Zimbabwe / Zambia / Malawi

5 October to 16 November 1985

Journal

Saturday 5^th October 1985

I was still working at Optimum Collieries near Hendrina, just south of Middelburg in the then Transvaal. However, I was temporarily assigned to the Head Office in Johannesburg, and so was staying with friends in Midrand, which was where I left from.

I drove quickly north entering Zimbabwe at Beit Bridge, and continuing up to Lake Kyle near Masvingo. Crossing into Zimbabwe was quite fun. As a rule, most (white) South Africans crossing were basically pretty rude to the Zimbabwean officials, and so the Zimbabweans responded with classic bureaucratic time-wasting. It didn't take long to work out what was going on, and as soon as a particularly obnoxious person reached the front of the queue, that counter was closed an another opened somewhere else. This further annoyed the person, who would then get very abusive, and most of the other whites would support him. In general it took about two hours for a white person to cross - while blacks got through in minutes. Since I was clearly enjoying myself watching this battle, I found that I got through in about 20 minutes!

Sunday 6^th October 1985

I spent the early morning bird-watching around the campsite on the edge of the dam (the water levels were very low), and then spent the rest of the day exploring the Great Zimbabwe Ruins.

Monday 7^th to Tuesday 8^th October 1985

After some early morning bird-watching, I left to return to Masvingo and then drive east towards Mutare and the Vumba Highlands. I camped at the Botanical Gardens for two nights. During the Tuesday I wandered around the garden and some of the nearby walks.

Wednesday 9^th to Friday 11^th October 1985

Leaving Vumba in the mid-morning, it only took a couple of hours to reach Nyanga. Here I spent three nights camping at one of the dams - which also had good trout fishing.

Saturday 12^th October 1985

I Left Nyanga quite early and drove to Harare, continuing west to reach Lake McIlwaine. Here I camped for one night - after spending the afternoon bird-watching.

Sunday 13^th October 1985

After a leisurely start (bird-watching again) I drove back to Harare and then started north to Chinhoyi, camping next to the caves, which I explored in the afternoon.

Monday 14^th to Wednesday 16^th October 1985

Leaving Chinhoyi early, I passed Makuti and stopped off at the Mana Pools permit office before continuing to Mana Pools itself. On arrival, I found myself a nice campsite right next to the river. Over the next two days I wandered around the area, seeing lots of birds and mammals. On the second night there was a terrible noise as a pride of lions chased a buffalo through the campsite - killing it about 15 metres from my campsite. I moved the next night (not because of the lions, simply the smell was unpleasant.

Thursday 17^th October 1985

After a morning bird-watching in Mana Pools I left to drive to the Zambian border. Crossed it OK, and continued to the Eureka campsite just south of Lusaka.

Friday 18^th to Tuesday 22^nd October 1985

Leaving at sunrise, it was a very long day's drive to reach Luangwa. The road condition was poor - although it was tar all the way. I just made it before sunset, and camped at the only public campsite just outside the park itself. On the way in I must have damaged the fuel tank somehow, as it was leaking. On the Saturday I returned to Chipata and had it fixed - although it took much longer than expected because after they removed the tank, they failed to get all the petrol out, and it exploded while they were welding! However, no major damage was done to it (or the welder), and it was back in OK in the afternoon. The next three days were spent driving around the park a bit, but spending a lot of time walking around the bush, as there was no restriction on doing this in this park (or Mana Pools).

One of the scariest moments on all my travels occurred one evening when I went to the bathroom. There was a young bull elephant that had been around the campsite for several weeks, which the rangers were keeping an eye on in case it caused trouble. I was unaware that after I had entered an American had come out, seen an elephant nearby, and shone their torch at it - which they absolutely hate. Since it was obviously blinded, it did nothing immediately, until I came out of the bathroom. Then, seeing my torch, it charged. Being on foot, it is not that easy to get away form an elephant, but there were some rocks and trees nearby, and I was able to get up into the rocks where I was safe for a while. However, the noise had alerted the rangers, and they came and fired shots in the air to scare it away from the campsite. However, the next morning, they had to shoot it, since it was still around the camp, and was liable to attack again. The moral of the story is not that elephants are dangerous, rather that other tourists are!

Wednesday 23^rd October 1985

After a morning spent in the reserve, I left for Malawi, and crossed the border without problem. I reached Lilongwe and stayed at the only campsite available - the local Golf Club.

Thursday 24^th to Friday 25^th October 1985

I left the Golf Club early, and drove south to the small Lengwe National Park, where I spent the rest of the afternoon and the whole of the next day bird- and mammal-watching.

Saturday 26^th to Sunday 27^th October 1985

Leaving Lengwe mid-morning, I drove north to reach the Zomba plateau very easily since the roads were all good tar. Here I camped for two nights, spending the days bird-watching and also trout fishing.

Monday 28^th October1985

Leaving Zomba in the morning, I drove east to Lake Chilwa before turning north to reach Monkey Bay on Lake Malawi by early afternoon. I spent some time swimming there.

Tuesday 29^th October 1985

Leaving Monkey Bay early in the morning I drove back to Lilongwe and tried to contact Bob Medland, the local birding expert - but he was away. I then drove north to camp at one of the forest lodges on the Viphya plateau.

Wednesday 30^th to Friday 1^st November 1985

Leaving the Viphya plateau mid-morning, I continued north to reach the Nyika plateau. Here I camped for three nights. The first day was spent wandering all over the plateau in the Landrover and by foot. On one of my walks through the bracken I encountered a Leopard just 5 metres away. The following day I spent in the forest next to the Zambian Rest-house. I also found time to fish for more trout.

Saturday 2^nd November 1985

Leaving around mid-morning I drove north, stopping of at the falls in the northern end of the park, and then continuing to the border with Zambia. I had no problems crossing here, and then travelled west to reach Mbala. I then drove down to Lake Tanzania, but there was just a fishing port at this location, so returned towards Mbala, and camped at the Lunzua Falls.

Sunday 3^rd to Monday 4^th November 1985

Returning to Mbala, it was necessary to travel south to Kasama before heading north-west to reach Ndole Bay on Lake Tanzania - there was no direct road from Mbala. I camped for two nights at this spot, and explored the surrounding areas for birds.

Tuesday 5^th November 1985

Leaving Ndole Bay early in the morning I drove south back to Kasama, and then continued south to Mpika. From there I travelled further south only managing to reach the Kundalila Falls by sunset. The road was terrible, with major potholes everywhere, so it was necessary to drive off the road in many places.

Wednesday 6^th to Thursday 7^th November 1985

I spent a couple of hours bird-watching around the falls before leaving, and heading back north to Kasanka National Park, where I camped for two nights. At Kasanka, I met David Lloyd, who had leased the park from the Government, and was still in the process of establishing the infrastructure. I had a most enjoyable time there, and over the next few years revisited the place several times as the infrastructure was built up.

Friday 8^th November 1985

Leaving Kasanka mid-morning, I drove back to Lusaka, camping at the Eureka campsite. This was another very poor road, and took most of the day to complete.

Saturday 9^th to Sunday 10^th November 1985

From Lusaka I headed south to Kafue before turning west along another poor tar road, reaching Lochinvar in the late afternoon. I camped near the old hotel for two nights. The following morning I met up with some of the honourary park rangers - Paddy and Margaret Bruce-Miller.

Monday 11^th November 1985

From Lochinvar I drove south-west to reach Livingstone late in the afternoon. I crossed over into Zimbabwe, and camped near the Victoria Falls.

Tuesday 12^th to Wednesday 13^th November 1985

After spending the early morning at the falls, I travelled south-east to reach Hwange National Park, where I camped for two days.

Thursday 14^th to Friday 15^th November 1985

I returned north to Victoria Falls and then headed west through the border to Chobe in Botswana, where I spent the rest of the first day and the whole of the second day bird-watching.

Saturday 16^th November 1985

Leaving Chobe early in the morning, I drove south on the main tar road to reach Parr's Halt border crossing and returned to Middelburg, arriving early in the evening.