Family trip Part Three…..Botswana and Zimbabwe …….. Namibia, South Africa

Overlanding Zimbabwe:
A Gritty, Glorious Road Trip in our 4x4 Truck Camper, ‘Tiny’. From Victoria Falls to Zimbabwe Ruins.

When most people think of a family vacation, they imagine beach chairs or hotel lobbies—not five adults crammed into a custom-built truck camper, but here we are.
Jo dubbed our trusty camper ‘Tiny’ and it has stuck. From the thunderous spray of Victoria Falls to the sacred stillness of the Great Zimbabwe ruins, Tiny has taken us all on an epic loop of Zimbabwe. Derek managed to get Tiny to dodge most of the potholes on the Vic Falls Bulawayo road but there was no getting away from getting covered in red mud from the maize fields of Banket.
Our route:
• Victoria Falls
• Bulawayo
• Gweru (brief stopover)
• Kwekwe
• Chinhoyi
• Banket
• Harare
• Great Zimbabwe (Masvingo)

The road from Botswana to Vic Falls was good, a nice surprise. We parked up at the N1 hotel campsite, a great location right in the center of town alongside the pool and restaurant. We took the rainforest walk beside the falls, got soaked to the bone, and loved every minute. Followed by a sunset cruise on the Zambezi with a few Zambezi Lagers in hand, except Mack he had more than a few, whenever he took his last swig and put the bottle down another one would appear. —we saw plenty of crocs and hippos,
We took a rafting trip down the Zambezi, battling the rapids and soaking in the rugged scenery. What a crazy idea…. just a few stairs they said….You had to climb down the canyon, hop on the white water raft, paddle down the Zambezi, getting caught in the whirl of the ‘washing machine’ then climb back up the canyon for lunch.

Victoria Falls to Bulawayo
The drive south to Bulawayo was long and surprisingly quite empty. It was also hard work because of the rain filled pot holes and sharp edged bitumen. We passed a few truck stops and school kids waving. Passed Mopane trees and teak forests that gave way to open bush. The roads are an adventure in themselves (watch those potholes!), but Derek and our truck camper handled it like a champ. We stopped once, to fix a hose using duct tape and a prayer.
Bulawayo is Zimbabwe’s second-largest city and offered a change of pace. Arriving in Bulawayo felt like rolling into an old colonial outpost frozen in time. Wide avenues lined with jacaranda trees, and old railway buildings. We parked at the council campsite for a couple of nights, a beautiful park with rundown ablutions, it also felt like it had been left over from another time. We loved the breakfast we had at the Bulawayo club, it was like dining in a living museum. Ashtrays in the toilets and elephant feet umbrella stands.

Bulawayo to Chinhoyi
From Bulawayo, we headed northeast toward Chinhoyi. The road was rough in places, but the truck camper held its own. We passed roadside markets with tomatoes stacked like pyramids and children waving as we rolled by.
Gweru, a modern town, fuel stop and on to KweKwe for the night at an animal orphanage. A camp site just outside the city where you had to shoo the donkey out of the ablution block before you could get in and while showering you may be spied on by the local kuku, tall enough to look in the bathroom window.

From Kwekwe, we made our way to Chinhoyi, a small town that most travelers might pass by, but for us, it was a stop with its own charm. The town of my birth and a visit to the Chinhoyi Caves, a place of deep, cool water and limestone formations. The blue pool inside is so clear it looked like it goes on forever. We camped in the grounds of the caves, drove around the town looking at familiar land marks and dined at the Orange Grove.

We didn't stay long in Chinhoyi. We were headed to Banket next, a tiny rural farming town.
We camped at a friends farm, Pindi park. We were here to visit the area I grew up in and to show the kids.
What to say about this area… What Mother nature created is magnificent. What humans have created is mostly in various stages of disrepair. Except the old Blue Jay Hotel, beautifully renovated with a lovely coffee shop and lawn to drink in on.

Final Leg to Harare.
Finally, Harare welcomed us with its urban buzz. Crazy busy market streets. Some handcrafted goods and restaurants. First night at the sports club because the camp site I had lined up was closed. We met a local there celebrating his birthday who befriended us.
Found a new camp site in town ‘Casa Da Rocha’, very new ,still being built but close to town and on the road to Kariba.
Masoe Dam. The campsite owners invited us up to their rowing club braai. We camped here the night, a beautiful spot.
A school friend invited us to stay at her place while in Harare which was lovely, she showed us around the restaurants and Haka park in Harare. Caught up with some other friends,

Our final destination was Great Zimbabwe, the ancient ruins that has fascinated me for years. Walking through the Great Enclosure, I tried to picture what life must have been like here centuries ago—this thriving kingdom built entirely from stone. The sheer scale of it all is impressive.
We camped at the Great Zimbabwe Hotel near the ruins.