This is a 3 week interlude while we fly to Italy to stay with Karen’s brother and sisters in his house in Prunetto Italy. Back to South Africa 8th August, when the journey will continue.
Month: July 2024
Rossi Pools, Gonarezhou National Park Zimbabwe to Johannesburg South Africa
We stayed 2 nights at Rossi Pools. It was a good campsite with a lapa (shelter) looking down into the river bed maybe 20m below. There was an island of crocs, some large ones. A few other animals, but not a lot of animals compared to other areas of Gonarezhou.
We got going in the morning heading out towards the highway where we thought we could camp at a motel. We left the park through one of the gates after a bit of delay checking paperwork, and we headed west. The road deteriorated, we only passed a couple of cars. We then drove through Gezani, which had a few shops, and not many cars. Then about 10km out of Gezani our Tracks4Africa app had us taking an even smaller track west. We went along this track about 1km, but there was no sign anyone had driven this road for months. There was 80km more of this track to the highway. We decided we needed to abandon this track and head back to Gezani and then head south. Once we got through Gezani we headed south and then west along a road that followed the Limpopo river a few kilometres north of it. The road would vary. Sometimes good, then deteriorate to a 4wd track, then get better again. We knew we would have to wild camp, and started looking about 4:30pm. A bit after 5pm, we drove through some scrub, squeezing between bushes and getting under a Baobab tree. With our battery powered reciprocating saw, we cleared more bush away for a campsite, and settled down for the night.
We had hardly seen any vehicles on the road during the day, but after dark, probably 10 vehicles drove past. Most were buses driving on a very, very corrugated road. We were far enough into the bush that I didn’t think anyone could see us. However late in the night three donkey carts drove past. I am not so sure that they wouldn’t have seen us, but if they did, they didn’t stop.
The next morning we cut our way out of the bush, cutting more bushes, making it easier to reverse. Then it was still another 35km of very corrugated road to the highway. We made the highway, after several hundred kilometres of dirt tracks, to find a brand new highway in perfect condition.
It was 20km drive to Beitbridge, a border crossing that we had heard many bad things about. The Zimbabwe side is very fancy, with multiple brand new buildings, lots of electronic systems. I wandered from place to place handing over TIP forms until eventually we both went to the immigration building. There we paid $USD28 for a new building fee, and $USD9 for a bridge toll. Then we went back to the carpark to find our rego on a big sign that meant we were allowed to leave. We drove out, handed over our fancy gate pass and headed to South Africa. We couldn’t help think of the hundreds of kilometres of roads we had travelled on that desperately needed grading, while instead the money had been spent on a fancy new border post.
The South African side while organised was very slow. We queued for an hour or so to get our passports stamped. Then the thing I thought was difficult, the TIP (temporary import permit) was easy, and only took a few minutes. We passed the police checkpoint, and we were out and back in South Africa.
We aimed to get around 375km south along the N1 to a campground at Modimolle before dark. A couple of stops for food, lots of stops at toll plazas, and we made it to Modimolle ten minutes before sunset.
Next morning we had made arrangements to meet Lilli in Pretoria who I had last seen 5 years ago at Christas place near the Mozambique border. Lillis HJ60 Landcruiser had recently not had a good time. She had rebuilt her 2H diesel engine about 2 years ago, and it needed yet another rebuild. Lilli was in good cheer, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of Africa, from the experience of her many many trips.
After lunch we headed of towards Marion and Davids place at Airport en Route. It was good to be stationary, and in familiar surrounds.
Chitove camp to Chivillia Camp to Rossi Pools, Gonarezhou National Park
Chitove camp was even better than Fishans camp. We were right next to the water. When we arrived, a couple of elephants left. We had crocodiles resting on the opposite bank. Baboons, Zebras, Elephants and more came down to the water, somewhere along the bank. There was pretty well something going on all day. After 3 nights at Chitove we headed about 60km to Chivillia. Firstly we needed to cross the Runde at a causeway, which we did without it being much more than 30cm deep. We then stopped on the opposite bank to watch a couple of hundred Cape Buffalo head into the water to drink. We then headed to Chilojo cliffs picnic area. There we watched an Elephant wander across the Runde, eventually coming back to comprehensively scratch itself on a tree near us.
We continued on to Chivillia Camp which was a rocky downhill track. We were a bit disappointed with Chivillia, it was away from the water, and there were not a lot of animals. However the first night during dusk, Karen spotted a lion sitting about 100m away. It roared a few times then wandered off. We were pretty careful around camp the next two nights.
After 3 nights at Chivillia Camp we headed for the long drive south to Rossi Pools camp. Firstly we needed to detour to Chipinda Pools camps to get some extra water. Then it was the well built but steep winding descent to the Nkwangulatio causeway. The causeway was built in 2019, and was well done. We crossed it and continued south. We passed a couple of heavily armed rangers making patrols, then followed the electrified park fenceline for tens of kilometres. At 4:30pm and after a long day we arrived at Rossi Pools camp.
Fishans camp to Chitove camp, Gonarezhou National Park
We spent 3 days at Fishans camp. We had two elephants wander through camp passing within 3 metres of the camper. We had the occasional Baboon stalk us. A monkey managed to get a small bag of flour. There were lots of birds. We had various antelope nearby almost all the time. The mornings were cool, but build up to a warm day in the high 20s.
Save River Conservancy to Fishans camp, Gonarezhou National Park
Another cool morning, we started the diesel heater for a while. Or we are getting used to the warmer weather, and we are getting wimpy in the morning needing the heater. We headed into Humani compound, and paid for four nights camping. We headed south, stopping at a dam along side the road. it had a couple of locals washing clothes. However in the dam we counted 7 crocs, that we could see. About 100km south we got to Chiredzi. We visited the Pick n Pay supermarket, finding we couldn’t get any tissues (this has been the case at several supermarkets), or any aluminum foil. We also couldn’t find any bulk supplies of water.
We headed out of Chiredzi towards the gate of Gonarezhou National Park about 50km away. A very helpful ranger gave us some camping options. In the park if you book ahead it can be as much as $USD65 per night per person. However if you just roll up it can be as cheap as $USD27.50 per night per person. However there are park charges and other charges, meaning that 10 nights was costing us $USD1000. We topped up our water supply at one of the campsites and headed via the winding and at times rough track into Fishans. We passed elephants, kudu, zebra, lots of antelopes, and baboons. Close to sunset we crossed the Runde river via a rough stone causeway, and just on dark made it to Fishans campsite which is about 20km from the Mozambique border.
