Dispatch 40 - Zambia

Crossing the Zambezi River into Zambia and there's always that wonderful feeling of having left the Southern Africa orbit behind - that into Central Africa untamed feel - I love it, the use of old fashioned English, the easy going friendliness of the people, the buzz of the city of Livingstone, named after Dr David Livingstone, who discovered Mosi ao Tunya, the Smoke that Thunders and named it the Victoria Falls.

The clear objective of our Boundless Southern Africa Expedition is to link 2 oceans, 9 countries, 7 Transfrontier Conservation Areas, 30 Nature Reserves and National Parks, and the communities in and adjacent to these areas. But I must share with you that there are times when there just aren't enough hours in the day or should I say the 120 days in which we've got to reach the mouth of the Orange River in Namibia's Sperrgebiet to empty the traditional calabash of water and hand over the Scroll of Peace and Goodwill dedicated to nature, culture and community that we are carrying across the African continent to the Namibian President. When Miss South Africa cut the start ribbon that sent our convoy of Land Rovers off from the International Tourism Indaba in Durban on May 11th, we never realised to what extent the wildlife and parks authorities, governments and community leaders, would get involved in this wonderful concept of linking nature, culture and community in this great time for Africa ahead of the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The energy has been truly unbelievable, the community events, the Boundless Soccer Challenge, art competitions and the humanitarian work attached to the Boundless expedition, which is made special by the teams of volunteers which sponsors have sent in to assist. A wonderful example of this is Western Cape volunteers Hugh and Tessa Roe, and Marietjie Vercuiel who have been sent to us by the Stellenbosch head office of British American Tobacco, a company which is particularly supportive of the link between conservation and communities. Imagine what it is like for these special volunteers, they give up their city lives for a life of hardship in the bush - a small tent, a mattress on the ground, cooking on an open fire, collecting firewood, driving Landies and finding the energy, smiles and goodwill, however tired they might feel, to get involved with community work. Hugh and his BAT team also have the responsibility of documenting the flora and fauna of the areas we pass through for a book that is to be called "Boundless Southern Africa". Fortunately, Hugh Roe loves Africa and has even been on the previous expedition to circumnavigate Africa as back-up for a river boat journey to Timbuktu where on the flooded inland delta of the Niger River, and with the help of BAT, he was able to assist with the expedition's One Net One Life malaria prevention campaign. Using adventure to improve and save lives, BAT's role in this Boundless Expedition is also to identify communities' needs for the future - there's more soccer fields to be built, boreholes to be drilled, orphanages to be painted and ongoing support required for numerous community environmental centres close to Transfrontier Conservation Areas so as to help ensure that this link between communities and conservation is sustainable after the end of the expedition.

And so we find ourselves at Shesheke on the Zambezi, fuelling up, filling water tanks and checking supplies, make sure they have a bottle or two of Captain, tools, oil, spare wheels - it's always a bit of an emotional time when the expedition splits - Hugh in two land Rovers with his BAT team, naturalist Dave Pusey and cameraman Rob O'Brien must find a small track North to the Southern boundary of the Kafue National Park. They must then follow the Kafue River North and do an arc through Barotseland, cross the flooded Zambezi on the ferry at Senanga to hopefully meet us again in five days time at the Ngonya Falls, the beautiful waterfall created by a basalt dyke that dams up the Barotse floodplain. We check maps and details - there's hugs and waves and then their two old Landy Defenders disappear into the distance.

The two overloaded expedition Land Rover Discovery 3's lead the rest of the expedition Land Rover convoy through the immense Sioma Ngwezi National Park. It's a beautiful pristine area that sadly has suffered greatly from poaching and logging, but now there's hope. The Peace Parks Foundation and the governments of Zambia, Namibia (the Caprivi area) and Angola have got involved to ensure that this area becomes a functioning part of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, especially to ensure the safe movement of large herds of elephant and other game between the three countries.

Hour after hour along high middel-mannetjie sand tracks and then down to the banks of the flooded Kwando where entire villages have been swallowed by the river and where the thick black gooey mud track destroys the myth that Land Rover Discoveries are only for boulevard cruising or a mom's taxi.

We meet a tsetse fly control team who lend us a banana boat to cross to Angola where we add some water to the calabash and sign the Boundless Southern Africa Scroll we are carrying across Africa. "It's a bit dangerous," whispers the guide, "there's still some unexploded landmines, you have to know where you're going - the tough war years are over now but we still remember when Savimbe and his Unita Forces would come across to kill and rape and take young men to join their forces." The challenge for the future is that this beautiful area becomes fully functional as part of a Transfrontier Peace Park and that the village communities prosper from wildlife adventure tourism - the area is unbelievably beautiful, the potential is Boundless. We get turned back by the flood waters and using our Garmins and paper maps we work out a route to the Ngonya Falls discovered by Dr David Livingstone two months before he discovered the Victoria Falls, their big brother downstream. The Ngonya Falls are magnificent - white sand beaches that squeak underfoot, the roar of the cascading water, a small community ferry boat and campsite. BUT no sign yet of Hugh Roe and his team of volunteers. We keep the radio's on and try the satellite phone - No answer. - We'll keep you posted…