My experiences of travelling in Zimbabwe 1996

N.B.
In no way is this information an accurate and up to date guide. Always buy an up to date travel book for the countries you are visiting.

If you find this guide useful, please take time to sign my guestbook

Victoria Falls to Mlibizi

As I said in the previous page I had packed my bag ready to leave Vic. Falls the night before so as dawn was breaking I left the campsite and started walking southeast on the main road out of town. My plan was to get far enough out of Vic. Falls so that any passing cars would be heading away from the town and not travelling to a local destination. I left the campsite at around 6 o'clock walked for twenty minutes then sat by the side of the road with my thumb out...

I got my first ride at ten to seven, the guy turned out to be the owner of 'Wayfarers' a new backpackers hostel which had recently opened in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. We had a good chat about my recent travels and my future itinerary. I was heading for Mlibizi which due east of Vic. Falls and is at the southern tip of Lake Kariba, unfortunately it is not shown on the map I have in these web pages but believe me it is there.

This first ride took me as far as the turning for the town of Hwange (Wanky), this is shown on my map. The guy I had travelled with called into a garage by the turning to exchange his bottle of Coke for a cold one, I bought one at the same time. He then left to continue his journey and I walked up to the main road to continue mine.

After about twenty minutes waiting I got a ride with a couple on their pick up truck. I say on because I was, literally! The truck was loaded with large wooden boxes together with some sacks, I had to pearch precariously on top of all these (bent double to keep out of the buffeting airflow). Ah, the joys of hitching in Africa!

They were able to take me as far as a cross roads, straight on was Bulawayo, right was the town of Dete (not shown on map) but I wanted the road to the left. This was the main road to the town of Binga (shown on map!). My lift dropped me off on the main road and I walked around the corner of the junction whereupon I saw a large crowd waiting at a bus stop. I asked a few people if the bus was going in the direction of Mlibizi and it was, earlier in the day the guy who gave me my first ride had advised to take a bus on this road as it was seldom used by cars. So I did, I can't remember the exact fare but I do remember it was very cheap.

The bus, which was on route for Binga, took me as far as the turning for Mlibizi, due to it's size Mlibizi is not shown on the map but it is at the extreme southern tip of Lake Kariba. A number of people got off the bus here, they were all headed for Mlibizi, we walked for 5 or 6 km then we all got a ride to the "town".

[ Home | Previous | Top of Page | Next | Map ]

Zimbabwe Diary Index