Livingstone I presume?

The past days we have done the three last stages in Zambia, going from Lusaka to Livingstone, near the Victoria Falls. The circumstances were very good: if there was wind it was a tailwind, the road surface generally was perfect, and the temperatures were not too high. The difficulty was in the length of the stages (160, 175, 160 km) which made you arrive in camp a little bit later than we are used to.
I have not experienced any problems in the past stages. The legs are still rotating smoothly, the body is still strong and so is the mind. The bicycle is still running like clockwork. I’m looking forward to the coming stages with confidence.
On Thursday I met a very special person. Riding in a peleton we were passed by a truck with a Zambian cyclist draughting behind it, reaching a speed of at least 60 km/hour. In the first town he joined us, and I had a conversation with him. His name was Felix Mapani, and he was the champion of Zambia. He did not have a sponsor, his bike was an old Italian brand, his derailleur was controlled by levers on the bottom-tube. On his handle bars he had a small cushion like you normally see on a triathlon-bike. When I took a closer look, I understood why: he did not have a left hand or underarm. So he rode his bike behind the truck with one hand! We drank a Coke together and said goodbye.
By now we are over the three-quarter mark, time wise. Many conversations now are about the finish in Capetown, how many days to cycle, and how life will be after the Tour d’Afrique. The big countdown has started.

The statistics:
Travelled distance: 7353 km
Altitude meters: 50000 m
Time on the bike: 325 hours
Average speed 22,6 km/h
Flat tires: 11
EFI Yes

The Palabana Children’s Village

I wanted to spend my rest day in Lusaka to take a look at the Palabana Childrens Village, the village that is built by the Pola van der Donck foundation, a short distance outside of Lusaka. Because of a not working phone number I couldn’t get in touch with the manager of the Children’s Village, so I decided to go looking for it myself. After a lot of questions, and a lot of biking, and even a ride in a police car, I found myself in front of the entrance of the Palabana Children’s Village. Because I was not announced, people did not really know what to do, but finally the supervisor was called in, and he showed me around the village.
Several crops are grown, there is a shop where you can by the products the make, and there is a machine t make corn-flower. The children go to school outside the village.
The supervisor showed me the Martin-clinic, named after the brother of Pola van der Donck. This clinic has recently been finished and will service the children and personnel of the village as well as the people from the neighboring villages.
It looked al very well maintained and managed, it was what I had expected from the info the Pola van der Donck foundation had provided.
Being past the three-quarter-mark of the Tour, I would like to encourage everybody once more to donate some money to the Pola van der Donck-foundation, it is absolutely well spent. See my homepage for the details of how to transfer money.

Zambia

• Long, straight and deserted roads
• Copper-ore brings in 55% of the foreign money
• Lusaka: the most western town until now
• The bicycle is an important means of transportation, for people and merchandise
• Shake shake: cornbeer, in a milk carton
• Mad about English Premier League Football
• A lot of Christian churches
• After Egypt, the first country with trains on the rail.