Transport: it's a problem

Transport in Zambia can always be a problem, but lately it has been worse than usual. The oil refinery in Zambia has to shut down yearly for maintenance, only they never think to stockpile fuel in advance or to arrange for imports. This year, the refinery happened to close at the same time the wheat was ready to harvest, and wheat is mostly grown by commercial farmers that use tractors (therefore a lot of fuel) to harvest. A lot of places were completely out of petrol meaning that less vehicles, mini buses, taxis, etc. were on the roads. The past few times that i left the village I was forced to wait much longer for transport. Then some companies finally started importing fuel from Tanzania to solve the crisis, but the prices were very high. (Actually even though things are getting better the prices are still a bit high.) In other words now is not the best time to travel, but seeing as I already had a trip planned I decided to go anyway and hope for the best. Well, we hitched to Lusaka just fine, in a nice safe, free, and quick ride. From there we had some difficulties...we waited a while before flagging down a canter truck that seemed to be going fairly fast. They offered us a free ride to Nyimba which is half way from Lusaka to Chipata (where we arranged to spend the night in another peace corps house). Well, the started going really slow and stopping a lot so by the time we got to the bridge we realized it was getting late and we didn't want to be stranded in Nyimba after dark so we switched to another truck going all the way to Chipata. We were able to sit in the cab and again we didn't have to pay, but it was a little cramped. Also, even though they were going pretty fast they stopped so much and for so long that we didn't arrive until 5 in the morning. It took us about 16 hours to make the 6-7 hour drive from Lusaka to Chipata. When we arrived we thought we lucked out because another girl was headed to Mfuwe airport right near the game park so we agreed to share the taxi that she had arranged and our lodge offered to pick us at the airport. It all sounded perfect and we were more than willing to pay for the convenience of a taxi after a night of no sleep in the back of a truck bed and them cramped in the cab with many other people. The taxi wasn't leaving \until 10 but that still gave us plenty of time to get to the park before the evening game drive. Well, as I am constantly reminded we are in Zambia and Zambia always wins. The taxi was an hour late and then it had to stop for petrol before we could start the journey. The taxi driver started discretely drinking beer from a sprite bottle, but it was obvious that it was beer and i double checked later just to be sure. Less than half way we started having problems with one of the wheels and it turns out it was missing a part or something so that the wheel didn't stay on tightly, it wobbled around and we couldn't drive anymore. We were completely stuck, the drivers, did not apologize or offer to help us find another ride. There were no cars on the road at all, it was dead and we were stranded. Finally a safari company bringing guests out to the park stopped and offered us a ride. Sometimes I feel bad that people here are so racists that they wont stop for Africans but they will stop for us; however, we need the rides so the guilt doesn't last too long. We got to the airport then eventually to the lodge, but not until 16. Since this blog is about transport, I will save the vacation part for another blog and skip to the transport home. We hed the lodge drop us at the road where we could hitch a ride into Chipata and after an hour and a half we finally had a car drive by on their way to there. It was a swiss couple in a rental car and the stopped and squeezed us in. We were so excited that are luck was improving. It was a nice vehicle with air conditioning, enough space for us and they were going a fast but still safe speed. After a while the driver slammed on the brake and we realized the road we were on just came to a T with another road, of course there was no sign or warning. We weren't able to stop in time and these gravel roads have water drainage ditches along side them. So we crossed to the road that was perpendicular to us (luckily no cars, bikes, cows, children etc. were in the way) and hitch the ditch. We actually got pretty high off the ground despite the weight of the vehicle and landed back upright. Naturally, we were very thankful that we didn't spin, flip, or crash into anything, and that we had seatbelts which is a rare luxury in this country. Regardless, it was painful and my sternum is very bruised from the seatbelt not to mention how sore my neck and back are! We spent the night in Chipata again and I am happy to report that after about an hour we got a ride to Lusaka this morning, it was safe, comfortable, fairly quick and we only paid the equivalent of $4 so thats not bad. Hopefully we will have good luck on our way back to Serenje tomorrow also!

*I must add that the crusier was perfectly fine after the accident so we just backed out and kept going, no more being stranded on the side of the road.
*Also I think you should all know that South Luangwa National Park is directly east of Serenje district which makes the whole crazy transport situation even more frustrating. Seeing as this country only has 4 real roads we had to go all the way around to get there when theoretically we could have driven straight through the park to not only get there quicker but to see more of the landscape and wildlife. It's a bit frustrating when you think about it. I hate that it's so difficult to go anywhere in Zambia, especially without your own all terrain vehicle.