Breakdowns

After our brief respite in Lusaka where we were able to recharge our provisions and our gumption stores, we loaded back into our bus and headed up the Great East Road. Our rental company (Taiwo Travel) had to swap out our original bus (dubbed the “Zambus” by the students) because while in Lusaka, the Zambus blew its clutch. At first, the replacement bus seemed to be everything the students wanted – more legroom and a sweet paintjob. At least that was the case until we blew the clutch on that machine less than an hour into our departure (we were still in Lusaka). To Taiwo’s credit, they had mobile mechanics on the scene within an hour, and only 4 hours behind schedule (notably punctual by “Africa Time”) we got out of Lusaka and on the road. Things went smoothly until we hit the hills past Chongwe, where we discovered our radiator cap had a blown seal…which means every 50km or so we had to stop, refill the radiator with water and then drive until we ran it dry again. Everyone handled it with great aplomb, and although later than we expected, we spent one night at the “Luangwa Bridge Camp,” which was unexepectedly lovely.