On October 19th, 2023, in Mbilizi, the wake was at 5 a.m. An hour later we set off towards the east. The road was a lot better than we expected, i.e., we managed 35 kilometers per hour. There have been days when we couldn’t do more than five in the same time.

A few hours later we reached the turnoff into Matusadona National Park. However, we had already decided a few days beforehand to skip it and spend the time at the Mana Pools and later in the Chimanimani area. It would also be cooler there, in the mountains and above 1,500 meters! (We have to turn on the auxiliary heater every month to keep it in order and you don’t do that voluntarily when the thermometer shows 39 °C.)

The journey took us through a picturesque area, past many small villages with round huts. After ten hours of driving, the trip odometer showed that we had covered 300 kilometers! In the late afternoon, we were just before Makuti. Brigitta read in the iOverlander that there was a place to stay overnight in the Charara safari area. We headed for it and shortly afterwards found ourselves in the forest. The sun disappeared below the horizon and for once we ate dinner at dusk.

We toasted this day with a whiskey and went to bed at 8 p.m. After ten hours of driving, we deserved ten hours of sleep…