Zimbabwe: Vic Falls.. to Binga and beyond..

Wednesday 20 September: We drive from Hwange to Vic Falls and set up camp at Vic Falls Rest Camp and Lodge. The central location is ideal but the shebeen next door may be keeping us awake. The chalets look very run down but the restaurant and pool area is a little oasis with beer, burgers and WiFi. Neil says he could settle in for a week.

More chefs...

After lunch we check out the Falls...

Then we have sundowners at the old colonial Victoria Falls Hotel followed by dinner at the Three Monkeys Cafe. 

It's a tough life with tough decisions to be made. 

Tanquaray✓
Bombay✓✓
Hendriks✓✓✓
Gordons X (sorry John)

Thursday 21 September: It's a free day, chilling in the camp, lazing by the pool or exploring town. John, Danie and I go for a helicopter flip over the Falls.

At 5.00pm we are collected by bus and taken to the Zambezi River for a sunset dinner cruise. An amazing way to end the day..

Friday 22 September: After shopping and refueling we set off. Pretty soon we have left the touristy Vic Falls area, travelling to Binga, a small town on the south eastern edge of Lake Kariba. There's only 1 place in town with any fuel. And it's not this garage; long defunct and with a tricky ditch at the entrance.

Nothing a winch on the land cruiser can't sort out - no damage done

 

In the old days Binga was a fishing mecca for local Zimbos but it's as dilapidated as a town can get, including our lodge Chilila,with it's entry through a Landover and boat graveyard. We have opted for bungalows but probably would have been better off in our tents. We had prepayed into a South African account and there's no chance any of that money ever makes it back to Zim. Even if it did, with a 40% import duty on everything,  bringing things like white goods into Zim is prohibitively expensive.

Chilila Chalet Boma

View of Lake Kariba at Chilila

 

Saturday 23 September: The reason we are in Binga at all is because Neil wants to drive alongside Lake Kariba from Binga to Kariba. It's one of the most remote parts of Southern Africa you'll ever see; hours and hours of dirt road with only a sprinkling of settlements and villages. We set out at first light. It's a bone- rattling 10+ hour journey. It's the reason we have the satellite phone with us. We do get a puncture. I do have an allergic reaction to tinned tuna. But we are well prepared and we have 3 doctors and 2 engineers with us,so we don't need to make any emergency calls. We arrive in Kariba just before dark. The caravan is "all shook up". Lids of bottles have rattled off, doors are off their hinges and packets of crackers have been reduced to crumbs.
Lomagundi has shabby bungalows but great fried Bream and chips washed down with beer. It's probably better to just camp here next time. It is your best overnight option in the Kariba area.

Another chef...

changing the flat tyre with an audience

Kariba at Last... Lomagundi deck