The Liuwa Plains Expedition Report - Nov-Dec 2001, Zambia.

Purely due to space limitation, I am just going to condense my diary for these reports. There was so much to see and do, I felt I simply didn’t have the means to put it into words.

Liuwa Plains Trip Report
This very remote park situated in the North Western Zambia is home to a large blue wildebeest Migration – We had read that up to 100 000 animals moved into the Southern part of the park as the rains began in the late November, early December. It was going to be a fine line, we needed the rains to bring the wildebeest south but if we get caught in the flood, we probably would lose our vehicles on the plains.

It was mid November, our research showed that we should catch the wildebeest coming south, we were in Victoria falls Zimbabwe, buying a few last minute provisions and then we were off. Three vehicles, two of my land cruisers and a land rover...the trip promised to be a blast. After successfully crossing the border into Zambia (never sure in Africa) we changed a few US dollars and hey presto... I was a millionaire!!

The rest of the day took us to the Zambezi river where we crossed on a none too healthy looking ferry, nonetheless, crammed with goats, bikes and every shape and size of traveller as well as our three vehicles we managed that, and trundled off to find a place to spend the first night, we found a spot on the edge of the Zambezi and that was home for the night, complete with dome tent, portable loo seat and 50 fascinated kids to ensure the camp was up to standard!

Then it was all pack up and off north, another very "hairy" ferry crossing with water pumps pumping the bilges a we crossed and the ferry getting precariously low slung by the time we reached the other side!

A few roadside vegetables were picked up as we neared Mongu and got our first speeding fine ...a token gesture to help the local police station!!! On arrival in Mongu, we were surprise to find a full on grocery store complete with Barbie dolls and chewing gum, this was amazing ...so we resupplied and forged onwards, spending another riverside night.

The people were definitely looking more remote and less westernised as we got to Kalabo, the last small village where we were to pay our park fees. A lone cyclist was pushing his bike down the main street which consisted of a dirt road, full of potholes and goats and lines with ruins of various shops and residences, expecting not a word of English to be spoken this far out (we hadn’t seen another white person yet).

We stopped and I asked slowly and clearly if the man knew where we should go. The man smartly stood to attention and in the Queen’s English said “My friend you have asked the right person, I will show you."

We duly found the office, a pole and daub building with a phone line disappearing into the rather threadbare thatched roof! Then we were issued a scout to show us the way and we were off. Soon we were in the plains and seeing our first wildebeest and then the road ran out!! So we too a GPS reading and just drove north till we found a huge tree-island in the sea of grass and decided that this would be home for the next week!!