Day 67: Kamukonzo Community Camp – Ituba Campsite

Our caretakers at the Kamukonzo Community Camp are charming and make an extraordinary effort to make our stay as pleasant as possible with their resources.

First thing yesterday, John brought us a water barrel for washing our hands, and he and Joshua filled a large barrel in a tree with warm water for showering. This involved heating water with a fire, pouring it into buckets, climbing the ladder, and filling the barrel. This morning, the small barrel was refilled with warm water again.

We continued north, our destination being Ituba Camp, just before the pontoon ferry we'll use to cross the Luangwa tomorrow.

The drive mostly leads through bush and forest and isn't all that exciting. The road remains good for long stretches, but the bumpy patches are unpleasant.

Along the villages, begging increased. Children asked for sweets, and the young people loitering around called out, "Give me money," or simply, "Give me." Once again, we discover that the presence of aid organizations, in this case US Aid, and the intensity of begging are somehow connected.

We meet Dierk and Angela along the way and stop for a chat by the roadside.

And then Becky won't start. Shock and utter distress. The jump starter helps, and we wonder what could have happened.

We suspect that the treacherous charging characteristics of the battery, which occasionally relaxes deeply, and the voracity of the Ecoflow that powers the refrigerator, interacted negatively at an inopportune moment. Furthermore, we were creeping along at low revs the whole time and had the air conditioning on because the tsetse flies are so annoying. Then there's the DPF regeneration, which saps engine power. All in all, hopefully just an unfortunate combination.

At Ituba Camp, we're assigned a campsite (#2) by Theresa and Sanmaria. A larger group of conservationists from the Frankfurt Zoological Society is on the other sites. We're hoping someone from the group can help us tomorrow morning if Becky doesn't start. The campsite is great, but unfortunately, we're not as relaxed as we were yesterday.

By the way: The Frankfurt Zoological Society runs a conservation project for the endangered white rhinos in North Luangwa. If we've understood correctly, they now manage the entire northern park.