Day 68: Ituba Campsite – North Luangwa NP – Kapishya Hot Springs

The alarm starts at 5:30. We want to start Becky before the others leave the campsite and – if everything is OK – get to the pontoon ferry before their five cars, so we don't have to wait so long.

All good! And off we go.

The ferry is a bit of an adventure, but we're not the first.

Paperwork beforehand, as always and everywhere. Books with lists and entries. And by the way: It's still strange for us to stand next to someone carrying an AK47.

Wolle confidently maneuvers Becky across the branch access road onto the pontoon ferry itself. It's quite wobbly and quite tight. Then Isaac, as the ferryman, pulls us to the other side. And the descent also takes place over a layer of branches. How crazy is that?

And then we cross North Luangwa National Park. We're only allowed to drive on the main track and are given a tracker in the car for monitoring purposes. Here, too, the landscape is attractive and varied, but even here, there are hardly any animals to be seen.

The history of the Luangwa Valley is one of excessive poaching – this may be why the animals retreat far into the forests and hinterland of the park. It could also be that you see more animals at Malweshi, where the luxury camps are located (for example, there are said to be large herds of buffalo), and the crossing is simply an inconvenient route.

We pay 65 US dollars for the fun, which is considerably too expensive for a drive through without game drives. However, if you want to go north, you can stay on the dirt road east to Chama or take the truck route west. At least that way, we had the nice pontoon ferry.

We actually wanted to make our next stop at the park exit (Mano Gate) at Samala Camp, but it's so early that we decide to continue on to the Kapishya Hot Springs.

Bad roads, small villages, begging children. A short stretch of the T2 north to Kakalantekwe. There's no diesel here, but that's not a problem for us at the moment.

Shortly after the turnoff to the Hot Springs, we hear noises that shouldn't be there. And a quick check is enough: We've lost one of the screws for the new cabin mounts. Damn! Once again, our own fault. We kept wanting to check it, but we kept forgetting. So we head back to town; we can't/don't want to drive the bumpy road like this.

Now we're learning the advantage of "living in the moment." We ask for a hardware store, don't find one, and ask a truck driver. He whistles for someone, who in turn fetches someone who can get a screw. And has additional tools. After half an hour, Wolle is lying on the ground in the sand dust in front of the shops, and with help, I unscrew a storage box, put in the new mounting screw, and put the storage box back on. Here, you do things like this immediately and wherever you are. All you need is a decent washer, but it should hold up for a while.

We make it to the hot springs, but we don't visit the old British mansion Shiwa Ngandu. For anyone who ever comes to the area: It's worth it :-)

We dive in first. 37-degree warm water from a natural spring – what a treat!

And we have a nice spot by the water, even though the place is packed with 13 cars from a German tour group on historic trails and a Zambian farming family on a weekend trip.

We don't feel like cooking anymore, so we have a burger and ramen soup in the "pub."