Zimbabwe Gravel Travel

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Hwange Safari Lodge is on a property that borders the National Park, the official park entrance is just a little West from the Lodge, and Hwange Main Camp is roughly 10m km further West from Safari Lodge. I have not seen any fence between HSL and Hwange NP, I believe the animals roam freely across the official Parks boundary there.

As you can imagine, Taylor brought us in through another property which will remain unnamed. We saw elephant there and also lion spoor

 

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As you can imagine, Taylor brought us in through another property which will remain unnamed. We saw elephant there and also lion spoor

Ah yes, I can imagine

 

[m0lt3n]

Awesome report, took me a while to catch up!

Does Treffon also have two 990s? He had an awesome (different) sticker kit on his bike at 990 ToL.
The 990 with failed battery? Was there no warning? No issues after that? (rectifier?)

The dudes hand being hit by a car mirror! That just gets a quick mention but sounds very serious! Huge close call for more serious issues?

 

[Noneking]

Awesome report, took me a while to catch up!

Does Treffon also have two 990s? He had an awesome (different) sticker kit on his bike at 990 ToL.
The 990 with failed battery? Was there no warning? No issues after that? (rectifier?)

The dudes hand being hit by a car mirror! That just gets a quick mention but sounds very serious! Huge close call for more serious issues?

Treff #TrefHom unfortunately lost his previous 990 when it caught fire and burnt out completely next to the road on a trip. He bought Mark's 3rd 990
The Rabbi's 990 ran fine with the "new" battery

Bruised and cut pinkie, but nothing too serious

 

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DAY 12 - MATOBO TO NOTHINGHAM ESTATE, BEITBRIDGE

Our last full day of riding and what a day it turned out to be! One of the best of the trip.

We woke early and were able to see the beautiful surroundings for the first time as we arrived after dark the previous night.

 

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[Sheepman]

Great sand riding in Part 10 NK You guys clearly dont Want to ride sand, you Can ride the bastad

 

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Great sand riding in Part 10 NK You guys clearly dont Want to ride sand, you Can ride the bastad

Thank you @Sheepman
I enjoy riding sand, but spent years fearing the sand monster. Once you get it, you get it

 

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We say our goodbyes and leave TrefHom behind. He’ll be visiting a doctor in Bulawayo and hopefully meet up with us at our overnight spot later

 

[Just Blip It!]

Fuel situation in Zimbabwe was challenging. The BLEND that is sold at all fuel stations did not do well in the 990s and most would splutter and miss after every refuel. It improved under load, but the bikes did not run like they would on 95 octane. I think I heard somewhere that BLEND is around 90 Octane?

The next issue is that 90% of the fuel stations have 1working pump only. If you arrive behind a line of cars and have to refuel 12 bikes, you can imagine the time spent at each refuel. Some of the riding buddies would refuel together and pay for both bikes to save time. Mark and I put money into a kitty and I managed the fuel and bar bills for the two of us In a couple of instances we would arrive at a fuel station where fuel price was too high and we would then look for cheaper option. In Kariba the difference was as much as R2-50 per litre
We often spent 30 minutes or more at a refuel because of these challenges.

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In response to the 990 battling with the fuel quality and low octane........... the fuel in Zim is a petrol ethanol blend, so not exactly petrol like we get in SA. One thing I actually forgot to try is, the 990 has a wire underneath seat that can be disconnected to change the mapping to suit lower octane fuel. Totally forgot about it. I will try it when I go back in September and see if it sorts out the issues we had.

 

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It doesn’t take long for Mark to start testing us again..

 

[0012]

In response to the 990 battling with the fuel quality and low octane........... the fuel in Zim is a petrol ethanol blend, so not exactly petrol like we get in SA. One thing I actually forgot to try is, the 990 has a wire underneath seat that can be disconnected to change the mapping to suit lower octane fuel. Totally forgot about it. I will try it when I go back in September and see if it sorts out the issues we had.

This would be an interesting experiment to try out!
Ethanol has an octane of around 114, so when blended with petrol it actually raises the overall octane rating.
However, ethanol has about 30% less energy per L than petrol and it could actually be this aspect that causes the bike's engines to not be happy with the blended fuel.

 

[Chrisl]

This would be an interesting experiment to try out!
Ethanol has an octane of around 114, so when blended with petrol it actually raises the overall octane rating.
However, ethanol has about 30% less energy per L than petrol and it could actually be this aspect that causes the bike's engines to not be happy with the blended fuel.

In 1989 in Malawi our kombi hoesnpoeped the whole time we were there. We were told it happens when the petrol trucks did not come through the Tete corridor from SA and then the ethanol gets a bit more in the blend.

 

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@51Mobile styling it as he always does! Lekker to watch him ride that 890 Rally!

 

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