Southern Africa road trip
I flew straight back to Malawi after the wedding to meet
Joshi and Gav in Lilongwe to drive straight to Zambia. They were late in true
African style after a breakdown on the road, but were rescued by our wonderful
mechanic Macmillan who saved the day again.
We drove in a loop from Blantyre into Zambia via Lilongwe,
and straight onto South Luwangwa National Park (SLNP) for Christmas, then onto
Vic Falls via Lusaka, and drove a loop around Zim through Hwange and Bulawayo
back through Harare and Moz to Blantyre.
Zambian Christmas
We returned to Mfuwe lodge in SLNTP where we had a very
successful trip in 2011 with Joshi, Mum and her friend Gill. They remembered us
(an interesting encounter with Joshi and a leopard) and had very kindly given
us a discount for 3 nights with them over Christmas. We were even lucky enough
to have the same incredible guide we had last time, who was delighted to see
Joshi older and with his list of animals to see which he fulfilled to the
letter. We saw 6 leopards, including the one who gave us the frighteners last
time when Joshi was 6 months old, wild dogs, lion and so many herbivores we
lost count. One of the wonderful things about doing safari in the wet season is
all the baby animals who are completely entrancing, we had wonderful weather
and ate incredible amounts of food with the lodge laying on bush bbq’s bush
carols, Christmas dinner and snacks on the drives. Sitting on the edge of a
ravine, with a cold drink watching the sun go down as the elephants cross the
pinked up river was so magical we wanted to hold it in our memories and hearts
forever, a completely African experience, and distilled the essence of our time
in Africa.
Vic Falls
We were so rested and relaxed after our time at
Mfuwe that we could manage a 2 day drive across the whole of Zambia with much
less difficulty than we expected – including an overnight in a backpackers in
Lusaka, it was an incredibly easy drive. Joshi was a dream sitting in the back
advising us when to overtake lorries and we had a great soundtrack to keep us
driving to. As we wove through the mountains, and endless forest, crossing the
luwangwa river and then across the great central African plains was an awe
inspiring experience. We are so used to the extreme poverty and overpopulation
of Malawi that throughout the trip the sight of good roads, better quality
housing, children at the sides of the roads who weren’t malnourished and most
of all trees was wonderful. 
I loved driving across the Vic falls bridge and all our
anxieties about travelling in Zim disappeared with the incredibly friendly
welcome we got everywhere we went. In Vic falls we spent a day at the falls
which are much better on the Zim side and incredible in the wet season, we also
got stuck in the Zambezi river mud and managed to get out again (thanks to the
beast’s incredible engine) had a picnic on the river banks and high tea at the
Vic falls hotel travelling back in time (except for the tourist hordes around
us). A highlight for Joshi were the trains still running on the Vic Falls
Bulawayo line. We had our car loaded up as we heard about a looming petrol
crisis in Zima and got ready to head into the proper bush, in Hwange national park.
Hwange National Park
After our long drives, the 90 minutes to get to Sinamatella
camp in Hwange was a dream. This camp is run by the Zim national parks
authority and had been a pain to book, but I had heard about the stunning
views. We had a chalet on the edge of an escarpment on the northern end of the
park, with incredible views stretching all the way to Botswana and the
Kalahari. We sat having a braai at sunset watching the elephant herd waft
across the plains surrounded by birdsong. However we arrived at the same time
as a 3 day downpour, so we did get some driving done through some impressive
mud, we were confined to the chalet for more than we would have liked. For a
park that has a reputation for being dry and desolate, we were surrounded by
pouring rain and incredibly lush greenery. We went to some of the watering
holes which were beautiful but flooded, and did see the most enormous male lion
and lots of elephants, but only when we drove to the Southern end of the park
for the last night did we see more animals. We were directed to a platform
overlooking a waterhole teeming with crocodiles, and could eat lunch and play
and watch the animals with the most incredible light. As we were self driving
we could come and go as we pleased, probably missing the best sightings as we
didn’t have a guide who knew where the animals hung out, but we saw so much including
disturbing another huge male lion trying to snooze at the side of the road.
Bulawayo
From Hwange it was another easy drive onto Bulawayo, Zim’s
second city where the currency is not the USD but the South African Rand. So
many flowers were in bloom and after 10 days in the bush a properly hot shower
with a comfortable rondavel in our self catering chalet with a pool was
wonderful. There was so much to enjoy in Bulawayo, but we all, but particularly
Joshi, loved the railway museum. Tucked away behind a warehouse and the railway
line, for the grand price of $1 each to get in, is a train lovers paradise. All
the old engines are parked there, including the first engine to cross the vic
falls bridge, Cecil Rhodes coach that he used to travel in, and the best bit
was everything was open and we could climb on everything. I loved all the old
signs and artefacts, Joshi and Gav spent hours pumping themselves up and down a
bit of track on this trolley and we even ‘waited’ for trains in the entire
reconstructed railway station. We then loaded up the car in the very nice
supermarket to head bush again to Matopos national park.
Matopos
We were back in National Park accommodation again in Matopos
– our chalet’s name translated as ‘rock hyrax’ and the views from the khondi
and the braai were unbelievable – we did several drives around the park looking
at the rock art and the herbivores – we missed all the leopards that are
supposed to be there, but it didn’t matter – watching the rocks glow pink in
the evening sun reflected in the lake with two klipsringers and some black
eagles for company was wonderful. We hiked up to Cecil Rhodes grave, chatted to
all sorts of people and hiked to various
ancient rock paintings. We didn’t want to leave after 3 nights, the peace and
beauty was something else and we felt incredibly lucky to have spent time
there. I had always wanted to do a riding safari there, but sadly we couldn’t
make that work this time, but maybe next time…….
Lake Kyle & Great
Zimbabwe
We then took off on another mammoth drive back through
Bulawayo to Great Zimbabwe and Lake Kype in Eastern Zim, driving through the
diamond belt. Eight hours and a few stops later we made it to another stunning lodge overlooking Lake Kyle/Lake Mutarika. One thing about driving in Zim that
we had been worried about was road blocks – so many stories of bribes and dodgy
dealings had gone around the expat community in Blantyre. We were pulled over a
few times, mostly to be asked ‘How is Malawi?’ and ‘do you like our country’ –
we were treated with extreme courtesy and had no problems at all, it was so
refreshing. We also enjoyed meeting so many Zimbabweans, including lots of
expats who now live in the UK and were back on holiday – including one man who
was climbing great Zim behind me and exclaimed ‘I am knackered!’ when I asked
him where he was from he said Leicester!
We met the rain again at Great Zim, and hiked around the monuments with
a disinterested guide with a plastic bag on her head and carried a wet Joshi
around. The mystery of the monuments with no written records, and the attempts
of the white minority government to completely dismiss the achievements of
these buildings were so interesting and sad in equal measure, including the
unexplained decline of the entire civilisation. It was our last proper bit of holiday and we
braaied again every night outside and watched more spectacular sunsets over the
lake – a big feature of this trip! Joshi did brilliantly, going everywhere,
making up games with himself or other children everywhere we went.
Across the Zambezi
back home
Our last mammoth drive was another 2 day trip back to Malawi
via Harare- Zim’s capital was looking busy and prosperous despite the news we
watched that announced the Government was expecting an economic boom despite
the fact the banks had no capital with which to pay salaries let alone loans.
The drive north from Harare to Moz was classic high plateau Africa, incredibly
beautiful, bendy and steep and we made it to Tete and crossed the Zambezi again
with no problems. Only after lunch in Tete did our problems really get going
with officially the worst road we have ever driven on – pot holes the size of
mini buses in the pouring rain over a mountain range with lorries and buses
going at 5km an hour – we almost got stuck on several occasions, each time the
beast managed to rescue us again – we actually got stuck ironically at the
customs post going into Malawi. We made it back to BT in one piece, despite the
best intentions of the Mozambiquan border guards, had a shower and washed the
dust and mud off, armed with so many memories and images we collapsed in a
heap. We were only sad that we won't have another holiday like that for a long while, as our return to the UK awaited us.
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