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An apology before we begin..... I dropped the camera into a small stream and some of the piccies on the roll got (quite lovely) blue stains and watermarks....
We decided to take a few weeks off and really have a look at (what was then) Rhodesia, and then return to Jo'burg via the Mozambique coast.
We left Johannesburg in the punchy Chrysler Valiant Rebel either on the 1st or 2nd March, 1972 - loaded up with camping gear - and headed north - Pretoria, Nylstroom, Potgietersrus, Pietersburg Louis Trichardt and to the South Africa/Rhodesia border on the Limpopo River at Beit Bridge.
Shortly after that there's a fork - right to Fort Victoria and Salisbury - but we wanted the left fork to Bulawayo and camped there for the night. I can remember the roads being very wide (apparently so that (in the old days) a team of oxen/horses could be u-turned easily). I also remember the park and the old ladies/men out bowling...
Pushed on from there up to the Wankie Game Reserve - where, according to the publicity blurb, we'd find "..the largest concentrations of elephants anywhere in the world..". Made camp right next to the barbed-wire 4 foot-high outer fence (the only obstacle between us and "the nasties" out there) and spent a day or two snooping around.....
?no-idea?
We got up very early one morning and went to a nearby waterhole which had a sort of hide/viewing gallery......
Storks flying in -
and I think those are zebra....
Storks - landed and
hunting...
Not much to see - so we went off driving - searching for those herds of Hefalumps....
I think this, is a
frightened example of.....
..these.... ?female
Kudu?.... with Wildebeest behind...
More zebras...
Uncertain Wildebeest
?Oryx?, ?Sable
antelope?
And would you believe it...?? in two full days - driving all over the place... we saw just ONE Elephant!!
Pushed on northwards to the Zambesi River and the border with Zambia - and of course.... The Victoria Falls....
First morning - we took a walk up the river, away from the falls...
You can just see the
spray (white) beyond the shrubs and trees. The river is flowing left to right -
and just beyond those shrubs/trees - over it goes. The current was pretty strong
here, easy enough to get carried away and over the falls - what is she doing??
This was Almuth on
the "River Walk", still going back up stream, plenty of notices warning of
Hippos and Crocodiles!!
Quite a way up-stream was a boat/tour-hire place - where you could be taken further up-stream looking out for Hippos etc... we took the ride...
Up-river scene (see
the blue stains!!??) 
Cormorant drying
itself. The worrying thing about that boat-ride wasn't so much bumping into a
Hippo or two - but the fear that the engine might stall - the Falls were less
than a mile down-stream!!
So the we walked back to the Falls themselves - but before that - going back to camp to get changed into "wet-weather gear"...
This is just 50 to
100 feet up-stream from the Devil's Cataract Fall. You can see "the Rain/Spray
Forest" beyond - on the other side of the Gorge - through the branches of that
overhanging tree.
This is (maybe 100
feet further on) - close to where Livingstone's Memorial is... The Devil's
Cataract is the Fall at left, and the Main Falls are beyond - down the Gorge.
The "Rain Forest" is at the top of the "cliff" at the right.
Devil's cataract.
And again - bottom
left and Number 1 Gorge below....
We had to climb/walk
upwards to get to the "Rain Forest Walk" this is a view of the Devil's Cataract
(at left) and the Main Falls beyond. See the rainbow??
Almuth walking
towards the Main Falls - rainbow again!!
We got absolutely
soaked through...brilliant!!
Main Falls
and again - fabulous
place!! Brilliant!! All we had to do now was drive back down the road we'd come
up - 350 miles, back to Bulawayo!!
This time we spent a couple of days checking out the local attractions... Principally The Matopo Hills
This is World's View
looking over the Matopo Hills (which are basically weird rock formations)
Almuth up at Cecil
Rhodes' gravesite - what a great place to be buried??
Zoomed - weird rock
formations.
Very colourful
lizard
Very colourful
Lichen
From here - we were off to Fort Victoria via Shabani. This is the site of the Zimbabwe Ruins - absolutely brilliant - although as we were arriving and looking for the campsite we first saw lines of prisoners (like on a chain-gang) labouring away. When we got to the campsite - there was an enormous American Camper Van (bear in mind this was 1972) with a man and his wife (elderly) presumably touring Africa in style. Spent a day or so here - snooping around the ruins....
Almuth in the
corridor going towards the conical tower...
Conical tower
Me - somewhere in
there...
looking down
from"The Hill' to the Great Enclosure. we snooped around Lake Kyle, then went
directly North to Salisbury.
I'm sure I met up with Linda Baddeley (or was it Pam Brown?) - who was up there doing a contract for ICL Rhodesia.
From Salisbury - South East to Umtali - lovely place - we went into the Inyanga Mountains and visited the Inyangombe Falls. It was an absolutely brilliant day - blinding sunshine and a clear blue sky. The Falls themselves were brilliant white and just like delicate icing on a cake - alas our photies don't do them justice - but you can see we were impressed by the falls, by the number of piccies we took..
Almuth (in red
dress), standing above part of the falls.
More visitors at top
left.
And then we came back through Umtali and crossed the border into Mozambique and a long run east to the coast at Beira.
Spent a few days there (had a braaifleis - BBQ) - not much to see - except Portuguese architecture, then began the most stupid part of the holiday. Before leaving Jo'burg, I'd checked with the AA, about the road between Beira and Lorenco Marques (a distance of about 750-800 miles) and been told that it was under construction earlier in the year - but was now completed and open!! Hooray!!
Drove out of Beira with full tank of petrol (in the punchy Chrysler Valiant Rebel), 80 miles inland - turn left at Muda to pick up the 'motorway'. 120 miles down it - up to the axles in mud/sand. Got a lorry load of Africans & Portuguese to get us out. I asked where I could get petrol (200 miles done only 40 left) - they said 'only diesel here'. Oh OK - how much further before we pick up the 'motorway' - they just laughed. 40 Caterpillar graders were bogged down 20 miles further on - no way you get through there. So I said - Ok we'll turn around - try to get petrol from the work camps - if we run out we'll just camp by the road. They said - 'don't do that - Frelimo' - Terrorists. To which I said - 'no no - they're all up around Cabora Bassa' - to which they said 'that's what they tell you on the TV' - bloody bollocks - that was the worst drive of my life - swarms of flying ants coming in through every vent, trying to make 40 miles of petrol get us 120+ miles. Found some petrol eventually - but very worrying.
Got back to Umtali and decided what to do?? Still had a week or more of vacation left - and so began an 800/900 mile detour as follows...
Umtali to Fort Victoria via Nuanets to the Beit Bridge border crossing, to Pietersburg, across to Lydenburg, to Komati Poort border crossing and into Mozambique, up the coast through LM to Xai- Xai.
Waterfront Lorenco
Marques
Almuth and the reef
at Xai Xai.
Our camp-site at Xai
Xai - note the inclination of the trees - used to pretty fierce winds I'd guess.
Almuth lying on a camp bed at right.
Me enjoying the
surf...
Joe Cool and (is it Ursula Andress??)
a field of Kosmos,
but I don't know where it was...
Back to Jo'burg - and work!!