Day 2
Lion & Elephant to Lake Mutirikwi
312.3 kms
8:00 – 15:00
Camping next to the main road was not as awesome as one would think (or it is as un-awesome as some would know). At night, it seems, all the big trucks come out to play! All the noise of trucks repetitively passing did not sum to a deep, relaxing rest. Nevertheless, we woke at half past 6 and allowed the stove to heat some water for coffee and oatso easy while we started rolling our sleeping bags and matrasses and packed our tents. This was a routine that we quickly got very skilled at as the trip progressed.
We left the campsite at about 8:00 and had an hour or so of tar, heading further North. There we had our first encounter with the long-ish arm of their law, getting caught speeding. Expecting to be forced to bribe them, it was a surprise when they started to fill in their receipt book and charge us $20 for our wrongdoing. I even got to play with the one officer’s radar gun while they filled in the forms. They were very friendly and we had a quick chat about the bikes and our planned trip. Then they showed us where we could start speeding again! Leaving them, we continued up North. At last, at a gravel junction, Dawie’s right indicator lit my face with a glorious amber! We stopped to adjust our tire pressures and headed straight East.
This was the first time that we rode together and I was anxious as to how our riding styles would interact. Luckily, after a couple of kms to get into the groove, I could see that we had the same speed tastes and that this would work just fine. Dawie had the only GPS, so he would lead the entire trip and I would get dirty. We headed for Lake Mutirikiwi and the Great Zimbabwe ruins.
Dawie is a smoker luckily, so like clockwork, we stopped every 2 hours for photos, snacks and a quick chat about the track we just did.
We stopped next to a river for lunch. There we had our first encounter with some locals. Three young men approached us while we were eating. Now having heard all the stories about Zim and how dangerous it is, I was obviously uncomfortable. They however just came to talk a bit about the bikes. They asked a few questions and were very friendly. This was also the only form of “begging” that we saw on the entire Eastern side of Zim, when they asked for a cigarette each.
The country was quite flat at first, but after lunch we found more and more hills.
At about 14:30 the horizon presented a huge dam. It is called Lake Mutirikwi and we abandoned the road in search of some decent lookout points.
We found a nice big boulder which doubled as a quick playground
A few kms west of the lake lay the Great Zimbabwe ruins. This is where Zimbabwe got its name from when it changed from Rhodesia. It is a huge ancient city and probably the only construction from its time south of the Sahara. The idea of this big city is very impressive and it must have taken quite some time and many whips to get it done!
We also saw these two XT 200’s there…
Turns out they belong to two young men, an American and a Canadian, Dave & Ryan. They were on their way to Harare from JHB to prepare for a 6 week trip to Kenya. It was 17:00 by then and we convinced them to come and camp at the same place as us, as Harare was still very far from there and riding in the dark anywhere is never advised on bikes!
We left in search of petrol and found some close to Masvingo at $1.48 / l. After filling up, the sun was doing its best to give us the last light it had, so we headed for our campsite close to Lake Mutirikwi with the darkness at our heels.
Dave & Rian arrived just as we had our tents pitched. Most of their gear was still in Harare as they just went to RSA to go buy the bikes. They each just had a small bag on the back of their bikes, so they were forced to rent a room.
The campsite was built in the colonial times and was still maintained as such. It was a beautiful old house with all the original furniture and paintings inside. We were the only guests, but the staff were all dressed up in suits with waist jackets and ties. This took some time to get used to, but we saw it at each of our overnight sites in the Eastern part of Zim, no matter how few guests there were.
At the end of our meal, Dave mentioned that this was their first real night on the trip and that it was Ryan’s birthday tomorrow. This called for some celebration! Out of that small bag of his, he pulled a bottle of authentic French champagne. I’ve haven’t even had French champagne in RSA (or France).
So there we were. Out on an off road trip of an African country on motorbikes with our tents strapped to the back.
Drinking French champagne.
ot: 
