We are now back home in Franschhoek after 9331km, a slightly shorter distance driven than we were expecting.
After we left Malawi we made fairly swift progress through Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana back into South Africa. We spent one night in Tete in Mozambique in a newly opened hotel by the Zambezi River. With the benefit of hindsight we wished we had planned to stay a couple of more nights because in spite of advice given in guide books there is quite a lot to see and explore in the area. Also the anticipated police road blocks and incessant hassle didn’t materialize. In fact we hardly saw a policeman.
We didn’t linger long in Zimbabwe either because of the fuel shortage and also the fact that the shops have dramatically increased their prices. We went into a supermarket for a loaf of bread and a packet of butter but as this was going to cost us US$20 we left empty handed. On the first night we found a camp site on a bird sanctuary outside Harare. We arrived just in time to see the owner Gary fly his birds. He had a collection of hawks, eagle and owls that flew. If you ever wondered how David Attenborough and the BBC managed to get the cameraman in just the right position and focused on just the right spot to film the fish eagle swooping down and plucking a fish from the water, we know!! Gary trained the fish eagle. He had owls and fish eagles featured in the BBC “Life of Birds” series.
On the way through we did manage to stop at the Zimbabwe National Railway Museum. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it the Rhodesia Railway Museum as most of the exhibits came from that era. It is run by a group of volunteers led by Gordon a slightly overweight gentleman born in Zimbabwe, complete with grey flannel trousers and braces, sitting in an early ticket hall surrounded by heaps of paperwork, books and archive material. One of the exhibits of particular interest to us was Cecil Rhodes private coach built for him in 1896 in the USA and at the time represented the height of luxury.
Inside Cecil Rhodes’ coach in the dining section. His coffin was carried on the table from Cape Town to Bulawayo in 1902 for his burial in the nearby Matapos Hills. Zimbabwe Railways have four working steam trains and two in the process of restoration.
Our last two nights of the trip were spent relaxing in this delightful two bedroom cottage in Prince Albert on the edge of the Karoo.