Day 41: Mozhi Camp (Kafue NP) – Kaingu Lodge (Kafue River)

Before we set off today, we absolutely have to plug in the AdBlue. Connect the pump once, drive a bit, disconnect it, refill it.

Then we drive more or less directly south again on the main road. And on the way we spot a sable antelope and a buffalo.

At the gate there is a small discussion about the parking fee to be paid – after an overnight stay you really have to leave the park by 9:00am. Not that easy to manage, and we also think that they should have told us this clearly and not hidden it in the small print on the back. The ranger is gracious with us and lets us out.

But: do we really want to go to McBride Camp, arrive there late and pay a whole day's parking fee (55 USD)? We didn't really think it through.

So we change our minds and drive to a camp on the southern park border towards the Kafue River and Ithezi-Thezi. The KaingU Lodge was on the itinerary for another time. But since we are not visiting the Lochinvar NP (there is nothing to see at the moment) and are not going to continue towards Livingston (we have already been to the Vic Falls), we hadn't really seen the camp. But now it is exactly the right stopover.

First we drive a bit on the tarmac road towards Mumbwa/Lusaka and then south, around 40 km through the forest.

The first (and only) village that we cross on the other side of the highway has a somewhat strange atmosphere. While the people here in Zambia are usually extremely friendly and relaxed, the people here seem very distant. Not a single smile.

We see a "moving" truck with lots of men, mattresses, building materials and a little further on a few people (mostly women) sitting around with household goods. And we suspect that a resettlement is taking place here. The lodge's caretaker confirmed this later. The forest path is pretty and easy to drive on. The site is really nicely laid out, the campsite (No. 1 of 3) has its own small toilet block and is right on the river. There is no electricity, no food either, because we are probably the only guests, and the WiFi is weak. So we eat our leftovers and have a quiet evening by the fire.