After spending two months in Namibia, it was time to move on. Next stop was Zambia. I booked a bus because flights were expensive and I don’t call myself a frugal traveler for nothing.
Anyway, booking was easy and it was quite cheap. I think it was just under R900. I was traveling from Rundu to Lusaka. The bus was meant to leave at 23:00 that Friday. It was late. We left Rundu at midnight. There was an issue with someone taking over my seat. She simply refused to move! The conductor tried but she wouldn’t budge. I, the seat owner, had to be moved to the front of the bus. Anyway, we left.
The ride was comfortable. I was enjoying myself until we were close to the border. The bus stopped. The driver informed us that the bus had run out of diesel! Imagine! How do you not check!
We were livid but there was nothing we could do. People started organizing lifts for themselves but us, who were going to Lusaka, had to wait because we still had a whole day of traveling ahead of us. Eventually a mechanic arrived – only to be told we needed diesel and not a mechanic! Oasis.com scores zero on communication!
After waiting, I was stinky, grumpy and angry, a Quantum arrived. It took us, we were a handful by then to the border.
It was an uncomfortable ride but we were happy to be moving. We arrived at the border. Dealt with immigration and then another bus arrived to take us further.
When I complained about having to take another bus, three Namibian students who study in Zambia, told me to be grateful because there were times when they had to cross the border on foot with their luggage. They told me horrific stories about the bus company’s bad service. They continue to be bad because they don’t have any competition. InterCape no longer runs in that route so there’s no pressure to improve.
We entered Zambia and soon encountered the worst road I’ve ever experienced. There were more potholes than tar. What should have taken us 1:30 minutes took us over four hours!
It was hot. We were sticky. We were hungry. It was the worst bus ride ever! Eventually, we arrived at the border town of Sesheni just around 9am. We were told to wait for another bus that was going to take us to Livingstone but it would only arrive at lunchtime!
I was beyond being angry. I was just trying not to pass out from the heat. We waited and the bus arrived at 2pm. We drove to Lusaka. When we arrived at 6pm we were told we’d be sleeping on the bus because they were not allowed to drive after 7pm. Sidenote: lesson to read up on country’s rules. Zambia introduced this law because there were many accidents involving wild animals at night. Anyway, we slept on the bus. The mosquitoes had a feast!
We left the next morning at around 4am. We drove to to Lusaka. We arrived just before lunch. I then found out that I needed to take another bus to get to Mpika but I had missed it because it leaves early in the morning! So I slept on another stationary bus for a second night. All the fellow travelers were gone by then. I was the only one who had to keep going. It was another night of being attacked by mosquitoes.
We left the next morning. So I only arrived at my destination on Monday! The bus ride was supposed to be 39 hours and it ended up being 54! I’m still traumatized by that journey!
Frugal Travela 