The freezing chill of the last few days seems to have lifted and although it is still cold, it is not that biting winter chill. We left Troutbeck around 9:30 and headed south into Mutare. Mutare is a bustling metropolis by Zimbabwe standards and is one of the largest towns behind Harare and Bulawayo. We travelled through the town in search of the advertised Spar and Nandos. We had just descended down a hill and turned a corner when we heard a rather disturbing noise from behind (not Gareth’s behind this time). We pulled over and our trailer had nose dived, hanging at a rather precarious downward angle. As it turned out, it was not a major problem, the bolts connecting the coupler to the trailer had sheared off but fortunately Panda had connected the chain to the towbar. I am convinced St Christopher is keeping an eye over us, as each time we have had a major car or trailer problem, we have been in or near a town. Gray then set off, with the rest of us in tow (no pun intended) in search of a hardware store – no Mica here. After locating the local hardware and purchasing the required nuts and bolts we headed back to the car. Leaving Gray and Ga to fix the trailer on the side of the road, Robs and I walked to a Tourist Info Centre and got the names of some places to stay in the nearby Vumba area.
There is very little, to nothing, in terms of viable camp sites, so armed with the names of some self-catering accommodation, we set off along another spectacular drive into the mountains of the Eastern highlands. After around 20 km we came to a T-junction – I suggested we turn right (according to all the sign posts of the accommodation we were aiming for – a pretty natural conclusion). Doris (Gray’s darling GPS) told him to ‘turn left’, as always, Doris won and we headed off along a stunning drive, through beautiful forests, after about 10km, Gray conceded that we were heading in the wrong direction, it took another 15km for us to find a place to turn around and retrace our steps – I am still waiting for an apology.
After checking out a few accommodation options, we booked into a family unit at Forest Inn for the night. The major reason being the beautiful view, we were surrounded by mountains with a stunning view down the valley onto a lake. The place is again tired but clean and comfortable, with ‘beautiful’ satin gold bedspreads and silver tablecloths.
All the places we have seen in Zim, were obviously popular weekend and holiday destinations at one time and it is sad to see that they are now in need of TLC, but due to lack of demand and finance, they just tick over. This being said, we are so impressed with the roads and infrastructure in Zim – and watch this space, Zim will become a much sought after holiday destination once again. It has beautiful scenery and Harare is closer than Cape Town.
After sorting out our accommodation for the night, we returned to Mutare, for a Nandos lunch (the kids choice – clearly they are missing fast foods) and a shop at the well stocked Spar. On returning to the car, we had a number of beggars around, the standard kid with the blind man and a few offering to help us unpack our groceries. Chirp of the day goes to Gareth – one of kids asked for some money – ‘my mother is blind’, Gareth’s response, ‘and so my mother is fat.’ – he would have got a crack if the rest of the family hadn’t found it so hilarious, for this the kid got a bit extra for his ‘blind mother’.
From there we headed to Leopard Rock Hotel, about 5km from Forest Inn, Gray was again mildly unpopular because he didn’t book us in there. He decided this beautiful hotel, on one of Zimbabwe’s top golf courses, was not in our budget. We spent a half hour checking out the living areas in the hotel, that has been host to the royal family, including Princess Di.
After our visit to Leopard Rock, we returned to our, now meagre accommodation to find that the electricity was off – another power outage. Robs and I left Gray and Ga to cook spaghetti carbonara over a braai, this tested Ga’s cooking skills to the limit.
Sun rise at Forest Inn
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