Day 52: Saranje – Lusaka

Not many miles to do today, it’s plain sailing into Lusaka, and once inside the (small) city limits, I turn the GPS on to guide me to my accommodation.

I did manage to get another ticket today, although this purely wasn’t my fault (maybe a little!). Rolling up to the police check point, I ride slowly past the stationary traffic. This is exactly what I’ve been doing for the last five or so check points, and based upon the encouragement of the police officers. They aren’t really interested in bikers. But this time, the cop takes exception, and flags me down like a Wildman. Energetically he asks for my passport, he hands it back, not happy and asks for my drivers licence. I hand him my International Drivers Permit, and presumably he wasn’t expecting it? He walks off, IDP in hand, and continues about his day. I don’t really want to sit here all day whilst he decides what he’d like to do. So, in my most confrontational manor I ask him if he’s going to do anything with my licence, or just stand with it in his hand.

He’s enraged, and storms to the guy sat in a car, “Write him a fine, you saw what he did!”. And hands over my IDP to the other cop. This guy is bewildered and writes a ticket for approx £20, sighting ‘Careless driving’. There’s no arguing, a fine for the sake of a fine (although I’m sure I’m not 100% innocent). Paid up and ready to leave, I manage to get the last (juvenile) word in. I walk up to the cop, shake his hand and say “You, are like a child”. I jump on Kirsty and ride off as quickly as I can! And then spend the next 40 minutes thinking how stupid all that was...