Day 7; Lake Mutirikwi (Kyle) to Lion & Elephant Motel.We awoke early to a cold and overcast day, the hotel served a hearty breakfast which hit the right spot and raised the spirits.
We decided to visit the Great Zimbabwe ruins which was 7kms from the Hotel, which was great because the temperature was a chilly 7 degrees! Hopefully it would warm up a bit before we got in the saddle again!
At the ruins parking lot we met a fellow adventure rider all the way from the UK on his BMW F800GS, he had been on the road a little over a month and was heading North into Mozambique. Boy were we jealous!!
The Ruins are an experience and I can strongly recommend a visit if you are in the area, it is really awesome to walk through the narrow passages and towering walls, built in the 11th century and still standing today!
The Museum.
We had coffee at the small tea garden.
This monkey was also cold, he was holding his nuts off the cold stone table!
When we arived back at the bikes we noticed that John Bs front shock seals were leaking, this was due to his previous meeting with mother earth. Dave re-aligned the front-end and cleaned the seals, problem solved!
On the road again, we filled up and turned onto the old tar road between Masvingo and Rutenga Junction, this road was basically a car width wide and ran parallel to the new road. After this road ended we took another awesome dirt road that wound it's way between the rock kopjies and small villages, crossing dry river beds and passing donkey carts carrying cotton bales to market.
We stopped again at a shabeen, met some more locals, including a deaf and dumb chap who communicated with us by writing on a piece of paper, he wanted us to post a photo back to him which we took of him standing with the bikes and some local children.
The deaf and dumb man.
We reached the Lion and Elephant Hotel at about 4pm, the end of our last day in Zim. What a great place to stay,comfortable chalets, great food and beautiful setting.
Our last sundowners in Zim.
The next day we left early, after a quick stretch to the border, we spent 2 hours getting back into SA, the guys voted for the quickest route home, all of us wanted to be home for fathers day.
I left Zim with mixed feelings, we had ridden the most beautiful route that I have ever ridden, through remote areas with stunning landscapes, friendly people and haunting childhood memories. I love the place, it creeps into your soul. I realized that it had crept into mine many years ago, being away for many years just left an empty void, returning "home" after 28 years just brought wonderful feelings and memories flooding back, although I lived and grew up during the bush war, I have only good memories, I realize that this wonderful place has and always will have a special place in my heart and soul...........................I will be back..........soon.
The End.
Topic: Zimbabwe - 6 Friends & 6 KTMs in DS heaven. (Read 6338 times)
