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4 December 1998

The Kingsmill's Trans-Africa Overland Trip, Part 7: Zimbabwe

Geoff Kingsmill
2006-04-25 21:02:30

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G'day Friends,

Well it’s nearly two weeks since we last sent you E-mail. After almost one month we had to leave our Kenyan friends Ross and Caroline (and their Landrover which we know so well) as they needed to get back to Kenya for a wedding in mid December. We had a great time travelling together and could not have asked for better travelling companions but will meet up with them again when we reach Kenya sometime in January.

Victoria Falls was good to see, however the town is full of touts and they were a constant hassle (like flies) so we were a little disappointed. We were also annoyed at the Overland Trucks in the campground as they were noisy and inconsiderate and partied till the early hours of the morning. We visited the Victoria Falls Hotel which is a magnificent colonial building overlooking the Zambezi River into Zambia.

From here we headed to Binga which is on the western edge of Lake Kariba. It was pouring rain when we left Victoria Falls but the weather cleared up after lunch. We came across our first road accident where a Semi-Trailer had overturned blocking a mountainous section of road. At first we thought we would have to do a 100km detour, however after careful measurements we found that we were able to just pass between the overturned truck and the cliff edge.

The campground at Binga had a natural hot spring and was a pleasant spot until an Overland truck arrived just after dark. We thought we had escaped them but this was not so.

The next morning we drove to Chizarira NP. The road in was a small rugged track. On the way we met a retired English couple who had driven from Europe via the Middle East. We had a good chat and hope to meet up with them when we reach the UK. The Park Ranger at the gate welcomed us to the most remote NP in Zimbabwe, which delighted us no end. The Registration book showed that we were the only tourists in the park that day. We camped at Busi, which was 40km south ...