We were fortunate enough to be invited to join a tour to Gonarezhou.
In the party were, Retief and Desiree van der Ryden, Martinus, Lorinda and Dian van der Reyden, John and Jonathan Thome, Sylvia and me. Four vehicles in all.
We toured both the southern Mabalauta and northern Save-Runde regions. (Take away the border controls and other road blocks and I would go there often. I just hate the form filling and never knowing what will happen as every time the procedure seems to change.)
On Wednesday 11 July 2012 we headed off to Tshipise where we spent the night. Here we took on spring water and I took of the waters.
The 12th saw us at Punda Maria where we met the rest of the party. We all camped and refueled so we could leave early the next morning.
Crossing over into Mozambique at Pafuri on 13th was fairly painless and we were on our way by 9:00. Crossing the Limpopo was far easier than I had expected. Straight up north we headed over what was described as a ferry crossing on Tracks4Africa. However there was no water - only sand. Here we came across a stuck vehicle and trailer which we pulled across. We only had large shackles and twice more again this would require the borrowing of smaller ones to pass through the recovery points of the to be recovered. (Thank you John.) This was the dry Nuanetsi River. Just after the crossing there was a strange "stop" sign so we stopped. Locals came out of the ruins and asked what we wanted so we said we just wanted to say hello and drove off. On the return leg we were in front of the convoy and we "smiled and waved" just before crossing the sand again. The rest of the party was stopped and passports were requested. We waited in the shade on the opposite bank curious as to what was going on. The border post crossing at Chiqualaqua in Mozambique (which would have been difficult to find without Tracks4Africa) and Sango in Zimbabwe were taken care of in the due course of time after much form completion and vehicle examination. I was asked for medical supplies (we travel with doctors and I am not even qualified to administer first aid so why choose me?) whereupon I dispensed two sachets of flavoured Citro Soda. I was asked for four but firmly refused. Under no circumstances was I going to be responsible for overdoses caused by greed. Other members of the party were more generous with the dispensation of gifts. We were in Zimbabwe by 13:30.
Camp was set up by 16:30 at Mabalauta. The presence of game in the area was a real pleasant surprise.
We drove around on the 14th and enjoyed lunch at the river.
Breakfast was cooked by John and Johanthan on the 15th and we were on our way to explore by 9:00. We stopped in the shade at 12:30 overlooking the river where we chewed. Afterwards we drove and found a path to the river not recorded on Tracks4Africa - but it was recorded on the map we received from Martinus.
The night was cold 5 degrees centigrade at 4:00. We were packed up and ready to roll by 8:00 on 16th. Two lions had passed through the camp during the night. There was no moon so the nights were very dark. Chipinda Pools was the destination and the bridge over the Save River had been washed away. There was a long water crossing over a firm rocky bumpy river bed and as we went across crocodiles swam around quite close to the vehicles. By 12:45 we had set up camp using our pop-up tent. That afternoon we drove around and explored the area - a lovely dam with lots of hippopotami and a rocky area on the Save River where we went for a walk to see what we could see.
On the night of the 17th the wind came up and our pop-up flapped away furiously masking what we thought were animal sounds. The solar powered shower was lovely. By 8:00 we were ready to be off again for Hlaro where we were set up by 12:45. Another lovely camp site. Marshmallows were toasted over the fire that night.
When we woke on the 18th we saw that lions had passed close by again that night. The morning was cool and overcast. Hlaro was the camp site - overlookintg the cliffs and the river - a wonderful place. The baboons had to be watched though as they were aware that there was food around.
We heard lions when we woke on the 19th. Made a fried breakfast.
Early on 20th we set off south. At Swimuwini we stayed in a chalet as this would allow us to make an early start south.
On 21st we left at 7:20 and were at the Mozambique border by 8:20. (Beleive it or not but another medical emergency was brought to my attention - a gentleman had a runny nose and had used up all his tissues. We had a handkerchief discussion and Desiree dished out paper tissues.) After a recovery in the Limpopo of some locals in a 2x4 we arrived at the Pafuri Picnic site in Kruger by 14:00. Surprisingly Punda Maria was much warmer than Gonarezhou.
The 22nd was a lovely day. We had driven just over 900 kilometers and when we arrived at Letaba we had driven 1078 kilometers and used 242 litres of fuel. We had toasted sandwiches and cold dinks while looking at the animals coming to drink in the Letaba River. By 16:30 we started our fire and settled for the night.
On 23rd the wind came up around 3:30 and it became cold - we left and arrived home by 19:00 after exiting at Malelane and going via Badplaas.
The trip was about 2600 kms in total.
The pictures below are in a slide show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebklno0g6MA&feature=youtu.be
A truly magnificent trip.