Epic trip – coming up!

I’ve got an awesome holiday plan coming up. I’m travelling overland to Harare, Zimbabwe to visit a friend. A Zimbabwean friend I met in Norway. (What a world, eh?)

I just got my train ticket on Saturday. I was so excited I literally skipped out of the TAZARA station (Tanzanian Zambian Railway Authority – funded and built by the Chinese; random Simplified Chinese writing in the station was very entertaining) with my second class sleeper ticket. I was in such a good mood in the overstuffed dala dala stuck in a traffic jam that I held a long conversation with the creepy “marry-me-now” conductor.

38 hours on the train from Dar es Salaam to New Kapiri Mposhi (small town in Zambia). 38 hours if there’re no delays. Actually I want a bit of a delay, because if it’s on time, I will pass through the Selous Game Reserve at night and won’t be able to see the animals. If the train is delayed for a few hours, I’ll be able to the go through the national park on a free safari!

I’ll arrive in Zambia, then I’ll probably have to take a bus to Lusaka, the capital, and then another bus to Harare. Maybe there’ll be buses straight to Harare from Kapiri Mposhi, but I doubt it. As I can’t predict how long the train can be delayed (according to stories, anywhere from an hour to a day), I have no idea what time of the day I’ll be arriving…

Either way, I think it takes about a day to bus down to Harare, where I’ll meet my friend! I’m so excited! Wah!

The downside? I have two weeks of holidays and at least 6 will be on transport (3 to go and 3 to come back. I’m coming back in the car of my supervisor, who’s also Zimbabwean). I won’t even get time to go to Victoria Falls which everyone tells me is beauty beyond this world.

But I can’t wait for this solo trip (although in reality, I’ll only be alone on the transport to Harare). I love travelling alone. And my feet are getting so itchy just thinking about it!