Easter 2010 Matusadona in Zimbabwe

Transcription

1 Easter 2010 Matusadona in Zimbabwe Our 8 th father and son Easter trip was to Matusadona Zimbabwe. The trip was born after someone on the Overland Forum mentioned the road to Matusadona and its beauty. The participants for this trip were Geoff Hill and son Andy in a Toyota Land Cruiser 100VX 4.2TDi aka Meneer Dave Nixon and son in law Craig in a Toyota Land Cruiser 80 VX diesel. Steve Hill without his son Brendon who is now 17 (which probally explains everything) in an Isuzu 280 doublecab. Kobus Breet traveling solo this year as well in a Hilux single cab. I left White River on Thursday 1 April 2010 at 04h00 en route to Zanzibar via Mokopane and Baltimore. The rest of the traveling party left various parts of Johannesburg to meet at the Petroport north of Pretoria. Someone who shall remain nameless only woke when he should have been on the road already so the other party was traveling behind time.

2 Our destination for the first night was Nata Lodge and I went on my merry solo way and arrived at Nata at 17h15 and set up the roof top tent and waited. In addition to starting late the Jo burgers had vehicle trouble in that the Cruiser of Dave s lost all power to the dash but they could still carry on to Nata. Once at Nata the Cruiser would not start and we got an auto electrician out to assist. P600 later he discovered the fuse to the ECU had blown. This was caused as we would discover later by the aircon. Supper that night was Chicken curry cooked by Craig which tasted great seeing we were worried about Dave s Cruiser Next morning we left for Pandamatenga and met this bull Elephant on the Nata Kasane road.

3 After filling up with Botswana diesel clearing customs, paying an outrageous R650 for my Cruiser for visiting their country we headed into Zimbabwe. A short way into Zim we had our traditional bacon sarmies.

4 When we finally reached the main Bulawayo Vic Falls road we decided to head for Vic Falls as most of the party had never seen them. They were spectacular. The amount of water going over the falls made a sight well worth going all that way for. We stayed at the municipal camping ground and I made a Pork fillet goulash for dinner. The smoke that thunders!

5 After visiting the falls we set off for Mlibizi as I knew there was camping there. We got there at 15h00 set up camp and lazed in the pool with a beer or two. Kobus made burgers and chips, great meal. The next morning we bought extra beers at the general dealer and set off for Matusadona.

6 I thought that the road would be quite tricky but generally it was good gravel. The turnoff into Matusadona was a little more demanding and Kobus had to be a little careful with bottoming out and I think a suspension lift is on his things to do list. Seeing Kariba lake from Matusadona was very special for me as this is one place that has always attracted me and was definitely on my list of places to visit. The only down side was the Tsetse flies. Man can they bite! Supper was beef stroganoff supplied by Steve.

7 We left there a few US $ lighter but you don t get there everyday. Our GPS s proved invaluable as finding the quickest way to the town of Kariba took us on a route through the back of community land but it was a spectacular drive which unfortunately found a victim in Dave s spare wheel carrier that he managed to get welded at our camp site in Kariba.

8 We stayed at the National Anglers Association camping ground which seems to be the only camp site in Kariba. The site comes complete with eight hippos that keep the grass short but you obviously have to be wide awake when wandering at night. We arrived in Kariba early enough but with discovering the NAA campsite was the only one available we had to trek back 20 kilometers so it was dark when we set up camp. Steve did a double by cooking Chicken ala king and we settled in a bit earlier. The next morning we organized a boat and they all (except me) went on a trip on Kariba Lake. I wasn t into the boat trip so I stayed behind and cooked my beef pot roast, did a Suduko or two and updated the photos and track logs into the laptop. They saw Ellies, Hippo, Crocks and a variety of birdlife and thoroughly enjoyed them selves.

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10 We met this little chap en route to Kariba. Before setting off for Bulawayo we headed into the town of Kariba to fill up and to see the Dam Wall.

11 As you can see three sluice gates were open at 1574 cubic meters per second per gate that is a lot of water. Somewhere on our travels Craig saw this toilet.

12 We left Kariba at 08h35 and after stopping for the traditional bacon sarmies at a big Baobab tree set off for Bulawayo arriving there just before 17h00. We stayed at the municipal camp ground and had hot showers and I had a shave. We were living it up! Craig made a great Spagetti bolognaise. Steve had some business to conduct at a mine nearby so we had a leasurely start to the day with Kobus cooking Boerie and Pap with tomato and onion gravy. Once Steve was back and we were all packed I did the unthinkable and reversed into an electrical point that I d forgotten was there. Not the way to end a trip but that s the way it goes I guess. You can see the offending electrical point behind my Cruiser. Duct tape to the rescue.

13 We filled up in Bulawayo and I noticed the fuel pumps had both US$ and R prices e.g.$1.08 or R8.40 per litre. We went through Plumtree back into Botswana and via Francestown to Zanzibar where we stayed at Oasis Lodge. The place was a bit pricey but there is no competition so they have a monopoly. On the way I thought I should phone ahead to see if the border was open as we had heard there had been a lot of rain while we were away. Unfortunately it was after 16h00 and no answer. As it turned out the Limpopo was very high and we knew we had to go via Martins Drift the next morning. That night we had a great meal of beef stew and stayed up way too long. The next morning we went through Martins Drift and we went our separate ways. I went down the N11 and all the others via Thabazimbi to Johannesburg. I arrived back home at 17h11 to be welcomed by the happy wife and a mad little Staffie, Rebus. Once again great trip guys. Thanks. Geoff Hill Trip distance 4025 km Consumption 13.7lt/100km