9: Mana Pools NP - Mukambi (Zimbabwe/Zambia)

Zambia Pictures Here:
Zimbabwe Pictures Here:

Week 9 Update:

Day 57:

I often find it amusing how, when you are in no hurry, or don’t need to be quick, the efficiency of the way things happen around you is increased by a million. When however you arte in a hurry to do things, or get somewhere, the universe will invariably through obstacles in your way. Day 57 was a non moving day. A housekeeping day if you will.

Alarm less we got woken up by nature in time to witness a magical sunrise over the Zambezi River. We got up, did the coffee thing and started our chores for the day. Chore one on the list was sorting out the messy car. Even though our system of existence in Magurudumu was designed in a way that everything had its place and there was no space for anything to be messy, we excelled ourselves once again and managed to get stuff in the wrong places. A gift we have, it seems.

My gift included gathering the strangest things in my door pocket. I had receipts from weeks gone by, wheel bearing seals (Yip, we now carry some), spare battery clamps and a spare shock absorber bush. It was bright yellow, couldn’t be missed and with the other spares went onto the top of roof box to be packed inside the spares box when I got to the roof. While I was sorting out… my door… Catt was in the tent sorting that out the bedroom. Everything was taken out, cleaned, fresh bedding put on the mattress and receipts and bits of paper was removed from the bulging inside pockets of the tent.

The last time we saw a washing machine was in Pretoria, so it was also to be laundry day. This involved cold water, laundry basin, “Boer seep” and “elbow grease”. The process opened the floodgates to memories of my military service when I had to wash my uniforms that way. My solution then was to have a “whip around” in the bungalow, buy a washing machine and use a deserted boiler room to do our washing during guard duty without the powers that be knowing a thing about it. This time it was not the solution, but then again, because of the warm weather, we had very little laundry to do and it was all done fairly swiftly.

Catt increased the fire size in the boiler by the power of three and after a well deserved lunch we had a fairly warm shower before the afternoon festivities started. We had stocked up on a wagon load of vegetables a few days earlier with the plan of cooking up a batch of vegetable curry and freezing it in comfortable portions. Yes… we have a freezer… For those who do not know this yet, we boast a 60l Engel combination fridge (40l), freezer (20l) and the freezer part is usually half full and under utilized.

Oh, and for those who do know me the “Curry” part will sound strange, so let me explain: I hated curry! Every time I mentioned this to a curry lover I would get the: “But it’s only because you have not tasted my curry…” spiel. Then I would reluctantly agree to taste that person’s curry and when asked how it was I would have to honestly say: “Terrible, I don’t like curry…” That would obviously upset the cook and you can imagine the rest. However… 7 weeks into our trip, my taste buds did something funny. I started trying new things and actually liking them. The first step was to eliminate milk and half the sugar in my coffee and I actually liked that. The next step was to try curry. Catt, expert bush cook that she is, offered to make a simple, easy and mild curry one night with some chicken and I really liked it! Which brings us to the cooking a batch of curry vegetables saga. Good thing that you can honestly say that you have never liked curry until your wife made it for you…

The afternoon melted into evening and before it knew it the day had been spent successfully achieving all we set out to do. The night was fairly quiet bar the roaring Lion across the river and one or two Hippo on some islands in the river.

Day 58:

It was a cloudy start to the day, but we did not care that much. We had noticed from our maps that the drivable part of the park was small and decided to drive a circular route, incorporating 11km of river frontage, the Mana mouth and some grassy plains. We were yet to find out what the Tsetse situation was on the drives. Just before leaving we started chatting to Mark and Taryn. They had been working in the UK for a while to save up some money for a 6 months trip around Southern Africa and we could share some ideas, knowledge and experiences with each other over coffee. Mark is an anaesthetist and Taryn a paediatrician and once their trip was completed they had a plan to return to the UK to financially recover. We decided to try and catch up with them there.

Our morning drive took us to Mana River mouth first and then through some forests of larger than life trees and many swamps and water pools underneath. The game was plenty and the sightings good. The highlight of the morning was an Elephant that had waded into a swampy area up to its throat to eat what we though might be called “Nile Cabbage” its lots of green stuff growing in ponds which reminds of cabbage, or lettuce.

The plains part of the drive was fascinating. The grass, about knee high was waiving in the breeze like giant crops of hay and although we did not see as much life, the sightings still did not disappoint. We saw a big herd of Buffalo in the bushes and many Hippos in the dams around the area. We were definitely in holiday mode, so got back to camp within two hours of starting our drive and camped out for the day.

Our specific site, no 20, was under a massive evergreen tree with deep shade and high branches. It was often occupied by Vervet Monkeys, but apart from the occasional naughtiness, they did not bother us. The newly repaired bright yellow slingshot (Kettie) ensured that.

Our afternoon drive took us the same route, but opposite way to the morning drive. We left by driving west along the river, and then turned south and east through the plains. The sightings were similar and the drive was pleasant. Although the dreaded Tsetse does exist, they were in small numbers and we were armed with a can of Doom. They did not really bother us at all.

Just as the sun was setting and we were less than a kilometre from camp, a young Elephant Bull who was grazing at the side of the road decided not to let us pass. He was fairly aggressive and persistent to the point of a small mock charge resulting in me slamming Magurudumu into reverse and retreating a few meters. This seemed to please him. We patiently waited for him to move on, which he did not do and every time I edged forward he would spin around at amazing speed and tell me off for trying to sneak past. Eventually after about a 20 minute cat and mouse game, he mock charged again and I did not retreat. His attitude changed instantly and he let us pass.

Don’t get me wrong here! You should never aggravate an elephant or approach it. You should always allow it to approach you so that it can decide where the boundaries are. I have had years of experience with Elephants from all over Southern Africa and have managed to learn the signs they make when they are uncomfortable. This guy was merely playing with us and when he was done, he moved far enough away to let us pass.

That evening in camp we saw something very bizarre and somewhat troubling. There was a herd of Impala around and early evening they started snorting and barking. We heard something run past the camp and turned the Phoenix light that way. (Phoenix light is a tactical LED torch with insane brightness voiding the necessity for a spotlight) What we saw was three Hyenas hunting the Impala. We had been used to the odd Hyena scavenging around camp sites, but to see them hunting while you are having dinner was a little different.

The rest of the night was littered with scared Impala, running Hyena and a variety of noises around the camp. We were very happy to be in a Roof Top Tent and not on the ground! I had recently heard someone prophetically stating that a false sense of security was better than no sense of security.

Day 59:

When opening my eyes for the first time in the morning I saw a pink glow against the trees by the river. It was sunrise and time for another stab at that game driving thing.

We left camp before 7am and headed the now familiar route east along the river. Right by the Mana Mouth cross road we spotted a Side Striped Jackal. A first sighting for both of us which always ads to the excitement. The drive through the trees with the plains game scattered around in the shade offered a realistic scale to the trees so often described as; Huge, or massive. They are just that!

We saw a Buffalo who had just finished wallowing in the mud, but the most exciting sighting of the morning was a bird. We found this Marabou Stork walking around inside a small pond stabbing the ground underneath the surface with its beak. It was taking long strides and seemed purposeful. After watching him for a few minutes we understood his mission. After one of the stabs he put his head under the water and when he resurfaced, he had caught a huge catfish. He carried the seemingly slippery critter to the back and managed to swallow the whole thing with one careful flick of the beak and twist of the neck. After that scrumptious meal he simply waded back into the pond and repeated the process. He seemed a happy Stork.

I had also started suspecting a new hole in the previously fixed exhaust, so back at camp I crawled under Maggie (By then short for Magurudumu) to inspect. I did indeed find a leak, but on the opposite side of the silencer than was fixed. It wasn’t new damage; I had obviously just neglected to inspect the thing properly after removing it. We had also managed to work out the boiler system in camp, so it was steaming hot showers for a change, which was nice.

The afternoon drive was planned, as usual, to do the circular rout5e starting westerly and spending most of the time with the sun behind us in, driving east. We were about 30 minutes into the drive when we saw a vehicle return to the road after obviously driving off road. When we drove past the spot slowly we spotted Wild Dogs. You are not allowed to drive off road in Mana Pools, but you are allowed to walk where you like. Ehm… I wasn’t going to walk up to a pack of Wild dogs, so we bent the rules slightly and drove 30 meters into the bush to have a better look.

Rodger and Pat De La Harpe had brought out a book on Wild Dogs in the Tuli Block before we left South Africa and on seeing these guys I though that Rodger would be very jealous indeed! It was a healthy pack of 17 dogs with the Alpha Female on the verge of having a litter. You could make out the pecking order simply by looking at them with the runt being the one with floppy ears and the inner circle the ones closest to Alpha. Alpha had very dark fir and very strong markings.

We spent more than an hour there. Other cars would come and go, obviously also driving off road. They would soon get bored and move on, but we knew what we were waiting for. Fifteen minutes before we had to start our drive back to camp we were rewarded. One dog got up, stretched, greeting another one and the ceremony spread like wild fire. Within thirty seconds the whole pack was awake and alert and started running through the bush. I anticipated this and returned to the road to follow them. The chase was on. We knew there were Impala in the area and I was hoping they would come across them. We found them again 10 minutes later, but they seemed to have stopped for no reason and continued the greeting rituals. When they moved again, we tried to follow, but lost them, and it was time to get back to camp for us. We felt lucky, privileged and honoured to have witnessed the daily lives of the endangered African Wild Dog that day, even if it was only for an hour or two.

The evening offered the same circus as before. The herd of Impala seemed to have grown during the day and the pack of Hyena was relentlessly hunting and chasing them. A hippo came to play, the monkeys went to bed early and the familiar roar of the Lower Zambezi Lion marked the end to a great day in Mana Pools.

Day 60:

The routine seemed to have set in by then. We woke up with the sun, left shortly after and started seeing the same familiar faces of the same familiar animals on the same route we drove. Clockwise in the morning, anti clockwise in the evening. We were spotting birds that were new and exciting to us and amongst these were the Trumpeter Hornbill and Western Snake Eagle.

By the time we had reached the return part of the river road we met a group in a Land Rover who saw the Wild Dogs with us the day before. They had stayed in a camp close to the sighting the night before and managed to find the dogs again just before dark. They told us that the pack did indeed manage to take an Impala. They did not see the action, only the aftermath, but still, nice to know they were operating in a healthy way.

On our way back to camp we spotted a big herd of Buffalo and just before the last junction we saw a pride of 9 Lions. They were some 50 meters of the road, doing what Lions do best… Sleep in the shade. It is still always exciting and rewarding to spot the king of beasts in the wild, so we stayed a while.

Back at camp it was “Hammock Heaven” time. We strung the hammocks up under the huge shady tree of camp no 20 and spent the bulk of the day reading, writing and just relaxing. It had been a good three days work of housekeeping and game viewing, so we felt we deserved a little R&R. We managed piping hot showers, a scrumptious lunch and a little snooze before the afternoon drive, our last game drive before moving on.

The drive itself was pleasant, yet uneventful. We drove the usual roads. The Lion had moved on, the Wild dog was nowhere to be found, the Elephant and Buffalo were plenty, the birds impressive and the plains game littered around. It was fantastic to feel accustomed to such a fabulous environment. The one exciting thing we saw was a Hippo… Well, actually, the nostrils and eyes of a Hippo submerged in a pond covered by some leave or plant. You had to sit really still to see the appearance of ripples on the surface followed by two huge nostrils and then two eyes every 6 minutes or so. It was great!

I heard a rattle, or knock coming from a front wheel and decided to investigate. I saw that a bush was missing from the top of the shock absorber. DAMN!!!! It was the second one of the trip and the Ironman Suspension had less than 50 000 km on it. I found this a little disappointing, but revelled in the fact that I actually had a spare bush to replace it with. I asked Catt to find the right spanner size and searched my door pocket for the part. It was not there. I remembered cleaning day and opened the Roof Box to find it… it was not there. We decided to drive back to camp and sort it there.

Back at camp I started racking my brain for a possible explanation while searching the whole car for the bright yellow little rubber sucker and then it hit me!

There had been a commercial on South African TV for Savannah Cider: Man sitting at bar sipping on cider. Barman playing Banjo in the background with man seemingly unimpressed. As Banjo reaches climax, Barman closes his eyes, man goes for a hand full of peanuts and the Barman’s Monkey steals the Savannah. Man says to Barman: Hey… Do you know your Monkey stole my Savannah? Barman replies: Ehm… No… But if you hum it, I’ll play it…

So…. A monkey stole my shock absorber bush of the roof box two days earlier, but I can’t hum it.

I decided to try and manufacture a bush from what we had, but did not count on the fact that it was seemingly impossible to undo the nut holding the shock in place. The Haynes manual had some tips, but not even that worked. I tried soaking it in Q20 (WD40), but that had no effect, so I had to give up. Our list of car problems soared to three: Windscreen, exhaust and shock absorber bush. It was time to find a mechanic!

Day 61:

We left Mana Pools early and headed for the border. The access road was hard to drive as it had also been damaged badly by the rains. In parts the surface was rough and rocky and I cringed to think what the poor stuck shock absorber had to go through. The upside was that the main bush below the mounting point was perfect, so the thing was still doing its job well.

After filling up with fuel at Chirundu we entered the “one stop” border post. It is a huge complex which you simply drive past, cross the Zambezi River and walk into a small building on the other side. There were no cues, plenty of staff and we were confident in having a quick, easy and uneventful border crossing. Yeh Right!

Zimbabwe Immigration was simple. The customs man asked us to get our TIP (Temporary Import Permit) stamped by Interpol and then we could be on our way. Interpol asked for our Police Clearance Certificate which we did not have, nor knew we needed it. On the lack of that piece of paper Mr Interpol requested to inspect our vehicle. I saw trouble. He enlisted the help of Mr Boss who started by requesting all the paperwork we had. He then asked for a cloth to wipe the dirt of the car so he could look at the engine no. I even offered the Phoenix Light to see the number better.

It was not there. The place where it would be was untampered with, but blank. No number, no explanation, just nothing. Something I probably should have checked before leaving South Africa. Only I was the third owner of the vehicle, it was on Toyota’s system and it had been out of the country a few times. The non existence of an Engine no was not something I could have imagined in my wildest dreams! Anyway, there we were.

Mr Interpol started heading the way I knew he would and I was adamant not wanting to pay a bribe. We walked back to the office and “discussed” our predicament, but I never offered a solution and always asked one, having the cell phone’s video camera on. We got sent to the Vehicle Identification Department on the other side of the river as a possible solution. There was a friendly man who informed me that it was his job to find engine numbers, but it cost $20. We agreed that he would refund the $20 if unsuccessful before initiating operation engine number. An hour later we were back in front of Mr Interpol and Mr. Boss still with no number, but no poorer. We had started the negotiation process of price and I hated it! Our only other option was to try another border post, or try to return to South Africa which may have not been possible. The end result was that I leaned over the “Anti Corruption” banner to hand over the $20 I did not pay the VID guy. Our papers were stamped and we left Zimbabwe with a foul taste in our mouths.

Zambia’s formalities, on the opposite side of the hall were simple and easy. Immigration took all of 10 seconds. Their Mr. Interpol saw we were intending to start using our Carnet and was uninterested in us. Our Carnet was filled in and stamped and I had to go outside to change some money to pay the Carbon Tax of about $45. We were showed to the next building to buy some required 3rd Party Insurance. The friendly Linda with headphones in her ears answered yes to our question of COMESA insurance and 15 minutes later we left with Zambian and COMESA insurance valid for 12 months. Total cost was $168. Bargain!

Leaving the border post was easy and simple. It seemed that the appearance of a carnet made things simpler and faster. We were in Zambia within three hours of arriving at the crooked Zimbabwe Interpol desk.

We took the main road towards Lusaka and turned east on the aptly names Great East road and reached the town of Mazabuka in the afternoon. I enquired about shock absorber bushes at a couple of places and the consensus were that they sell with a shock, not by themselves. This did not instil any more confidence in Ironman and I immediately decided to write them a letter to give some feedback on their product. Even the man in the workshop could not undo the holding nut at the top of the shock, but we did manage to score an array of bushes out of his “used” pile which were free.

Giving up on the car problem solving for the day we continued our journey east to the Moorings Campsite. We were greeted by Phillip, the manager who was friendly, courteous and a great addition to an already idyllic place with green lawns to camp on, a bar with the coldest beer I had felt in years and hot showers to complete the picture. It was like a little utopia in Zambia and we were very happy to have chosen it for our stop over.

Day 62:

We woke up in a thick mist at the Moorings and decided to leave early and try and reach our destination early. We bumped into Jonathan Taylor and a few friends at the kitchen area. Jonathan is a researcher from Potchefstroom University and has something to do with things that grow in swamps and rivers. I had met him only once before when he collected a solar panel from me in Pretoria which was part of a Land Cruiser Club of Southern Africa deal. The world really is small and even knowing that, I was still mildly impressed to randomly see someone I knew in an unlikely place.

Next stop was a welding shop in the closest town of Monze. We were directed to a few places, and eventually found a man who could help. He tried to explain that he would take the exhaust of, take it to the welder, have it mended and put it back. When I asked him why I could not drive it to the welder, he had all kinds of excuses ranging from a spanner problem to a skill with a spanner problem. I knew he simply wanted to get the work and charge for it and after telling him to be honest with me he admitted as much. We always try and spread the wealth in the community so I agreed to his way of doing it. Before he started I asked for a price. He told me that he had to see the damage clearly before making one. When the pipe had been removed I enquired again and was met with a: “I have to see how much the welding cost is first...”

I know you can see where this is going and in hindsight, I should have been more suspicious and less trusting, but I honestly didn’t think I was dealing with an utter crook! When the exhaust was fixed and fitted back to car he wanted to charge me ZK 200 000. That’s about $45. I laughed at him and started the negotiation, but he was adamant and I eventually paid him ZK 170 000. Feeling terribly ripped off we left Monze and headed north. The exhaust was fixed, we had managed to get our hands on chicken for the first time in a month and we were excited about getting to the edge of the Kafue National Park that afternoon.

The initial dirt road was shockingly bad but an hour and a half of very tiring driving brought us to a nice tar surface taking us further north to town of Namwala… where the road disappeared. The maps and GPS agreed that we should follow the river west to get to a pontoon crossing and then follow the road on the other side to a place called Itechi Techi where we would stay for the night. There was even a road sign directing us to the place. We went off road and followed what seemed to have once been the route until we got to a place where it was completely washed away. We asked some locals about the way and they simply looked at us funny and shook their heads. After deciding to turn around we saw a vehicle approaching from the front and decided to get some fresh information from them.

It was a Malaria Research vehicle who had just driven that way to pick up a patient and they told us that the pontoon was indeed there, and operational. Just as I was getting excited they added: “But you will not be able to get to the pontoon and the road on the other side of the river is impassable right now…” Nice I thought! We followed them back to town and found another road on another map leading directly west from there. We followed that, in 4x4 and through thick sand and by the 10th time we discussed how it seemed to be getting smaller and smaller and it had not seen any traffic in many months, we arrived at the river, completely blocking our way once again. There were tracks around, but we were not on any road known to maps or GPS’s, so we headed back to town again to find some help.

Help came at the Police Station. An insanely smartly dressed police inspector made some phone calls and told us that someone had driven that way in the previous week. Some other people joined in the conversation that all seemed to think it was not possible to drive that way. It was check mate and we made the decision to head back towards Moorings and drive the 300km detour through Lusaka to reach Kafue… One taxi driver came along and offered to show us the way, insisting that he had driven all the way to Itechi Techi three days before. We briefly considered it, but no one could tell us the road conditions north of that, so we decided not to take him up on his kind offer.

On the drive back to the Moorings I was thinking about how kind a place the small village was with everyone willing to help and trying to help, not asking anything in return. It made the morning’s rip off a little less painful.

We arrived back at the Moorings at 16:00, tired and frustrated but the great atmosphere and cheap prices soothed our moods and we had a happy evening in a nice place at a very reasonable cost of about $10 for the 2 of us.

Day 63:

The early morning was misty and cold again, but we were excited about the day. We had been trying to reach Mukambi Lodge just outside of the Kafue Park for that evening and knowing the road conditions, and total distance we were confident that we could reach it easily by mid afternoon. We doubled back on the Great East Road stopping for some groceries along the way.

Phillip from the Moorings had told us that Shoprite is often cheaper than the local markets and confirmed that we were charged about three times more for the exhaust job than going rate. He also asked why we did not tell him about the exhaust as they have a workshop there and they would have sorted it at no charge… So you learn!

We joined the Great North road before long and a short stop for what can only be described as a heap of charcoal completed out necessary purchases for the next week or so. We passed through Lusaka just before mid day. It was slightly less manic than I had expected and although traffic was moving very slow in places, it was at least moving. Once we cleared the city it was plain sailing to Mukambi. The road conditions were very good and we made great time reaching reception before 14:30.

Mukambi is managed by Jacques and Linda. They are both originally from South Africa, but have been managing lodges in Mozambique and Zambia for more than a decade. About six months before I helped them out with some information and the buying of some camera equipment. We had been sharing information about travelling and destinations for longer before that and although this was to be the first time we would meat, it already felt like we were old friends.

The lodge itself is stunningly peaceful and beautiful! Jacques came from his office to great us and welcomed us with a much needed drink. We showed us a permanent safari tent in their camp site and offered it to us for a few days, which we gladly accepted! He also invited us to dinner at the Lodge which was a great treat for two people who had been travelling for 9 weeks!

The afternoon was spent housekeeping a little. Our trusty freezer was in desperate need of a de icing and we needed a general organising and packing of our purchases from earlier in the day. As the sun was setting we had a shower in their Boutique Hotel quality ablutions before strolling over to the lodge. We were joined by their Plains Camp manager who told us stories of swimming a couple of hundred meters to reach their plains camp a few days earlier. That put a stop to all ideas of trying to reach the plains on our visit…

Jacques joined us at dinner and when we told him about our adventure to reach them he confirmed that the route from the south would have been a challenging and possibly impassable one. That, combined with the Gammon steak, fine red wine and friendly faces made us relaxed and happy! Linda arrived late after a day’s shopping in Lusaka and she was followed by Simba, the ¾ African Wildcat feline queen. We retired to our canvas palace, walked to our door by a night guard and a flashlight, Simba short on our heels and fell instantly asleep once our heads hit the comfortable pillows.

If I had to do it over again:

I would not have put a bright yellow piece of rubber on the top of the car where Monkeys were around and stealing stuff! Not that it would have made a diffidence as we have still not been able to free that holding nut on that shock absorber.

I would have checked to make sure we had an engine number before leaving South Africa, or perhaps even, cleverer, checked the engine number situation when I bought the car!

We did try to get hold of Mukambi by phone to find out which route was the way to go. They do not have a phone, and we did not have internet access at all, so there was nothing about that we could have really changed. I now know what people mean when they tell you that Zambia is difficult to travel in the wet season. Just because your map has a road, does not mean that it will be there for you to find and just because your map does not indicate a road does not mean that there will not be one. Had we more time to spare I would have been keen on the adventurous drive from the South of Kafue to the north.

I should have asked Phillip at the Moorings for help with the exhaust. I suspected that they may have a workshop, but did not want to inconvenience them. I now realize that in a place like Zambia, it almost goes without saying that people want to help you if they can. I have learnt not to accept any work before a fee has been established. I should have known that before.