We got in from the Eastern Highlands yesterday and will sort out our chores for a couple of days before setting out for Mavuradohna. We’ll leave the van here, as we will be staying in A frame bashas there. Mavuradohna is a campfire project, run by locals with the assistance of the Wildlife Society. It is situated North of Centenary, toward the Mozambique border and we believe that it is very beautiful there. Cost ZD 150 per basha.

Our friend Bert from Rain Valley went in to have his knees replaced as planned, and is coming through well, we will hopefully see him again in April – we are definitely coming back to the Highlands. After La Rochelle we had a few days before becoming temporary fruit farmers. Earlier we had explored the Honde Valley down below the escarpment and discovered the Aberfoyle Country Club situated in the Aberfoyle (now Eastern Highlands) Tea Estate. The Club is now run as an hotel and is surrounded by a hills partially covered by tea and the remainder indigenous forest. Lots of bird life and a very pleasant and interesting nine hole golf course. We decided to treat ourselves and go back and spend a night there, which we did. Again, very good value at ZD 700 Dinner B and B. The managers are Lynne and Mike Wicksteed. Mike is an ex Elder Dempster man.

Aberfoyle tea estate

View from our room. The structure in front was a machine gun bunker in more troubled times.

When we were staying at La Rochelle, we met up with Ian and Nicky Brereton. Ian runs a tobacco farm just outside Rusape for his father-in-law, who has the farm next door.

” Man, you must come and visit us, we’ve got a game reserve on the farm. You can park your van under a tree. The Old Man will be delighted to see you.”

Now this was not the normal “You must drop in and see us some time”. The invitation was repeated several times and we were given a map and directions. Typically Zimbabwean.

” Don’t bother to phone, the phone doesn’t normally work anyway.” Also typically Zimbabwean.

We set a date, and after leaving Rain Valley, we rocked up at Moreson Farm (Actually only 26 kms from Rain Valley as the crow flies, but about 80 by road.

Nobody was at home, but we were expected, and the cook produced a large pot of tea and the message that we were to make ourselves comfortable in the house. Ian later came in from work and escorted us a shady spot in the reserve and presented us with keys to his house and gate – we were to use the bathroom in the house whenever the need arose.

The reserve was some 2000 acres and was stocked with Blesbok, Bontebok, Duiker, Eland, Gemsbok, Giraffe, Impala, Leopard, Sable, Tsessebe, Wildebeest, and Zebra. Two game guards patrolled on Elephants. Ian would send the elephants round next morning.  We spent a very pleasant night listening to the sounds of the bush. Next morning there was not much game around, but then at about 7am we saw the two elephants and their riders approaching through the trees.

Dumpy, Gideon, Sweets and John

Sweets and Dumpy are 7 and 8 year old African Elephants and have been trained by their Mahouts John and Gideon, both Shona, for the past two years. Up they came to us, knelt down and then we realised that we were actually expected to climb aboard. Jean has never been a keen rider, and has an aversion to horses, but there was no hesitation here – although the scramble up the Elephant’s flank was a little ungainly. And off we went, each sitting astride an elephant, behind the Mahout, swaying and bumping off into the bush. Unbelievable! The game were unconcerned at the presence of the elephants and we got very close. The problem is when you are sitting astride an elephant, even a young one, you are sitting astriiiide an elephant. Jean lasted 2 hours, Sean got off and walked (hobbled) after an hour and a half. We both thought we would never walk again, but what a wonderful experience!

Jean and Gideon on Dumpy

Dumpy enjoying a sugarcane treat.

That afternoon Nicky took us around to the next-door farm to introduce us to her father Rob Lucas and his wife Jane. We had been told that they were “different”. “Different” first became evident when we passed though their gate and noticed the sign “Beware of the Lion”. After a warm welcome and a pot of tea, we were introduced to Prince, a fully grown male lion, and his consort, a fully grown spayed female. They are kept in their own enclosure, and although Prince will let you get close it’s just as well that there is a fence there. Jane says that he has never really forgiven them for having his mate spayed.  Can you imagine it – rolling up to the vet with a lioness in tow. A good way to clear a crowded waiting room.

“The Boys” enjoying a good scratch.

In the enclosure next door are” The Boys”, Blue and Yellow. Two 2-year-old male lions who bound up to you like overgrown puppies. Well, more a mixture between puppy and kitten because they actually rub up against you through the wire.  Next, we met a 23-year-old Duiker chewing away at the roses, and a Nagapie who lived in Jane’s blouse.

On the other side of the house were the dogs who were enclosed because they had a tendency to give the labour a hard time. There were three dogs, but one of them had an identity problem, it was a hyena. Eena had been raised as a baby by Jane and was a household pet. Like the dogs he was only enclosed when the labour was around.  On top of all this, there were 2 warthogs, various ducks and geese, and a number of horses.

Eena the hyena. Currently locked up because it was pay day for the farm labour, and she tends to chase them for fun.

You can imagine that this is not a quiet household. A few weeks back Prince got out and Rob had quite a problem rounding him up, and the other day Eena, who has a mischievous streak, was wandering around the “Boys” enclosure teasing them. The inevitable happened, The Boys charged the gate, broke the lock, and the game was on. A screaming Eena hurtling around the garden with two male lions in full cry and bent on revenge. Fortunately, The Boys have a very different temperament to Prince, and they were rounded up without too much trouble. Eena who had dived through a bedroom window was eventually found cowering behind the settee in the lounge. Luckily, the boys didn’t follow. As it is, the Lucas’s have just had to change their lounge suite after the playful attention of their pets, and the new one wouldn’t have stood much of a chance. Definitely a “different” household.

The next morning, yesterday, we woke up to find 5 giraffe gazing suspiciously at the van, and then, as we sat outside with our coffee and tea we watched a passing parade of various game wandering past. We have been invited back when we return to the area next year – an invitation that we look forward to taking up. (Sadly we never did.)

Sable