Driving thousands of kilometres through various countries of Southern Africa is always an adventure. One never knows really what the state of the roads are going to be…it may indicate on the map that a road is tarred, but one quickly experiences that there are variations on the amount of tar still left on many roads.
In Hwange, part of the road between Masuma Dam and Main Camp is tarred – or was. Well, where we could we drove on the narrow dirt shoulder, when it wasn’t a steep ledge into the bush. The potholes could accommodate small trees! In some places the tar was completely gone, leaving the most bone-jarring, teeth-rattling corrugated dirt road. Richard usually handles these with ease, finding the sweet-spot in speed to travel over the top of the corrugations – like planing on a boat. But these…uh uh…the road just didn’t play along. Luckily no damage to Klippie, one broken egg, and us well-shimmied!
Potholes are the worst…hitting the edge of a pothole on a tar road is akin to a serrated knife cutting cheese…best to swerve around them if you can. Potholes in dirt are slightly less hazardous, depending, of course, how deep they are. The edges are worn smooth, so not so harsh on the tyres, but still murder on the suspension. And our vehicle is no lightweight! On the main roads in Zimbabwe, large trucks hauling cargo and ore are like ants…never ending stream. These big vehicles do not do the roads much good either. So, it’s like playing chicken…find a gap to overtake the truck, only to slam the tyres into a ruddy pothole!
Other hazards include trucks broken down in the road – usually no hard shoulder or shoulder of any description to pull off the road, so requires more dodging. Only to be faced goats or cows in the road!
Then there are the pleasant surprises of roads, old, but well maintained, potholes fixed. Happy driver, and happy Klippie.
As I am mostly the passenger (apparently, I drive too slowly), I am Minister-in-Charge of Keeping-the-driver-HAPPY-affairs – when I am not stressing about narrow mountain passes, elephants at close range etc. At hand, I have a pre-made flask of coffee to keep the Driver awake, also a box filled with biscuits. Emma baked Rich his favourite Sultana Cookies before we left…he had the last one leaving Hwange – lasted well Emms! Another box is filled with sweeties, which needs restocking occasionally. We also have a little fridge on the back seat, which is stocked with milk, cheese, leftovers etc, for car-picnics when needed.
For my comfort, I am organised with wet wipes, tissues, hand cream, hand sanitizer, drinking water all stashed in the door wells and pockets. I also have two little baggies with tweezers (ladies of my age will know what these are for), suntan lotion (arms get properly burnt driving in the car for hours), dental floss and toothpicks (for the biltong remnants stuck in one’s teeth), headache tablets and my herbal Little Yellow Pills (Elev8) to keep me calm.
On the road we like to listen to audio books, or music predownloaded, and played through Bluetooth on our car sound system. Other gadgets necessary to aid the drive and navigation include the Garmin GPS, a Garmin Dash Cam, tyre pressure monitor, VHF radio to communicate with our travelling companions, and charging ports for the phones.
Further entertainment is provided by the passing scenery, and for me my crocheting. One baby blanket finished so far, and now I am continuing with a blanket I started last year! Sadly, I get car sick reading in the car, but I have just discovered that I can type a bit on my laptop – hence this blog post.
One of my favourites about driving along through these countries are the local little stalls on the side of the road selling fresh produce. We have just stopped to by tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes and onions, straight out the soil! Yumm! We generally avoid stopping in towns except if we need fuel, need to do a “big” grocery shop, or tyre repairs.
I am lucky I have a husband who likes to drive and is game to take on adventures such as this 2-month road trip through Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa. It’s not always plain sailing, it is tiring, but what a way to learn about our country and its neighbours.
