that the first hour and a half or so we were on paved roads doing about 60MPH. That's how bad the roads were!

We went with a small group of people to a place called "flatdogs." As always, we decided to camp b/c it is by far the most economical way to get away. The boys put their tent up on the platform and the girls and I were down below on the ground. Why platforms you ask? Well, we found out the first night there when we were awakened at about midnight by hippos grazing right outside our tent. And I mean RIGHT outside our tent - maybe two feet or so. Needless to say, all requests to go to he bathroom at night were responded to with a firm, "hold it." We also where told to "clear out" one afternoon by a scout that said a small herd of elephants was headed for the camp (but turned away before they came through). Turns out our only "animal casualty" was a few "ham" (quotes due to the uncertainty of the "meat") snatched by some naughty vervet monkeys that stalked our every move. To add insult to injury, the sandwiches were eaten in the treetops directly above us and the "ham" was thrown into the dirt.

I must say, it's hard to beat the game parks we visited while living in Kenya, but the kids had a grand time as they don't remember doing all the game drives and safari's while we lived there. We were able to see lots of animals, especially on the super fun night game drives. The park was teeming with elephants and oddly enough we saw tons of monitor lizards as well. We saw some lions and a leopard on our night game drive (too hard to photograph), but apparently there are no cheetahs in this park.

Rainy season had just ended when we were in Zambia - so there were still a few muddy spots. I did an excellent job of getting the car MAJORLY stuck in such a spot. So stuck, in fact, that Mike had to take over the rescue attempt and only after several tries was he able to get the car out. Stuck car pointer: don't turn the steering wheel (AT ALL) while trying to reverse out of muddy, dung filled, quick sand i think we are going to die here spots. Who knew?