The trip to Mutinondo…

I must admit, I don’t really know where to start on this one. Adventure indeed. Ahem. I used to pride myself on being a good planner- be it at work or personally- I often had details planned down to the minute. Well, I think I’ve fallen off the boat…or the boat has completely capsized. When heading up to Northern province to hit this camp (Mutinondo) I thought I had everything in order. I’d printed off directions and re-confirmed with the lodge in ready-ness for the trip. After a late start from Lusaka- (because we were still negotiating for our new vehicle- but beautiful she is)!!!














I realized I had forgotten to bring the printed directions. I had not brought a phone number because they told me they only had a satellite phone…and well, let’s just say it got to be pretty dark on the road, & we were unsure how much further we had to go before we would find the camp…so Marty pulled out his Blackberry (neither Alvin nor myself had reception with our phones) & his lifeline- & called a friend back home. Can you imagine? It must have been around 22h30 in Zambia, pitch black and nothing but huts for miles around. So Marty’s friend booted up the Internet & found the webpage I had failed to bring along with us. Here’s the situation:














This is my best "begging-for-forgiveness" look
















We managed to pull up to the camp at 00h30…woke up a guest who found a vacant chalet for us & found mattresses for Marty & Pat to sleep in the truck. Disaster. And ALL my bad*hahahah*. However when we woke to coffee & tea & met the owner we realized we'd found a gem of a spot; despite becoming the standing joke of the camp: “How exactly did you arrive here at 1 o’clock in the morning”? Thank goodness Marty & Pat are the best guests ever & we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the camp (& all of us agreed that we would love to visit the place again)! I have a lot of photos (as usual), but have tried to choose the ones that would be of most interest to my loyal readers*wink*.

Day 1: we set off on a trail of waterfalls:

It's mushroom season in Zambia (deeelicious), & I saw some of the biggest mushrooms in my life during this trip:



















I also saw plenty of massive millipedes:-)



















"Beer-o-clock" on the trail














A couple silly shots at the falls






























Day 2: Searching for the ancient Rock Art (which we never found). But the miombo woodland & rocky hills were truly sights to savour.

Rather than continuing our journey up north for a few things I had planned, we decided to head back to Lusaka for New Year’s Eve (photos may come) & then have a day turn-around before heading off for safari; which ended up falling through because the lodge had a water problem. But again, Marty & Patricia proved great guests & we ended up puttering around Lusaka at a family braai, a reptile farm etc. Now they’re off in Livingstone while Al & I flit about trying to plan our wedding…thank goodness my folks arrive on Friday! I can’t wait to see them!!!!