Day 3: We traveled
through the Udzunga Mountains passed forest of Baobab trees and many small
villages and stopped at the town of Makambako.
It was a bit of a crossroads with a large highway running through it and
a nice market where they seemed to specialize in clothing, shoes and many different
varieties of printed fabric. The designs
were beautiful and I was sure that Tim Gunn from Project Runway would pop out
at any moment and tell me I had 10 dollars to spend and 3 hours to make a three-piece
spring collection for my next challenge.
We also found the cutest little guy in the whole market watching us
shop. It was a nice stop.
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| A very busy market. |
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| Shopping for fabric. |
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| Little cutie all bundled up. |
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| Another cutie. |
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| Big highway next to town. |
We continued the rest of the day through the Rift Valley
with spectacular scenery at every turn.
That night at dinner there was an Africa theme with the train crew
dressing in their best African outfits and some of the passengers joining in as
well. Special thanks to Emily for giving
the ladies a traditional African head rap with our newly bought fabric.
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| The ladies got tired of the head dresses. |
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| Kevin and Lisa looking good. |
Day 4: In the morning
the train passed through the Poroto Mountains and stopped in Tunduma, where
border crossing formalities with the local authorities were completed allowing
us to cross from Tanzania into Zambia.
The tracks in Zambia are said to be the worst of the trip and it was
quickly evident that the rumors were true.
Our speed dropped to around 20 mph and the motion of the train took on a
new life of its own. At around 1430 we
stopped in the town of Kasama and loaded onto buses for a 35 kilometre journey
to the Chisima Falls National Monument. Located in the village of Kalonga, the
monument consisted of three consecutive falls, Mutumuna, Kaela and
Chisima. The site was dedicated in
1964. It was a very cool site with huge
black boulders and crystal clear, cold water.
After a couple of hours of hiking
and climbing, we headed back to the train.
The dressing theme for dinner was the best of Scotland. With some of us sporting kilts, long dresses
and a lot of plaid, the evening was enjoyed by all.
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| Lisa and Steff cooling off. |
Day 5 & 6: We continued our run through Zambia passed the Muchinga Mountains to the city of Kapiri Mpohi. We took on supplies and water and the train engines where moved to the opposite end of the train, placing the observation car in the rear. This is the only place to do this since we left Dar es Salaam. Later on we passed over the 477-meter long steel girder truss Kafue railway bridge. Since the rules for dinner state that you have to have a jacket and tie, we had bathrobe night. We went with the "Big Lebowski" theme. The next day was a cross country ride making our way to Victoria Falls.
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| Waka and Steff. |
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| Kafue Railway bridge. |
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| Bathrobe night. |
Elvis status: Still missing.
Next time:
Victoria Falls and beyond.
Cheers,
J & P
