Cycling through the Luangwa Valley

Posted on 17 May 2010

We left Lusaka on the morning of 6 May and headed towards the town of Rufunsa, only a dot on the map. The going was tough once again, the persistent wind from the east ever-present and making life difficult as it has all the way through Zambia. The landscape becomes hilly once again after Lusaka and we had some tough climbs on the road. We planned to call it a day at a campsite about 95 km from where we started in the morning, but when we reached the turnoff as indicated on the GPS there was nothing left of what once was a campsite. We had no choice but to push on to Rufunsa, but that was still another 40 km from where we were and we had less than two hours of daylight left. We pushed on hard, but ran out of daylight and eventually cycled into town in pitch dark. The town has no electricity or tarred roads and we fumbled through the darkness, desperately looking for a place to stay. We found one guesthouse, but it was full. People then directed us to the police station, where we found a group of officers sitting under a mango tree, chatting in the dark. We explained our predicament to them and asked if we could camp at the police station. One female officer did all the talking and wanted to send us on our way to another guesthouse 10 km down the road. It took a lot of effort to explain to her that it was not really possible to cycle in the dark and eventually she agreed that we could pitch our tents, after first wanting to see our passports. We just pitched our tents and went to bed straight away. It was not the most comfortable nigh of sleep I ever had, with voices in the dark every now and again interrupting the quiet.

We got up at half past four the next morning and left as soon as possible, getting back on the tarred road before first light. We were heading to Luangwa Bridge and had only a cycle of about 70 km to complete for the day. The road to Luangwa is breathtakingly beautiful. It winds through mountains covered in forest all the way to Luangwa Bridge. Unfortunately mountains mean climbing and we had a few massive climbs with our heavy bikes, hard work early in the morning! The upside of the climbing is the downhill on the other side and once we reached the highest point the descent was great fun. We zipped down the mountains and then made our way over some rolling hills until we reached the little market before Luangwa Bridge with its dried fish and baskets and hats made from straw. We camped at the Luangwa Bridge campsite, happy to be able to take a shower after roughing it the previous night.

We got away from the campsite just before sunrise and as the sun was rising we reached the Luangwa Bridge, a mighty bridge spanning over the Luangwa River, linking two parts of Zambia to each other. To witness the sunrise from here was a privilege and truly a beautiful sight. We were in for a very tough day in the saddle, we knew we were in for a bit of a climb once again but did not anticipate what was really awaiting us. Add to the continuous rise in altitude a persistent headwind and you have a lot of hard work to do. We planned to cover 140 km for the day but only managed about 110 km before reaching the town of Nyimba just before sunrise. Here we were fortunate to meet some American researchers who offered us a place to pitch our tent outside their house. Although we were cordially received, I have never seen a group of people so dejected and fed up of Africa. Apart from two of the ladies who sat with us until we finished our supper, the rest was not keen on conversation with three dirty strangers who just pitched up on their bikes. We finished supper and made sure that we got into our tents as soon as possible. Before sunrise we were back on the road again.

The going was once again tough and by noon it was clear that we would not be able to make our intended 140 km. We had our Sunday lunch consisting of mainly rice and chips at a lodge at Petauke. If ever we were lazy to get on the bikes that morning it was much worse after that lunch. Sunday afternoons tend to be a lazy affair at the best of times, so try to get on a bike just after 2 pm on a Sunday with a full belly and another 80 km ahead of you! We grudgingly got back on the bikes and started paddling into the wind again. We were only going for about an hour when we found a little shop by the roadside and stopped for a break. As we turned of the road I heard the dreaded sound of a spoke snapping. The end result was that we spent about an hour and a half fixing my wheel. It could have been a lot quicker but as time wore on the number of our helpers grew by the minute, until we had a big crowd giving us a send-off by the time we finally got back on the road again. I hasten to add that these helpers had the best of intentions, one guy even went to his house to fetch me some spare spokes. He returned a while later with the remaining half of an old bike strapped on the carrier of his bike and swiftly proceeded to remove a couple of spokes from the old bike’s back wheel and handing them over to me for future reference without expecting anything in return. Dark was fast approaching and by 5 pm we started to look for a place to sleep since we had no chance of reaching the next town called Sinda before dark. We found a sign directing us to the farm of a certain reverend Zulu and took our chances. We cycled on a little two-track road through the bush for about three kilometers before reaching a little homestead in the middle of a clearing in the bush. There we found madam reverend Zulu and some of her children and grandchildren. She told us that her husband passed away two years ago when we asked after him, but nevertheless offered us a place to pitch our tents. Next she asked us if we had any food and before we could answer she sent one of her grandsons chasing after a chicken. The chicken was promptly slaughtered and cleaned for us and an hour later we were braaiing an extremely tough but tasty enough village chicken. Later that evening some of the children came to sit by our fire to chat, we had coffee together and went to bed contently, deeply touched by the kindness and generosity of this family.

We got away late the next morning and had little hope of reaching the town of Chipata by the evening. It was about 150 km to there and judging by our experiences of the previous couple of days we had little hope of getting there in one day. But fortune favoured us, the terrain became much flatter and the wind was quiet for a change. The result was that we were able to reach Chipata with about an hour of daylight to spare. That surprised even us! We camped at a great campsite called Mama Rula’s and had a couple of drinks to celebrate our last nigh in Zambia. Needless to say we were not really feeling like cycling the next morning, but fortunately had only about 35 km to do before reaching the Malawian border. We grudgingly got on the bikes and about 10 km before reaching the border I had my first puncture in Zambia, now there is some bad luck for you!

It was almost as if Zambia did not want to let us go, but we pushed on and the next thing we knew we were through the Zambian customs and into Malawi. Zambia has been good to us. The people are as friendly as you would find anywhere on this planet. Although poor they seem content and happy. The country is breathtakingly beautiful – from the famous Victoria Falls in the west to the Luangwa Valley with its green forests in the east. We had covered roughly 1500 km on our bikes through Zambia, and it has been a very memorable ride indeed.

In Malawi we just went as far as the little border town of Mchinji, where we were picked up by my aunt who lives with her husband on a farm in the district. We spent three nights here and then took the road to Lilongwe on Friday. We had about 135 km to cover for the day and only arrived in Lilongwe after dark. We spent two nights at the Mabuya Camp in Lilongwe, a great backpackers with friendly staff. Tomorrow we head to Lake Malawi, one of the highlights of our trip. Can’t wait!






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