Gaels in Mozambique.

[Drumacoon Lad.]

This area is where the king lived in Great Zimbabwe, the original king in the 11th century. He would have a fire on the circular carved rock snd visitors would be recieved in this area. There were 7 other areas like this excavated one for each of the Kings. Succession was to the eldest son and it was against Shona custom for a man to live in his father's house.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

We stopped along the road for a snack yesterday next to thus massive rock, typical of the area. We were then quickly joined by these 2 ladies and the young child in a pretty dress.

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[Jockser]

Finally getting around to posting on this thread

Another great report & pictures from the two Gaels
Keep up the good work

 

[simondippenhall]

Today’s ride saw is leaving the calm portals of the Bulawayo Club, reluctantly, at 0730, after our self catered Weet-Bix and banana breakfast (although the receptionist kindly sent the chef up with two bowls bearing the Club crest.)

Our departure was in a pleasant cool atmosphere but by afternoon we were riding in 37C so time to dunk tee shirts in water.

Our elevenses were taken in the shade of a beautiful thorn tree

Jim used the shade to propound a change in plan. As we were making good progress on quiet roads, why not skip the stay in Vic Falls (which we have visited before) and do the run to Kasane in Botswana in one hit. Once agreed, Jim hit Booking.com and our Vic Falls booking was cancelled and he found a great option by the Chobe river in Kasane where we are now installed, sipping malted beverages

Our 500kms run today, including a (very smooth) border crossing so we were in our lodging by 4 pm. Not a bad run especially for a 250cc! (The Googlemaps time is a little fanciful given the potholes sections!)


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[de crowe]

Making me very jealous of your trip. Enjoy and safe riding.

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

Well one of the delights of the ride today were the trees, like the thorn tree Simon posted. Here's a few others.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Although it was a good road, we saw lots of evidence of mishaps, like this ore carring trailer by the side of the road. The scariest vehicles for us were the buses which passed at high speed without warning.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

This massive digger was accompanied by 3 support vehicles and occupied the centre of the road. The pickup in front of the digger had a pole sticking up in the air, I assume to check the height clearance for trees or bridges.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Lots of produce for sale along the road, including this gentleman with his very clean carrots and plenty of pots.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

We saw this sign outside Vic Falls and got mildly excited. We'd seen these signs before and not a sniff of an elephant or even some dung on the road. We hoped to see a few elephants on the roadside in Botswana and were looking forward to riding the roads therethrough the national parks.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

We passed Vic Falls and headed for the Botswana border. There was a thunderstorm around and we got a few spots if rain and a few flashes of forked lightening. We decided to press on and not stop for waterproofs and seemed to slip past the storm.

We were then delighted to see our first warthogs by the side of the road. This helmet cam photo just captures them each side of the road. Warthogs always panic when you come across them and these were true to form. The one on the right ran across the road behind me but in front of Simon and they disappeared into the bush with their tails in the air.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Further on I spotted something on the road. I then as I got closer, I couldn't believe our luck, as a family group of elephants crossing the road, including little ones. The helmet cam photos makes them seem far away but in fact they were quite close. The lone elephant in the 3rd photo, was probably 30 meters away. In our excitement we didn't think of being in danger, we just marvelled at seeing these great creatures in the wild, while sitting on our motorbikes.

I've had individual elephants cross in front of me before but never a large family group like this. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me and I believe the same for Simon.

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[jeffa]

Great trip and write up, thanks

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

It has been suggested that I stray a little from the brief of writing about a motorcycle trip, and this is true. However, I do plan to review how the XT250 has performed, taking me to 7 countries on this trip. I'll also explain what's been involved in maintaining communications in these countries, so we have WiFi available as we travel. As we've just been on a safari boat trip on the Chobe river that will be today's focus.

First some birds, in order, African Fish Eagle, Spur-winged Goose, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and a Lilac-breasted Roller.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

The Chobe river is not a place to swim and even with a boat we had to be careful as there are a couple of dangerous animals lurking under the surface. So let's have a look at the reptiles we saw.

Firstly a monitor lizard which was around a meter and a half. These don't attack humans and I've had a few walk past me in the past without incident.

The next reptile is a bit different and I keep well away from them. I saw a crocadile kill 2 goats, each kill taking a few seconds. This one was about 45 years old and about 3 meters long. It was guarding a nest of eggs and didn't welcome our presence. Hopefully the monitor lizard didn't call around, as it's partial to croc's eggs.

The next one was a monster and about 5 meters long. It looked asleep as it was perfectly still. It didn't react to our presence but the ranger pointed out that its eyes were open, watching us all the time. This was the size of the croc that killed the goats.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

The river flows through the Chobe national park, so you're not restricted to aquatic species. The animals come out of the park to drink in the river and others to graze the rich grass af the rivers edge.

This first animal is partially aquatic, as if spends a lot of time in the water but grazes on land, normally at night. Here Hippos come out in daytime and it was great to see them.

The second photo is of a Kudu. These are large antelopes about the size of a horse.

The next animal needs no introduction and we were fortunate to see this family group down near the river. Its not the same as seeing them on the road in front of your motorbike but seeing Elephants is always a pleasure.

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[The Other PaulG]

Further on I spotted something on the road. I then as I got closer, I couldn't believe our luck, as a family group of elephants crossing the road, including little ones. The helmet cam photos makes them seem far away but in fact they were quite close. The lone elephant in the 3rd photo, was probably 30 meters away. In our excitement we didn't think of being in danger, we just marvelled at seeing these great creatures in the wild, while sitting on our motorbikes.

I've had individual elephants cross in front of me before but never a large family group like this. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me and I believe the same for Simon.View attachment 552980View attachment 552981View attachment 552982

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Fabulous stuff, I am really enjoying both of your accounts.

Lovely to see eles in the wild. Some of the herds up there can be very sizeable, so a family group like that could be isolated, or you may in fact be seeing the lead group of a much bigger herd. Always worth a check over your shoulder - as you know they can move silently and it's spooky to see a big herd just emerge from the bush from apparently nowhere. It was tense in a Landcruiser to have a herd walk around us... sitting in a bike would be an altogether more interesting experience!!

Keep the updates coming.

 

[Drumacoon Lad.]

Thanks Paul, it is a bit special seeing them in the wild and this family group hardly took notice of us, except maybe rushing along more quickly. The single males I've seen on the side of the road can be different and always notice my arrival, with some ear-flapping or maybe a trumpet. If I hang around too long I'm liable to get charged at, though it only happened once.

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

As we have a bit of downtime today and we're in the middle of a noisy thunderstorm, so I had a look at the output from my Garmin inReach device. It's a bit over the top for travelling around southern Africa but its not a bad insurance if something does go badly wrong on a remote road.

It provides satellite tracking, updating the Web every 10 mins on my location and has worldwide coverage. I can send basic texts via satellite and in emergency send an SOS with my exact location. I start it tracking at the beginning of the day and stop it when I've arrived at my destination.

The tracking website can be accessed by friends who can see that I'm moving and my exact location and sometimes comment on my arrival before if told them. Its the perfect tool for my stalkers. It also produces a map of where I've been, as below(not sure what happened leaving Lesotho) .

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[Drumacoon Lad.]

Can't pass up on the chance of an animal photo and on my way to the shops earlier, 3 of these guys came along, looking up to no good.

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