A journey into the interior

[Kevin Peacocke]

We left as early as we dared, 05:00 to be exact, because the lights on Carruthers are not the best. The idea on these crisp morning starts in an open vehicle is to wrap up in blankets and pack ample hot coffee. We love Kariba but that road has become a bit boring, so we decided to visit Changa Camp in the Matusadona National Park for a change. The difference this time was that instead of driving to Kariba town and crossing the lake on a boat transfer we would drive in via the Karoi to Binga road. Changa management seemed excited by the prospect, we would be the first guests to have attempted it. The road to the Binga turnoff after Karoi was old hat, full tar and full of huge trucks heading north to Zambia and the DRC, so it was a relief to turn off on an untrodden path. The first 60km or so were full tar too, better than the main Kariba road in fact and I wondered - what is all the fuss about this Binga route?
After the tar ends it becomes progressively more and more rural, little villages here and there all blaring music and selling beer. There is scant agriculture, the usual scrappy mealies and a few cows and goats, one wonders what sustains this simple life, but I guess needs are few.Cars are fewer our here too, replaced by donkey carts.

Now the blankets were put away and soon the jackets were shed too as the first baobab sighting heralded the entry into the hot Zambezi lowlands.
These rural roads have a way of stretching distance, but it was all new and enjoyable and we were thoroughly caked in dust already so what the heck.
Then the road began a steady decline and it was clear we were heading towards a river - and there around a bend was the Sanyati! If you have ever visited the Sanyati Gorge on Lake Kariba it is evident that a lot of energy went into sculpting that, and sure enough the river up here was much wider than I expected. The bridge was quite impressive, a testimony to those far sighted planners who built this great structure so long ago in anticipation of traffic in the far distant future.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Have I ever mentioned how jealous I am of you Mr. Peacocke? And how great your name for your landy is?

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

On and on the road wound, getting closer to the Matusadona ridge on our right hand side. A little group of offices came up on the left with a sign proclaiming Campfire Headquarters, so we knew we were bordering the game park now. Eventually we reached the turnoff to the game park at around 14:00, still plenty of time, after all just 70km or so to go. The road soon became a track and the track soon became a dotted line as it is shown on the map. Before going any further we stopped for a snack and to add a Jerry can of diesel into the tank, just in case, but the level still looked quite high - these series ones are very economical. The track skirts the park and crosses the hills over some very rocky bits. It would become very rough and I thought this can't be the right route, but then a little further on we would cross a sandy patch that had the comforting sign of tyre tracks on it confirming that humans once came this way. On and on and come 17:00 the sun was dipping lower, but the map showed we were only about half way. At least the tsetse's were easing off, having bitten Tessa mercilessly. At last we exited the hills at about 18:00 onto the flatter lake shore line. I estimated we had about an hour still to go as it was still pretty rough, but now needing lights I seriously considered stopping for the night. It wasn't that we were lost, but rather the fear of being mistaken for poachers and being shot up. Did the parks personnel even know we were coming in? There was no boom coming in and no office as I had expected there would be. What other conclusion were they to reach of an unannounced vehicle in this area at night? I would sooner take our chances with the lions than the AK's. We had a mozzie net and bedding and I was looking for a suitable roadside spot when some lights appeared up ahead. Oh no, I thought, this is it, so I pulled over and turned off our lights so they wouldn't be blinded and could see two harmless murungus. The vehicle pulled up along side and what a huge relief to see Changa Safari Camp on the side.
Thirty minutes later we were in camp and a G&T has never tasted so good. It had been 14 hours and a great adventure, but that last 5 hours was a real challenge. Carruthers did splendidly and whilst I am sure my Toyota Landcruiser 100 would have done it, it would perhaps have inherited a few dents. It may be 68 years old, but I trust that vehicle implicitely.

 

[Pheroze]

This is shaping up to be a proper adventure!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Changa is extremely comfortable, large tented rooms with huge soft beds and an outside shower and bath under the stars. Food is great and there is wifi if you need to touch base. It felt pretty incongruous to find this luxury at the end of that road, but of course there is an airstrip nearby and most supplies come by boat I suppose.
Our game drives came across a million impala, very vocal in the rutt. The elephant were less plentiful as there is still water in the hinterland, but we did see a good bull of maybe 60 pounds plus and several family groups. The zebra that were restocked in the park due to heavy lion predation are breeding well, as are the water buck we saw. The highlight though was a huge kudu bull, perhaps in the upper 50's which just stood there in the bushes about 10 metres away. He kney there was no rifle on this trip and he knew he was magnificent and wanted to share it. Lions roared at night, hyenas whooped and a leopard caughed nearby, but we didn't see them. This very spot is where the Spurwing pride killed a British tourist years ago before Changa was built, a really nasty business, they devoured the poor fellow.
A particular leopard is apparently a regular visitor and hangs around the overflow tent down near the harbour. He must have marked his territory heavily

because a troup of baboons came through a few months ago and destroyed the tent, ripping it to shreds.
It was good to see two groups of American visitors, a group of British tourists and two pairs of Zimbabwean folks, so the tourist business looks to be healthy.

The barman's view

 

[Happy Myles]

Kevin, you are great. Thank you so much!

 

[CAustin]

Thank you sir for taking us along for this adventure!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

All good things come to an end and it was time to think about the journey home. Tess and I both looked at those mountains and at each other and let's say a repeat up-slope slog wasn't too appealing. I didn't doubt for a second that Carruthers would make it, but we had been there already, so what else? Chatting with Jock the young manager he raised the possibility of putting the Landy on the supply barge on it's way back to Kariba, it was just small enough to fit. What a splendid idea! The barge would arrive Wednesday evening, they would load up and depart very early Thursday. We in the meantime would catch the launch transfer on Thursday morning with our new British friends and meet the barge there.
We foolishly went for a game drive Wednesday afternoon so the camp crew had to figure out how to drive a series one on their own, apparently they push started it!

Getting Carruthers off that barge at Kariba backwards down two narrow ramps at a steep slope was touch and go and took several attempts. But once accomplished we bade our friends good bye and made a quick stop to view the dam rehabilitation works. For those of you that were not aware Kariba is one of the largest man-made lakes in the world and maintenance was neglected until someone worked out that if it broke so would Cahora Basa downstream and the ensuing deluge would kill upwards of five million people. So now the race is on to fix it before the next cyclone comes this way.
Our next destination was Bliss Lodge, the clean and comrortable stopover we found in Karoi last trip, what a great alternative to facing the trucks all day. As always their food was great, quite a little hidden gem.
And so home, with a broad smile on my face most of the way and dreaming of the next journey - can you guess where?

 

[shotgungibbs]

Kevin, I read every double rifle post, and you are always in those as well! I sincerely enjoy these trips, more like an adventure, that you allow us to go along on as "non-paying" passengers! Looks like a wonderful trip! I envy you. Thank you so much!

 

[VertigoBE]

Thanks for sharing yet another installment of Carruthers' and friends adventures @Kevin Peacocke !
Lovely seeing your wife and you continuing on making new memories and discovering unknown lands together.