That was scary Ep306
Border South Africa, Botswana. Let's go. It's 6:20 and we're a bit late. Actually, 20 minutes late. Let's go. Hello and welcome to Grizzly and Bear Overland with Lee and Stephie in Africa. In this week's episode, we take you to Zimbabwe Botswana. Spoiler alert, it
won't be any workshop content in this video. Only travel and adventure in a beautiful part of the world. It's quite a busy border crossing this one. Our
passports are sent out of South Africa. Here to change country, we cross a bridge over the Limpopo River. Then we must disinfect our shoes on a questionable carpet. The vehicle also must be driven through a special [Music] liquid. We are done with the border crossing. It took us about uh 2 hours
and we're now in Botswana. We are just transiting on our way to Zimbabwe. Reason why is the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe is hectic. It can take up to three days to cross. So we did a little detour via Botswana. Uneventful day of driving with
a busy traffic in the towns. Wow. Right where we're headed. B. We made the decision not to attempt two border crossings in one day, which I think is a very good decision. Like Stephie just
mentioned, uh, Francis town back there in Botswana was hectic. It was just chaotic and a little bit stressful, the traffic. So, there's no way I can handle the Botswana Zimbabwe border today. We found online a um campsite that's about 30 km from the border, which looks really nice. So, we'll get there. We should be there midafter afternoon. and
we can chill out and Zimbabwe border bright and early tomorrow. [Music] [Music] [Music] What are we playing, Frenchie? Ramy. Oh, Ramy. This is Steph's favorite game. Breakfast this morning. Peanut butter, jelly, and banana in the wrap. Quick,
easy. Let's go. [Music] This morning we going to cross the Botswana Zimbabwe border. We are 1.3 kilometers away and there is already a queue. The queue is starting now. Uh-oh. [Music] [Music] [Music] We just cleared immigration and custom.
I believe it took 3 hours on the Botswana side. Now we have to do it all over again on the Zim side. [Music] We have stopped about halfway between Botswana and Zimbabwe in the no man's land and realized we need to put these on. We had a whole heap of guys just back there trying to sell us this reflective tape which we've already bought. So, we're going to put it on now
to try and avoid some hassles as we cross into Zimbabwe. It's a additional rule for Zimbabwe and they enforce it quite strictly. two white reflective strips on your front bumper, two red reflective strips on the rear bumper, one fire extinguisher, and two warning triangles. So, we do have these little ones on the back of the camper already, but we think they're not going to be enough, and we're thinking about taking the camper off. On the other side, it wasn't as busy, but a little more hectic and confusing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye-bye.
My prediction was we were going to be through all of that border crossing at 1:00 p.m. and it's now 10 to 1. We are officially in Zimbabwe. What a day. That was a big day. I'm so happy we didn't do anything crazy and attempt to cross the border yesterday because that was a long ordeal. I think we can say 6 hours from start to finish. The lady told us they had 6,000 people across the border today.
This is the reality of things. First meal in Zim. Do you come for fishing? No. No. We came for um some rock climbing actually, but it's quite hot. We're going to go and explore around Mtopos. Mtopos. It's nice. Nice
fishing. Good fishing. You like fishing, huh? Yeah. Yeah. We got some nice nice fishing. I'm no good at fishing. I don't eat fish, so it's not much point me fishing. You don't eat.
From Bulwayo where we had lunch, we made our way to our next stay near Mtopos National [Music] Park. The drive was mostly under the rain and on a not so good road with broken bitmen wide enough for only one vehicle. As soon as we arrived, the rain got heavier and heavier. When it cleared
out, we moved to the camping area. It was absolutely amazing with an incredible view and so peaceful. We are so grateful for our camper because it's pouring with rain right now. I just went to get the blender and I realized we have a leak. So
lucky we have the plastic box there. The leak is coming from a guzzle. The UV um sterilizer. We put a box in here and
it was dripping in the box. So, that was very lucky. I don't know. I don't see any cracks or anything there. But it seemed like it was leaking out of this itself, you know, cuz none of the connections were wet. But I'm not sure it's going to work.
It's more of a attempt temporary solution. That's all I had. It's not pretty. Don't zoom in. That night we had some neighbors, a lovely South African family who recognized our vehicle grizzly and bear early morning trail run around this magnificent property, the farmhouse.
It's like a guest house slash campsite and it's got to be up there with one of the most beautiful we've ever stayed at. And I've just been cruising along here and then uh a whole herd of uh wilderbeast just mossied in front of me, not even nervous. So, they're obviously quite used to humans here. Oh man, what a property. This is next level. Day one or day two technically of Zimbabwe.
Woohoo. Incredible. Today we're going to explore a little bit of the Mtopos National Park, have a look at some potential rock climbing and enjoy this incredible place. My name is Jadin. Welcome to Zimbabwe. Welcome to the farmhouse. We're going to put this on now. This is always so exciting to put a
new flag. She's going to have a tape measure on it after Jadin. So, you better be careful.
So, it's good. Oh, yeah. I think it's good. Thank you. Perfect. Welcome to Zimbabwe. As the weather got better, we made the most of it and we've decided to remove the camper from the Defender. That way, we could explore the area without having to pack camp each day. I
could also do a little bit of hand washing as it had a chance to dry today. A quick stop by the reception to connect to the Wi-Fi. And off we went on a little adventure, searching for some potential rock climbing. [Music] [Music] We have arrived at this incredible piece of rock, massive granite dome, and the walls look to be, if I had to guess, 150 meters high maybe. Now, we found out about this place from the rock climbing club of Zimbabwe. They sent me a topo
for this place. Pretty new stuff. We're not necessarily going to do anything, but we're just going on a bit of a recon mission today. Check it out and see if we might put up a route or two tomorrow or the next day. We are on the outskirts of the Mobbo or Mtopos, I'm not sure of the correct name, one of those two. National park. So, we haven't actually entered the national park. Now these rocks are
part of the communities well where all the communities and villages are. What a drive today. As soon as well the whole drive from leaving the farmhouse campsite all the way to here. I think it
was 38 km of extremely enjoyable tracks and trails through the coolest little villages. Everybody screaming, waving hello Zimbabwe. So far we're impressed. We can hear the baboons. They are
letting us know that they are here and they own the place. It's a little bit intimidating. We know that there's no lions in this area, so we're not being so careless, but there are leopards and um those guys. We are close to the cliff now. Sharp shop. Uh, every bush is vicious. Look, we made it.
Ah, look at this. Wow. This is scary. Baboons. I tell you, I'm sure they're they're coming closer. Sounds
like she's really scared. They sound like a feral dog or something. That was scary. We couldn't find our markers back to where we came from. Probably we were okay, but we're in their territory and we're fully aware of that. We were up against the cliff face just starting to look at like potential climbing areas and then definitely those baboons were getting closer and closer and it just sounded like they were surrounding us. The sound
of some sharp infected. Yeah, it sounds like rabies. Maybe we're not going to climb at that area. We'll go have a look somewhere else. Yeah. Good afternoon.
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I don't [Music] The following day we drove to the national park. Welcome to Mato National Park. This place is called Matbo with a B. It was
called Mtopos. Later on later on people were not able to pronounce the Mobbo. Then they said Mtopos the same thing. Yes. Inside Mtopo there's a rose gra there lodges also.
You can do camping. You can uh do fishing also. And we have an activity which you call Rhino Walk. You pay for
the guide and you go with the guide and tracking the rhinos. We have a white rhinos. The black one is the one which is aggressive and the white rhinos are a bit friendly. Yes. [Music] [Music] Hello sir, how are you? I'm fine, Joseph. We just went on a very, very special experience. We cannot share this
with you guys. I'm sorry because we were specifically asked by the uh anti- poaching ranger not to share anything on the internet, which is absolutely fair enough. And we can understand why. We just went on a walking safari, a little mini trek into the bush with an anti- poaching ranger to visit some white rhinos and they were spectacular. We got up nice and close without disturbing them. It was amazing. Really special. Uh I mean it's no secret there are rhinos in the Mopos National Park. I asked the lady how many. She told me that's
confidential as well, which is fair enough because the poaching is real. [Music] Look, Baba choose. Yeah, this is nice. I'll take picture. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. What do you got,
Stephie? fruit basket. Ah, it's a fruit basket. Okay, that's beautiful. After a little bit of shopping, we were hoping to get lunch in a lodge inside the national park. Unfortunately, they
didn't serve food, so we had a drink instead and we enjoyed the view. [Music] You had to look every now and then which way to go. Can smell his little ball of poo. Definitely.
Yeah. They're an extremely important part of the ecosystem. These guys so cool. Sometimes the insects are just as cool as the big animals, you know.
[Music] Oh, this is the money. We were using it, but expired in 2008. Now we're using some US dollars. I like this this one because we got the elephant. Oh, we like one. So, I'm going to buy $1 million for $2. What a bargain.
Now I found a $5 billion a dollar as well. This one $1. Yeah, you can't expect to become a billionaire for $1, sweetie. Let's not get greedy. We bought some treats. This is um World's View Mogo National Park, the burial place of Ceil John Roads. It is found in Matiland South in um Zimbabwe. It also is a place that is
a world heritage site that houses uh quite a lot of um history, biodiversity as well as um spiritual significance for the country. [Music] Hey [Music] hey we continue exploring the park now searching for some rock art. The Matobbo's countless caves and rock shelters were ideal places to live. The Matobbo artists probably lived like the sand people. As hunter gatherers, they
were nomadic people who lived in natural caves. Their way of life was governed by the seasons. Their food was wild game, honey, nuts, fruit, seeds, and roots.
There are many rockart sites in the Matobbo hills, but only a selection are open to the public. This is to protect the rich heritage. 300 m. A great day in the national park ended with once again the rain. On our way back to the camper, we
had an awesome little surprise. [Music] Okay, we are back in the campa. We hope you enjoyed the episode. We will see you next time for more adventures in Zimbabwe. Until then, take care.
Bye-bye.
2025-04-29 06:54
