Finally arrived in Livingstone after a 6 hour journey from Lusaka passing through small villages and towns including Mazabuka, Choma and the small rural village of Kalomo.
As I travelled along the single track road, (which is surprisingly in better condition than the Great East Road which connects Lusaka to Chipata), I observed how much drier the land of the Southern Province appeared in comparison to the land of the Eastern Province. It’s not even October yet and somehow the tall yellow brittle grasses which looked as if they had been scorched by the sun, reminded me of the time when I first arrived in Zambia back in October last year.
The desert-like landscape, together with the heat through the window pane of the bus acted as a quick reminder that I’m living in Sub-Saharan Africa and that I really should have packed an extra bottle of water for the journey…
As the beads of sweat trickled down my nose to the rhythm of African music, blasting out from the speakers on the bus, I started to think about how David Livingstone managed to keep up his water drinking as he made his intrepid journey along the same route back in 1855 when he discovered the Victoria Falls.
I’m sure his journey didn’t involve a 40-seater, (supposedly) air-conditioned coach though (equipped with 45 inch TV screen showing the latest Music Videos from the Nigerian Top 10).
I’m sure like my journey, David Livingstone experienced some of the most beautiful views that the Zambezi region had to offer, namely village huts, banana trees, and countless women and children looking on with curiosity at the passing travellers.
I finally arrived just after lunchtime and was amazed by how developed Livingstone is - somehow Chipata seems like a far off place already especially as I could hear the local language of Tonga which is rarely spoken back in the East. Unfortunately I’m not around long enough to pick up the local lingo of the Southern Province, but hopefully next time I will try.
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