Day 208 – 209: Caia to Gorongosa

Our alarm went off early, but we both wanted to sleep more so we only got up at 08:00.

We didn’t feel like eating as we still didn’t feel 100% normal. We started packing up when Fernando arrived and starting chatting to us. He showed us his large vegetable and fruit gardens and livestock. He insisted that we didn’t need to pay anything for camping and then even gave us bags full of vegetables and fruits.

They then invited us for breakfast which Diana made. Delicious eggs, sausage, tomato and bread. We talked about life on the farm and in Mozambique. They came here 20 year’s ago when there wasn’t even a bridge over the Zambezi at Caia and everything was just bush. They lived in tents for the first few years.

After breakfast, we packed up and left. We decided to just take the Coartem tablets as we didn’t feel like visiting a dodgy hospital next to the road.

The tar road went from bad to worse as we got closer to Caia and then all the way to Gorongosa.

The potholes almost rivaled that of the road from Katima to Livingstone. It thus took much longer to drive than expected and we only got to the town of Gorongosa in the dark.We then still had another 40km to go which took an hour. We thus only got to Gorongosa Adventures at 19:20.

Luckily there were lights on at the campsite and a worker came to fire up the donkey.

We had pasta with salami, cheese and tomato for dinner and went to bed shortly after.

The next morning we got up at 07:00 as we wanted to head to Zimbabwe today, but Caro gave a good argument that we should probably take a rest day here. The guy from last night came with a register book, where you write your details and decided how much you want to pay for the camping. We, unfortunately, didn’t have much cash left so could only give 1000 Mets, but the campsite is worth more.

We washed almost all our clothing and hanged our bed sheets out. Hugo went to the main farmhouse and met Piet van Zyl the owner. He and his family has been here for 14 years and also started out living in tents for few years. His wife Ria was on her way from South Africa and would arrive later today.

Hugo went back to the campsite and then we repacked the car and put Caro’s baskets on the roof again as we heard that Zimbabwe doesn’t like luggage on the backseat.

We had fruits and tuna sandwiches for lunch and then we even washed the car. In the afternoon we took a shower and put on Mosquito proof clothing and then we both went back to the farmhouse as Piet wanted to meet Caro.

We chatted until his wife arrived at 18:00. We then went back to the campsite and had spaghetti with cheese again, before going to bed after a tiresome ‘rest’ day.