A bag of dog food and stale crisps for $14 – Robs Zimbabwean gas station experience 

We spent several hours navigating Zimbabwean processes. The 9 step process had several sub steps which costed as many dollars as they felt they could charge. One step involved hiring someone to confirm your vehicle was a vehicle. Many passed across Beitbridge border – an impressive old iron bridge – with various cargos, mostly carried on their head. One lady had a cargo of neon toilet brushes which went flying as she tried to enter customs. 

Once through we were greeted by roadside sellers advertising cold drinks and mopane worms.  After a few hours we turned on to a dirt track which would lead us to Gonarezhou National Park. The road seemed to extend for ever. The clouds of dust kicked up by our convoy added to the encroaching darkness as the day drew to a close.  The only other traffic was the occasional cart pulled by donkeys. We passed several gated checkpoints, before eventually entering the park by its south entrance. Inside the park we had 20km to go to our camp, where it was a relief to unpack for our first night in the rooftop tents.

Mwenezi crocodiles will not be held responsible for theft or loss of limb – welcome sign

As daylight broke at 6am, we packed down and begun a long drive through the park. We had to get out the grass nets to cover the engine grills from all the long grasses on the track.  As we checked out of the campground we spotted some baboon and Hadeda Ibis grazing the wet grassland. We quickly encountered elephants crossing the road and an impressive Martial’s eagle.  Gonarezhou means “the place of elephants” and is home to around 7,000 of them. We heard occasional trumpeting, but often caught whiffs of their musty smell. For such an impressive sized animal, they could be in sight one minute and completely vanished the next! The scenery changed many times through the National park, which spans an area of 5,053km2! Sometimes we were driving through dense foliage, open grassland or taller, more jungle like vegetation. I took a stretch of driving which involved navigating a sandy track. It felt more like directing a rollercoaster cart than a car! 

By mid afternoon we reached Hlaro camp, a no fence, no facilities (save a long drop toilet) area for our convoy of four tucks. It was on the river bank meaning you could see a vast expanse. The picture revealed more the longer you observed. We were alerted to the baboons on the opposite bank by their noisy, boisterous behaviour, the impalas barking. An elephant grazed our bank, whilst 20 or so elephants made the crossing across the sandy floodplain. Nile crocodiles lazed on the banks. A pair of pied kingfisher had their preferred perch for watching the water below. A white fronted bee eater danced along the bank which was vegetated with spiky wild cucumber.  

The place of elephants, but the lions aren’t cheap – Gonarezhou warden

For the rest of the day we let the wildlife come to us as we set up around a campfire, some completing jigsaws, some tackling the cool box of beer and wine.  The next morning began with an early game drive. I had bought a kids workbook of the park and was working through the animal spotting checklist. The birds boasted vibrant blues and greens, the long tailed starlings, bee eaters and lilac breasted rollers being a few favourites. Our drive took us down to the river where a black backed Jackal slunk along the sand, posing for a photo. Impressively ugly were a family of Southern Ground Hornbill. Like an oversized Turkey, they have a red wattle on their throat which they can inflate to amplify their call making a booming sound. We had a safari breakfast overlooking hippo and crocs enjoying the rivers cool waters. 

Whilst we went about camp life, an elephant grazed just behind camp. He stood on his humid legs to pull off a giant branch, stopping the leaves big by bit. Then he turned to the grass, clasping a clump in his trunk then kicking at it to free it by the root.  At first he caused quite a stir as he munched his way around the edge of the vehicles, at times only around 40 metres away. After the initial excitement we slipped in to a wary normality.  Oisín and Henry, the two toddlers of the group, played on. Others prepared brunch and went about camp life and our resident ele became a feature of the background. 

Back at camp, Rach and Gaby set up a safari work out with 7 stations and we did rounds skipping and squatting on the banks of the river. Afterwards, suitably sweaty, we decided we had to chance the shallows of the river for a dip. We took it in turns to do ‘croc watch’ from the banks so we could each cool off in the shallows. 

On our evening game drive we found cat tracks. We tried to follow them to no avail, instead enjoying Nyala, water buck and the impressive kudu. On the return drive, Rach, Gaby, Rob and I sat on the roof of the pick up, getting incredibly dusty as the sun set over the park. Dust was definitely the theme – our feet were caked, just like every other body part and black bogies were a common theme! 

We cooked dinner underground, placing the hot coals of the fire in the sand and burying lamb for dinner. Potatoes and corn went direct in the fire for the full experience. 

We packed up Hlaro camp and drove to the North entrance of the park, Chipinda Pools. This part of the park had wider landscapes and even more water. We navigated rocky slopes and sandy bends to get to a weir picnic spot for lunch. Beyond that we crossed Rainbow crossing, a bridge across a fast flowing bit of water with several channels amongst the rocks. Brilliant blue swallows danced above the water. More water was still to come as Chipinda pools hosted a family of hippos, colourful lizards in many shapes and sizes and gushing waterfalls. 

Our final camp in the park had everyone excited, both due to its impressive location on a river filled with hippo, and its shower! Everyone enjoyed de-dusting, no matter how temporary! We lined up the camp chairs facing the river as a chorus of hippos grunted and mooed all night long. As darkness descended, fireflies danced overhead. In flight, they looked like a bright flame, but when one landed on my shoe it was not much bigger than a woodlouse with a yellow collar. 

As we left the park, sadly, our convoy of 4 was about to become 3 as Jill, Craig and Ilse peeled off to Johannesburg. Rachel planned us a coffee stop with one of her friends who lived close by to the National park. It was a welcome break on our 7 hour journey to Harare.  Behind high gates on a red track was a green oasis, their garden bursting with colour.  It was strangely nostalgic as they were farmers who had lost their farm in the early 2000’s, just like Granny and Grandad and many others.  They had remained in Zimbabwe after the farm was seized, unlike Granny and Grandad who had fled to the UK. Their home was filled with furniture of the same dark wood style I recalled from visiting the farm as a seven year old.  For several of the cousins, who had met for the first time as children in 1997 on a special trip to Zimbabwe, being welcomed to this house had a strange reminiscent air about our collective memories about our glimpse into the life our parents had grown up with.