Catching a bus in London may be easy, but in Zambia it is something different

In England, there are bus stations everywhere, and you can trust that there will be space. In England, you can pay with a card; there are set routes, and the bus is going to be running. Well in Zambia, it is different.

What have planned to do:

• Livingstone to Lusaka 8hrs
• Lusaka to Mfuwe11hrs
• Mfuwe to the Malawi border 3hrs

On the way to Lusaka

When we arrived at the Livingstone bus station, we got lost (it happens a lot to us.) After we had found our way to the bus station, we made our first mistake. About twenty people came running to us telling us which bus to go on (they are paid by the bus companies to do this.) In other blogs, we had heard about which buses to go and the one that came to my mum’s head first was Shalom, so we got marched in a procession of the people who work for Shalom to the Shalom office.

Booking the bus:

• We got to the office, and they showed us all the times it can go. There is only one bus though, and they just send it off a few hours late.
• They showed us the seating plan, and it had four seats across. But when we got on the bus it was five seats across, and we had booked seats 36,37,38,39, so we got split up.

We got to the bus and put our bags under the bus. When we got to our seats, we were disappointed. Luckily the person next to us called the station which called all the other bus stations and moved it all around. There was a woman who missed the bus and was banging on the side, but we left, so she jumped in her car and chased the bus down until it stopped on the side of the road to let her on. On the way to Lusaka, we saw another bus called Power Tools, and we were envying their aircon as it is so hot in the bus. We had three stops, two for the toilet and one for lunch. At the toilet stops, there was someone who for five hundred kwachas will let you use their toilet. When we got to the bus station, there were lots of taxi drivers who waved their keys at the bus to prove that they actually had a taxi and told you to come with them. We got off the bus and started to try and get through the crowds to where our bags were. We got our bags off the bus and were very thankful my dad committed to a taxi driver early on so when someone came to us our taxi driver helped fight them off as he wanted the work. My dad was the last one to get his bag off the bus, and the bus started driving off with his bag, but thankfully he still got it off! Stressful journey number one finished.

Getting on the bus in Livingstone, not realising what we were in for!

On the way to Mfuwe

When we were booking our bus ticket this time, we got less harassed, and there were only around ten people who came to us. This time I was with my dad, so he wasn’t really expecting it, but there is only one company that runs the service so less people came but if you commit to one person the rest all leave you alone. The next day when we had to get on the bus, we were already in a bad enough mood after waking up at four in the morning to get on to the bus. We got a taxi to the bus station, and when we arrived at 4:30am the bus was going to leave soon. We got to the bus and asked to put our bags under the bus, but it was full. We had an argument with the bus person who said we could not take our bags, and we said that they told us it was fine yesterday. Eventually after lots of pushing the bus person fell in line. We put our bags on the top of the bus taking up four seats, but they said we could, so I think they just did not let people on.

This journey had only three stops, two for the toilet and one for lunch. The first toilet stop was like the one on the previous bus, but the second was much more interesting. My brother went out with my dad, so I followed my mum out. We went to the left of the bus and someone told me that men go to the right and woman to the left, so I turned around. When I got there, it turned out the toilet was the bush, but that doesn’t mater after ten hours on the bus. When we got to Mfuwe, there was no chaos because it is a much smaller town, but it didn’t make a difference. We were just so relieved to be of the bus; nothing else mattered. Stressful journey number two finished!

Mfuwe to the Malawi border

We had planned to go on the green buss but the next morning it was cancelled, so we went in a shared taxi. The four of us sat in the backseat and the driver, his friend and an extra passenger sat at the front. Everytime we got to a traffic -police stop, the extra passenger got out of the car and walked around the road stop and then got in the car after the roadstop.

 

My brother on the bus!