This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @terresco: De Cape Town à Mombasa, 3 mois, 8 pays, 12 500 km – Le Zimbabwe 3

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but @terresco, a French guy.

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Ultimate fraction of this crossing of Zimbabwe, the Mana Pools National Park, still on the Zambezi River, at the crossroads of three borders, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia.

For the almost two months the we lived surrounded by large animals, we had learned to adapt to it. We knew not to move at night, monitor the camp with powerful lights, monitor each other in case of displacement. We could recognize animals by the sound they made, and estimate their distance and even often their direction. We were able to guess when an animal was in a good state of mind or when it was necessary to deviate quickly.

Our stay at Mana Pools was going to put our new knowledge to the test.

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Meals under watch

We put our camp on the banks of the river with the idea of resting 4 or 5 days. The tracks of this last week, the days of 12h for 80km, had given us the desire for a few days without driving.

By the river in the middle of the wilderness

Barely enough time to choose a welcoming place and to eat a little that the legitimate inhabitants of the place come to welcome us. A little surprised we cowardly abandon our host to hide behind a tree.

An always impressive visit

It will happen to us the following days to continue our meal while the family passes a few meters from us. With a little habit it's pretty easy to know when an elephant is quiet and will just pass. However, we must avoid leaving fruit on the table, he loves it and may come and get them. If elephants are nervous it is urgent to get in the car, possibly behind a tree.

Relaxing afternoons

So every day we had the pleasure of seeing a family passing by, parents and three children, at mealtime. In the afternoon a lonely gentleman came to spend two hours eating water plants, drinking and bathing right in front of our car. Over the days him and us, we learned to live together without any stress. The sunset on the river ended the day.

Mister elephant's daily bath ...



... as part of a virgin nature

Militant mornings

However, we were not bored in the morning; in the early hours, bands of monkeys were crossing the camp in search of something to steal. They are not very big but there were many of them. They are always in a similar state of mind, trying to make a bad action while you naively admire the huge crocodiles up the river without appearing to move. Never leave your car keys on a table, imagine the problem you would have if a monkey took it, just to have fun ... 100 km on foot in places so populated with animals.

Do not rely on his air of tranquility

Other occupants of the premises were to be closely monitored. Hippos, although vegetarian, are dangerous. They run much faster than you would guess with their volume and their short legs and they do not deviate from their path under any circumstances. They come out of the water at night, sometimes in the early morning in search of food. They can walk several kilometers by tracks they mark with their excrement and always return to their starting point. The day they stay in the water, their skin fears the sun, they turn pink, like the people from the north of France who were coming in my youth to spend their holidays on the Mediterranean beaches.

Daily passage, this one had the good taste to choose the other side of the car to not disturb our breakfast

Magical nights

When night fell it was no longer a question of moving away from the camp. A fire and our installation between the fire and the car. As in high security prisons we lit up, with the help of our powerful lamps, the surroundings every 2 or 3 minutes. The hyenas were all close, their red eyes came out in the beams of the lamps, they went away a little and returned immediately. I do not think they are dangerous, they waited patiently in the near darkness as we enter the tent. They came as soon as the fire was losing intensity to look for leftovers from the meal that we abandoned for the pleasure of observing them from our tent.

All night was lulled by the sounds of hippopotamuses, elephant passages. When the lions were there it was a little more orderly and everyone was more discreet for a while.

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It is on this stay of exciting nature that we have completed our crossing of a country that we loved. A few months later the political problems have taken over in Zimbabwe; everyone will make their own mind, let's just hope that people can benefit from necessary improvements in life quickly. The border to our next stage, Zambia was passed without any significant problem and here we are at the entrance of a new country to discover in the next article.

-- @terresco

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Africa, the long crossing
From Cape Town to Mombasa: South Africa
From Cape Town to Mombasa: Namibia
From Cape Town to Mombasa: Botswana
From Cape Town to Mombasa: Zimbabwe
From Cape Town to Mombasa: Zimbabwe, part 2, by @terresco

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All pictures are property of @terresco