We woke up on the morning of the 27th to find Kevin looking very sorry for himself with a more than sagging roof rack. It had probably been broken for a while with us blissfully ignorantly driving along – lalalalalala…life is golden….lalalalala. But with some bad roads ahead we needed to get things fixed up and out of this came one of the highlights of our trip so far. On the side of the road in a tiny town somewhere between Lusaka and Chipata we met Lizwe who went to work manufacturing us a new rack! What a legend:

Kevin looking sad with a broken roof rack

Lizwe the legend manufacturing a new rack on the side of the road

I really like this man

A much happier Kevin the rally car

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Between the shoe drop and the checkpoint party (numero dos) we got to go see Victoria Falls! Many kinds of impressive.

Above the falls

Below the falls

in a jungle below the falls

the water goes down and then up again

So magnificent…and the falls too

So much water

Don’t jump Mand’s

A baobab

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The second checkpoint party was held at the SANPAR resort on the banks of the Zambezi, a few k’s upstream from the mighty Vic Falls. The theme was the Royal Barefoot Banquet. After an amazing dinner, an excellent band from Cape Town played long into the evening. The atmosphere at the checkpoints is great with many stories over a few cold beers. We heard about one crews breakdown in a herd of elephants, another’s 5 breakdowns in the Caprivi strip and about the Mini in motion completing a full on 4×4 trail! Kevin is holding up well in comparison to some of the other non 4×4′s. Malawi here we come!!!

SAFPAR

Zambezi Sunset

Royal Barefoot Banquet

Royal Barefoot Banquet

Will the real Livingstone please stand up

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Travel in Africa, particularly Southern Africa is extremely challenging and uncomfortable! Check out the kind of conditions we have had to endure over the last 3 days – how we have managed I don’t know:

How must I shower in this

and sleep in this

We have been astounded by the presence of Protea Hotels in Southern Africa. While researching our Rally Route we realised that the Protea Hotel locations coincided remarkably with our stop overs – who would have thunk. You can travel through most of Southern Africa including Namibia, Zambia and Malawi staying in Protea Hotels all the way.

We have been insanely fortunate to have been hosted by Protea Hotels over the last 3 nights. We spent 2 nights at the Protea Hotel Livingstone which we used as a base for Check Point 2 and for the Put Foot Foundation shoe drop. We are tonight in the Protea Hotel in Lusaka. Both hotels are insanely plush and offer such great relief from the long hours on the road. The staff are so friendly and helpful and are probably the highlight of our stay at Protea Hotels in Zambia.

Protea Hotel Livingstone Team

A true Zambian Oasis

This stage has very kindly been sponsored by:

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We spent our morning helping out with the Put Foot Foundation’s shoe drop at a small primary school in Livingstone. The morning started with a parade of all the put foot crew cars through the streets of Livingstone. The little mini lead the police escorted parade from the camp site to the school. We were greeted by hundreds of children and after a few speeches and some lovely singing the fun started. Each child was given a new pair of SA made school shoes and a bag with some new socks and some stationery. It was truly an privilege to be part of such a special occasion and were all left humbled by how much joy and pride a new pair of school shoes can bring.

Mini in motion

This dudes name is fluffy…or fuzzy..can’t remember now

the convoy

Put shoes on kids…do it

size 7

Team AK

How classic is that green Merc

Another kid another shoe

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