When Chris and I said our goodbyes to the Maddens, we crossed the border at Katima Mulilo and headed down the worst “good” road we’d ever been on.
The road was good in that it was tarred and raised from the surrounding wetlands, bad in the sense that you couldn’t do more than a few km an hour in some areas, as the potholes would eat you alive otherwise! In fact most of our time on the road was spent driving on the relatively good gravel shoulder, weaving in and out and from left to right around the tyre munchers.
Our reason for traveling this road was however a very good one – in theory at least. Spending so much time with avid birders tends to rub off on you and Chris and I had planned on going to find the Black-Cheeked Lovebirds in a remote area of the Machile River.
Finding the correct turn off in the correct village was an adventure all by itself, but we did eventually find the right two track and happily started wading our way along it, all the 
while keeping our eyes open for the very pretty lovebird.
Unfortunately we didn’t get too far and we didn’t get to see the Lovebirds either. I did however spot a very rare breed indeed: a Black-Legged Shoveller! J
This rare breed can only be found during the rainy season in the notorious black mud of the Zambian bundus …
