Fred left for Cape Town today, so we departed after breakfast and said our good byes after three weeks on the road.
Went to Robyn's camp the long way around, and the wrong way around, 210km and six hours of driving and didn't see any animals and we are the only one's in the camp. ($70)
Left early in the morning for a camp just outside the east end of the park 180km away. Arrived at Tuskers campsite ($10pppn) and once again the only one's there and a real gem, with a lodge nearby with a swimming pool and a hide which we are allowed to use.
The narrow roads have been rough and the tar roads are a patchwork of potholes and donkeys and goats wondering around aimlessly, much like myself.
Meanwhile at the hide they throw down salt which the elephant's can't get enough of, at one stage there were over fifty milling about some playing in the water and others taking a mud bath. The days are very hot but luckily we have had some good cloud cover which helps tremendously.
At around 6pm the camp guard told us of a lion kill nearby, so we all bailed into the Troopy and it was right next to the main tar road , twenty feet inside the bush. Two lioness killed a fully grown Kudu and the seven cubs were trying to eat it as the mothers watched there feeble attempt at trying to eat it. It had hardly been touched, then suddenly the one lioness went over and dragged it a metre more into the bush and then was joined by the other one and then started tearing into it and you could hear the teeth breaking into the skin and bones. It was getting dark but luckily had a torch and was able to watch for a little longer and then headed back to camp, where they had started a fire for me for the nightly braai.
The following morning after coffee we shot back to the kill only to find the entire Kudu devoured and someone attached a rope to it's horns and then on to an anchor like device.
Spent time at the hide just watching the elephant's again as they come and go in huge families all day long. The swimming pool was nice and refreshing and with no guests I lounged around all afternoon.
The camp gard made another nice fire for our steak braai, the Mopani wood is the best you can get ,the coals are still there in the morning.
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TO MAABWE CAMP 150KM 5TH MARCH 2022
I like to leave early in the morning in case of any misfortune along the way, cause over here I misjudge the distances and the time it takes to get there cause every kilometer of every road is different.
Leaving the camp we stopped at the Kudu again to find it had moved a few meters and the rope and anchor were gone but the horns still on the carcass. Stopped for diesel, but they had no fuel, so I continued on as I had a full spare tank. A dumb move. Took about five hours to get up to Maabwe camp which is near the beginning of the top of the dam.
Got there only to find the gate locked and bell not working ,so scaled the fence and surprised the owner, Richard who was most welcoming and took us to our camp spot and then brought over some nice Mopani wood with some complimentary Breem which he catches in the lake and really hit the spot as we hadn't eaten all day.
We decided to stay another day as it is such a nice camp and the ablutions are the best we have encountered so far , as they built it for themselves when they started the camp and now it is for the campers. Margot brought over some freshly baked scones for breakfast and then took us on a tour of the camp and another fishing camp over the hill.
They then invited us over for a braai at their house, which turned out to be a most enjoyable evening with lots of information being given for North eastward travel and Richard's life around the world, very inspiring. He cooked a mean steak and the Nederburg Duet and plenty of beer was consumed with lots of laughs.
MONDAY 7TH MARCH 2022
DEPART TO CHIZIRIRA NP 116km
The roads are bad and average 25kmph and then from the turn off up to the park is 9km and it took an hour going up the mountain. The campsite is bare bones , has a Lapa and is on the 500ft cliff edge, not a big deal over here, the edge of the Lapa roof is in line withe cliff edge. The grass is tall and on a short drive around the park weren't able to see anything, so just enjoyed the solitude of the campsite and the night stars after cooking up some pasta.
Tuesday 8th March 2022
Depart for Matsudona NP. 250km
Going back down the mountain was even slower and passed all the school kids in their nice pale green uniforms walking to school . I am amazed at how many primary schools are along the roads in these rural areas, which is a good thing Mugabe did as you find their English and penmanship is rather good surprisingly. The Zimbabwean's are really friendly and seem way better off than the South Africans in the rural areas and townships.
Had a 48km detour as the bridge had washed away and had to go back the long way around, which was 7 L of diesel as the Troopy is very thirsty in this heat, and now with only a half tank of diesel, it was a huge error as I won't have enough to get to the next fuel stop, so am hoping I can get some from the national parks guys, if not I don't know what I will do.
The road turned from bad to horrendous and it took us an hour and a half to go 25km, but the Troopy eat it up, no problem unlike my passenger ! Got to camp after 9 hours and no lunch or water and no fuel to spare.
The offices were huge and lots of staff and vehicles, was really surprised as the camp is so hard to get to but they use the ferry to get to Kariba Town which is so much easier.
The campsite was on the edge of the dam all to ourselves with nice ablutions and elephants wandering around around us and a visit from a hyena. We stayed two nights ($ 102) and I begged for fuel and they sold me 29L at $1.71L. I guess the war in Ukraine has pushed up the prices, so they tell me, not having wifi since Vic Falls I have no idea what's going on out there, which is fine with me, I have my own problems, like trying to keep up with this blog !
Made a beautiful Mopani fire , takes forever to get coles for my steak and some boerewors, which I cooked to perfection finally and chugged some almost frozen beers. Windhoek Lager are only 330ml so like three gulps and you onto the next one which thankfully I had and they are only 4% abv so it's like carbonated water, you can drink all day, like my old neighbor Bob, well he claimed he only had one at lunch time ! Sure Bob.
Thursday 10th March 2022
DEPART TO KARIBA TOWN 380km 9hrs
Heard rain so jumped out of the tent and it was only 5am and by the time I had my pants on it had stopped, so we packed up and left at 6:30am. One helluva ride out for 70km to the junction, well I enjoyed it, the Troopy once again lapped it up. I didn't realize it was that faraway, looking on Maps.me it looked a lot closer than 380kmbut once again I was wrong but after nine hours we arrived at Lomagundi Camp in Kariba Town, which is a private like boat club and they have a few camping spots on nice green grass and lots of shady trees for $24 a night.
Had to run into town and got a sim card and the to the grocery store for some beer and chips. Didn't eat the whole day again so went to the restaurant at the camp and chowed down on some peri peri chicken and chips with a few Zambezi's to wash it down.
Did a dam tour with a guide for three hours and is sad to hear how the tourists have all dissappeared and resorts closed and the suffering it has caused.
The lake is 280km long with a shoreline of 2000 km and the widest part is 32km.
A French company is doing a massive repair job to the wall which will take five years and is being funded by the world bank, almost take as long to fix it as long as it took to build it by the Italians in the late fifties.
