27 June, Thursday: Malangano Camp -> Lusaka

As we knew we only had 27 km to go today, we slept in and took the morning wake up routine much more chilled. Not that we actually rush anyways. Its been so relaxing, the whole trip so far, we have just got up when we all awake, which has been before 7 am because we in bed by 9 pm already!

We had another disappointing start to the cycle today. As we were on the outskirts of Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, the road was very busy with trucks and cars and again, the condition of the road was terrible. The safety commitee decided it was not safe and we were not to cycle. We got to Wanderers Backpackers and Campsite much earlier than anticipated. Lusaka is very developed and so first world. The roads are packed with large video billboards and walking bridges crossing the main roads. The infrastructure is in excellent condition, it felt as if we were in Joburg. We went to the Manda Mall just around the corner which was just immaculate. Our impression of Lusaka is that the city is very clean and modern, possibly even better than most South African cities. The traffic is a bit hectic, but coming from Hoedspruit, we dont know too much about that. We passed a few shopping centres with PicknPays, PEPs, Shoprites, as well as familiar fast foods like Spur, Debonairs and Steers. It feels like the closer we get to SA, the more westernized the bigger cities become.

With the luxury of choice of food, we typically decided on a braai. Our very good family friend, Mike Ogg (Bee's dad) is in Lusaka for the night as well, so he joined us. It was so great to catch up with him, he's just come from Uganda where our cycling group of friends went for the 2019 Ezi-tour. My friends from school and all the parents started an annual cycle tour, called Ezi-tour, coming from Oom Charls Ezi-grow nursery in White River. This year they met up with Michi and Robbie who are cycling from Cairo to Cape Town and did the tour in Uganda. It was lovely to hear all the stories and be able to share our experiences as well and just being with such a familiar face was lovely. Being in the city centre, the night was loud, full of busy traffic noises, city night life sounds. We were all ready to crawl into our tents to keep warm, as the temperature has dropped in Lusaka down to 13 degrees.