Safari Day 7: border crossing and a breakdown - #Magogo down and out

Leokwe to Matopos (Matopos National Park, Zimbabwe)

Such a refreshing start to jump in that outdoor shower under torrents of steaming hot water and enjoying lathering up with soap the honey badgers hasn't gnawed. Breakfast in the sunshine of the outdoor entertainment area, luggage and provisions loaded (tight squeeze and some on the roof), and last-minute reminders about seriousness of border crossing into Zimbabwe.

The main drag! So many trucks and buses - it is just "broken"

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS:

A. A quick dash from the camp site to the gate of the park - 11 kms of African massage interspersed with animal spotting. And then it was goodbye to Mapungubwe and out onto the sealed road for the morning's haul via Musina.

Got pulled over and quickly waved on just after the Musina turnoff and noted the proliferation of transport vehicles at the truck stop that will be queued at the border. Saw our first road sign warning "Crime Alert: Do not stop" and with @Mac's luggage tied on the overhead roof bay we definitely did not want to stop.

Made our scheduled fuel (much cheaper in Botswana) and lunch to go stop (picked something up at 10 39 to carry with us and eat on the run - and ALMOST negotiated the toilet stop. I truly can't believe it has happened again - finished my wee stop and tried to exit, only to find the door handle wouldn't open.  A quiet non-panicked "H-eee-lll-ppp" marshalled the girl crew to get some help. They even let @Mac come into the ladies to see if he could sort a solution. The lady attendant climbed up over the cubicle to assess the situation and then bullied the lock into submission. Free at last and celebratory hugs all round. The other ladies commented on how calm I was - little did they know I am experienced at dunny door failures. BTW, next two stops for toilets were fool proof - the doors didn't have locks on them.

It looks innocent - but wouldn't slide - locked in - again

We nudged up to the Beit Bridge border crossing for phase one of the process. This was to get an exit stamp for leaving South Africa. Left @Mac and @Steve to guard the car and trailer while we lined up and then did the swap-a-roo for guard duty. It was a relative breeze.

Back in the car and a quick transit to other side of the border where organised chaos seemed to be the order of the day.  Our first impression was shaped by four baton wielding guards and a dog on a leash escorting a handcuffed gent who was trying an illegal border crossing. No shenanigans here. A little bit of lining up, form filling, counter standing and being passed from one window to the next, but we were eventually through the manual handwritten process with a US $30 visa in hand. My vias has a spelling error in my name but the Immigration Officer said "No worries." I hope so when we leave Zimbabwe later on the journey.

Eating the kms away - not many pics because no stops and no pics where security involved

And then for the long wait as the ever patient @Louis was shuffled from pillar to post filling in forms and paying fees and charges. The final step was to have the vehicle "inspected." There were probably 40 cars with us - no line up or system - with one guy with one tablet who had to "inspect" the vehicle and issue a stamp to enable #Magogo to get through. @Louis and @Brian (helper @Louis organised to assist with the border crossing) were like two cattle dogs - they siddled up close, nipped away and corralled this single attendant until they finally got their chance. We all held our collective breathe because on his whim we could have been asked to completely unpack the vehicle. Luck was on our side - and the stamp was issued. Now you had to wait until your number flashed up on the board- and @Louis lined #Magogo up then jumped out and sprinted back inside the get the final authorisation box checked and FINALLY after two hours, we were pushing through two boom gates and were on our way.

Now faced a 4 - 6  hour trek to our destination.

B. Once through the border it was a big sigh of relief and we were fixed on The Farmhouse as our destination. We had our lunch and snacks on board and only needed to factor in one toilet stop.

What an eye opener that drive through Zimbabwe was. Dust and dirt. Dry grasslands with stunted trees. Shanty towns with make do shelters comprised of of bits of cloth and what looks like black plastic, tin shacks and even just an old umbrella stuck in the ground.  This was contrasted in very rare instances with large brick homes. People sitting on the side of the road with half a dozen bags of oranges for sale or a bucket if mopane worms. Ladies were bashing their clothing against rocks in the croc infected waters while children watched them dry draped over boulders.

People walking, walking everywhere. It's Saturday and we caught frequent sightings of people dressed in all white coming home from church.  Lots of people with huge bales on their head - apparently these hold charity clothing donated and co-ordinated through South Africa - it is collected free on the South African side and then carried in by the locals and then sold by enterprising individuals

Goats and cattle everywhere - free range. Crossing the road, walking on the side of the road, seemingly unattended. 

The national freeway that we were traversing was an unmarked ribbon of divot filled , rutted and potholed remains of a road .Following the locals we veered off the main road in strips and took a dirt road than ran parallel to the so called highway in an attempt to find a straighter smoother path - and so did all the trucks and semi-trailers, cars, push bikes, walkers and even donkey drawn carts. The dust was thick. Worth noting here that the only air conditioning in #Magogo is achieved by opening a window and with all the dust we opted to suffer the heat rather choke.

@Louis stepped us through the rise and fall of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and the decline if the country under Robert Mugabwe 's rule, the escalation of hyperinflation, the decline of the currency and the abject poverty of the people. Unemployment rate runs at around 75%, life expectancy is 61 for males and 65 for women with most operating as subsistence farmers surviving on tribal land.

“The month-on-month inflation rate in June 2023 was 74.5%, gaining 58.8 percentage points on the May 2023 rate of 15.7%, he said. “The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of June 2023 as measured by the all-items Consumer Price Index was 175.8%.”

Every town had a story of demise associated with Robert Mugabwe and it was repeated all along the drive. But the people seemed to be doing their best with their circumstances - there were small stall holders, movement of people and attempts to forge an "existence" - very different from our "lot in life"

Encountered Zimbabwean roadblocks - needed to pull up and explain who is travelling and for what purpose. @Louis could provide a masterclass in diplomacy. Winds his window down, puts on the smile, stays relaxed and sticks to the truth. And so far, we have progressed with 100% success rate.

Possibility we passed some poachers today - two people walking on the side of the road carrying a weighted bag between them and clutching an Impala skull.

C. We were so close - probably 40 kms to go after such a long day- stopped at a set of lights, in the dark ready to make our final run through Bulawayo - not 20 seconds after @Louis has asked us to check our windews and doors for security -  we could almost smell our dinner cooking - but unfortunately as @Louis tried to use the clutch - he couldn't get the vehicle to engage. 

We were absolutely dead stopped, head of the queue at a 4 way intersection, streaming with vehicles. Not a very good place to be caught. Just needed to sit tight while @Louis sorted a solution, and although he didn't "need" @Steve, it must have been a great support for him to have a mechanical engineer on board to help with the methodical run through of the diagnostics.  They were a super-efficient, focussed team, and with @Louis crawling under #Magogo and @Steve taking care of the in-vehicle trials - they came to a pretty certain evaluation that it was the gear box - it was non-responsive.

Over to @Louis. He was on the phone to his backup team and had lots of solution strands running through his head - first and foremost "us." He wanted to make a plan to get us and the luggage safely out of the vulnerability of the intersection, then he needed to deal with the vehicle and its repair.

Cars were streaming passed us left and right and a good Samaritan did pull in behind us. He was dressed in his uniform as an Immigration Officer and plans were made for him to access a tow rope and move us about 100 metres further along the road into the safety of a well-lit and populated service station. 👏

@Gill passed around the peppermints to tide us over and @Del (jokingly I think) offered to crack open the gin and the wine!

And about the same time as the tow arrived so did the passenger rescue vehicle. @Louis had contacted his local guide @Ian who sent a vehicle 40 kms (think darkness and Zimbabwean definition of "road") from The Farmhouse to pick up us and the luggage.

We now had two plans in place.

Decanted and repacked all the luggage and we piled in to the rescue vehicle. Might be appropriate to now mention this was an open safari vehicle. Yep, clear African sky - dotted with billions of stars - and in winter, the nighttime temperature plummets.  Our driver @Henry was keen to keep the vehicle speed lower in an attempt to stop us from freezing - but we encouraged him to do his normal speed because we figured the sooner we were there the sooner it would be over. We squared up - four to a row - rugged up in whatever we had and shared and borrowed clothes amongst the group as best we could - tried to sing to keep away the chill and when we were almost frigid with cold another saviour arrived.

There must have been lots of African drum messages going spreading the word - because @Ian was heading in the opposite direction to pick up @Louis and #Magogo and he pulled over with 4 rugs. Couldn't wrap ourselves up fast enough and thank goodness because as it drew later and we progressed higher it really was COLD ... even challenged the bone cold of the Willow Inn.  And have i mentioned yet that both @Marg and @Mac were wearing shorts and I only had on two layers of cotton shirts?

@Henry was very very cheeky and every time someone asked "Are we there yet" or "How far to go now" he responded with a deep mischievous "Nearly halfway."  We all groaned with disappointment as we passed each signpost and twinkling, inviting lights for another lodge .... that wasn't ours.

It was not a great road either. Very narrow - in poor condition and the further we progressed the more narrow the bitumen strip became.

Eventually after one hour and fifteen minutes of eye watering, ear numbing, chilled to the core cold we turned into The Farmhouse and with great relief launched into a HALLELUJAH chorus.

@Kerry and @Andre were there to welcome and their hospitality and organisation combined with drinks and a bowl of hot soup, a roast beef dinner and lemon tart dessert dimmed the memory of our ordeal.

The crew was pleased to get an update from @Louis that confirmed he was AOK and was making a plan

That's Africa!

Very welcoming venue for two days at The Farmhouse

Accommodation individual chalets at The Farmhouse set in idyllic grounds (pool) surrounded by impressive granite boulders. Chalets feature kitchen, sitting room, bedroom complete with four poster netted double, bathroom and balcony. Panelled French windows give fabulous views to animals. Park features walkways to discover giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, kudu wandering freely. A communal dining area for meals.

Steps:: 1 657

Transport: #Magogo 440 kms Open Safari 40 kms Departure 8:45 Arrival 8:15 pm

Wildlife Spotting

A long drive today to take us into Zimbabwe where animals and birds in the wild are a rarity. A starving population has decimated the numbers. Some private game parks still exist but as well as being a refuge it is still possible to hunt/kill big game in Zimbabwe.

Elephants

Impala

Monkey

Baboon

Zebra

Crocodile

Hippos

Slender mongoose: eats snakes, very fast

Impala lily: looks like our desert rose

Kudu: curly horns

Klipspringet

Domesticated animals

Donkey

Dog

Goat

Cattle

Google Maps crossing to Zimbabwe: Leowke to Matopos