August 9-11: On to Tanzania

After my adventure wilderness drive through North Luangwa National Park and overnight at the delightfuul Samala Campsite, I headed north to Tanzania, but with a couple of one-night stopovers along the way to break up the trip.

My first stop was Kapisha Hot Springs roughly 3-4 hours drive from Samala, which gave me the better part of the day to enjoy the riverside campsite, lush grounds that had a “bird walk”, and of course a good soak in the soothing hot springs. Here are some photos:

Next stop, Chisimba Falls:

My next stop was Chisimba Falls National Monument located a little west of the town of Kasama. In stark contrast to Kapisha Hot Springs, which caters to tourists (i.e., mostly white westerners or affluent white Africans), this place caters to local day-visiting Zambians. A quick scan of the registration book revealed that very few tourists visit this site. The monument is not really set up for camping, but they let you camp on the grounds next to the water anyways for $15 USD, with space for perhaps 2 or 3 parties – I was the only camper. This monument was established in part for the natural beauty of the waterfallsand the geological and geomorphological processes, but also for its cultural heritage. Apparently the Bembo people from a region in the neighboring country of what is today called the Democratic Republic of the Congo (or DRC) immigrated to and settled this area in the mid-17^th century, and I guess this site has historical significance to these people. The site also contains fossil evidence of ancient inhabitants. Today, the Falls are also the source of hydro-electric power generation. Here are some photos:

My intended last stop in Zambia before crossing the border into Tanzania was going to be some place near Mbala, as shown the map below, but I decided instead to cross the border into Tanzania since nothing was striking my fancy near Mbala and I was near the border early enough in the day.

The border crossing into Tanzania was my kind of border. I spent 5 minutes on the Zambia side and another 20-30 minutes on the Tanzania side. I was the only person/vehicle at the border post making the “crossing” unfrenzied, so I guess that was in my favor. And there was no need for assistance by a “runner”, in fact there weren’t any, as the crossing was so simple and straightforward – no running back and forth between several different offices and getting several different stamps, etc., as when Nancy and I crossed into Zambia. However, I think the real key is to cross at a remote border crossing like this one instead of a major border post on the national highways where all the commercial vehicles cross. Here is a photo of the Zambian border post – nice!

I ended up staying in the first and only major town/city en route in Tanzania, Sumbawanga because I was delayed by 5 hours trying to get a sim card to work in my mobile hotspot, which was unsuccessful for some unknown reason. I didn’t leave the shop until after dark and thus found the first place to camp, which ended up being at a Lodge in the city with a parking lot for camping – yuk! The name on the GPS was “Country Lodge” so I thought it might have a bit of a natural setting, but alas, not. Worse part was that this area must be an islamic stronghold as I had to listen to call to prayer bells and then prayers broadcast over loadspeakers close by in the evening and then again at 6:00 am. I don’t know why they have to be so public about it. Anyways, I will be glad to leave here today. See you at my first Park in beautiful Tanzania, Katavi.