20th August

So this is where everyone is.I suppose it makes sense once you are across the border you can get everything you want , diesel for a start so you travel as far as you like and lots and lots of food.

Every 2nd car had a Zim no. plate , they were living the high life here. Mozambique is a cheap destination so it isn’t hard to figure out and its very close to Zim.

The infrastructure isn’t as good the roads generally suck (take a few spare tyres) .The pot holes are like black holes - they will completely engulf a car.But everything works here. The power is on and shops have food, cafes and restaurants are operational cell phone coverage is amazing ….

What a contrast , we drove through to Vilankoulas stayed in a great spot “Casa Rex” but headed off to Inhambane the following day as we were in need of a beach holiday to chill before coming back home….and we couldn’t get accomodation on Bazaruto as most of the lodges had been blown away in March…

18th August

August is school holidays and we were told by many that if we wanted to stay in Nyanga we would have to book as everything would be full….

On our way through to Nyanga we stopped at a place called halfway house as from the outside it looked like a cape farmstall so we couldn’t help ourselves …and to our surprise it was a farmstall abundant with fruit and a little restaurant serving toasted sandwiches !!! We ordered toasted cheese but they also had steak available - no where in zim so far had any meat been available we stocked up on apples and headed of for Nyanga.

Gail had said we should try and get into The Rupurara Inn for a few nights so we headed down the dirt road expecting it to be full, but we relieved to find 2 rooms available for us and what a great find. Really luxurious, amazing service, fantastic views from our room of the Rupurara rock (Rupert climbed it, completely exhausting himself and it took him 2 days to recover-see top pic) and beyond,and fully stocked restaurant.The hotel was really busy full of a group of cyclists with their families that had just completed a 500km cycle race !!

We went on walks , a game drive and the kids went horseriding I was feeling really relaxed and had time to read a book and loaf a bit.

The next day everyone left the lodge and we were the only people there, I started asking questions about how busy they had been in August and how they were coping with the shortages etc and it turns out that they would be closing the lodge once we had gone and would only open when they had reservations. The lodge was not busy and they were struggling. No one was travelling much in Zim as they didn’t have fuel to get around ,food was a problem so they were struggling to provide meals ,meat in particular. The conclusion I came to was that maybe people were not taking holidays then (oh but they were ! see next post) I felt completely gutted for them the hotel deserved to be busy, the staff were amazing so pleased to be be busy nothing was a problem for them …we left wondering if they would make it …

Onto the border crossing Mutare and into Mozambique…

17th August

Getting through the borders can be quite stressful, I don’t know what it is about officials at border posts but they don’t make things easy , but if you keep a smile on your face and are polite then you should be fine,and what is it about kids ….when you really need cooperation everything flies out the window with my kids for some reason they seemed to think this was a good time to negotiate there pocket money amounts,sweet allowance and TV time !! Was this a secret ploy to side track the officials ?????

Driving through to Harare to spend a night with Rupert’s aunt and uncle was easy enough we seemed to have managed on this entire trip with some really basic picnic stuff for lunches along the way (this is totally out of character for me as I dont do picnic lunches)- pro vita’s and cheese,salami and a few tomatoes-That fridge was really useful - good job Rupert doesnt drink beers really- it served us well as we stopped at picnic sites along the way for quick lunches Zimbabwe is well equipped with sites and the roads are really good.

Just in case you dont believe me….here Iam

It was so great to pull into a home for the night , and we felt very welcome.

There is absolutely nothing available in Zimbabwe at the moment. No diesel it hasn’t been available in some petrol stations for 9 months. No food in the shops except some odd bits and pieces like jam or tomato paste, you have to queue if and when bread is available…but somehow Chris and Gail laid on a really good spread for dinner,chicken that tasted better than anything we have at home,salad that had been grown in Gail’s garden truly organic and strawberries and ice cream…and a fry up for breakfast. Either they used up their entire supply of food or they have there own regular supplies from the black market.

There is lots of black market trading that goes on in zim as that is the only way to survive. Everyone is looking out for each other. Eggs are traded ,milk is sourced and diesel is plentiful. One source we spoke with had 9000 litres available to sell but you need to be in the network….it’s hard to get by, but a lot of people are and they are hanging in for things to change ??

However the most heartbreaking stuff is the how the Old age pensioners are not surviving ,the high inflation rates have made it impossible for them to be able to survive on their pensions. In fact I heard of a guy that has an income of 5c a month from his pension. These are people that have contributed their entire life to a pension fund that should have maintained their lifestyle in some sort of way. You can do something to help. There are associations and charities that are keeping these guys alive………R800 keeps a couple in food for a month, if you would like to help let me know and I will put you onto someone that is helping run a charity in Zim.

We leave feeling sad and depressed for the people of Zimbabwe…we have one final stop in Zim on our way through to Mozambique- Nyanga

16th August
Back from our 3 day canoe safari –

Glad to be alive really

I was feeling really anxious about the Hippos and Crocs, and having 2 children that do the opposite of everything I say I had a concern that they might be a little to young for this trip.

Well I was the only one that was completely terrified and living in a high state of anxiety. There were 2 other couples that joined us on this adventure Beate and Frank from Germany and Bekah and Hal from the USA,they all seemed so calm and took things in there stride… I think someone could probably write a comedy program called “The Bickersons” about the happenings on Rupert and Sarah’s canoe. I drove Rupert completely mad with my paranoia. Although he was an extremely competent oarsmen, when I saw a hippo I began to freak out and as we saw approx 200 maybe 300 hippos I did a lot of freaking out. In fact the crocs, which were the size of the canoe, were the least of my problem - the kids were in the same canoe as the guide - which was very sensible as my hysteria was then only contained to our canoe.

Floating down the Zambezi wasnt hard work at all, we stopped for lunch breaks along the way visited a village met where me met with the headmaster of the local school which seems to be mainly funded from the outside , there was lots of activity in the village, men making bricks, building homes, women collecting water from 2 fresh water sources which we used to fill up our water bottles…

The safari tour we were on set up camp ahead of us everyday , no luxury tents though just the basic equipment and grub - which really makes you realise that we dont need much in life.

Rupert thinks I would make a really good canoe guide as I spent most of the trip pointing out all the hidden dangers to our guide… and it didn’t stop there. As we were camping every night in ground tents, I also took on the role of night watchman. At one of our camps someone kindly shared the story of what happened the night before we arrived.

An elephant picked up a woman’s tent whilst she was sleeping in it (the elephant apparently wanted the oranges she had in the tent). She had the foresight to un zip the tent and jump out just before the elephant trampled the tent to death to get to the oranges and it all ended well.

Apparently elephants go mad for fruit. So don’t keep them in the tent and everything will be fine. I did sleep quite well as Evans, our guide, kept a light on next to the tents as elephants do not like lights ?.

Would I do it again? Probably not.
Tomorrow we are on our way to Zim and onto Harare

13th August

The Vic Falls are really impressive and well worth the visit. On the Zim side you are able to experience the full view and you can walk from one end to the next … You can understand why it is called the “smoke that thunders”. I saw a tourist doing a whistle stop tour along the falls. He was running along the path with his camera and guide, taking lots of pictures. We bumped into the tour going through the border into Zambia the next day and it turns out they had a 10 day trip into 3 countries - seeing all the sights from Kenya, Zambia to SA. No wonder the guy was running.
People were bungi jumping of the side off the bridge into the gorge ,completely insane ……..

Got across the border. In Livingstone you can buy anything you like. Most things are from SA and are really expensive, but I felt quite relieved when we were able to fill up with diesel and you could buy things in the shops. It felt like home as all the shops are the same …

Got the tyres fixed in Livingstone and we got on the road to Chirundu which was about 500kms. The roads are good. On our way to Kiambi, a tented safari camp on the Zambezi in Zambia, our trip takes us around the top of Kariba.

It is amazing how things work out sometimes,we were not really sure where the camp was and thought we would figure it out when we got to Chirundu and across the pont. But amazingly, when we got to a T- junction and made a turn and found we were behind the Kiambi minibus on the way to camp - felt quite relieved!

Across the pont 7kms awayfrom camp

12th August

Well as it turns out I didn’t spend the night in a tent, I spent it in the car!!!!! And it had a lot to do with the lions roaring out side our campsite.
We arrived at the most beautiful camp site called Jambile and it was in the middle of the bush next to a Pan we were surrounded by a low fence - I guess that was to keep the elephants out?

We got organised pretty quickly and set up camp (pop up tents are fab) and I got cooking the usual pasta and pesto but we have the real deal Parmesan (I keep it in the Landcruiser fridge it’s in the central console - I think it’s supposed to be used for beers). Then I heard the roar of the lion. Well, that was me finished. I decided to go to bed really early, folded down the seats in the cruiser and had a great space to sleep. Jules joined me and the boys slept in the wild…

We saw the most amazing game, Elephants bathing in the pan, loads of calves, Crocs, Hippos, Buffalo, Giraffe, Buck etc. It was just beautiful. We drove from one end of the park to the other, which is about 200kms.

I have never seen anything as spectacular as this before - it was really worth the trip.

Hit Hwange town on the way to Victoria falls at about 5pm and got 2 consecutive flat tyres. We were really lucky that it happened where it did, as we were on a tarred road and in a town. Not quite sure what would have happened if we had been in the game park.

The local guys were just phenomenal. A guy called Ernest, who worked in the local petrol station where they haven’t had any petrol for 9 months, went off into the location to find a some guys who own a garage that repairs tyres. They came out with their overalls on and repaired both tyres. Rupert repaid them with a stack of his old hardly worn clothes he brought on the trip especially for situations like this, and some money, and we were back on the road at 7pm.

5 hrs later pulling into the Vic Falls hotel I really felt a huge sense of relief. As I got into a hot bath I felt like one of those dusty old cowboys …getting into an old tin bath and soaking for hours.

10th August

(Kids at Cecil John Rhodes gravesite)

It’s amazing what happens when you just let things flow…Yesterday we arrived at the National parks office in Robert Mugabe - boulevard Bulawayo and booked Black Eagle lodge and started chatting to a guy who was booking a camp in Hwange and he suggested that after we had spent the night in The Matopos we should head up to Hwange and spend a couple of nights at a picnic site (another word for private camp site) so we booked a spot that is in the middle of the Game Park allegedly it has running water and a toilet !! And most importantly it is fenced in as the park has the big 5 !

Onto The Matopos and Black Eagle Lodge - we were the only people staying in the camp. There are 2 houses and quite a few chalets all clean and self contained. We have the most amazing view of a dam and it is quite magical out here. The kids are in 7th heaven climbing rocks and hiking through hills. Rhoda, the lady who cleans the houses, made the most amazing camp fire for us.

The plan today is to go to Hwange so I have got the picnic lunch ready. You have to be pretty organised as there is absolutely nothing to buy out here and this is a concept the kids cannot grasp!

Hugo decided that the takkies I had packed for him where not “hip enough” for our camping trip and he went about finding a new pair of shoes yesterday. This was when we were still in Bulawayo and he wasn’t prepared to believe me when I said there weren’t any. So he went about asking the locals where he could buy them and they sent him from pillar to post and wherever he went they didn’t have anything for him. He was completely devastated.

We are on our way to Hwange today …I haven’t slept in a tent before so this should be quite and experience …Feeling a little anxious.

I recently returned from an adventure into the wild with my family. I decided to document my journey (Just in case anyone else had any crazy ideas to do the same thing) I will share some of my experiences along the way.

I do not really consider myself an African girl; in fact I only really operate between 20 degrees C and 24 degrees C. This should you give you an insight into my feeling a little apprehensive when Rupert, my husband, suggested we drive from JHB to London….

The first trip to get an idea and flavour for traveling through Africa we compromised and decided on a trip to Zimbabwe,Zambia and Mozambique.

Everyone thinks we are completely mad to go to Zimbabwe but as my husband likes to take a contrary view; we chose not to listen.

There are 4 of us. Rupert my husband, Hugo our son (9) and Julia our daughter who is 8. One of the reasons we want to do this trip is to allow us all to spend time together, and I think it allows us to really ground ourselves and lets us appreciate the small things in life.

When we went off to Exclusive Books to look at a few travel guides on Zimbabwe and there weren’t any I began to think that the sceptics might be right…

So here we are, our 1st morning in Bulawayo. We got through Beitt Bridge really easily with no hassle at all. We left Joburg with basic camping equipment and enough food for 7 days and nights and enough fuel to get us to Vic Falls.

(Not looking good here-the hat bothers me a bit ! )

 Once across the border we had a great drive and the roads were lined with people selling oranges lots and lots of oranges…. we are still trying to work out were they got them from, as they were surrounded by desert and thorn bushes.

Having spent the night in the Holiday Inn in Bulawayo(Not good) we feel refreshed and ready to go, we get hold of some local currency and ate like kings for very little. You need a sack to carry the notes as you get $ 25000 zim for every South African Rand.

Our first stop wasn’t far from the hotel. We pulled into the Matabeleland Race course, it hasn’t been operational for a long time and is really run down, but there are a few little businesses operating from the racecourse. A plant nursery - the owner there lives in hope that the race course will open soon, they still stable horses here- beautiful looking specimens.

We stumbled across a great coffee shop in one of the old boxes called “The Coffee Shoppe” the owner Pete is a fountain of knowledge as he owns a few safari camps and seems to be a bit a tour guide so can recommend great places to stay and is also able to make a plan regarding fuel etc. “The Coffee Shoppe” serves everything you need…great muffins, cappuccinos, eggs, toasted sandwiches - the list is endless.So when you are up there my advice would be to give the breakfast at the holiday Inn a miss and get to the racecourse coffee shop for a big Zim fry up….

Peter recommended we go off to the National Parks office and book a camp at the Matopos Black Eagle lodge which is where we head to next.

Welcome to Savvy Kids Moms.