Day 49-50: Forest Inn to Mutinondo

We set our alarm for 06:00 as we went to bed so early, but snoozed until 07:20. Caro got out first for another shower under the awesome shower-head (just the one shower on the woman’s side and a large modern square waterfall shower-head thing).

After tea and breakfast we got on the road again. Despite all the trucks it was fairly easy driving on the Great Northern road, nothing like what Hugo remembers from the Great Eastern Road 9 years ago.

Mutinondo lies 21km from the T2 on a two-spoor track, which was in very good condition. We reached the reception at about 14:00. We were shocked to hear that it costs 150 Kwacha per person (the off-season rate), more than double what we read online (albeit something from 2 years ago).

The couple at reception has only been here for 1.5 years, so we assume it is under new management.

After lunch we went for a hike up the highest granite dome and forgot all about the price tag. The 360 degree views of natural forest and other granite domes was simply amazing. We wanted to visit the waterfalls as well, but only reach the bottom again at 17:00.

Back at the camp we lit a fire (with free firewood) for the first time since Namibia. While the fire was going we took a donkey shower, but only got luke warm water, maybe we were too late. Hugo braai’ed some delicious boerewors and Caro made potatoes and egg plant (the latter just for herself).

After dinner the two of us played some cards while drinking Amarula. After Hugo won three rounds it was time for bed.

Sunday 2 April

Day 50 Mutinondo

Somewhere around midnight it started pouring again. It sounded like a massive storm with big drops hitting against the tent cover. The next morning however it didn’t look like that much water hit the ground.

For breakfast Caro made perfect French Toast. We still wanted to hike to the waterfalls, so we decided to stay another night.

First we had to wait for the sky to clear so we went to reception where they have solar power and some WiFi. Caro tried to work on an assignment, while Hugo did some work and then typed the journal. Caro however found a stone/crystal patch and looked at every stone for more than an hour.

The sky cleared over lunch so we went back to the Campsite and made lucnh. Pan toasted cheese and tomato sandwich which Caro now perfected. We also heated up the leftover Boerewors and Potatoes from last night.

After lunch we set out to the waterfalls. Caro took hudreds of photos of all the flowers, fungi and other interesting things in the forest and at the waterfalls. The falls are probably not higher than 3m, but the river and the ‘setting’ is really beautiful and worth the hike.

We only got back to the camp at 17:00 again. At 17:30 it was already dark.

Since there was free wood we took out the swart potjie and made pap on the fire. Caro made a pork stir fry with baby corns, beans and onion. We also opened a delicious Werda Beetroot Salad.

We enjoyed the fire for a while before getting into bed.