After a few years we returned to the Gonarezhou National Park, now run by the Frankfurt Zoological Society under an agreement with the Zimbabwe National Parks. We drove to Mabalauta through the Masvingo road and turned off at Rutenga and continued towards the Sango border post until the Mabalauta entrance. The road was rough!

After our three nights at Mabalauta we drove North through the park to the Tented camp at Chipinda Pools.

Although we heard lion, leopard and hyenas at night, we did not see any and we also missed the wild dogs that are meant to be present in the area. Although the Mabalauta area was rather disappointing from the game side, the views were very beautiful from the area around Simiwini, at Buffalo bend. The latter rest camp has also been renovated and it looks very well maintained, still keeping its wonderful baobabs, impala lilies and herd of nyala.

We drove along the river and had a couple of picnics by the river at the Manangani picnic site and also drove to Rossi pools and searched -fruitlessly- for Wright tower. Later, when re-fueling at Makonde we learnt that it had been demolished as it was crambling and it was considered unsafe. I hope that the park authorities have kept the sign that would welcome the visitors to the tower.

Rossi pools is now also a campsite and we were very disappointed to find a party of South Africans with at least four 4×4 plus large trailers that occupied the whole area, including the supposedly public (from 6 to 18hs) viewing platform. So, after squeezing through cars, tables and people, we reached the viewing platform, only to find it full of their gear. When finally we managed to position ourselves and try to watch the pool we had to greet more people seated below the platform! We left in a hurry!

There are five large and shady campsites at Mabalauta with a good ablution block with lots of hot water although 2 showers and 2 toilets appeared to be hardly enough for a fully occupied camp but probably it is not full very often as it seemed to be a stopover place.

The drive to Chipinda Pools was long, rough, dusty and largely devoid of game. The tented camp at Chipinda was very comfortable and without frills (as such a place should be!). The four permanent tents had a great view over the Runde river from where we watched, not only mammals but also lots of birds. There were at least two resident genets that were seen every night. The first night, the smell of our BBQ attracted a spotted hyena that suddenly and silently came for a close inspection of our dining area. Luckily, these powerful carnivores rarely bother campers.

We drove to the Chilojo Cliffs and, although we knew them from previous visits, they still impressed us like the first time. The views of the river from the top of the cliffs were vast and beautiful with several elephants dwarfed by the height and distance to look like fleas.

On the way and coming back we crossed the Runde river at the Fishan causeway.

We had some difficulties with one of the cars to negotiate a causeway that were solved when 4WD was engaged!

At another crossing we had a more exciting time as the river was deeper and the wading route less clear. However, Patricia, my son’s girlfriend, performed as an expert during her first ever river crossing experience!

After a while our road back to camp was blocked by elephants with many infants and they formed a compact group, still on the road. Aware that time was passing, we reversed a while to see if this would relax the atmosphere but no great changes in behaviour were detected.

To make matters more complicated, another group placed themselves at our back, cutting any possibility of further backward movement. We were sandwiched by the elephants and truly stuck so we decided that our only (forced) option was to wait and watch. We did this for well over an hour until we noticed a slow movement towards the river guided by the older animals.

It was then that we realized that there were about 50-60 elephants in front of us and 20 at the back. We believe that their behaviour was probably protective to the youngsters.

Eventually, the road was clear and we managed to go through with some trepidation but unscathed! It was now too late to get back to camp in time so we got ready for a reprimand or worse, a fine for driving at night. It was indeed dark when we arrived at one of the internal gates that was -reasonably- closed. We thought we would have to spend the night there but soon a ranger came out of the darkness and, after asking our destination and checking with the park office by radio, after a while, we got authorization to continue. Later we noted that we were followed by a car and we realized that we were being escorted back!

We arrived with no further problems and no questions were asked!

To end this post, below I present you with a video and a picture slideshow of the sites and animals we saw during this great safari.