Cycling Tour d'Afrique 2019: 19/04/14, stage 61, Livingstone to Kasane

So I expected that this trip couldn’t get any better anymore...

This morning’s ride was oke. A short ride of 82k, westwards, with the wind in our backs and with only a limited amount of climbing. After 70k we turned south and got to the Zambezi river, which at this point forms the border between Zambia and Botswana. So I checked out of Zambia, took the ferry accross the river and then checked into Botswana. Country number 7 done, country number 8 here we come! From the ferry we could actually see four countries, being Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

After that it was only some 10k to camp. Once I reached it I put up my tent and then went into town to arrange a simcard in order to be able to keep updating my daily reports :-).At 0300 a whole group of us left for a river cruise on the Chobe river, which is a tributary of tbe Zambezi river. The Chobe river forms the northern border of the Chobe national parks, which has the highest density of wildlife in Africa. The Chobe river and its water attract a lot of this wildlife, especially during the dry season. So despite it not being the dry season, the TDA staff still highly recommended us going on this cruise, so I did... And it was worth it!

We started by seeing an immense crocodile, followed by impalas, bushbucks, buffalos, elephants and hippos on the dry. It was a great trip, although at times it felt a litte bit Disneylandish with all the other boats on the river. But despite that I - again - feel very priviliged that I get to see all this...

Tomorrow we’ll turn onto the elephant highway, which runs alongside the Chobe National Park and which is world famous for the many elephant crossings. And tomorrow is my birthday, so I really hope that I’ll be treated with an elephant tomorrow! However I know that wildlife does not come on demand, so even if I don’t get to see any elephants, I had a great past few days! And I’m grateful for that!

We’ve left Zambia behind us. I actually thought Zambia would be a flat, grassy and monotonous country, but it has been great! I liked the tall gras that grew along the road everywhere. I like the thousand shades of green and brown that we got to see. I liked the emptiness of the country, being almost 18 time the size of the Netherlands while having the same population. I liked the beautifull hills in the east and the beautifull Luangwa river that cut through them. I liked the mighty Zambezi river and the majestic Victoria falls. I liked that I found cycling through Zambia pretty tough, but that I managed to make it through! I liked looking for rhinos and learning about all kinds of different animal tracks. I liked that it was the first country where we could really encounter a wild elephant while on our bikes (and some of the other riders already did). I liked Zambia!

Thank you Zambia. Expectations of the comming days in Botswana are pretty high though :-)