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November 28, 2018 / 8 Comments

Mucheni Gorge, Chizarira…

I spent a night at Mucheni Gorge, in Chizarira National Park.

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The drive up the escarpment is fairly painless and affords several “photo opportunities.”

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If I’d been a few weeks earlier, I’d have got some photos of Msasa!!!

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Over millennia, the Mucheni river has cut into the sandstone, creating these amazing features. I loved the view of “Vast Africa” at Mucheni Gorge.

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Perched right on the edge of the gorge, Mucheni is totally without the intrusion of humans! I didn’t hear a dog, a cockerel, or an aeroplane! Most of all, I didn’t see or hear a human! Now THAT is an experience worth paying for!

I wrote this story shortly after we stayed at Chizarira a few years ago: Embarrassed Please click on the link to read it.

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There are no facilities at Mucheni Gorge camping site (in fact, I found the thatched shelter too developed for my taste.) Visitors must bring their own water, food, camping equipment etc, although there is a loo of sorts.

I woke up at three in the morning and tried to take some photos of the magnificent sky, but totally stuffed it up – and I wont post my feeble effort! It was worth the view though!

I left early in the morning on my way to Mana Pools but before I did, I took this photo:

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I realise its ‘gimmicky’ but hey, its Africa, and I was on holiday!

Please click here, to find Mucheni Gorge Campsite on google maps

November 27, 2018 / Leave a Comment

Tree in Chizarira National Park…

I took a photo of this tree (mid-day) on my way to Mucheni Gorge in Chizarira National Park.

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And then again, on the way out:

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The escarpment (the blue hills behind this tree) at Chizarira National Park overlooks the Zambezi Valley – Mucheni gorge camp, perched right on the edge.

Somewhere, right down there, is the tree! (Im glad I had a vehicle to get me up this escarpment!)

Please click here if you wish to see where Mucheni Gorge and Chizarira is: Chizarira National Park

November 25, 2018 / 3 Comments

Kariba Kapenta

Although I find the kapenta rigs noisy, they make good subjects for foregrounds:

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This is sun-set at Maabwe Bay, on the Zambezi, the sun still out of the photo, although the lovely copper colour has already spread across the water

Kapenta, which look like little sardines, are attracted to light. So the Kapenta rigs go out at night and shine a strong light down into the water and then collect the tiny fish with a net. So ALL night, the generator’s diesel engines belt away, to run the lights.

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The net and the rig that pull the fish out of the water, is at the back, hanging over the water.

The fish are sun dried, salted and packed for sale far from Kariba. I find I have to soak them overnight and then drain off the salty water before I use them. Rather than bore you with details, I’ll add this link: Kapenta at Wikipedia

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I think the rings on this boat are stuffed – it stuttered its way slooowwwly across the bay!

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The workshops and packing sheds are directly behind the jetty in this shot. Taken in the morning, I love the shine off the water and the busy people working.

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All these photos are taken at Maabwe Bay on the Zambezi. Click here to find Maabwe on Google Maps

November 23, 2018 / 1 Comment

Camp Maabwe, Sebungwe…

Not long ago, I posted photos of a hot-spring in the Binga area and immediately received a message from the owner of Camp Maabwe, on the Zambezi. She told me to “pull in” next time I was up that way.

For the benefit of non-Zimbabweans, “pull in” means, pitch up, come any old time, no need to make arrangements – you will be made welcome.

So when I decided to drive from Bulawayo to Mana Pools, via Chizarira and Kariba, I thought to do precisely that, and in true Zimboe style, I was welcomed with open arms and taken all around the Sebungwe mouth area.

If you want to see exactly where Camp Maabwe is, please click on this link here

I arrived in time for sunset photos

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I was told that it was safe to go near the water’s edge as crocs and hippo don’t like to crawl/walk over rocks… Since I’m here to tell the tale, it appears to be true. (I have a VERY healthy respect for hippos and crocs.)

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This ‘beach’ (above) is very close to the camping site at Maabwe.

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The facilities at Maabwe are very discrete; blend in with nature. I felt like I really was ‘on the edge’ of Kariba, in the Zambezi valley of old.

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Don’tcha just love the shower? And it WORKS – like everything in Camp Maabwe!

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All the photos in the above slideshow are taken in the campsite.

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I sat under this viewing platform watching the sun come up. There is a bird bath, (in the second pic) cleverly positioned. Birds visited it while I sat watching, perfectly still and had a full out bath.

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This is the sunrise – taken at Camp Maabwe.

There is a second camp-site, more suitable for larger groups – over-landers and such.

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The photo below is the campsite from the water:

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If you are looking for the Zambezi Valley of yesteryear, before green lawns and air-con, then Camp Maabwe is for you! I highly recommend a stop over here on any 4X4 adventure along the Zambezi.

Camp Maabwe are on FaceBook here

November 21, 2018 / 15 Comments

African Road-trip…

I recently drove to Mana Pools via Kariba! Generally, our main roads in Zimbabwe are good; wide tar with few potholes. Once off them, its just pot-luck!
Leaving Bulawayo, we drove behind this poor chap, perched right on top of the bus. I’ve seen many things up there, including household furniture, maize bags, scotch-carts and once, a donkey.
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Taken through the windscreen, this photo (above) is the approach to Maabwe fishing camp. It was taken through the windscreen because outside, the temperature was about 40 degrees C!!!
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I didn’t recognise the road in the above photo, because the last time we drove on it, we could hardly make out where exactly the road was! I certainly couldn’t bomb along at the speed I did this time.
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Still in the Zambezi Valley, this is the road to Chizarira. The going was slow and the tsetse flies murder, if I opened the window. I spent the night up there, on the escarpment.

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This slide-show displays photos I took while on the long drive to Kariba.
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Coming off the escarpment into the Zambezi valley again, I could feel the heat each time I opened the window.
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There is something about technology – the scar on the African landscape. These are the power-lines that carry electricity from Kariba hydro-electric power station and the maintenance road that runs along it.

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And yet on the way to Mana Pools the road builders just couldn’t bear to cut the baobab trees down – instead the road goes around them…

November 18, 2018 / Leave a Comment

Chalet 16, Milibizi

Milibizi resort began life as a fishing camp – with very rudimentary facilities. Back in the day, groups of men would “getaway” in those awesome old cars, drive up the Victoria Falls strip road for 180 miles, and then onto a dust road, for another 50 odd miles. It’s amazing what an effort people will go to, to spend the entire day in the blazing heat on the Zambezi!

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Today it’s an oasis of green, with two swimming pools, lush lawns and tall trees. You can find exactly where in the world Milibizi is by clicking on a link here to google maps.

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One can hire these (very stable) pontoon type boats – that hippo cannot over-turn! I have a healthy respect for hippo, notorious for flipping smaller boats. I would hate to lose my camera in an argument with a hippo!
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This sign, below is not just for show – I saw fearsome sized crocs here. Ugh – I could think of better ways of leaving this world!
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We caught a lift with a boatman baiting a spot for bream…
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And, came across a couple of men we knew (middle-aged Bulawayo business owners,) anchored in the middle of the current, fishing for tiger. Neither wore shirts and only one of them, a hat. They kept the fearsome Zambezi heat at bay, by drinking ice cold ‘Zambezi beer.’ These light skinned progeny of British settlers, (who came to Africa more than a century ago,) sat there all day, trailing bait in the fast moving water. When they eventually rollicked up the hill to their chalet, the red sunburnt stripes on their tummies reminded me strongly of pregnant red and white zebra.
They repeated this activity the following day and the next; then got in their car and went home, content at the “break” from their busy worlds!
No accounting for taste!
Before air-conditioners and fully equipped kitchens invaded this masculine retreat, a tea-room provided food and drinks (although, probably not tea) for fishermen. As chalets were ‘improved/upgraded’ this tea-room was used less and less and was, eventually, converted to a chalet too. Chalet 16 can sleep 3 couples in the air-conditioned rooms, and up to 18 if necessary (on the veranda under mozzie nets.) P1330371

AND – thank heaven for the modern air-conditioning, cos it is jolly hot at Milibizi! The brand new units in all three rooms, new fridges and freezers in the kitchen, make Chalet 16 extremely comfortable when the fishermen are out on the water!

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The Sunset Deck is an excellent spot for watching the sun go down:

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Most of the chalets at Milibizi Resort are privately owned:

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Milibizi sunsets have to be experienced…

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And the sunrises are equally worth getting up early for:

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Breakfast anyone?
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I leave you with this photo – out on the boat, the water like glass:
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Chalet 16 has a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mlibiziresort/

November 17, 2018 / Leave a Comment

Dete Cross Roads…

About three hours from Bulawayo, heading towards the Victoria Falls, is the Dete Cross Roads – just a filling station really, and as can be seen in the photo, informal veggie sellers, people waiting for transport, mini-busses and scotch-carts. It’s a pretty dangerous section of road, with people wandering all about, cattle and on occasion, elephants! I always drive VERY carefully past the cross-roads.
We managed to get diesel there (it’s been in short supply here in Zimbabwe in recent times…) and headed north-west, off the main road towards Milibizi, where I’d been invited to stay in order to take photos.
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Its hot and dry here, now in Zimbabwe as we wait for the rains and I love the bright clothes and sense of community in this photograph, so classic of Zimbabwe. The three drums are an ugly reminder of a time we would all like to forget, when the police sat on our roads like vultures, using any method to extort money from innocent travellers.
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I’ve added a screenshot of Zimbabwe, to give some idea of where Milibizi is, in relation to Bulawayo

November 13, 2018 / 12 Comments

Man's best friend….

Lizzy, my German Shepard Dog, accompanied me on my recent trip to the Zimbabwe Eastern Highlands.

This photo was taken while we impatiently waited for the sun to go down at World’s View, Nyanga.
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What a poser!
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I could never get decent pics of Lizzy – she is always running about – until I thought of getting her to “sit” and “stay.”
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The last photo is taken at George’s Place in the Vumba…

November 12, 2018 / 2 Comments

Strangler fig…

A strangler fig of some kind, growing in the centre of a msasa tree, at Georges Place in the Vumba.
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Growing in the centre bowl of the tree, it sends it roots to the ground.

One day, it may look like this one, at Milibizi Hotel!
Or this one that I could quite literally not fit into the camera frame:

Taken at Froggy Farm, in Juliasdale

I took the last photo near Hwange – a fig strangling a Mopane tree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangler_fig

November 11, 2018 / 4 Comments

Standing alone…

Of the many hundreds of photos I took in the Zimbabwe Eastern Highlands, this is my favourite.
Initially a reject, this one below, grew on me! Taken very early in the morning at George’s Place in the Vumba.
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Taken in the Nyanga National Park, hanging off the edge, this little guy caught my eye.
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This tree (below) stands alone at the edge of a cliff, in the Matopos at Rhodes’ Grave, over-looking a boulder strewn valley.
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An old friend, below. (I visit this tree each time I climb World’s View in the Matopos.)
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It’s a tough life, here in Zimbabwe!
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This photo above, is taken in Nyanga – a view of Nyangane with a lone, struggling bush in the foreground!
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Overlooking Mozambique, I found these trees keeping vigil…
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