Gonarezhou
"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit"
Edward Abbey
Gonarezhou is the second largest National Park in Zimbabwe. It was first established as an area of conservation in 1934 and proclaimed as a National Park in 1975. It was closed during the Rhodesian and Mozambican civil wars, during which time the game was decimated by poaching, but it underwent a renaissance with the establishment of the Gonarezhou Conservation Project in 2007 and the Gonarezhou Conservation Trust in 2017.
It is part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park and shares borders with Mozambique and South Africa. It is also one of the most remote and least visited parks in Zimbabwe which was a huge draw for us. Many of the people we met there were Zimbabweans for whom this place is a well kept secret. There are talks of a new border post opening with Pafuri in Kruger Park and I am sure if this goes ahead it will change the visitor landscape dramatically.
So do yourselves a favour and go now while the wilderness remains pristine. You will not be disappointed.
"The Place of Elephants"
Gonarezhou translates as 'The Place of Elephants' and certainly elephants feature large in this unique landscape. Historically it is also the habitat for the wonderful wild dogs, or painted dogs as they are now known. Lion, cheetah, leopard, buffalo, rhinos and many species of antelope abound. Birding is also well regarded. So there is lots to see and do. Much of the game is skittish and I think that dates historically to the long periods of poaching.
It is said the Mozambicans would come over the border and shoot from helicopters and vehicles. It is also said the elephants still do not cross the border into Mozambique even though it is a transfrontier park. Long memories and clever.
The park is roughly split into 2 areas, North and South. Most of the infrastructure and accommodation is in the North centred around the Runde and Save rivers and the iconic and beautiful Chilojo cliffs.
In the South the main camp is at Mabalauta on the Mwenezi river and the 2 areas are separated by vast Mopane sand forests.
Although the area is crisscrossed with streams it was a dry dry season when we arrived. A 2 year drought to be exact and times were tough for the animals of Gonarezhou.
A dry river bed at the entrance of Gonarhezhou and the broken bridge across the river.
The South
Mabulauta HQ
We entered the park from the South having driven the dirt road from Beitbridge. As expected it took us longer than the 4-5 hours predicted. The road was in reasonable repair and we enjoyed the neat villages and the donkey carts, usually 4 donkeys in one harness. There was clear evidence of drought and no agriculture. Lots of overgrazing and cows and goats abounded.
We arrived in the main camp at Mabalauta in the mid afternoon. We also arrived with 2 punctures but the staff kindly rallied around and fixed them for us for free. Another welcome feature of Zimbabwe is the staff are friendly and willing. Are you listening Ezemvelo?
We were able to rebook all our camps at no extra charge which was another bonus.
Because we were 3 days late we would have had to speed up the park to meet our booking. This way we could take our time and we even got a few extra wilderness camps as a bonus.
The camping in Gonarezhou is split between wilderness camps which take one party, have no water but a long drop toilet, and developed campsites with water, hot showers and ablutions. The wilderness campsites predominate and the developed campsites are only found at the gates and one other site on the Runde river. Still the long drops were well built and well designed, a feature of all our parks stays in Zimbabwe, and not having to negotiate little piles of toilet paper everywhere was a welcome surprise. Water was easily available at the river crossings so no hardship there.
Our first night was in the campsite at Mabalaute main camp. We thought a last shower would be welcomed and it was getting late. The sites are spacious. We found a dead nyala in the campsite which was a surprise but we gamely got out the trail cam to see what the night would bring. Nothing as it happened but if you don't try you are not in the game.
Next night was at Malinangani platform site overlooking the river. A great spot with a roofed platform to sit under. We toured around the area but found it dry and largely devoid of game apart from an occasional antelope and some giraffe. The Mopane had been heavily browsed by the elephants and here and there we found other animal carcasses, nyala, buffalo, an elephant and a kudu. Views over the river were beautiful and we found a lot of vultures around, probably attracted by the carrion although we only caught them feasting once.
Bird life was plentiful on the river.
Before heading North we stopped in at Mabalauta again and met the pilot of a small plane. He told us he had been brought in to fly over and spot the carcasses. Tests on the nyala in our previous nights campsite had shown Anthrax and now they must find and burn the remaining carcasses to stop the spread.
Anthrax is a disease of humans and animals caused by the bacteria Bacillis anthracis. It may cause a skin disease, infection of the gut if eaten, or a pneumonia if inhaled. One of the features of anthrax is that it forms spores which are hardy and can survive in the environment for years. Infection occurs due to contact with the spores. Herbivores are often infected while grazing, especially when eating rough, spiky vegetation. It has been hypothesised this tough vegetation may cause wounds in the gut which allow the spores to enter the tissues. In herbivores anthrax often causes an acute septicaemia with a high fatality rate.
A buffalo carcass in the river bed.
Anthrax in the wild is more common in the dry season and especially in drought periods as the topsoil erodes and cracks bringing the spores to the surface. The drying of the topsoil concentrates the spores and the grazing animals eat closer to the ground as food becomes scarce. Hippos and buffalos are especially prone but elephants and other antelope are susceptible, as are carnivores if they scavenge the carcasses. Having said that, the carnivores seem to know these carcasses are not healthy because we saw no scavengers on any of the carcasses in Gonarezhou. Maybe they smell it but they don't favour infected carcasses, no matter how hungry they are, or how pristine the carcasses may look.
Contaminated animals and carcasses are contagious to other animals and humans. Infected animals should be quarantined and carcasses burnt to stop spread.
The North
It was time to wipe the sand of the south and the anthrax spores off our shoes and head north. In time the park would be organising a dip for shoes and tyres but at this early stage of the outbreak a spray of Dettol would have to do.
The road north is through mopane sand vlei and across multiple dry streams. Again very dry and overgrazed but it improved the further north we went. There are a handful of camps in the centre of the park to allow you to break the journey and we were lucky to get the Benji Weir Platform campsite.
This is a magnificent campsite on top of a hill overlooking a waterhole which, as luck would have it, had water. We could sit on the platform and watch a procession of animals mooch down to the water to drink. Elephants, impala, warthog and zebra lined up, watched by tree dassies and skittering gerbils.
There was a fantastic long drop toilet about 50 m out of camp along the edge of the cliff with a view to die for. That night most of the gang chose to drag their bedding onto the platform to sleep outside. When the lions walked by at 4.30 roaring up a storm they did not turn a hair as the muppets had misidentified the roar for elephants trumpeting. Still everyone survived.
A loo with a view.
The sleeping platform at Benji Weir.
Our first camp in the north of the park was at Machinawa pan in the far east. The further we drove up north the more game we saw, elephants and antelope. The trees were less devastated and scattered baobabs gleamed red in the sun. We first crossed the Runde river at Fishans causeway, a shallow river crossing with lots of animals and birds in the river bed. Other travellers told us of lion and wild dog spotted there earlier in the day so we were really excited.
The general layout in the north is that the roads run east and west along the south and north banks of the river with scattered causeways which cross the river. These are only navigable in appropriate seasons when the water is low. In wet season a lot of the camps close. But we were lucky, this was peak dry season and we could roam where we wanted provided we could persuade Dudley to get the cars wet. He was not keen on the idea of getting water in the front or back diffs. We were later reassured that this would not be a problem but we were a bit jittery after all the mechanical problems to date on this trip.
Our favourite picnic site.
We drove along the north bank of the river which gave us the first glimpse of the iconic Chilojo cliffs, a wonderful landmark we would come to love and appreciate over the next few days. There is a picnic site on the river bank opposite the cliffs which became a favourite spot for mid morning break. We crossed back to the south via the Chitove causeway to our camp spot. It was on the edge of a large muddy pan. Sadly it looked dry, but there were warthog, baboons and waterbuck grazing. From here we were close to another river crossing at Chamuluvati to the Tembwehata lake and picnic site where we found hippos and lots of birds in a small pool of water.
We became so engrossed in bird watching as we drove back to camp in the dusk light that we failed to notice the agitation of the small groups of elephants coming down to drink until we were treated to a full scale charge requiring some fairly nifty avoidance tactics. But more of that later. The elephants this side of the park were definitely grumpy. They really did not like the Beast.
At night we were serenaded by hyena and jackal and the Pearl spotted owl. The elephants trumpeted and broke trees close enough to make us sweat but in the end they moved off and let us be.
Next day we drove down to the Runde Save confluence which is about as far east as you can go. I don't think it is well traveled as it was overgrown and the track quite rough. Again we were rewarded with more birds than animals but a herd of buffalo ran down the bank on the opposite side of the river.
Our last day on this side of the park we left camp early at first light and immediately ran into a huge pack of wild dog hunting on the flats. Perhaps 25 in total and youngsters and adults together. We watched them hunt warthog and then found them on an impala kill. Just us and them and so for an amazing hour or so we got up close and personal. Now that's what memories are made of.
Keep Fit bush style
Chilove Crossing
Bathing at Fishans Causeway
We moved west for our next camp at Directors campsite. We were excited for this as Directors has the reputation as the best camp in the park. It sits on the south bank of the river just under the Chilojo cliffs and from the camp you have a view down the river to the cliffs. It did not disappoint and we had no need to roam the park when we could sit on our small lookout and see the world unfold below us. It was hot and many elephants and antelope came to drink and bathe in the river. The light turned orange and red as the sun set and picked up the pink and gold hues of the Chilojo cliffs.
View from Directors camp
That night the elephants came into camp and ate the trees above our tents. Ian and Carmen, who were in a ground tent, wondered about what had possessed them to camp right under a huge (and apparently tasty) tree. I could see the huge tusks of a large bull gleaming in the moonlight no more than a meter away. Wary after our elephant encounters in the east of the park we held our breaths but after 20 minutes they moved off and we slept deeply.
Directors camp lookout
Next day we decided to drive up to the top of the Chilojo cliffs to enjoy the spectacular views over the river. It was shaping up to be a hot hot day. Kudu, impala and zebra greeted us on our journey. The cliffs and surrounding area are dotted with beautiful baobab trees, some are huge and clearly very old. The elephants have done some damage but there is a system in place to wire the base of the trees to try and protect the bark. The view from the cliffs was hazy with the heat but still spectacular. After a leisurely breakfast we headed down to cool off. We swam at Fishans and filled up with water and spent the afternoon watching the animals coming down to bathe and drink. At 4.00 pm we went back to the river to spot the birds and hunt for lions but to no avail.
View from the top of the cliffs
In our absence a troop of baboons had taken up residence in the big tree back at camp and nothing and no one was able to move them despite our best efforts. I don't know if you have ever slept under a roosting troop of baboons. It's fine while they sleep but in the morning they have a communal bowel evacuation which leads to a hail of poo bombs. We agreed to get up super early next day to try and avoid the show. We nearly made it but at 5.30 sharp the poo bombs rained down and then about 20 baboons vacated the premises. Oh well, it could have been worse. It could have been 100 baboons.
The next day was cloudy which was a welcome respite after the heat of the day before. We headed down to Fishans again, still keen to find the lions. They had proved elusive although we heard them roar at night. We found about 200 vultures on the sand bank about 200m from the crossing and 2 beautiful male lions feasting on a zebra. They were a bit of a distance away but we could reach with the long lenses and spent the morning watching the interaction between birds and cats.
When the lion moved off we continued to our favourite Chilojo picnic spot and returned to wash the baboon poo off the cars at the river crossing. A lone sable graced us with his presence. That night we slept at Hlaro, a camp site next door to Directors. It also overlooks the river but further down with a narrower view. It was cold and windy that night and the next day the animals had moved off the river. We set off for our last camp at Runde Gorge towards the western gate at Chipinda Pools.
Hlaro camp
Runde Gorge is a small rocky site overlooking a narrow gorge over the Runde river. The animals remained scarce but we saw the tracks of eland, buffalo and elephants. En route we passed a large fenced area which puzzled us initially. We decided it was probably a boma for protection of the rhino. Gonarezhou has a checkered history as far as rhino are concerned. In 1940 they had the first rhino extinction. In 1969 rhino were reintroduced but in 1994 were again declared extinct due to poaching. In 2021 29 black rhino were reintroduced. I think they are keeping a low profile because we saw no sign of them in our perambulations through the park. Maybe that's a good thing. Fingers crossed.
The Gonarezhou Conservation Trust runs an active Campfire initiative to engage the local communities to better understand the benefits of the park and the principals of conservation. It has led to reduced poaching and improved human wildlife conflict as well as better management of the conservation areas under tribal management which border the park.
" Success means going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm"
Winston Churchill.
Runde Gorge camp
The Chilojo Cliffs
The Chilojo Cliffs are one of the most prominent natural features of Gonarezhou. Visible from 50 km away the early morning and evening light gives them a warm rich hue which dramatically frames the distinctive baobab trees.
The oxide rich sandstone cliffs have been formed through seasons of erosion to form red and white banded columns. 180m high, the cliffs stretch for over 20 km along the south bank of the Runde river. Views from the top provide a Grand Canyon like vista over the Runde river and surrounding flood plains
A lonely elephant navigating the overgrazed Mopane shot from the top of the cliffs.
Elephants
Well Gonarhezhou is not called 'The Place of Elephants' for nothing. This reserve screams elephants from the moment you enter. Some of this is because this particular dry season was characterised by severe overgrazing and obvious elephant damage. They have pulled down and uprooted trees and caused terrible damage to the baobabs.
They have over 12000 elephants in the park. I don't know what the ideal population is but perhaps less than that. Still it's hard to be angry at elephants. They are such iconic, reassuring and engaging elements of the wilderness. It would be an empty park without them.
Indeed the whole of Zimbabwe seems to have a very healthy population and we came across huge numbers in both Mana Pools and Hwange. What was interesting was how different each of these elephant populations was.
Usually you don't have the opportunity to study elephants from different populations in a narrow time frame, and anyway you usually visit similar ecosystems in the same geographical areas, but travelling from East to West in Zim we found very obvious contrasts and the Gonarezhou elephants were a very different kettle of fish.
I am almost sure this reflects their 30 years or so of living in a conflict area. I have been to parks where hunting takes place and the animals in these parks behave differently. It is one of the reasons I am not lulled into the argument that hunting is pro conservation. This argument only works when you are considering monetary value. Even then it is debatable.
Animals know. They are skittish, anxious and angry and they respond to human encounters with suspicion, defensive behaviour and sometimes aggression. This is what we saw in Gonarezhou, especially on the eastern side.
It is a sad reflection on the darker side of human behaviour.
On the evening we were charged out of the blue you could see small groups of elephants walking across the sand vlei towards the river. As soon as they heard or saw the car, and long before we got anyway near them, they formed a defensive circle with the babies in the middle and then they moved in a strange cohesive shuffle, generally away from you.
As a result we decided it was likely that they had been shot from the back of landcruisers so our little convoy was viewed with extreme distrust. In Gonarezhou it pays to be very very wary of elephants and give them space. If they approach you then they seem to mind their own business, mostly just grazing and moving through, but if you were on the move you needed to keep your eyes open and your wits about you. The male elephant that charged us did so with purpose and speed and very little warning. We did manage to outrun him but he harassed the other cars for a while before moving off. We were lucky.
The elephants walking down the river beds and climbing the sandy banks, crossing the parched valleys are an integral part of the beauty of Gonarezhou. I hope in time they no longer have to be afraid. Then they can return to their old broader migration routes and re enter the so called "fear zones" where previous poaching and trophy hunting around the park have impacted their normal movements to a smaller, tighter range, putting much greater pressure on resources than necessary. There are no fences with Mozambique and South Africa but they confine themselves to areas of safety and protection like Gonarezhou. We heard similar stories in some of the other reserves.
When management improves the game comes back, not because of active relocation, but because they choose to migrate to places of safety.
Well before I get above myself, spouting my untested theories of the natural world, I think I should put it in perspective.
"I have my own view of natures methods, though I feel that it is rather like a beetle giving his opinions upon the Milky Way"
Sherlock Holmes
Battle of the Giants
Gonarhezhou is undoubtedly the land of giants and there is an ongoing battle for survival between the elephants and the glorious, ancient and gigantic baobab trees here.
Baobabs are succulents and retain enormous amounts of water in their fibrous bodies and bark which makes them an irresistible resource for thirsty elephants, and eland and porcupine, especially in the dry season.
Baobabs can survive severe mauling by elephants and will not die even if ringbarked. They will fall over however if their bases are gouged away.
Normal lifespan is difficult to gauge but carbon dating has been done on a few individuals in Gonarezhou, and the Panke baobab, which died in 2011, was thought to be 2500 years old. Others have been estimated at 1-2000 years. Old baobab's just crumble into a pile of fibre and it has been speculated that increasing temperatures and drought, not to mention elephant pressure, are reducing baobab lifespans significantly. One study suggested Gonarezhou is losing 1 baobab a week to these pressures.
A project to protect the baobab's was launched in 2015, especially the worst affected trees in the river flood plains. Methods to protect the baobabs include putting sharp rocks around the base and wrapping the trunk in a wire mesh.
We visited one of the most famous of the Gonarezhou baobabs, the Poachers Tree or Shadracks Office.
This enormous hollow baobab has plenty of stories to tell. An infamous Mozambican poacher called Shadrack Muteruko used the hollow in the tree between 1968 and 1983 to store his ill gotten gains. He killed 20-25 tuskers and black rhino each year and sold the ivory and horn to Portuguese traders in Beira. Shadrack and his partner John were considered local "Robin Hoods" because they gave the meat to the local villagers which ensured their loyalty and protection. Many of these villagers had lost their access to game meat when the park had been declared and they were forcibly relocated.
Shadrack was arrested in 1983, shortly after the introduction of the Campfire program which resulted in legal bush meat being made available to the local people. A coincidence? I think not.
Wild Dogs
The opportunity to see wild dogs in numbers is rare and always a treat. They are the most endangered large carnivore in Africa with an estimated 6,600 remaining in the wild, only 1400 of which are adult. Fragmentation of territory, human wildlife conflict and diseases such as distemper and rabies remain major challenges to their success. They are also difficult to keep in a prescribed area, tunnelling easily under fences
Gonarezhou has a very close relationship to wild dog conservation with 2 large packs in the park. The size of the area helps to support them. Areas between 150 and 4000 km2 are needed, depending on prey density, to support an average pack. The pack size varies from 8-40 dogs but the dynamic changes as the adult females leave the pack and join up with other groups to ensure genetic diversity.
Wild dogs are some of the most successful hunters with a kill rate of over 60%. They can run over 40 km/hr for over 5 km and will chase down their favoured prey by running in relay in the pack. When we first found this pack they were on the sand flats and had cornered a mother warthog and her piglets. We were convinced that was tickets for the little warthog family but the mom was a fierce protector and backing into a bush, she held the dogs at bay with her tusks before the family bolted. We followed as best we could but the dogs ( and warthog) moved fast.
I saw there was a parallel road leading down to the river so we decided to cut through to see if we could cut them off. Imagine our surprise when we found the dogs again on the bank with the remains of an impala carcass. That did not immediately make sense but I think in retrospect they had killed the impala some time before, the pups had eaten first (the youngsters are always allowed to eat first) and then went off to play and were just teasing the warthog as a bit of a game.
The adults stayed with the carcass and the youngsters came back to join them.
They are fast when it comes to eating, a medium sized antelope can be consumed in 15-29 minutes, but no way could they have caught and cleared the majority of the carcass before we arrived, literally minutes behind them.
Anyway when the pups returned they took pieces of the carcass and careered around chasing each other and fighting over scraps. The alpha female with her bloodied fur looked on.
The dogs were on the river bank but we could drive down under them which gave a great perspective for photos literally from ground level.
Eventually, the carcass finished, they moved off to sleep it off under some trees further down the river. We had truly been blessed with a fantastic sighting. Everyone else we met in the park was still looking for them. Just saying!
We have been privileged to have had many sightings of wild dog hunting and eating but have never seen a kill. I am secretly happy for this as I am not sure I could stomach watching the prey be torn apart alive no matter how cute these little rascals appear, nor how closely they resemble mans best friend.
We had had a fantastic 11 days in Gonarezhou and I can honestly say it has catapulted up my list of top parks to visit. We were lucky our breakdown did not eat into the time we spent there too much and we still had time to sit and soak in the unique flavour of this reserve.
Although I am at risk of becoming repetitive during this blog, we will be back. Do yourselves a favour and put this one on the bucket list. Just come prepared because you will be hot and sweaty and dusty and dirty at the end.