We got on the road as early as we could, packing camp in the stifling heat and turning northward on the EN1 towards Gorongosa, 500 kms to the north. We knew it would be a long day and were a little perturbed when the highway quickly deteriorated into a potholed, patchwork mess. It was another twelve hours of driving before making it to Chitenga, the park's only restcamp.
The park was a busy place: The camp restaurant was buzzing with well-dressed people in pressed linen shirts with expensive laptops under their arms: National Geographic was there filming a documentary on the park: Africa's Lost Eden.
We were all exhausted by the driving and pothole-dodging the day before so we decided to let someone else do the driving and took a guided a game drive into the park that evening. The vegetation and geography is much different than Kruger: and soon you find yourself on the edge of a massive open plain, with small herds of waterbuck and impala dotting the landscape, while the hazy silhouette of the Chimanimani Mountains rises in the west. It was fantastic to rest and let the air pass over you in the open truck. This park was once counted as one of the best in the world - hosting the world's rich and famous in the 1950's and 60's, and also Grumps and Rademeyer in a Morris Minor. The drawn-out civil war (which took place on this ground) decimated the animal populations. But what we witnessed was amazing.
We took our truck into the park the next day, following the rough track that meanders through the park (no gentrified gravel roads here!) and bobbed along the edge of the open plain while herds of buck galloped beside the truck (insert National Geo theme-song here). Amazing moments like that never last long. We found some shade to park under and watched, totally alone and in complete silence, as a herd of elephants emerged from the forest to drink before retreating from the sun. They didn't make a sound except for the splashing of water. Generations of this elephant population have been hunted by poachers - they have learned to be silent. This fact became clear a few hours later: as we tried to find our way back to the rest camp, drowsy from the incredible heat, three elephants burst across the road in front of the truck, disappearing into the trees. I stopped, waiting a short time to give them a chance to move deeper into the bush. I should have waited longer: as I drove past cautiously while Nicola sat behind me with camera at the ready the female trumpeted her objection and came crashing the through the trees. I put my foot down and we lurched ahead leaving the angry mother behind. Was it a mock charge? Maybe, but I would have had no idea what to tell the insurance company if it wasn't. https://picasaweb.google.com/116486261622853021292/SATrip2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCLL_gbqGtdC63wE#
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