Zimbabwe
We quickly had the cam sprocket sorted out and we decided that we might as well ride through Zim towards Kariba, maybe following the Zambezi River for a bit and so we were on our merry way. We found an awesome spot along the Kariba Dam to camp, about halfway between the town of Kariba and the Matusadona National Park. It was still early, but this is beautiful. We soon realized that the little track we found towards the Dam was leading to a Tsetse Fly Research Camp. All it meant was that there were 2 locals not too far off in their huts, huge herd of cattle that were being monitored and some nets in the bush to catch Tsetse flies.
The friendly folk of Zimbabwe. And who said there are no inventors in Africa? Still cannot believe that Mugabe would turn out to be so cruel towards his own people
This one is for Michnus - a water melon !!
The road to Kariba
The next morning when we woke up, I saw a Narina Trogan sitting on the tree trunk right in front of my tent. The mozies were really terrible especially at dusk and dawn. In fact, I remember waking up in the morning, hardly being able to see through the tents mosquito net at the door. Each one had its straw protruding through the holes of the mosquito net.
The perfect camping spot - between Kariba and Matusadona
We had food for only two days, but it was such a spot that we ended up staying for 5 days. I had a packet of pre-mix pronutro, powder milk and sugar. We ate that for 3 days and it was actually great.
Yes, we did wash from time to time - do not know what my finger was doing in my ring-piece ?!
The Dam, or Lake Kariba as some call it - it must have killed millions of trees and other wild life
We were invaded a couple of times by huge herds of elephant - one night a herd of well over 30. I have to admit that I felt very vulnerable and often plain shit scared. Johan, who grew up in National Parks and the like, handled these situations much better and I was often very glad that I had him as a comrade rather than another scared moegoe like me.
This one surprised me on the way to fetch water
We found a link through to the main gravel road heading south to Victoria Falls. This was really a nice ride and we were slowly getting the feel for the bikes - these roads had those 2 to 4 cm marble like stones and which were rather slippery when any quick maneuver was attempted.
The A1 road along the dam was awesome
I also remember going for a crap (veltie) in the bush (we often did this together) and whilst pushing out that last terd a couple of dung beetles would make a crash landing next to you and would start hacking away at your droppings. This was generally fine if it was of a firm substance, but more often it was not. Very amusing to watch them though.
We found another lovely little track that appeared to go into our desired direction. We could see that it was not used often and slept there in the middle of the track. That night we heard a lion or two roaring far too close to the tents for my comfort. You can actually feel the tent vibrating as it roars. Again, Johan kept his cool and we survived. As I have expected throughout the night, we found lion spoor a mere 20 meters away from our tents.
Wow...
As we drove off, nothing more than 5 km, we arrived at a homestead with a local guy approaching us and looking very pissed off. We were in some hunting concession area and not actually allowed to be there. He reminded us that it was X-mas day, after introducing himself as Christmas (obviously being born on this great day his parents decided to call him that). He then invited us over for a delicious breakfast- bully beef, tomatoes and a touch of curry powder with stywe pap. What a nice guy and an awesome view of the Zambezi river. He convinced us to stay another day and then we were off, heading for Zambia by now we had decided to follow the Zambezi a bit longer. She really gets prettier and prettier the longer you follow her ...
Johan and Christmas - notice how thin Johan is - he lost almost 20kg already
We all have one of these
Zambia
To follow shortly ........
Love is never further than an arm's length away... :imaposer:
