LIVINGSTONE AND VICTORIA WATERFALLS

First time in Africa for me, expectations vs reality hit really good, but also the landing was soo smooth. I think I had the best of luck in terms of destinations and people to be around for my first African Experience. We landed in Lusaka, and that was it. Followed by the rented van and 8 hours ride to Livingstone.

I have seen before videos of the Mosi oa Tunya Falls, but you never know what are the surroundings, what the weather will be and so on and so one.
First things first. Accommodation. We had two in Livingstone. The first in an apartment in the more central part of the city, in the Butterfly Lodge and Hillcrest area, Shock for me was that every house had a security guard, but knowing you are safe, makes it easier in processing the shock. We had a small stroll around the main road, and decided for one of the open bars for dinner – Flavours Pub & Grill. I had local fish and nsima – local dish made out of corn. The rest of the crew had either chicken or beef steak, mine was the best, so I don’t know if it is to be recommended, but to be honest I didn’t try anything else in this part of the city. Then we had some pool fun in our flat and ended the night.
(You can hardly find a place with more than 4.0 stars on maps here, so follow your intuition)

Second shock or better said, coming unprepared, the supermarkets there are actually better than here. Well maybe that will be an overstatement, but here in Europe I have rarely witnessed walk in fridges for alcohol. This girl is not hard to impress when it comes to things like this, ah and there was wide choice of everything in Shoprite.

Day two and three our accommodation was amazing. Directly on the Zambezi River in the Waterfront Campsite Lodge. We went for the budget option, tents with two beds, shared bathroom and breakfast included. In December 2021 the price for this experience was 30$ per person per night. And it was more than worth it. We were so lucky, because we were almost the only one there. The site has a restaurant in, and it is the place where we had dinner while we were here.
The location was perfect because the drive to Victoria Falls was short, and to the city centar, for Corona test, finding a bus and Shoprite.

Victoria Falls – well are words needed? It depends on the time of visit. At the moment we went they were in their almost lowest, but still it was amazing to observe them from any side. Many people say that the Zimbabwe side is even better. Outside the falls there are more than 20 kurios shops, with such a creative sellers, so you never know which trick they are using to ask you in their shop. Haggling is the way to go, if you have enough nerves.

Apart from Victoria Falls, that were amazing, we visited the Royal Livingstone Lodge, with great terrace looking directly on the falls, wild animals running next to you, amazing shop and art across the whole hotel. The prices in the restaurant were on the very higher end. Spending a night here as well.

LUSAKA

On our arrival day we had a through the window sightseeing of Lusaka with a local, and my impression was that it is a very busy city with many malls and the only thing that I remembered was the Freedom Monument in front of the Government building, and the interesting thing about it was that the freedom had a fence around it.

But on our way back we had a bit more time to spend here, and the conclusion was not so much different compared to the first one. Almost nobody is walking, everything is concentrated around malls or in cafes behind high walls. The first night of our return we slept at an amazing lodge in the outskirts of the city, and woke up next to Zebras – Eureka Camping Park, we’ve visited the Rapsody cafe & wine bar which belongs to a polo club. The next day we jumped on the mall wagon, bought souvenirs and hopped in cafes around town – 3 trees cafe, and Rhodes Park Cafe. We didn’t have time, but our friends visited the kurios market in Lusaka, which is a perfect place for all the souvenirs you want to take home.

TEMBUSHA FOREST CAMP

On our way back from Malawi, we entered Zambia from almost Tanzania, which meant long long road in front of us. From the Chitipa border cross to Lusaka there were more than 1000km, or 20 hours of drive, and if you add the worse road you’ve ever seen and rain on top, it means it could get more than that. So our first accommodation was som fishy spot around Chitembo, the initial plan was to continue towards North Luangwa National Park, but because of the weather the conditions, the roads were closed. We continued along the road, stopped for some supermarket tourism at Mpika and found a little gem almost at the border with Democratic Republic of Congo.

The place was called Tembusha Forest Camp, and after everything that we experienced along the road, this felt like a paradise. A paradise with a bathtub, which even if we didn’t use was a perfect sight. Little hike was more than needed after so much time spent in the car, and then delicious dinner with off road mushroom happened. The owners of the Tembusha Forest Camp are young family that used to camp a lot, and they realised that the only thing they missed while camping was the comfort of warm bath and therefore they implemented one in their camp. 

Definitively recommending to visit the place.

Zambia was maybe my least favourite destination out of the four that we visited, even though the single out of context experiences like the Victoria Falls and my first tent experience as well as the last camping experience with a bathtub, made it very memorable. Not by any means I am saying that I didn’t like it, just on my imaginary top list gets place number four, but maybe it has to do with the fact that I stayed here the least.