Dear follower,

First of all, I would like to thank you for taking time to read my blog and I wish you a lot of fun in reading it!

Secondly, sorry if come over as brutal but if you notice or recognise any spelling mistakes, please keep them for yourself as I dot not aim to pass the global spelling test with these blogs.

I thank you in advance for considering this request.

Day 1 & 2

Welcome to my Journey through Zambia.

So the (good) nerves started kicking in on the day before departure and what better way to block this off with a few pints with some friends. As stated, that's exactly what I did with a couple of my friends om Thursday evening and when I woke on Friday morning I was pretty chill. I did not even completely packed my backpack yet but I managed to gather everything on the table so it was cool, until I remembered that there were things that I still needed to do.

People who know me well know that I leave the most important things for last minute work, you could say that I like working towards deadlines. So I had to pick up my malaria tablets, paracetamol and diarrhoea pills during lunch time on the day of departure and I also noticed that my lens fluid would not hold for the next 2 weeks so on the way to the Airport we stopped over at Jumbo XL to buy one bottle. Believe me I am not promoting this supermarket. Did if forgot tomention that I had all of my vaccinations in one day on the Tuesday in the week of departure. It's certainly not my intention to delay these things but it just how it works for me, I blame it on the Indian genes that my mom gave me through. Love you Mom!

After arriving at Schiphol, I went trough bagage check-in and customs without any delay or problems. I did arrive at the airport well in time so you can obviously see that I prioritise things.

I had a couple of hours stop in Dubai, but I managed to use it quite efficiently by grabbing a chicken royale meal as breakfast.

Guys, did I ever told you how important it is to have a good/proper breakfast to start the day?!

Landed on time at the Lusaka airport, it took quite some time to get to my turn at the customs but hey the Zambian custom officer tried to manage it and sent me and some other tourist to the diplomats locket.

That's when I noticed their hospitality for the first time, extremely helpful and friendly people.

Getting the visa was not a big deal, I was questioned what I came to do: my answer was cycling through Zambia for a good cause.

I even showed the lady the shirt from Cycle for Plan which I was wearing. I don't know if that did the trick or if my eyes and smile played a role in this.

After the customs I picked up my backpack and started looking for a decent taxi guy.

They all started around 600-700 kwacha (60-70 euro), they kept shouting the same price. I said that I came from India so unfortunately there is not much I can offer. Besides this I am not white so why rip off a brother? (Love to all the white people out there) . By the way I made a lot African brothers these past couple of days and they are really helpful . When I asked a local where the local busses departed, I suddenly got a discount. End result: got a cab via police man who was kind enough to help and even found a good hostel for the night.

Day 2

A part of the Accenture team (Esther & Tessa) arrived the next dat and we decided to head straight to Livingstone (which is 7 hours by road) by bus and not to wait for the rest. The hostel arranged a cab for us and we were on the way.We were lucky enough to manage tickets for the Shalom Bus from Lusaka busstation to Livingstone. Normally you have to book a ticket in advance to reserve your seat.

We had a funny chat with the guy who checked the tickets in the bus and I understood that I should be called `tuinda, which basically means male as I am travelling with 2 ladies. Even after insisting upon the fact that we lived in Holland, he told us that I was coming from Spain, Tessa from Russia and Esther from France.

Halfway though the traject we stopped for a small break were I bough some chips and coke. I know what you are thinking but I didn't had much choices, it was either roasted beef, chicken or cake and I didn't want to take any risks.

I did that 2 months ago in Nepal and we all know how that ended for me :( That time, the toilet was my office for a whole week and my diet consisted of yoghurt and water bases ice creams.

I will save you the further details, if you need them, just hit me up.

Now back to the bustop...

The ladies were the last one to hop on the bus again and in the meantime I spoke to the driver and told him to give them a fine (for a joke)...when they came back and he agreed with me with a cheeky smile on his face.. I should have know that it wouldn't work as Dutch people are typically rough and direct. Esther directly replied, the 10 minutes are not even over yet. I can ensure that the driver was not missing any teeth by the smile he had on his face.

We are currently in the middle of a dark bus and will be arriving in Livingstone in an hour or so. (Keep in mind that an hour is the same as an Indian hour and not an European hour, we quickly noticed this here.)

That's where the story sadly ends for now....see you next time, with hopefully some nice stories about Livingstone!

Day 3 - 4

So we arrived around 08h30 PM on Sunday evening at the bus station of Living stone, Zambia. The bus did not even stop yet and a bunch of taxi brothers already started (trying) to make contact with us by jumping or knocking on the glass of the buss.

We knew we could not mess around with them as our next destination was about a walking distance so I looked at the taxi drivers and I started making the walking move with my index and middle fingers to explain that I did not need a taxi. However the taxi drivers still were doing a car steer movement to try and influence me and to negotiate a good price.

After we got our backpacks from the boot of the bus we started looking for Jollyboys backpackers which was our next temporary staying location. After a few hints and directions we found it and it instantly seemed as a nice spot to stay. This is a backpackers hostel with a strong westernised look, most backpackers are from Europe and everybody is really helpful. The first night we (Tessa, Esther and I) ordered something from the menu card as it was quite late already.

The good thing about Jollyboys backpackers is that it provides enough possibilities for it’s guests to do something during the day, there is a chuck-board with indicates the prices and activities per day.

You can subscribe yourself by informing the Jollyboys backers reception workers. The hostel always arranges a bus to the location, after the activity/event is finished, you will be picked up and brought back to the hostel.

That same night, we planned that we were going to visit the Victoria falls the very next day. The next morning we went to the SPAR, that's like their Albert Heijn here. I bought a few banana’s and apples, coca cola and some really good biscuits as breakfast.

After that we took the shuttle bus from the hostel to the Victoria falls. To enter the park we had to pay a fee of 180 Zambian Kwacha, which basically means 18 Euro.

After entering the park we went to the boiling point which is the lowest point of the Victoria Fall on the Zambian’s side. It was fairly easy to get down to the bottom but the way up was much more difficult, in a way it was an exercise for the cycling days that were soon approaching.

I had to take a few breaks before arriving at the top, where Esther and Tessa were already waiting for a few minutes. After that we went further into the park and crossed a bridge which has a magnificent view of the falls. At some point it may feel like you are being sprayed with water/rain but it is totally worth it. The view from top to bottom is really incredible and makes you think about how the rupture of the falls has occurred.We took some time to enjoy the view and take some pictures/selfie as a remembrance.

After walking out the park we had a small lunch with drinks, we got the food we ordered but we did not received the drinks. Tessa ordered something with cheese but received a cheeseburger. One thing about Zambia to remember is that whatever you order, you will receive it in a type of burger witch some French fries as side dish.

After the visit to the Victoria falls park we crossed the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We handed over our passport at the customs and received a stamp on a morned piece of paper with the number 3 on the paper. We were with 3 persons visiting the bridge however Esther did not have to hand over the passport. After crossing the bridge Tessa said that she did not have a food feeling about handing over our passports at the immigration point so we walked back again and picked up our passport at the custom entry point. No trouble’s we even got the passports without having to show any ID or pass foto’s. Let that be a lesson for everyone! Do not just hand-over your passport to the immigration office, if they really want to cause troubles they can just keep your passport and not return them back to you.

After the customs entry point we were looking for a taxi home to the hostel, that’s where we met Clifford. I needed some time to understand his first and last name and Esther was telling me that I was not going lekker (literary means that I am not doing fine ). We made a good price about the return trip and also indicated to him that we wanted to do a safari trip. He immediately proposed a price for the car and told us (honestly) that he could not provide a total package price as he did not know the price of the park. We exchanged contact details so that I could keep in touch of him via whatsApp. As soon as we made a final decision we only would have to give him a call and he would pick up us to go to the safari park.

After arriving at the hostel we got some time off as the other group (Frank, Linda, Tim and Seth) still needed to arrive at the hostel.

We already figured out that Olga - The Italian corner would be a good opportunity to spend the evening together and discuss our plans for the coming 2 days. After a quick refreshment of the new group, we went to Olga's but the restaurant was already fully booked and we headed to Zambezi Café.

We ordered 2 platter meals and individual meals for the persons who wanted it. I ordered crock ribs as I wanted to taste how it tastes likes. It actuals tastes like chicken but is a bit more thicker and with less flavour. Very nice ribs though but I couldn’t finish it myself as it was too much. The owner stated making pictures of us having dinner, without asking us. We figured out it would bring more people to his restaurant and increase hi profit in the longer run.

Overall the food quality was very nice, service is OK, pretty much the same as in Asia. You order your food and drinks but the drinks keep coming in and an hour later the food is served but not all people receive it at the same time.

We even had to say no to drinks a couple of times because it felt like we were being forced to drink until our current drink was finished.

The next day we all took our breakfast around 08H00 - 09h00 o'clock as we would be picked up at 10h00 am for an exciting helicopter ride around the Victoria falls.

Little that we know, the helicopter trip that we had booked was in Zimbabwe and not Zambia. In the voucher it's stated that the pick up from the hostel was free. The hostel should have been in Zimbabwe in order for this rule to be applied. We ended up paying 50 dollars (for the group) for the taxi from the border of Zambia to the border of Zimbabwe. After getting at the immigration office we realised that we had to enter Zimbabwe but also needed to come back. Again another 50 dollars flying straight from our pocket to enjoy the helicopter ride.

At the border of Zimbabwe, a van from the helicopter office was waiting for us so that he could drop us off at the pick up location. Once we arrived there we all gave our reservation number and were weighted so that the helicopter could be well balanced in the air. We received some instructions from one the team members about the flying route so that we knew what to expect and also got to hear some safety measures.

Lucky me! I got to sit next to the pilot and it was a magnificent experience. It's was so beautiful to see the falls from the top. The size of the falls strike you even more when you look at it from above.

After the helicopter trip the group spitted as Tessa, Esther and I already did the trails leading to the boiling point of the falls. The other group stayed in Zimbabwe and we went back to Zambia as we wanted to do a safari trip with the help of our beloved friend Crifford.

We had no problems at the return of the Zimbabwe - Zambian immigration office and stepped into Clifford’s car. He had to wait for more than 1,5 hours but he was still smiling and happy.

He told us he was happy that we called him, a lot of foreigners make a promise but don't always keep their promise as they sometimes find a better deal with another cab.

We told him we would compensate his wait and he told us it is OK, no problem. We quickly stopped at his taxi car park where he arranged another car for us to take to the safari park. It seems that Crifford has 4 girls and no boys so his name will not go on in the generation. The conversation landed on the girlfriend/boyfriend topic. He said that his daughters do not have boyfriends and even if they did he didn't know. But all girls were following education and that is important for him now.

Only after 18-19 years they are allowed to have boyfriends, which is a good thing I believe. (Specially taking into account that we are in Zambia).

After buying the entrance tickets and having a cool drink for Crifford, we entered the safari park. Within 5 minutes one of the girls spotted an huge elephant which was quite near us and standing behind a tree. After that we saw buffalo's, giraffes, dears, monkey's, zebra's, pumba’s, traces of crocodiles and not to forget a big white rhinos with it's 2 month old baby.

We had to stay in the car to see all animals except for the rhino. The car was parked in a remote area and we got some instructions from the rangers about how to walk and what to do when things would go unplanned or if the rhino would charge. Not a very comfy feeling but with general Robbert and his machine gun I believed we were OK. So we approached the sleeping baby rhino and it's mother to approximately ten meters. Such a huge beast but yet so peaceful. Rhino’s can't see that well and therefore rely on their ears and nose. We could definitely see that she was scanning where the noises came from as it was pointed towards us.

After some explanations from the guide we decided to go back to the car and that's when both the rhino’s stood up and the size of the animal just strikes us when it is standing up. We quickly followed the general which lead us back to the car.

The ranger told us that the top 4 animals who kill people are buffalo's, elephants, hypo's and crocodiles.

After the safari trip Clifford dropped us at the hostel, I noted down his email so that I could send a few pictures of our journey to him. I also told him that I would write a good review on trip advisor, about him as a taxi driver.

Such a nice guy, always happy, honest when he didn't know things. If you are ever in Livingstone - Zambia, these are his contact details: +260 0977364113, hachitemacliff@gmail.com

The rest of the group arrived at the hostel around 19h00 and we decided to go Olga's, the Italian corner.

At first it seemed like there was no place for us but then I told the guy at the reception that we called from Jollyboy’s backpackers and that we were informed to come around 19h00 to ensure a table. The guy then told us to wait a 10-15 minutes for table to be freed up. The group ordered Mosi's (Zambian beer) and whine's to kill the time and start of the evening.

The pizza's we ordered were great and we enjoyed our time. We headed back to the hostel and I pretty much went straight to bed as we had booked a half-day rafting activity for the next day.

The next day we were picked up at 8h00 and wen to the rafting centre office. We received the rafting gears and some instructions in case we fell down in the water and what we should do to get back into the boat.

We hiked down to the boiling point, were we had to step into the rafting boat. We were waiting in line and I that as well, however for strange reasons I fell from the rock I was standing on and ended up in the water. All ok, just a unexpected early river shower and some cuts on my left leg and left arm.

I can tell you one thing, right at the first wave we had to cross, I ended flying up in the air and somehow ended up under the boot and had difficulties with breathing as I was panicking. I managed to pushe myself from the boat as I remembered the instructions we received from the instructor.

After that there were 5 more times where I saw the boat from under water, I didn't panic anymore as I would be sucked to the top of the water by the rescue jacket I was wearing.

At the second last wave we were asked if we wanted to do the hard version or the easy version. As I had already drank 15 liters s of water until that point I wanted to do the easy version but the rest team wanted to do the hard version.

It's all about looking for challenges and I took one for the team, if I didn't want to join I could step into another boat.

Guess what; when said I take one for the team, I literally did that and I was the only one flying from the boat. One guy in the rescue kayak was pretty quick in rescuing me and I just grabbed his boat until we moved out of this strong current zone so that I could be picked up by the rafting boat in which my group was sitting. After the rafting we had to clim around 300 meter upwards on a stoned and staircase made of woods and spikes. Reaching the top gave me a fulfilment feeling, it was a hard and bumpy ride but we made it.

After that we received a burger meal and a refreshment drink, after the meal the video's and photo's of the rafting trip we're showed on the tv's.

We bought the pictures as it would be a good memory of this activity.

To be honest, I still felt dizzy until I got back into the hostel. I went to the toilet 3 times to do a pee-pee. I assume this was due to my underwater experiences.

After refreshing ourselves we went to the sunset booze cruise: for those who don't know what it is: it is a boat where you have free drinks for an hour or 2 and where you have the possibility to see hippo’s, elephants, giraffes and crocodiles.

With free drinks I assume that you all know that we are not going out there to drink water and enjoy the view.

I talked to a guy named Chi bombe and he told me his boss was Indian and that he wanted to go to India once. He was on a trip to visit his friend who just got married a few days ago so we met the newly-wed pair and shot some pictures. The newly wed lady was pretty shy but the guy was smiling all the time and he told us he was very happy as it was his honeymoon.

It seems that there are a lot of Indians in Zambia. The ones that adapts themselves do not cause any problem and the one who do not respect the rules or don’t mingle do create issues and troubles by demonstrating or protesting. Their seen as hardworking business people who are really strong cultured and are not always open in having relationships with Zambian people.

The respect towards elder is the same, your in-laws are also a second pair of parents. This means you should treat them the same as your own parents. If they can't take care of themselves properly you will have to care of them as they did of you when you were small. Their parents took care of them when they were a baby and when the parents get old and become a “baby” you help them out by taking them in home. If you don’t do that it will come back at you when the table turns at some point.

During the trip the group and I had some Godfrey’s special, the Godfrey special is lemonade based cocktail which helps you relax and enjoy the sunset. It even helps your view become sharper so that you can spot animals in the bushes across the water.

After the boat returned to the starting point we went back to the hostel and went straight to bed as we had to be in the bus (back to Lusaka) at 06h30 in the morning.

Day 5 & 6

I sat next to Tim, a guy who initially worked for Accenture but left the company to work for a new start-up company in the Netherlands. He is a nice guy, cracks a joke every now and then and shared his travel, cycling experiences thoughout our bus journey. The trip to Livingstone seemed to take ages but the return trip went quite fast.

Again, when we arrived at the Lusaka gustation we were overcrowed by taxi drivers which were ready to take us to our next staying location which was arranged by Cycle for Plan. They started off with 200 Zambian Kwacha. I managed to arrange a price of 150 Kwacha for both cars (separately) as we were with 7 persons and all our backpack stuffs. On the way we stopped at the ATM so a group of us could withdraw some money for the next couple of weeks. The trip to the hostel was quite a bumpy ride at is located in a remote area and it is only reachable via a dirt road. We eventually paid 200 Kwacha so there was no point in bargaining at the very beginning.

I had a beer at the hostel with the Accenture guys and then the rest of the Cycle for Plan group arrived at the hostel. We had a small drink followed up by dinner. After that a small kick off briefing was organised at the bonfire to explain the setup of the next coming days.

Most of us did not stay up till late as we had to be at the breakfast table by 07H15AM and the bus would leave at 08H00AM.

For breakfast we had some pudding type of meal, it looks and tastes like havermout but it is a bit thicker. Additionally, we got some toasts with eggs and beans to complete the breakfast.

During the first part of the day we visited the head quarters of Plan Zambia, a presentation was given to explain to the group how the money we raised was contributing to the lives of the Zambian’s girls/boys which are being rescued/helped. In short, the money will not go straight to the family but to the local community so the money will be used in a proper and structured way.

We visited one of their centres in the slumps of Lusaka, it is basically a building where children/adolescents up to 25 years old can come to if they have issues or if they want to spend time with their friends.

They provide HIV tests to youngsters who do not dear to go to the hospital as they might bump into someone who they know (relatives, friends etc…)

They were a lot of young children who are all smiling and wanted to be on the picture with us. A dance performance was organised for us so we got to see a typical Zambian Dance. A young lady who was part of the dancing group grabbed and before I knew it I was shaking my legs just as an African dancer would do. It seemed like a type of daggering so I did that, please be aware that I purposely left some space between my counterpart and myself.

I am in foreign country so I think it is appropriate to behave yourself.

I made some photo’s of the kids and even played pool with some of the guys at the center. I partnered with a Zambian guy and one other member of the Cycle for Plan group partnered with on the Zambian guys. We couldn’t finish off the game but we were winning so I will take it as a win.

After coming back to the hostel we had lunch (corn, vegetables and bread) and after that we had our bikes set up to our heights and did a small bicycle ride to prepare ourselves for the next day.

The bike is ready and things have been adjusted, we now only need to focus on the road and make sure we don’t overperform as it shouldn’t be race to the end.

I will try to enjoy as much as I can and connect with the local as that is my main aim for this trip.

Day 7 - 13

The first day started quite easily with 22 km on tarmach, straight and flat road at 07H00 in the morning, I thought it was easy and stayed ahead of the team until the first stop. At the first stop we had a break and a presentation about plan Zambia. The local community (meaning all the kids and some of the parents) also attended this event. It was a memorable kick-off with all the media and press who were also present. We even played football with all the kids from the neighbourhood, well you can’t really call it football become all the 100 kids run around behind the ball so if you have the ball it its better just to pass it otherwise you will have 100 kids at your feet and the ball will be eventually kicked away.

The main point that was made during the speech given by one of the Plan Zambia members, Mfue needs safe houses for girls so that they don’t need to travel 15 - 20 kms per day to go to school everyday. This makes them vurenabe as they have to walk a long distance and the ways as the paths that they have to walk on to are quite isolated. Men who are drunk may then abuse these girls and that’s what Cycle for Plan wants to prevent.

So after the stop of the first cycling day I was really tired and around 40 KM’’s I wanted to give up, people around me started supporting me but also told me that I had 4 days ahead so I had to make a wise decision about how I wanted to proceed.

However I suddenly got a boost out of nowhere and still kept going on to 100 KM’s. People around started telling me that they were surprised where I got the power from. I also had to deal with puncture on my rear wheel :(

The second day of cycling was not so difficult but I started feeling the sore legs, feet and ankles. The adrealine however keeps you going and also the cheering kids on the side of the street just pushes you trough the limit. The distance was not so long, around 60 KM. In the afternoon we had a church visit and a hospital visit. We got a tour at the hospital from a lady called Margaret. She left England ten years ago and her fiancee as well and settled all alone in Zambia. The reason was that she received something like a god call and wanted to help the people in the black Africa. She did not receive a salary for more than 10 years and used all her fundings to buy a house and maintain her self (food, electtricity, clothes, etc…)

She received donations from her clients and used that money to basically stay alive. During the visit it struck me how less advanced equipment there is available in the hospital. I purposely did not make any photo’s as I did not feel comfortable in doing that. Kids were smiling when we visited them, some of the guys in our group gave them gifs and it cheered them up. We got to hear that there is not electricity in the hospitals and sometimes the nearest hospital is 160KM away.

After the hospital visit we had dinner and when straight to bed. You can imagine that if you have to start biking at 07H00 you have to wake up at 06H00 or maybe even earlier as you need to have breakfast by 6H45. No breakfast means no fuel to cycle during the first period of the day and therefore you will probably not make it the entire day.

The 3rd day of cycling was probably one of the most challenging things I have ever done in life. Climb after climb, trucks rushing by, it felt like it would never end. In my head I wanted to give up but physically I was not really tired yet and just couldn’t give up. Almost the entire group stopped at 60KM, I managed once again to cycle around 103KM. Looking back at the first day, I could have managed the full 120KM but it felt OK as the third day was more challenging and mentally breaking more people. I am pretty sure I will remember this day for a long time, I made it trough this day so I am sure that I will be able to bounce back on this if something difficult will come on my path.

Day 4 of cycling was not so interesting, mostly dirt road but with a lot of loose sand. Which makes it difficult to get grip on the ground and requires more effort to peddle around and keep the pace up. We went trough villages and got to experience the rural parts of Zambia. All the people in the villages came out of their houses to cheer us up. We arrived at petouke, a community in which all the kids, adults were waiting for us. A Zambian rap group did a playback performance, we got to see a drama performance and a group also singed for us. The story behind all performances was to fight early girl marriages. We were all struck by the number of kids that we were following us and wanted a handshake or high fives. Some of them even wanted to jump into our busses. The Zambian men were looking to marry a few of the ladies in the group. :) Like other men I got the question: will you be my man?

After the cycling day we arrived in Petouwke, we received a very warm welcome by the local community. There was a dance performance, a playback session and a theathre drama performance. All the performances were related to one key topic: stop (girl) child marriages. You can see that people are aware that this topic is becoming more and more important in Zambia. After that we were invited to join the dances and together with some of the members of the group I danced a little bit to mingle into the crowd.

Day 5 of cycling went pretty easy and I made it until the 103 KM, I did not expect it but I did not feel tired or whatsoever. People around me also complimented me of it.

We stayed at a camp site in Chipata, everybody is having bears and drinks to relax from the handwork we have delivered during the ride today. We all went straight to bed after the dinner at around 21H00.

Day 6 of cycling. Finally the last day of cycling! We had to ride 123 KM to the end and had to deal with a few tough climbs on the route but except for that, it was all going downhill. What a great feeling, the effort we have delivered is just great. I had some doubts about myself after the first 40 KM of this journey but I did not give up and struggled through it. When we arrived at our final destination we were received with champaign bottles and everyone from Plan Zambia was cheering for us.

After a short celebration we biked to our last camping location, on the way to the camping a couple of elephants were crossing the way so we had to be quite and stop biking. A local lady became angry and told us to stop cycling as elephants are afraid of cyclists. We were forced to stop and put our bikes on the side of the road. After that we were transported to the camping by car, it was only a few hundred meters further.

The view on the camping is amazing, we are looking to a river which is on the low level as it is currently the dry season in Zambia. You can spot giraffes, impala’s, crocs, zebra’s, elephants, hyppos and monkeys. The animal do come near the tents so if we want to go to the toilet during the night we have to flash our lights in the tent and the guard will guide us to prevent any encounters with animals.

Today we woke up around 5h30 in the morning to have an early breakfast so that we could do a jeep safari. We saw the animals I mentioned here above from close and tonight we will go a jeep safari to spot the big cats as we did not spot them this morning.

During the day today we have spare time so we can relax, have a swim in the swimming pool, play some snooker, eat some burgers and lay in the sun.

Today is also our final with the group, tomorrow we will fly back to Lusaka from where everybody will leave to Holland. I will be staying a bit longer in Lusaka to visit a temple, the biggest mall and a local market.