Matopos

Not all of us who live near the Matobo Hills really appreciate just how majestic those rocks are. Instead of the girls going to a restaurant in town for our regular get-together, we decided to have a sleep-over in the Matopos at one of the girls little country residence. We toddled off in the late afternoon so that we could get settled down in time for sundowners. One of our gang of merry girls only made it after dark, just as we were planning how we were going to go about organising our search party without the benefit of cellphones .... no signal where we were, hidden in the hills. Luckily it didn't come to that, so we made a big fire, got our munchies together, the cold boxes were nearby, and there we stayed for HOURS, discussing everything possible under the sun - well moon, actually, it was a full moon that night, which just adds to the mystic of the hills. We sat under a brilliantly lit bright sky, watching satellites orbiting in the earlier hours, spotting Jupiter's 4 moons by telescope, listening to the nightjars, deeply breathing in the clean bush air. Deciding in the wee hours that after sitting next to the fire all this time a hot bath was definately on the cards, the next hour was spent on my hands and knees worshipping the chip-boiler. Funny how the staff on hand always seem to get those things going within seconds, and the 2 of us who were lighting this hotwater fire are no sissies when it comes to fire-building, let me assure you, but it did take a full hour's grovelling in the ash to get the water piping hot, but which time I DEFINATELY needed a bath !! We all slept amazingly well, and it seemed like it was time to wake up in just minutes ... Early morning consisted of sitting round in our jarmies drinking gallons of coffee and basking in the early sunshine like lizards. But, seeing as we were in the heart of walking and rock climbing territory, we donned our taakies and head off down the road in search of ... well anything really !! We kept an eye out for the Black Eagles nest which we spied on through the binos, and we just kept on walking. The route we were sent on came to an end far to quickly, so we kept on going. Around one bend in the road we surprised a beautiful bushbuck which we got a good look at as it was so shocked to find us there, it just froze and stared at us for a while before melting off into the bush. A vehicle ferrying guests out of the neighbouring safari camp stopped to ask if we were ok, were we lost ?? No no, we know exactly where we are !! And so we headed back to base, found things there still quiet, and decided to tackle the adjacent kopje. Once atop, the view was astounding, and one can just sit and stare for ages and ages, picking out the odd landmark, and just marvelling over the rock structures and quietness of it all. Its always been said of the Matopos that it is a spiritual place, and a power centre, and boy !, when you are there it certainly feels like it. We eventually headed back down the rocks to find that the dear young thing that accompanied us this weekend had cooked up a slap-up bacon, eggs, sausage-and-the-rest brunch. It was delicious, and just what we needed after our exercise. After more chats and bird-watching, 2 of us had to head off home, deciding to take the long way round so that we could take in more of the Matopos. I was very happy that I had made the decision to go out in the Landy, as the road was atrocious in parts and a Landy was just what we needed ... We meandered through the Park, and I don't think we saw single soul until nearing the main gate - and this on a Sunday !! We really don't make enough use of that Park.....

Sidinda

Our next trip took us to the most wonderful spot. It is so wonderful that I am torn between telling people about it or keeping it secret !! When First-Born is home from cold and boring faraway places, he MUST fish (in between the hunting, shooting, falconing, drinking and partying), so we squeezed in a short trip to The River. None of us had ever been to Sidinda before but had heard that it is a good spot (what an understatement !!). It was a 5 hour drive - 400kms - just the last 30 or so kilometres on a perfectly acceptable dirt road. There are no signposts, so we just went off in search of the spot, using friends' directions and some local knowledge. As we got closer, the people disappeared and the vegetation became thicker and we could spot the evidence of large game having been in the area. It became more and more appealing the closer we got to the camp. Our arrival at the camp was confirmed by a very understated sign, but the camp was awesome !! The large wood and thatch rooms are standing on stilts built into the side of a hill, looking out over the river. The rooms are very open - no doors or walls - because of the extreme high temperatures in summer. We were lucky to be there in August and the weather was just perfect - not VERY hot and certainly not cold, just a little crispy in the early morning. There is a perfect clean white sandy beach in front of the camp, but unfortunately no pool. Paddling in the river is not recommended - the only crocs we saw were large ones ! It was a wonderful few days, everyone fished (and caught nicely) (except me - I was there to relax, read, take photos, explore and bird watch). The awesome thing about being at Sidinda, is that there is no-one else around, it is a very exclusive spot. Boats cannot come up the river as they can't get past the rocks, and as it is very close to the end of the Batoka Gorge, there is no other resort between there and Vic Falls, so no-one comes down river either. There are no villages nearby, and we only saw one Zambian hut some kilometres up the gorge. There is no mains power, no telephones, no tv, so this is a really special place to go where you can truly enjoy being alone and have the place to yourself !! Our 3 night stay there was just not long enough, but better than nothing, for sure !! The birdlife was amazing, I had several "first time" identifications, and sleeping in in the morning was out of the question as the bird calls were riotous - but how lovely to hear them all. The hippos only visited at night, we could hear them grunting and sloshing around under our rooms, but they moved off in the day and weren't spotted nearby. Sadly it was all over far to quickly and we had to leave. On the way out we could see that we had just missed the elephants - their tracks and poo and branches were all over the road, we could smell them, we just couldn't see them !! We plan to visit Sidinda again next year - but for MUCH longer !!