Day 49: Wildcamp nearby Liuwa Plain NP – Roy's Camp (Kafue NP)

On Saturday evenings, more people are still out and about in the dark than during the week – it took a while to fall asleep.

First, we head back the same way via Kolabo and the Zambezi floodplain to Mongu and then further west.

By the way: Soybeans and corn, avocados, and cashews are grown in the less heavily flooded regions, and rice during the flood season.

The guard at the entrance gate also told us the next day that we should attend the royal ceremony (sometime in April). During floods, even a royal palace is flooded, and the court moves in and celebrates.

At Shoprite (which is well-stocked, by the way), we choose a different kind of jelly roll – we need variety. And this time, the Hass station doesn't have diesel, but Total does. And for the first time ever, they try to rip us off and charge us 20 liters more. We're stubborn: double-checking the fuel consumption and mileage, insisting on paying only by credit card, threatening to publish the report online... Ultimately, we only pay for the correct amount, but we have to pull out cash – otherwise, the guy wouldn't be able to escape his own trap.

Tip: Even in Kalaboi, there was diesel available in a brand-new Puma container.

For a while, we make good progress at 80/90 km/h, and then, unfortunately, 60-80 km of construction and the worst road follow until we reach Kafue Park: potholes with a bit of tar in between, alternating with construction sites. Every attempt to patch or smooth something is ruined by the trucks. It's annoying and takes a long time. And by the evening, we have a nasty mixture of black Liuwa dust and red clay dust on and in the car.

It takes us around eight hours to cover almost 400 kilometers, and we're glad when we arrive. We already know Roy's Camp at the crossing of Kafue National Park from last year. The price has gone up considerably; instead of 360 kwacha per person, we now pay 450 (a total of around 27 euros) for a "bush camp."

We are compensated by a herd of hippos frolicking in the water right around us. It almost seems as if they want to come ashore, so just to be on the safe side, we clear a path for them. You never know. The sound of the hippos accompanies us as we fall asleep.