SOUTHERN AFRICA 2023: DAY 22 — ZIMBABWE
On the Edge of a Cliff
Camping where the world ends with a sudden drop
Temperatures have long dropped below 20 degrees (Celsius) and we’ve closed all the windows of our tent. We are at 2,300 meters above sea level in the Eastern Highlands. This is certainly the highest camp our red lady has done so far.
This morning we left Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe behind us. With new breaks and great excitement for the next adventure, we were looking forward to exploring the Eastern Highlands.
Before our stop in the capital, we had planned to hit the border the following day and leave Zimbabwe behind but after talking to our friends, we got convinced to extend our stay and spend some cooler days in the mountains.
Leaving the capital of Zimbabwe, we hit a rather well-paved road and covered some kilometers in no time. The vegetation changed now and then.
Buying fruits and vegetables on the roadside we had to adapt. You need to stop when you see what you want because you might not find it a few kilometers later. While the roads are now filled with watermelons, in a few minutes you won't find any of them and only see tomatoes.
We haven't bought fruits or vegetables in the store since we left Namibia. The street vendors have a great variety of fresh produce and you'll always get whatever is in season. Don't plan your meal but cook what you find instead. It brought us to some amazing meals.
Oh, and talking about cooking, we need firewood. We didn't see any since entering Zimbabwe and David almost put on an emergency break when we saw these stacks of wood. Time to restock for us as we don’t know if we'll get any on the other side.
As soon as we left the main road and started turning in, the elevation started to increase and we entered the beautiful Eastern Highlands. No traffic but lots of lush green trees.
Oh, and deadly hazards they say. Steep mountain roads and wait, is that a foot hanging out of that car? Yes, it is.
Only in Africa...
We're getting closer to our destination for the day and the clouds are moving in and building up. We certainly do expect some rain in the next few hours.
But for now, we are having a lunch break at Froggys Farm Kiosk. I’m having a milkshake and a cheeseburger. The kind of food we don’t make ourselves. Now and then we treat ourselves to something in a restaurant or bar.
But we shouldn't linger around for too long. As pretty as this farm looks with all the strawberry fields and floral decorations, the clouds do look very intimidating.
We just watched a local boy sit on the swing and play with an old tractor before we finished up and went back to the car. Just as the first drops were falling.
But as quick as the rain arrived it was gone again. Soon, we turned off onto a dirt track that became a sandy track. We had a viewpoint as our destination and as often we chose the less traveled path.
The track got pretty bad and washed out and we had to crawl down over a huge boulder. While I was flying the drone, David maneuvered the car safely across the obstacle.
And then we made it.
World's View.
It’s a creative name for a spectacular viewpoint. Don’t you think?
They charged us 3 US$ (Zimbabwe accepts and prefers USD as it has its own currency which is once again suffering under high inflation) which we happily paid as the viewpoint was well-maintained with a beautiful garden and few hiking trails around.
There were picnic tables all around, flowers in full bloom and lots of shade. But as I’m talking about shade, for once we weren’t looking for shade. The moment we arrived, we put on our sweaters. Despite it being mid-day, the temperatures here above 2,000 msl were unusually low for us.
I grabbed my camera and we went for a hike to the nearby peak.
We had views from both sides of the mountain. To one side we had the four lakes with surrounding meadows and forest and to the other side, a large valley offered a World’s View.
I couldn't stop taking pictures of this stunning scenery.
We reached the top in just over half an hour. A bit out of breath, I sat down and watched in awe. Some starlings were taking off from the bushes next to me playing with the turbulence above the peak. A light breeze was blowing up from the valley and lots of insects were buzzing around.
The sun was bright but not very warm.
Looking to the left, I had spotted our wild camping spot already but I still had to convince David of the location as he was worried about our safety. Just a bit off that sandy track seen in the picture below was my chosen location.
While I don’t always succeed, this time the compromise ended on profits for my side. We drove to the location and I fell immediately in love with the place.
No people around. Just us. And the cliff.
Where the mountain stops and drops hundreds of meters into the valley below was where we parked the car. We didn’t set up the gazebo as it would have taken off to another planet but sat on our chairs overlooking the world from the edge of a mountain.
As the night was falling in, clouds were rising behind us and the temperatures dropped more and more. A glass of red wine only warmed us up for a little before we crawled inside our little cave on top of the car.
The moon was full when we closed all the windows of our tent. That was a first. Usually, we leave them open for fresh air and decent airflow plus we install our air cooler that acts as an aircon.
Not so much tonight. I crawled inside the thick sleeping bag and zipped it closed all the way to the top. What a cozy feeling it was.
Have a good night y’all.
And here's the video of part three of our trip through Southern Africa: the best of Zimbabwe:
We’re currently touring southern Africa and if you’d like to follow, go through this list of stories from our road trip:
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