Day 312 / 77

Date: 18 February 2023
Sleeping location: The Farmhouse, Chimanimani, Zimbabwe
Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 19087 / 4250
Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 0 / 166400 / 48400

River crossings: 6 (two wading, two scrambling, two swimming)
Day in three words: Whole lotta action

The day before a huge (and I mean HUGE) truck had appeared at the Farmhouse so after breakfast we went to check it out. It was an enormous ex military truck being driven around Africa by a German family; Alex, his wife whose name I forgot, and three young kids who did not introduce themselves. The thing was massive, too big even for shipping container, and had a ridiculously luxurious interior. They had converted it and fitted it themselves and it must have cost an absolute fortune. This is a very different way of overlanding to mine.

 

Sarah planned to leave at lunchtime but decided to come with me to another waterfall, Tessa's Pools, which as great for me as it meant I could get a lift on the back of her bike. We “zoomed”* towards the mountains down the road, which slowly deteriorated into gravel before we took a dirt turnoff. The huge quartzite** cliffs of Chimanimani NP loomed as we get nearer. The road then dropped down to an unexpected obstacle: a river crossing, shallow but fast flowing and maybe 50m wide. Sarah had never done a river crossing on-bike so I went over on foot to spare her the extra weight (and act as unofficial cameraman). I had to be careful as the river bed was made of unstable stones and the rushing water was almost up to my knees, but Sarah got across (wo)manfully, albeit with a couple of pauses and some very wet boots. The climb away from the river was very steep and loose and round a banked corner Sarah, unused to a 90kg sack of potatoes on the back of her bike, misjudged the weight distribution and we both tumbled off sideways, but with no ill effects. After a bit more dirt there was a second ford to navigate, but much shallower and narrower; Sarah zoomed across like a pro, and I realised could scramble/leap across some big rocks without even getting wet, which was extremely fun. 

We parked up at a sort of Zimbabwean youth hostel, where local kids come to do those “outdoor adventure” weeks that we have in the UK, and headed down to the nearby falls. These were again very impressive, two great torrents rushing over a cliff into a big plunge pool, although the water was suspiciously brown (I think from running through peat on the way down). It was still extremely nice to swim around in, not to mention fun as there were loads of rocks to jump off and scramble over, plus a rope swing that Sarah got up onto in a gymnastic fashion, garnering applause from an older couple who were also visiting the falls.

 

Back at the bike it was now 1.30 and Sarah decided last minute to stay another night and hike around the NP with me. This was excellent news as it meant I got a lift back to town instead of having to walk and attempt to hitchhike. The hostel made us a cheese sandwich and tea and it was just like being back in the UK. The dirt road up to the NP gate was in awful condition, with lots of those skiddy mud sections that had done for me on the Zomba Plateau. This was difficult for Sarah with my weight on the back and she dropped the bike twice, so I ended up walking some of the gnarlier sections. 

 

At the NP gate we paid our entry fee of $10 but then also had to pay a $5 fee for a ranger to come with us. This was, illogically and annoyingly, per person rather than per ranger and seems mainly to be a money making scheme. The initial climb was up a steep slope through trees and over big rocks, and once we’d ascended a bit the views back down into valleys were superb. Out the top of the trees our ranger suggested/demanded we stop for a rest on a small rock plateau as he had been struggling to keep up with us. Thankfully the views were even better here, with steep cliffs either side of us and big rocks weathered into craggy shapes and pinnacles. Then the path went into thick vegetation (giving us flashbacks to the day before) and essentially became a stream bed. Our ranger continued to struggle and at the next rest stop (ie 1/4 of the way into our hike) gave up and said we could just go on without him. What is the money for then…

Up out of the vegetation we entered a landscape of vast rock shapes and towers, through a sort of gate in the cliffs. It was an amazing place and felt like something out of Lord of the Rings, but without our ranger there was now a risk of being attacked by orcs or a dragon***. We kept climbing steeply through and over the rocks until we were up above 1800m and the treeline, where we came out onto an area of vast open grassland with a few small stunted trees and more great stone cliffs in every direction. This really is a phenomenal place. It was a Saturday but we were the only people in the entire park - put this anywhere in England and there would have been thousands of day trippers. Up on the downs we messed around with Sarah’s panorama mode, trying to create pictures with multiple versions of me in them, then headed back down as it was getting late. By now white cloud was swirling across the view, making it even more fantastical, and there were some big thunderstorms and rain back down in the valleys. Of course, with my newly found powers of rain-dodging we stayed completely dry throughout.****

On the ride back Sarah had learned from her previous experience and kept the bike upright and rolling with ease, including across the big river crossing. I was the one who struggled this time, as the nearby rains had raised the water by a few cm and made it flow faster; I had to tread very carefully to avoid a costly fall. As Sarah had technically checked out from our accommodation in the morning her room was now occupied, but the hotel produced a mattress for her to sleep on my floor. We cooked a strange meal of some weird tasteless processed sausages called “Russians”, a good curry with squash, carrots and aubergine from the farm garden and a bottle of half decent red wine. One of my favourite days of the whole trip.   

*It felt that way but actually she was only doing 60kph for my benefit

**I looked up the mineral afterwards because I was interested, I don’t have a secret ability to guess the mineral composition of any mountain range

***Possibly untrue

****Sarah even cited this when decided to stay another day, saying that she would get wet if she headed off on her bike but would be nice and dry if she stayed with me. I think by this point we both half believed  in my powers. Back at the farm, about 15km away, it rained hard for much of the day.