Gonarezhou ..Chipinda Pools,Chinguli and Chilojo Hills campsites

One definitely comes to Gonerazhou for the scenery. Chipinda Pools the first night on the edge of the Runde River with hippo and crocs. They have two ablution blocks with running water and hot showers . Very pleasant.










On to Chinguli campsite which is also on the Runde river looking towards the cliffs. The reflections of the Chilijo Cliffs in the water is very beautiful.

We were again spoilt with hot showers. Our in house comedian, Hennie kept us in hysterics around our camp fire once again last night !!

We took a drive around and saw  a herd of Kudu, Wildebeest a lone Buffalo a couple of elephant and a Hyena out in the late morning.












The highlight of the day was our drive to the top of the Chilijo Cliffs. The view from there is magnificent. Two Black Eagles were gliding around us scanning the edges of the cliffs for quite some time..what a treat.


















Arrived at Chilojo Cliffs campsite which is a bush camp with one long drop toilet!!!
We are now sitting on the edge of the river looking straight across at the cliffs enjoying sundowners...what a view.










On to Fishan camp which also only has the luxury of a long drop. We are on the bank of the Runde river once again with many crocs and at least 100 Egyptian geese...you can imagine the noise...thought we were back home !!

Took a game drive and stopped in the causeway to wash our cars which were in bad need of it. They have done a lot of work on the roads in the Park so other than an odd patch here and there they are in very good condition.

Everyone except Rita &Gavin, Gail &Garth and Bail and I , left for home today.
Sat 6th Rita & Gavin have set off for home and we are heading for Mozambique today.



















Saw more game driving out the Reserve this morning than the previous few days. .the highlight being 2 Wild Dogs (Painted Dogs) as they now seem to refer to them as in Zim. As we crossed the last causeway a hippo popped his head out of the water about 5m away from our car !! The bridge crossing the Runde River was washed away in 2000 and has still not been repaired.

Will drive until about 4pm today (+-9 hrs) so it will be a long day..not sure where we will spend the night!

Antelope Park Gweru to Gonarezhou

Very pleasant facilities with chalets and camping.Had a good meal at the lodge followed by good stories around their pit bouma. They breed lions so heard them roaring all night.
There are many police stops along the way  but apparently they have been told not to harass tourists so get waived through most..except poor Jakes who got a US$10 fine for not carrying a fire hydrant.
A lot of repairs and maintenance is being done to the roads with a result they now have a few tol roads manned by one person for both directions of traffic!! A policeman is at hand to check that each driver is given a receipt and another sitting on the side of the road with a machine gun!!! We assume that is for non payers !!!

Quite a  few garages are still without fuel but it has not affected us as we have always been able to get from some where. Prices for diesel range anywhere from $1.31 to $1.47 per Lt.

We arrived at the gate at Gonarezhou only to have an hour delay in checking us in as there appeared to be problems with their booking system . This we thought was resolved with great inefficiency !! only to arrive at out site at Chipinda Pools to find other people on our site!!
We sorted ourselves out in the end.
The site was good on the edge of the Runde River with running water and hot showers.

Unfortunately there isn't much game ..the little we have seen are very skittish ..we think as a result of hunting and poaching in the past . The scenery is very pretty varying from large river beds, lovely cliffs and a variety of big trees .