TravelNews: Gonarezhou: A Paradise beckoning tourists

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by Rosie MitchellI am renewed, refreshed, invigorated and energised!  I can even face the onslaught of a new, demanding year. I recently returned from six nights camping, waking up daily to a magnificent view of the dramatic Chilojo cliffs, in Gonarezhou National Park.  

Grand old men, bull elephants long in the tusk but with life left in them yet, visited daily, posing obligingly beneath the famous cliffs, nonchalantly sucking water, far off across the massive swathe of sand that constitutes most of the Runde River below the cliffs. One of park’s exclusive sites, the camp at Chilojo has to enjoy one of the most outstanding vistas among the myriad lovely places to pitch a tent across our country.

 

My first visit in nearly a decade to this wild, rugged terrain left me itching to return much sooner. Our expectation of the usual sparse, skittish wildlife, in a park that has suffered endless incursions by the hungry, throughout the Mozambique conflict, and indeed, before and since, proved unfounded. I’ve always loved Gonarezhou for its sheer wildness, vastness and spectacular scenery, and the edgy, occasional game spotted has been a bonus. This trip, however, shifted all our expectations. The place was positively teeming with animals!

A hastily scrawled list on our way home revealed an amazing 29 species of animal! As for the birds, we actually lost count, and at times failed to identify those less familiar, but it’s certainly a bird-lovers paradise, with over 400 species to be found.

We chose the route through Chivhu, Gutu, Zaka and Chiredzi, and could only marvel at the beauty, the dramatic whalebacks and mountains and rivers and vleis and undulating plains palpably demonstrating in just how lovely a country we have the good fortune to live. Everywhere we went was richly lush and green, and the endless tightly packed carpets of indigenous forest and woodland well belied the gnashings and moanings of those who would have us believe our environment has been ruined beyond redemption. Far from it. We were hugely encouraged by what we saw, both on our journeys there and back and in the national park itself.

Not to say that poaching is a thing of the past, it is of course a big problem, and always will be, where people are hungry and in need.

As was remarked upon by one of our party not quite such a camping fan, camping in itself can seem quite a ridiculous pursuit! One packs half of one’s house up, stuffing it into whatever suitable bushwhacking vehicle one can muster, taking often several hours of “phaffing”, preparation and deliberation; drives a considerable distance to somewhere with few or no amenities; labours to erect tents, camping shower, folding tables and chairs, set-up one’s means for cooking and get organised (several more hours, usually!)

Then, spends a few days, often sleeping badly, outside the tent so carefully put up, being eaten alive by mosquitoes, as it’s way too hot — and thus it was for us! Getting suitably dirty, despite one’s best efforts to stay clean and spruce. Half of one’s food, it always seems, gets wasted, ruined by the heat and the travelling. Then, it’s time to reverse the whole process — several more hours’ work! We had a few good giggles about this and we saw the new year in, there in camp on the Runde banks, under the most spectacular night sky a person could wish for, with zero light pollution and an average 10 shooting stars to see each night.

We explored the park and loved the game, and when our friend’s landrover developed a serious problem, in the usual ingenious way, the National Parks mechanic and assistant who obligingly agreed to come back to camp to help, managed to “make a plan”, rendering the land rover a two-wheel drive vehicle, but fit enough for some game drives and the return trip to Harare!

Is it all worth it? Without doubt.

If you prefer a camp with more amenities, Chipinda Pools is beautifully equipped with spotless ablutions, fire pits, rondavels and braais. So go enjoy Gonarezhou!