01/03/18

A final breakfast at Crocs Valley and off towards Lusaka. After the nights rain, just getting Betsy to where the tents are located to collect the bags was really difficult, even when in 4x4 mode.

Anyway, we knew it was a straight road back the way we came to the main highway to the capital or, so we thought. Martin and I took a wrong turn, it is still a mystery as to how and we ended up taking a wrong road by the airport, even though it is a short cut to the highway further down, it gave us our first real taste of what driving can be like when you go slightly off piste so to speak.

For about 5 miles we negotiated a dirt track, terrible terrain, deep water troughs from all the rain, and of course vegetation encroaching over the supposed road. We were even unsure if Betsy was high enough to navigate some of the flooded sections. Our first real test passed but a real eye opener of what we are really capable of taking on here. I suspect we will stick to the main roads as so many of the roads are simply unpassable during the wet season and the roads are so isolated.

Anyway, once we completed this section we made excellent time to get to Petauke, a dreary little place with little or nothing to do, even though they sell mice kebabs, a local delicacy apparently. We found a basic little motel that will do us for tonight and a relatively early dinner and early to bed.

We did make one excursion into town, in the pouring rain where we saw a terrible accident where a car had gone head on into a bus. Police were dealing with it as best they could and we took the que to head straight back to the hotel. NO NIGHT DRIVING.

It did give us time to carry out basic maintenance of Betsy and to get her a good clean. Nice, she deserves it.