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Wednesday, October 18th, Sinamatella Lodge, Hwange, Zimbabwe
We heard today that there are food riots in the streets of Harare, general strike and chaos. Luckily, the animals in the park do not go on strike as far as I know. Last Sunday, after an evening's game drive in what we now consider to be an almost deserted park (only giant herd of Buffalo, Impala, Hippo etc), and a few old bones that are lying around the place we are "lucky" enough to get a guest house cancellation at one of the lodges in the Zambezi River Park. This is just inside the actual park, and here there are massive amounts of baboons, all sifting through the trash cans, warthogs, and occasional hippo snorts from the river, just 50 metres away. The lodge has all the basics once again, fridge, 4 beds, kitchen, pots, pans utensils etc, but the genteel decay betrays years of neglect or budget shortfalls. No air, only fans, and it's pretty hot even by the river. We Gin&Tonic ourselves, and settle in for an early night. There is the luxury of mosquito nets over the bed, and we all make use of them.
We hear that there is always diesel at Hwangie - we can always head out of Zim again, but would prefer not to - not yet any way. We did manage to fill up quite easily yesterday - looks like Sunday deliveries of fuel. Gas seems to be easy to get, only diesel is in regular short supply. An easy 100Km run to Hwankie, on the road, we pass at least a dozen African crafts areas, not single store, whole villages making a living (or currently, not) off of what are actually very sensitive and well crafted wood and stone carvings. Of the 10/ 12, there may be two with any tourist topping to buy - this is so sad! Aiden really wants to shop, so we eventually do. The prices are incredible. It's embarrassing to us, $C5.00 for a 2 Kg wooden hippo for Kayla (weight is easier to estimate than art), $C10.00 for a 3Kg stone elephant (Aiden). The pricing is quite embarrassing, $C10.00 will buy some incredibly carved wood or stone pieces. I chat with a young guy who just comes up to the van as we wait for the kids. He is a book keeper with good qualifications, no job, and a view that something is wrong in his country. He tells me that he is from Kariba (a common tale), but had to leave because he was becoming too vocal re government etc. We talk for 30 minutes, and does not simply ask for money with a sob story. It's only when I tell him that I work with computers that he asks me about the possibility for his youth organisation. I tell him that it may be possible through some charity organisations who ship them out to 3rd. World countries, and undertake to investigate the possibilities for him. If you have any access to this type of charity, please send any totally working computing equipment to: Fisani Mazalwayedwa, Kariba Youth Trust 2100, Box 390, Kariba, Zimbabwe.
Hwange park has 3 main camps with full facilities - restaurant, shops etc, and several lesser ones with only camping or chalets. Main camp is our first stop, and, due to the current government policies, is almost deserted (again!). We take a 4 bed cottage with shower, bog etc, and communal kitchen. The fees are (for us) very reasonable, only $Z700 ($C20.00) for adults, kids free!!. This turns out to be a one time payment, not daily like Botswana. There is a garage, but they have been out of diesel for a month...... We are ok for a while, but long trips are out till we fill up.
Back at the camp, we meet a Canadian - Zim from Bellville who gives us a run down on the local park and environs. He tells us where the Wild Dogs, and lions are likely to be next morning. Seems that the Hwange Safari Lodge, 16Km outside the camp, has a great water hole viewing site, so we head off there. More sable, zebra, buit quite a way off. This is a four star, with prices to match (at least 4 times the camp rates), and there are two people eating. There is diesel here, but limited to 20 litres per day. Tuesday, 17th, and we are up early, (5:30AM) to look for wild dogs. No luck there, so we head out to the viewing platform again. More of the same - my aren't we becoming blase about this? After breakfast at the lodge, we again head out to the upmarket lodge, this time to book our Kariba timeshare and get our 20 litres of fuel. Again, no one there at RCI in Jo'berg, so we just leave a message to confirm our week. There is a very good map of the park here for Z$50.00 - this is infinitely superior to the photocopied handout from the park. Maybe we can avoid getting lost now. Still no lions or wild dogs on our evening run which takes us on a wild loop around the back roads, now we know where we are going. Wednesday morning game run - same stuff. We head off into the park, and at thyis low speed, the truck hesitates and dies. I'm out with the spanners bleeding the fuel with everyone on "lion watch". This would be exactly the time we get to see a large pride wouldn't it? As we reach the viewing platform, the front wheels complain with noisy creaks, Oh Dear! There is a lot of goop dripping onto the tires - it's been doing this in a minor way for a while now, but it seems that I can ignore it no longer. This looks very serious. We head back slowly to the lodge, and the local maintenance shop. The mechanic diagnoses an oil seal... I do not have one of course, so he fills up the front diff with transmission oil and tells me I should be able to get to Hwankie ok. Another bad day looms ahead of us, this could take a week or more, simply to get spares! Luckily, the drive to Hwange town is uneventful, and I find the main garage. There are two Europeans running the place, and are literally doing just that - running. I'm there for nearly an hour waiting for one of them just to talk to me - they don't. Eventually, the secretary grabs one of them and, not talking to me, but her, tells her ththey are too busy, and spares are impossible. More long term aggravation. However, she recommend Hwange Motors, and Mike there takes one look at the problem, identifies it as "easy, no problem", and within an hour, we are back on the road. I told him about the spluttering, and he recommends changing the fuel filter - it seems to work! All (known) problems have been fixed for $C30.00, and we head off, with a full tank, to Sinamatella camp. By no rights should we be here right now, but it seems that we are having (another), lucky break with the cruiser. Let us pray! The road here is dreadful, and goes on forever. It's only 80Km, but feels much longer. This camp is wonderful. It's located on top of a 75 metre high ridge, so the view from everywhere, cabins, restaurant etc, is of Africa, stretching off into the far haze. Directly in front of us, is a plain, and we are told of all the animals that feed there, and the lions which feast off of them on an almost daily basis - not yet today though. We take the 4 bed cottage again There are three other groups here, one Zim based showing some Scot folks around, two Brits out for a fast 2 week trip around SA & Zim, another couple and us. We have a few drinks, shandy's are great for this weather, and head off to the dams which have been recommended by the Zim folk. There are about 40 cabins and huge camping areas here - at 10% occupancy, we ask how long can this last? On our evening game run, guess what? more large herds of buffalo. We get lost, but backtrack and get back before curfew. The food here is probably as good as main camp, but is even cheaper than main camp. It is so sad that so few people are here - this must translate into massive lay offs of the staff. No commercial venture can survive for long like this. Our house attendant is very nice- once again, very friendly, helpful and aware. These are not characteristics I found anywhere in Africans 20 years ago - this is remarkable considering the dire state of education here. - As ever, we are extremely impressed by the people here. We have our final beer of the night with the other residents. As the day ends, I think of how badly the day started, and how incredibly well it finished. Praise the Lord and our trip continues! Distance travelled this entry: 750 Km. Distance moved on trip this entry: 400 Km |
Wow! What a place, what a park, what a shame!
October 16th, and we head out for Hwange - a 50's type of coal mining town that still supplies the local power station with cheap
dirty coal. A quick stop at "
At Hwange town, there is lots of diesel, and the 
We have brought very little food, and that seems to be a good decision. The restaurant has quite edible food, good friendly service,
and is extremely cheap too. The evening game drive takes us to a look out platform. Sable (a first), huge 
