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18th - 23rd april

Overlanding across Afica in our Land Rover Defender: Zimbabwe

Andy Lees
2006-05-16 14:38:30

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good six hours watching bull elephants coming down to drink, in ones and twos. they drank for up to half an hour at a time, filling their trunks before tipping back their heads and pouring it into their mouths. we continued to watch as night fell. the full moon providing enough light for us to enjoy the increased activity at the waterhole. more and more elephants began to emerge from the bushes. we lost count around thirty. up to 200 elephants would have been a reasonable guess. the herds moved back and forth in waves, sometimes scattered by a trumpeting bull or chased from the water by the besieged hippos. elephants trumpeted and screeched, splashed and drank. some fought. the flow of elephants didn't cease. we went to bed around midnight whilst the ruckus continued - during the night when i stirred, i could still hear the elephants having the time of their lives.

to botswana via vic falls - 23rd april

we would have liked to have spent longer in the park but it was not possible. if they had accepted their own currency and ensured fuel was available in the parks pumps then we could have stayed another week. but it was not to be. instead we moved on to vic falls. we had had to use two of our jerry cans and we knew we had enough to get us to botswana. if we could get it we would refuel. we had to try three places before finding diesel. if we had been looking for petrol then i think we really would have struggled. long queues faced anyone in need. with diesel there was only one other car in front. it was running out though, we were told.

we stopped in vic falls long enough for lunch and to check that we had enough money (rand or pula) to get us into botswana. we had used all our foreign currency in zimbabwe and had little left for botswana. we needed 90 rand for the car and we started the day with only 10. by the time we reached botswana we had 110 and this was only because some kind czechs took pity on us and bought some of our zim dollars. if it hadn't have been for their help i don't know what we would have done.

we were relieved to get safely out of zimbabwe, though this was only really due to the difficulties created by their refusal to accept their own currency (except for food, for which they refuse foreign currency) and our own lack of preparation in this respect. we had only seen a small part of the country, still we had enjoyed our visit and it had been well worth the worry. we were about to enter the last unvisited country of our trip, before we returned to south africa. we looked forward to both the promise of well-stocked supermarkets as well as idyllic wilderness camping and legendary game viewing.