Following Victoria Falls and jumping off of the tour, I had originally planned to spend a couple of weeks in Zimbabwe, en route to Malawi. Unfortunately, the situation in Zimbabwe had deteriorated dramatically, with major food shortages, 19 hour rolling blackouts, fuel shortages, and protests occuring. I therefore decided instead to go through Zambia. Zambia hadn’t really been on my radar because although it has a reputation of being really friendly, the tourist infrastructure is limited and getting around without a vehicle is difficult. I was stoked though that they recently introduced the Kaza visa, meaning I only had to pay $50 USD for both Zimbabwe and Zambia.

I stayed with the group until the last possible moment, when I hiked 20 minutes to the Vic falls border at 7am when the group headed back to Chobe for the night. Having not carried my bag for three weeks, and having been restocked up with supplies thanks to the generous Canadians who had just flown home, my bag felt exceptionally heavy. However, it was a super easy border crossing and might be the most beautiful one I’ve done, as I walked across the famous Livingstone bridge with the locals commuting. I entered Zambia just as the park on that side opened, left my bag at the entrance and explored that side of the falls for a couple of hours. 

The Zambia side was definitely not as impressive as the Zimbabwe side, but I think it would be better in the wet season. Still, it was worth seeing. 

I left the park, changed some money, grabbed my bag away from a large baboon, and negotiated a taxi to Jollyboys Camp, a very chill and quiet hostel where I tested out my tent and mattress I had been carrying around for a while (Alysson brought me a tent and sleeping bag when she met me in South Africa).  I was pretty exhausted at this point after coming off the tour, so I spent the two days on the internet and at the pool. I also learned a little bit about Zambia at the museum which was surprisingly well done.

I then grabbed a (pretty decent) bus to Lusaka, leaving at 7:30am and arriving only half an hour late, around 4pm. It was a pretty easy trip and I was happy to be traveling on my own again. I ignored the touts at the bus station and walked the 15 minutes to the hostel, where I checked into a dorm for the night. I was originally thinking of heading out the next day, but realized I needed a day to get organized, and buy flip flops. 

I didn’t have much to see in Lusaka, which felt more like a collection of gritty suburbs than a city, but it was easy to walk around and I replaced my battered flip flops at the mall and organized a couple of nights in South Luwanga national park. South Luwanga is known for its leopards, the last of the Big Five for me, and it was reachable by public transport and on the way to Malawi. Much of Zambia is not super easy to reach without a car.

I had to leave Lusaka at the ungodly hour of 4:30am, which required a 3:30am wake up call. Ouch. This bus did not turn out to be as spacious as the last one, and I spent the 11 hour trip trying to reduce the pain in my leg by sitting in various positions and standing when we took a brief break. All was forgotten though when I arrived at Marula lodge with a couple of others on my bus and saw the lovely grounds, animals on the doorstep and was served a hearty dinner. I had booked two nights in the dorm at the lodge (with a big sign saying ‘backpackers welcome’ to differentiate it between so many of the upscale lodges), all meals and two game drives including one night drive, for $140 USD. It was pretty good value.

Halfway through our first drive we saw what were looking for, alerted by another animal warning others, of the leopard in the vicinity. He had just killed a baboon and was dragging it away. The park was awesome and I would highly recommend it. I took the bus out of the park at 3:30am. It was ridiculous.