26. The end of a saga / era?

We crossed the 2 borders into Namibia and then Botswana within 2 hours, driving from Katima Mulilo to Ngoma across the western end of the Caprivi strip, and on to Kasane where we luxuriated at Chobe Safari Lodge for a couple of days, relaxing at the swimming pool overlooking the Chobe river, whilst the men dashed about acquiring various necessities for the next phase.

 The route from Kasane to Maun took us through Chobe Game reserve where we were amazed at the number of elephants along the river, indeed we had to drive into the bush at one stage as a family of eles were sharing a small patch of shade on the road, and weren’t going to move for the likes of us. A little further on we rounded a corner and almost bumped into another group, one of whom was lying down, we thought maybe she was ill as we have never see eles lying down before. Not the case as after a while she slowly organised her huge limbs and then surprisingly nimbly rose to standing. At the same point a group of about 50 thirsty eles crossed in front of us a great speed, heading for the river, most took no notice of us, some of the biggest stopped and let the younger ones pass, almost as if they were protecting them from us, and a few teenage bulls shot past with an occasional earflap and trunk wave. We were in fact surrounded by these most enormous of creatures yet felt surprisingly safe, they and we were respecting each other’s space.

The rest of that day was a long drive along yet another new Chinese road around the top of the Forest reserve that borders the Chobe GR, the tar ending abruptly about 40 kms out, with 60 kms of heavy sand to go. Another tiring drive culminating at Goha gate just after it had closed. We had hoped to wild camp outside the gate but the ranger insisted that we drive the 40kms on to Savuti Camp, ringing ahead to inform the camp, and giving us permission to drive after 6pm and at 60 kms per hour, 20kms faster than the usual limit.  This was quite exciting as we raced past startled elephant who trumpeted their displeasure then having to stop because there was an enormous herd of buffalo barring our way as darkness fell. A short conversation between us all resulted in the Harfords drawing the short straw and taking the lead. As we edged slowly towards the buff there was a pregnant silence in the LR, as they turned to face us in the half light. We crept ever closer, always ready to reverse at high speed, they broke, and started to stampede to the left, unfortunately most of them were on the right. We sat there open mouthed as 400 or 500 buffalo thundered across the road only yards in front of us, creating clouds of white dust that reflected the almost full moon. A little further down the road (we had switched all the lights on by now including a powerful spotting lamp) when along the road towards us strolled 2 lionesses, out hunting for tea! They gave us a cursory glance as we rattled by and we way marked their position on Mrs G. Sure enough we found them again next morning, sleeping under the trees about 50 metres from the road, with full bellies.

We spent the next couple of nights camping at Savuti in temperatures of 39+ and with early morning drives onto the plains where we breakfasted by a waterhole. As Terry was plunging the cafetiere a small herd of elephant came down to the waterhole, some passing within feet of our car. They put on a fine show of drinking, splashing about and bathing as we ate. This was punctuated by the odd giraffe nervously and awkwardly folding itself up like a broken deck chair to reach the water, then making off quickly using 3 metre strides.

Awkward drinking…….

The drive from Savuti to Khwai was, as ever, long, hot, boring and sandy, until we reached the Khwai river between Chobe and Moremi where we camped in the community concession for 3 nights. There is as much game here as in either of the reserves but no entry fees, although the days of cheap camping are gone, US$50 per person per night for just a clearing in the bush and NO facilities at all. The game was glorious, large herds of zebra and wildebeest grazed on both sides of the river, with highlights being a tsessebe with a 2 day old baby and as we were leaving the campsite a herd of about 50 buffalo watched us wash up from the opposite bank whilst they drank, then to cap it all a pack of 9 wild dog came down at a determined trot, had a 30 second drink and melted back into the bush. We travelled back to Mababe village along the beautiful river through the seldom visited southernmost tip of Chobe where we watched an unusually large herd of about 15 giraffe of all shapes and sizes.

On next to Maun for 3 nights at Island Safari Lodge, a spot of shopping and several visits to Hilary’s coffee shop for fresh lemonade, and lunches complete with pecan nut pie par excellence.

We spent our next few days, at Decepton valley in the northern part of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the second largest Game Reserve in Africa after the Selous in Tanzania. This “desert” reserve is extremely hot at this time of the year but there had been the first rains the day before we arrived, so it was relatively cool for us. The variety of game was immense, though small in number and sparsely spread around the 2 areas where there is water, these are incidentally the best part of 100kms apart.

 Some of the common residents are springbok and the striking oryx ,with long scimitar horns, who need hardly any water at all and are found on the vast salt pans, along with bat eared fox, jackal and where in the early morning we spotted honey badger on 2 separate occasions. (Eat your heart out Tim!). On the first morning we followed enormous fresh lion tracks very near to the camp, but no lion. Later we met the Smiths who told us they had almost bumped into 2 lions at the waterhole in the opposite direction, so off we went and spent time watching these 2 young males sleeping and drinking there. We were given a tipoff by a safari driver that there were wild dog about 17kms south so off we went and sure enough, 7 beautifully marked wild (painted) dog resting under an Acacia tree not 10 metres from the road.

The following morning we set off south again, heading for the Letihau waterhole about 35kms south. We past where the wild dog had been, but no sign, so carried on when to our surprise and delight we spotted 7 black dots coursing around a pan, as they hunted towards us it became obvious that these were the wild dog from yesterday. Suddenly a springbok pronked its way across the pan and all 7 streamed after her, soon giving up realising that she was too far away. They then headed back over a sand ridge towards another pan, we followed for a while before we lost them.

Pronking…….

At the waterhole we came across yet another pride of 8 young lions, resting in one of the tree islands that litter the pans and watched a lone hartebeest cross the pan. We revisited Sunday pan water hole where the 2 male lion had been to find a group of 6 giraffe waiting to drink, unfortunately another car arrived (the third we had seen all day) and drove straight up to them, disturbing them so much that they were too nervous to approach the water. A great photo opportunity missed! On the way back to camp we followed 3 huge elephants who are not usually present in the park, down the road, they politely stepped into the bush to let us through and then returned to the road to continue their journey, presumably out of the park. When the game warden visited in the early evening on his rounds he explained that often in November, elephant do venture into CKGR but usually only stay for a few days.

 Our final morning we were surprised that the safari driver and his English passengers who we had seen a couple of times came driving into our camp as we packed away for the last time. He was very excited and showed us his photo of Jean, taken from about 80 yards away with a lioness lying in the foreground! She had walked through the other empty campsites and was just lying there watching us, we were completely oblivious. Initially we were excited too as we looked down the track and she was still there, still watching. We jumped into the LR and drove close to take our own pics and only then realised with a cold shiver how easy it is to become too relaxed and familiar in the bush.

Just watching……..

As we left the CKGR we remarked that these 4 days have been by far the most varied game experience for us this trip or possibly ever.

We popped back to Maun to restock for the final leg of the journey and caught up with friends from Discovery B&B and then drove to Baines Baobab in the southern part of Nxai Pan. This ancient group of Baobab trees were painted by Thomas Baines in 1862. Goodness knows how he got there it was hard enough for us in our trusty LR and at one stage we towed a Swiss couple in a Toyota out of the deep sand. The trees still survive and we experienced big desert night skies as we drank our last bottle of wine in the bush for a while.

From here it is all downhill to Joburg and home.

PS

We have just put the finishing touches to this here in Cape Town where we are spending our last few days and SABC TV is wall to wall coverage of the death of Nelson Mandela. Only two days ago we went to see the newly released film of his life.

25. It just says that on the menu…..

The route from Karoi to Binga, following the southern Kariba shore is remote, passing numerous Batonga and Ndebele villages. We had driven it last time we were in this part of the world in one day, but this time wanted to take more time. The gravel road has been upgraded and repaired, and despite some corrugations and wash-aways, travelled quite well, if a little noisier than usual. There was a lack of camp sites but so we pulled in to a Hunting camp listed in ‘Mrs Garmin’ (sat nav) and were fortunate to be able to camp there overnight as there were no “clients”. If ever we do this again we should try to explore the reputedly beautiful mountainous Chizarira reserve where one of the campsites is on the edge of the escarpment overlooking the lake probably about 3000, almost vertical, feet below.

We revisited Ivory Lodge and enjoyed watching elephants drinking at the water hole by the hide, but were disappointed to learn that the lodge puts salt down to attract these giants, and to cap it all the kitchen staff spread vegetable peelings for the buck…!

 Then one night at Vic Falls where we luxuriated in a lovely, Rastafarian run coffee shop in an upmarket curio shopping centre, read the local Sunday papers despite the fact that some were a week old. The campsite was adequate but an aggressive baboon leapt over the fence intent on pinching food from our cupboard, we spotted him just in time and every time we challenged him, he challenged us back, his teeth were much longer and slightly yellower than ours, eventually Steven threw a chair towards him as Terry wielded a plastic coat hanger (!), he backed off and when the guard arrived complete with catapult he scarpered. The previous day he had ripped open our neighbours’ tent and stolen food from inside, so maybe this recent success had emboldened him. After a few phone calls we discovered that the parts we needed for the LR were only available at Foleys in Livingstone, so left without even visiting the Falls.

Back across the border into Zambia again we stayed in Livingstone for a night, did some repairs, and checked over the LRs ready for the journey up to the Liuwa Plains via Mongu. Livingstone is a vibrant town and despite persistent street vendors, everyone seemed helpful and friendly. We ate out at a local restaurant and I chose pizza which was a mistake, should have had goat stew and nshima (pap) with local veg like Terry but I didn’t want to try his Mopane caterpillar starter! It was such a relief when the restaurant manager told us that the horrendous road to Mongu that broke our suspension last time was now new Chinese tar all the way, with a new ferry crossing half way. We didn’t visit the Falls here either as from the Zam side there is not much to see at this time of the year and we wanted to get to Liuwa before the rains - as soon as they start in earnest the park’s “black cotton” soil turns to a mud bath and there is no access again ‘till next year as the Zambezi spreads over the 35km wide flood plain.

The 200 km tar road to Sesheke took longer than we hoped as it was littered with huge, sharp edged potholes deep enough to take a wheel off (no compensation from the local council here). We found a very pretty campsite on the banks of the Zambezi, but left as there was no vehicle access and, with our roof tents, would have to sleep in the car park.  We pushed on north to a site where we had camped before, only to find it had closed, we found another 2 campsites on ‘Mrs Garmin’ but they too were deserted, so we returned to “Brenda’s Best Baobab” and resigned to sleep in the car park. It poured much of the night. The next morning Brenda confirmed that although the road was finished they were still negotiating with local headmen re the use of the new ferry, so we might have to cross the Zambezi at Sitoti, further up the difficult old road, like last time.

The tar was glorious and the newest road we have ever driven in Africa, it ended more or less where the new ferry should have been, and so we pitched and heaved a further 60kms up the old road to the old ferry, knowing all the time that the new tar was somewhere beyond the 150 metres of fast flowing water on the other bank. The Sitoti ferry was in operation, we loaded up and shared the vessel with stacks of mealie sacks, women with contented babies tied onto their backs with vibrant coloured, if a little grubby chitengi, and others going about their business on either side of the Zambezi. Another 40ish kms of appalling sand road took us to Senanga where we camped the night in a hotel garden. Here we met a Doctor who was at a conference, who told us that the new ferry was indeed operating (if un-signposted) for the journey back south in a few days time. In fact, since he was travelling a day before us, undertook to send a text confirming his ferry crossing which he duly did. Next day to Mongu, camped in a mission, where the camp attendant taught us to how to roast fresh cashew nuts that had fallen off the tree that we were camped under, on a fire and open the shells using 2 stones. That night there was another heavy rain storm and we began to worry about access to the park, even if we got in would we ever get out?

The following morning we had a phone call from Charity, the Liuwa Plains Reserve booking lady, who told us the next ferry north was broken. Here too the Chinese are building a new road across the flood plain after the UN gave up a few years ago. Some questioning of locals eventually took us to the Chinese road camp HQ where the project manager was obviously so impressed that Terry and Steven had both enjoyed business trips to China that he gave us a permit to not only cross their Bailey bridge over the Zambezi but use their construction road as well. He was however full of warnings about the mud - one of their 4x4s had slid into the river yesterday and this morning even the tracked vehicles were getting bogged down in the black glue.  The first 10kms on public the road was busy as locals rushed to get their business done before it closed but apart from 10 inches of slippery surface mud and one car coming perilously close to side swiping us it was pretty easy driving. We avoided the stricken ferry and it’s queues and, using the Chinese new road and temporary bridge, arrived mid afternoon. We picked up our guide, Kalebwe, and drove carefully onto the final pontoon to cross the small river that is the southern park boundary. Two Land Rovers just fit onto the pontoon, one sits in the middle as the other climbs the ramps then both creep forward until it is balanced before the whole is pulled across using the fixed rope with its many knots from previous failures. Kalebwe directed us for another hour along sand roads to the camp at Kwale which nestles beneath a cathedral of huge hardwood trees right at the edge of the plain.

Liuwa is a vast expanse of open plain on the Angolan border that floods during the rains when the river bursts its banks. As the water recedes huge herds of herbivores spread onto its new fresh grass-lands. It is said that the concentration rivals even the great Serengeti. We had long wanted to visit here but access is strictly limited to 25 vehicles at any one time and it is so far from anywhere that you must travel with at least one other 4x4. There is no drinkable water, no fuel or supplies and, if you have a problem, no help. There are three unfenced camps each with five pitches but here at Kwale we were again completely alone. Such isolation is an exhilarating feeling and we were acutely aware of the privilege of treading where few other men have trod.

We had great hopes of witnessing this wildebeest migration, and the best time to see it is now, the plains were vast but our sightings were small groups of wildebeest, zebra and the very pretty oribi  with the occasional hyena, one carrying a ‘beast head away. One stroke of luck was bumping into a BBC crew filming wild dog for Survival and a new series called The Hunt (2015), they mentioned the GPS coordinates for where they had left the pack they were filming and off we went, 6 kms completely off road across the rough plain trying to avoid holes dug by the various resident wildlife. Eventually we found a water hole and there was the pack of 13 wild (painted) dog with three hyena trying to steal their kill - fantastic! We stayed an hour or so but left as we didn’t want to disturb the pack (or spoil the BBC film!). There are only two known packs on the plains and less than 5,500 left in Africa.

We continued across this uncharted territory to try to find the next usable road as this was where the huge herds were supposed to be but after a further hour of bouncing up and down and with a long way to go back we returned to camp as dusk was falling. Next morning we were surprised to see about 300 wildebeest grazing near our camp, we walked to the edge of the trees to watch them as the sun rose and we drank our morning cup of tea and imagined them to be the thousands we had hoped for. Sadly we then had to leave as we had only booked two nights in the park and in any case it was again looking like rain.

“We never put bacon in it, it just says that on the menu” was the waitress’s response when we inquired why there was none on the “chicken and bacon burger”. And so it became a catch phrase and when something was not quite what we expected (as is often the case here in Africa) one of us would say “It just says that on the menu”. Examples include the five year old dry earthen hole at Barefoot Safari’s camp site which says in the book and on its road signs that it has a swimming pool and the lodge which advertised camping but doesn’t have a site when you get there, like the ablution block which had no water and Steven’s spaghetti bolognaise which turned out to be mince with mealie pap. So when we saw the piece of cardboard with “Ferry Closed” scrawled on it we just nodded wisely to ourselves and thought – It just says that on the menu. In any case we had the good doctor’s text that said he had crossed yesterday. We thundered on down the new tar as dusk fell as we had (unusually) phoned ahead and booked into a rather nice camp site on the other side which had a bar, fresh fish and good hot showers. We were running a bit late so were relieved to get there 15 mins before it closed for the day. Imagine our disappointment to find a gaggle of waiting cars and busses, a number of agitated people and their heaped up goods and the ferry over the other side. It had broken down that morning and they were waiting for a new alternator to come by bus from Lusaka, 1000’s of kilometres away. We grubbily wild camped on the banks of the Zambezi, watched lightening all around and car headlights whizzing by on the tar on the other side of the river as we contemplated the 80ks of tar and 100ks of axle testing dirt that we would tackle tomorrow to get to the other side. Sheepishly we realized that sometimes the menu is right!

On to Botswana next.

24. South Luangwa.

The Zambian border crossing was protracted to say the least. Currency issues being the main problem, the $50 visa had to be paid in US, then the other charges, ie road tax, insurance and then for some unknown fee we had to see a guy under a tree, to pay more, all in Zambian Kwacha. Unfortunately the lady at the bank had, not 10 minutes earlier been instucted to “repatriate” her Kwacha to the bank in town so we had to resort to the black market money changers.

As we drove through Chipata, the market stalls on the side of the road were a splash of colour and variety of fruit and veg. The 120kms to Mfuwe is now tarred for about 2/3 of the distance, so we clogged on, arriving at Tracks and Trails at dusk,  suddenly remembering that all fruit and veg must be kept in the bar, away from marauding elephants who have learned that vehicles may contain such delicacies. Too late, we dashed over to the bar to check in, then realised that all the fruit was in the back of the car, and one of the windows had been left slightly open, the ‘naughty’ ele was working her way through the plastic dust reflector which she broke, but couldn't quite get her trunk in through the gap when Terry and the security guard ran back and chased her off before she broke the glass. Remembering our experience of eles shaking the tent in 2010 we opted to pitch our ground tents on top of a thatched 15 foot high platform so we were safe.

We spent a day chilling by the pool which is also 15 feet above ground, which means that we could relax and swim whilst these wild but habituated eles graze within arms’ reach from the base of the pool. We stayed in this haven for 7 nights.

South Luangwa Reserve is such a fabulous place. We’ve just popped back to the camp site for a quick kip and a bite to eat after spending most of the morning watching a male leopard in a tree about 6ks from here. We were up and about at 05.30 as we mostly are these days, had a quick cup of tea and a shower then off into the park. We had heard that there had been leopard sightings in a certain area and went looking for it. The experts reckon that there is a leopard for every 2.5 sq kms of this huge park but they are shy and rarely seen. We had actually driven past and not seen it when a local game scout pointed us in the right direction. There is something quite special about being so close (25ft ?) to such a beautiful animal in its own habitat. This part of Zambia isn’t the easiest to get to so there are few independent travellers. Most tourists fly into the little airport and stay in luxurious lodges at the camp inside the park paying a fortune. The big safari companies just about have it tied up and we wonder how much longer it will be before they exclude the likes of us altogether.

Whilst here we were fortunate enough to have 3 separate lion sightings, the biggest being a pride of 22, the next day we found them again, this time in an open plain all sharing the shade of 1 small tree in a pile like the contents of a child’s soft toy box - but with big teeth!

A couple of days restocking and running repairs at Lusaka before heading off to the Kariba lakeshore, arriving there after dark after an horrendous journey, encountering numerous upside down trucks, lots of diversions and hairy encounters with oncoming traffic along the road which is under reconstruction. We camped by the side of the lake, again so inviting, but full of crocodiles.

  We crossed into Zim with no hassle at all and arrived at Mana Pools camping on the banks of the Great Zambezi River that we had last seen at Caia in Mozambique , as it winds its way to the Indian Ocean there. The Mana experience was all we could wish for, a true wilderness, no fences, game coming to a fro the campsite, and all with the backdrop of the mountains in the Lower Zambezi park across the border in Zambia. The Mana elephants were much more laid back and often wandered through the camp, concentrating on eating their favourite seeds from the acacia trees rather than upsetting the tourists. Bit of a panic as we arrived at the camp because we discovered 4 satsumas that we had missed, so we quickly ate them up and threw the peel in the river just in case! There is no fruit at all allowed in the game reserve. The game was abundant5 close to the river, so we explores up and down the banks, watching herds of buffalo,  plus all the usual buck etc. No lions here but we surprised a leopard who was on his way down a tree as we drove past about 3 metres away, he leapt down as we stopped and we looked at each other for about 30 seconds, just long enough for a photo before he dashed off into the bush. We hired a guide, Moses, for a morning walk along the wide plains along the river banks, this was informative with exciting moments as we had to stay upwind of the eles whilst keeping a watchful eye out for the predators that he said he saw there a couple of days earlier. As we drove back to the camp after our final game drive at Mana we almost bumped into a lone hyena who appeared to have sat on an ants nest and we followed him for a while in fits and starts as he stopped to angrily scratch various parts of his anatomy.

Planning to drive across Zimbabwe along the south of Lake Kariba tomorrow en route to Liuwa plains, next.

23. Playing the Game, South Luangwa

The Zambian border crossing was protracted to say the least. Currency issues being the main problem, the $50 visa had to be paid in US, then the other charges, ie road tax, insurance and then for some unknown fee we had to see a guy under a tree, to pay more, all in Zambian Kwacha. Unfortunately the lady at the bank had, not 10 minutes earlier been instucted to “repatriate” her Kwacha to the bank in town so we had to resort to the black market money changers.

As we drove through Chipata, the market stalls on the side of the road were a splash of colour and variety of fruit and veg. The 120kms to Mfuwe is now tarred for about 2/3 of the distance, so we clogged on, arriving at Tracks and Trails at dusk,  suddenly remembering that all fruit and veg must be kept in the bar, away from marauding elephants who have learned that vehicles may contain such delicacies. Too late, we dashed over to the bar to check in, then realised that all the fruit was in the back of the car, and one of the windows had been left slightly open, the ‘naughty’ ele was working her way through the plastic dust reflector which she broke, but couldn't quite get her trunk in through the gap when Terry and the security guard ran back and chased her off before she broke the glass. Remembering our experience of eles shaking the tent in 2010 we opted to pitch our ground tents on top of a thatched 15 foot high platform so we were safe.

We spent a day chilling by the pool which is also 15 feet above ground, which means that we could relax and swim whilst these wild but habituated eles graze within arms’ reach from the base of the pool. We stayed in this haven for 7 nights.

South Luangwa Reserve is such a fabulous place. We’ve just popped back to the camp site for a quick kip and a bite to eat after spending most of the morning watching a male leopard in a tree about 6ks from here. We were up and about at 05.30 as we mostly are these days, had a quick cup of tea and a shower then off into the park. We had heard that there had been leopard sightings in a certain area and went looking for it. The experts reckon that there is a leopard for every 2.5 sq kms of this huge park but they are shy and rarely seen. We had actually driven past and not seen it when a local game scout pointed us in the right direction. There is something quite special about being so close (25ft ?) to such a beautiful animal in its own habitat. This part of Zambia isn’t the easiest to get to so there are few independent travellers. Most tourists fly into the little airport and stay in luxurious lodges at the camp inside the park paying a fortune. The big safari companies just about have it tied up and we wonder how much longer it will be before they exclude the likes of us altogether.

Whilst here we were fortunate enough to have 3 separate lion sightings, the biggest being a pride of 22, the next day we found them again, this time in an open plain all sharing the shade of 1 small tree in a pile like the contents of a child’s soft toy box - but with big teeth!

A couple of days restocking and running repairs at Lusaka before heading off to the Kariba lakeshore, arriving there after dark after an horrendous journey, encountering numerous upside down trucks, lots of diversions and hairy encounters with oncoming traffic along the road which is under reconstruction. We camped by the side of the lake, again so inviting, but full of crocodiles.

  We crossed into Zim with no hassle at all and arrived at Mana Pools camping on the banks of the Great Zambezi River that we had last seen at Caia in Mozambique , as it winds its way to the Indian Ocean there. The Mana experience was all we could wish for, a true wilderness, no fences, game coming to a fro the campsite, and all with the backdrop of the mountains in the Lower Zambezi park across the border in Zambia. The Mana elephants were much more laid back and often wandered through the camp, concentrating on eating their favourite seeds from the acacia trees rather than upsetting the tourists. Bit of a panic as we arrived at the camp because we discovered 4 satsumas that we had missed, so we quickly ate them up and threw the peel in the river just in case! There is no fruit at all allowed in the game reserve. The game was abundant5 close to the river, so we explores up and down the banks, watching herds of buffalo,  plus all the usual buck etc. No lions here but we surprised a leopard who was on his way down a tree as we drove past about 3 metres away, he leapt down as we stopped and we looked at each other for about 30 seconds, just long enough for a photo before he dashed off into the bush. We hired a guide, Moses, for a morning walk along the wide plains along the river banks, this was informative with exciting moments as we had to stay upwind of the eles whilst keeping a watchful eye out for the predators that he said he saw there a couple of days earlier. As we drove back to the camp after our final game drive at Mana we almost bumped into a lone hyena who appeared to have sat on an ants nest and we followed him for a while in fits and starts as he stopped to angrily scratch various parts of his anatomy.

Planning to drive across Zimbabwe along the south of Lake Kariba tomorrow en route to Liuwa plains, next.

22. Whistle stop through Malawi

It was such a pleasure to enter Malawi at the Milanji border to find miles and miles of beautifully manicured tea plantations. The fresh greenness was such a contrast from the impoverished subsistence farmers in Moz. It is difficult to imagine that in the ‘60s there were more tea plantations on the Moz side. It just shows what havoc 20 years of civil war can cause.

We camped a little way up the slopes of the magnificent Mulanje mountain at an old tea planters colonial house, now a small hotel and campground, unfortunately we couldn’t get the LRs onto the terraced campsite so we had to sleep in the nearby, empty car park. We walked the next morning up to a waterfall, entertained en route by Samango monkeys athletically swinging through the huge trees of this small forest reserve, which is all that remains of the indigenous forests since the tea plantations have swallowed up the rest. We sneaked onto the edge of the plantation and played at being tea pickers for a little while, and managed to gather up enough fresh green tips for a weak cup of an approximation of green tea. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and we now wonder if we should have spent more time exploring the mountain tracks at this cool altitude.

An overnight stop at a mission in Blantyre which has seen busier days, in its heyday the red dust shaded permanent marquee held 5000 worshippers but we shared the whole place with manager Laurie and his mother in law. Here we had some welding done at a local workshop, the final job left unfinished due to persistent power cuts.

Surprisingly no one was killed by the welding machine – at least not whilst we were there!

Liwonde game reserve was small but interesting, the vociferous yet very helpful ranger at the gate   eventually took money from us, we almost had to sign our lives away in triplicate in order to get into the park. We saw huge herds of water buck on the banks of the Shire River which runs out of Lake Malawi to the Zambezi, as well as sable antelope, small groups of impala, bushbuck and kudu. The elephant had visited the camp the previous night , we had to content ourselves with watching 2 herds of about 30 eles barring our way as they demolished a baobab tree close to the road as we left a couple of days later. The birdlife was prolific, we enjoyed lazing about in the camp with binoculars and Roberts (bird book) trying to identify new (to us) species.

Another overnighter at Cape Maclear at the bottom of the beautiful Lake Malawi where we had the beach to ourselves, our only company were the ubiquitous monkeys and  monitor lizards one of which we found dead in the bottom of the rubbish bin. It was very hot and humid, the coolness of the lake gently lapping against the sandy shore looked so inviting, but  since there is a possibility of contracting bilharzia from the water we declined and just stewed on the shore.

 Then up to Lilongwe for running repairs via the Mua Mission that we had visited in 2010, we learned more about the hundreds of Malawian ritual masks that are displayed in the museum there and again marvelled at the skill of the carvers. We ate delicious nsima, meat with a sauce and a green veg like spinach, which we ate with our fingers, Malawi style.

We stayed in Lilongwe for 3 days to restock, buy spares etc then fit them back at the campsite about 10 kms out of town. We managed to talk our way out of a speeding fine, this resulted in the various trips in and out of town taking ages as we maintained the limits of 50kms per hour.

Zambia next.

21. Oh we do like to be beside the sea side.

We are writing this as we rattle, faster than usual, in a military convoy between the Save River and a town called Muxungue here in Mozambique. This is in place because Renamo (the opposition group) caused some trouble about 8 weeks ago, but nothing since, and the Frelimo government have been organising convoys for this 120km stretch of road since then. We have seen nothing except the occasional 8ft wide, 2ft deep pothole, and only have 30 kms to go.

 Imbabane is the oldest town on the coast between Maputo and Beira, (the second largest city). It is situated on the end of a peninsula, with imposing, well maintained buildings. A blend of Arab, Portuguese and later African architecture, where the pealing pastel colours and wide tree lined streets give the place an old colonial, if shabby feel. We had enormous garlic prawns for lunch at a bistro overlooking the bay, whilst we watched the flamingos. There we met a chap called Stuart (a late 30’s Oxford graduate from Kenya) who makes his living designing upmarket lodges in Mozambique, the Selous game reserve in Tanzania and Kenya. He rang a contact and arranged accommodation for us in an amazing luxury lodge built on the top of the sand dunes overlooking the sea, called Dhagatane it wasn’t full so we paid little more than camping rates. The lodge consists of a huge central living building with kitchen, dining and lounge areas and four detached double, en suit bedrooms with his and hers basins and showers! There is an infinity pool which looks out over the Indian Ocean. Dhagatane has its own web site if you’re interested.

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The first night we walked down to the wide open beach with miles of unspoilt white sand and just a few locals. We paddled in the warm water and left our footprints on the pristine beach. That night the weather turned and thunderstorms and strong winds prevented us taking full advantage of the place. We did visit a local beach restaurant where we ordered chicken and bacon sandwiches which arrived minus the bacon, when we enquired the waiter politely smiled and told us that there is never any bacon, they just write it on the menu! We were keen to move on, plus had committed to buy 114 pairs of shoes for the project in Mocuba, so needed to find a Pep store (a bit like a mini BHS in the bush)

 Vilankulo was the obvious place, a popular tourist centre, with a proliferation of Zimbabwean expats who seem to own, or work at most of the accommodation / activities in town. Whilst here we went on an overnight dhow safari to the beautiful Bazaruto Islands, Richard, the dhow owner regaled us with tales of his previous passengers, including a geriatric lady who wandered off and was eventually found sitting on his bed and had to be piggy backed to the boat and the Russian oligarch, complete with mirror sun glassed, gloch toting body guard who stood knee deep in the surf, still in his tight black suit. The cook made simply delicious chicken, calamari and potato fish on an open fire on board the wooden craft. The skipper gazed inscrutably out to sea and effortlessly manoeuvred us through shallow water and sea grass beds, past sand banks to 2 mile reef, said to be one of the 5 best dive sites in the world. The guide was quiet, perhaps overawed by Richard being with us.

We left the coast behind to drive towards the ‘interior’, starting with the convoy, we were escorted by a pickup full of soldiers at the front bristling with AK47s and an ancient armoured car at the back. There were probably about 40 trucks of various sizes, shapes and states of repair and a similar number of cars, mutatas and chapas ferrying the locals. It was all a bit chaotic as all the faster vehicles wanted to overtake the slower ones, sometimes three abreast, presumably hoping there was nothing coming the other way. By the time we neared Muxungue the procession was strung out over ten kilometres like a long morse code message with most of the dits at the front and the dahs still at the back. The soldiers cheerily waved us past as we leapfrogged up the order. It felt very much like paying lip service, but a significant show of strength and control by the government. We stayed at a couple of super spots, a camp just outside Gorogosa Reserve, and a forestry concession a little further north. Here at Capatu, Mfingwe camp which is owned and run by another Zimbabwean family who have been there since the 90s, we rented a little wooden chalet, ate in the restaurant and the highlight was taking ourselves on a walk through the miombo forest. We spotted a small herd of impala, a couple of red duikers, and a tiny suni antelope, this was very special as they stood and watched us for a few minutes before leaping away. They make furniture from wood sustainably harvested from their concession and a lovely range of craft items which are all made from trees which fell naturally or from “colonial timber” -  timber cut by the Portuguese before they fled in 1976/7. They still find these mammoth trees lying where they fell 40years ago. Wild mangoe, partridge and marmite coloured lead wood and all that the termites have left is the most beautifully seasoned heart wood.

 Then on to “our project” at Mocuba , the LR full of (now) 117 pairs of shoes along with all our stuff to the project that we have been supporting for last couple of years. We knew that Bernadette was in Cape Town undergoing treatment for cancer, and expected that some of the work may have been scaled down, but were sad to see that the clinic has closed due to lack of staff and funding, the milk formula project ground to a halt and the well and ablution block that Rotary and we had funded for vulnerable families were, as yet, unused.  There was an air of lethargy and despair about the place. The pre-school still runs every day for orphan children who have been involved with the centre from being babies, and the children there were confident, playing and learning together very happily. The shoes, along with sleeping mats and mosquito nets, which we bought whilst we were there, will be distributed to the children who are registered there. We hope that Regan, a US Peace Corps health worker, who is based there for the next 18 months, will be able to revive some of the projects and plans to develop a permaculture programme so that she can teach the locals how to make compost and enrich the soil, as well as make a solar powered drying box to preserve the hundreds of pawpaws and mangoes that, literally, fall of the trees in the growing season.  We and the staff there all hope that Bernadette will return in 9 or 10 months.

We head to Malawi next.

20. Here we go again….. again!

This time we had planned to go back south again as we felt we had rushed the bits north of the equator in 2011. Just for three months, with our friends the Smiths in their 110, leaving the L/Rs in Nairobi over Christmas. Then to return in March / April for another three eventually arriving in Cape Town mid 2014.

Well, the Egyptian thing sort of kiboshed that idea so, at the last minute, we decided to ship to Durban and drive up the Mozambique Coast, visit Mocuba (our favourite charity) then across from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. To say it was a bit rushed is an understatement. The ship we had decided to book on was cancelled and the next one didn’t arrive ‘till the end of September. Steven and Sue’s son gets married in December so they have to be back by the 5^th. The only other option was to load on the boat before which left in less than a week’s time!  With three days to go our gearbox was still on the garage floor and the bottom had just gone back onto the engine. With Ian and Paul’s help from South Cave MOT, a Sunday in the garage and a few late nights we arrived in Sheerness just in time to load the LRs aboard The Good Ship Venus (seriously) for the four week journey to Durban.

We had planned to leave on Sept 2^nd anyway so decided to use the gap to fly out to Jhb., hire a car and re-visit some of our favourite haunts in South Africa as we made our way down to Durban. We spent a couple of nights with Alan and Colette and talked about old times before lunching with their charming daughter Rachel. Rachel is married to Dali Tambo who chairs a chat show here and had recently interviewed Robert Mugabe. We then went on to a Buskaid (Soweto Orchestra) concert at Wits University. All in all a real eye opening day!

The next day we arrived at Thendele in the Drakensburg Mountains. The Amphitheatre is as eye wateringly beautiful as ever and we had it almost to ourselves.  

Then on to Lotheini, a bit more remote and our first taste of dirt roads again, not a lot of fun with four adults and all our luggage in our little Toyota hire car, anything bigger than a marble rattled along the bottom.  The weather was kind to us and we walked each day although there was snow on the mountains some days so the log fires and good red wine made the evenings more comfortable.

Steven and Sue went off for their anniversary weekend and we reside here at Jenny’s and twiddle our emails, catch up with old friends, eat great food at home and lovely restaurants, as we wait for the Venus to dock.

Well, she arrived, a day late, then took another day for customs clearance, finally we were invited to the agents office to pay and then take delivery of the vehicles. Our LR was ready outside the customs compound before 4pm when it is locked up for the night, sadly they hadn’t been able to start the Smith’s LR so it was still locked inside, the good news is that they (security and agents employees) were trying to help, so once they realised that they were trying to start their vehicle with our keys Steven was able to collect it. Our door locks had been chiselled off and the padlocked dog guard had been bent and broken. We assume this had happened on the boat, as all the contents of the LR had been gone through, and many obviously new things had been taken, so it seems they had plenty time. They even took some of our things and left them in Smiths LR as theirs were newer. They also left a plastic water pistol in ours too, that might have come from someone else’s car.

We left Jens the next day, after much hammering and straightening of dog guards, putting the LRs back together, and listing what replacement equipment we needed to buy (although we are still finding missing items 2 weeks later).

The next couple of days we chilled a bit and licked our wounds at a lodge just outside the Imfololzi-Hluhluwe national park where the greatest concentration of rhino still exists despite poaching on a grand scale—in the whole of RSA 680 last year and 650 so far this year have been killed for their horn. Coincidentally the Sunday was World Rhino Day and we read in the SA press about David Beckham and Prince William teaming up to raise awareness of the plight of the rhinos in China in the hope that the market reduces. Here they are darting the rhino and injecting a red poisonous dye into the horn which apparently is harmless to the animals themselves. So now we too sport a red plastic rhino horn (a bit like a red nose) on the radiator of the LR.

On now to The Royal Kingdom of Swaziland where we spent a couple of days in a lovely small game reserve, Hlane, and watched elephant, rhino, giraffe, nyala at the water hole near the camp, plus all the usuals over breakfast at another water hole in the bush.

 Pushed on into Mozambique with the weather getting hotter and more humid, but no rain yet, where we had a couple of nights camping at a lodge on the Limpopo River Estuary. They have had unusually high spring tides which have washed away 2 chalets and a bar that was on the beach. We remarked that we had spent our first night camping on the banks of the Limpopo in Botswana in 2008.Moz is a vast country, so we had to move on, we overnighted at another beach lodge where the pool looked more inviting and spotted whales playing in the Indian Ocean.

 We are heading into Imhambane town where we hope to sort our internet problems, fingers crossed.