Choma and roadworks in Zambia

Posted by Pedal2peak on 23 September 2009

It was a long day to Choma. Arriving just in time to buy our provisions from Spar before closing at four o’clock. Now we just needed accomodation.

The Choma Hotel was fully booked,so we pushed on to find somewhere to camp. We found the Bantu Lodge. The manager, Tama, was intrigued by the tour and discounted our lodging price substantially.

The twin room, fully loaded with DSTV, fridge, kettle (something of a luxury in most African countries) and pressurized hot water, cost us less than the normal camping fee.

It is always great when a complete stranger has a large interest and support for a cause. The fact that most interest in Sea Rescue has been in landlocked countries is sadly strange.

Our 90 kilometre stretch from Zimba to Livingstone had us worried from as far back as Kabwe. The large scale roadworks along this stretch were the talk of every motorist that had travelled from the south. 60 kilometers of the worst detour, with even trucks getting stuck when venturing off the detour to give way. Not good news for a cyclist.

We started talking to the locals on their bikes. They all laughed and said that the road was made just for us cyclists. Just don’t go on the detour, follow the road. This played in our favour, with us rolling well on the hard compacted gravel. When we reached the roadworks we were greeted by the workers with large smiles and the typical Zambianism of “How far?”. The Chinese contractors would stop us and want to have long conversations about our tour, which we cut short in the heat.

We made it to Livingstone before lunch and relaxed to a beer at Livingstone Backpackers, climbing the climbing wall and cooling off in the pool. Livingstone was going to be a good break around the breathtaking and majestic Victoria Falls.

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