I have always wanted to go to Gonarezhou, Zimbabwe’s largest National Park and one of the least visited. It’s in the south-eastern corner of Zimbabwe, borders Mozambique, and has suffered over the years from the bush war, poaching and general neglect. It is part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier National Park and forms one of the largest conservation areas in Africa, now managed in partnership with the Frankfurt Zoological Society – and what a difference that makes to the upkeep and efficiency: clean loos at picnic sites, protected baobabs, and strictly no off-roading! Every move we make has to be reported in by our guide.

The famous Chilo cliffs, plus map of park. We barely made a dent on the vast area, staying in the north

Gonarezhou means place of the elephants and this is no misnomer – there are about 12,000 in the park! However due to the disruptions  of the past all the animals, but especially the eles – are skittish and shy. It’s heartbreaking to see these huge beasts running from the road, with tiny babies, grown-up brothers, sisters, and matriarchs, ears flapping and tails out in distress.

Hardly any elephant photos as they shied away. Once we had to wait 30 minutes while a herd of cows and calves decided to browse and sand-bathe in the road

We leave Harare early, after a relaxing couple of nights in York Lodge, surrounded by bougainvilleas, gazanias, clivias, jacarandas and all sorts of flowers, looking much better than mine at home! We have decided to fly down and return by road – mainly because one of our gang has had health issues and doesn’t fancy the six hour drive down. Also we want to arrive early and get the most out of our four nights. In fact on return it is a good road, mostly empty, bar the ginormous lithium and sugar cane lorries – the former being exported via Mozambique to China, who is sponsoring this rape of natural resources to feed the world’s desire for batteries…more of this anon.

York Lodge gardens. Gonaz team assembles – Cindy, Dan, me, Ross and Rick. Its super early!

We are greeted by Budgie, the airstrip cat, and are whisked straight into the park by Sean Hind, our guide, check his website, whom we have known for a long time and who is one of the best birders in the business. On this trip we knock off 126 species in four days,  including the extremely rare and twitchers’ top spot, the Pels fishing owl. Rick, our dear friend and habitué of our Zimbabwe trips, has set us a target of 112, and we manage to beat it with aplomb! Cindy, another veteran of Mana trips, has the best non-professional eyes ever, and makes this seem easy….

Squacco heron, Green-winged Pitilia, Spectacled weaver, Pearl spotted Owlet, Speckled Mousebirds, Martial Eagle, Spotted Thick-knee, Pel’s fishing owl, Red-necked Spurfowl (thanks Ross for pics)

We stay in Chilojo Bush camp, a delightful semi-catered camp – and by this I mean there is a resident staff and chef, but we bring out own food to order, where it is deliciously prepared by the aptly-named Gorgeous.

The tents are spacious, with comfy beds, crisp linen and a bush bathroom/shower. Our’s is beneath a huge wild mango, which is scattering orange petals around us as we sleep – favourites with nocturnal impala and elephants. One night I am woken at 1.30 am by a huge family dispute, trumpeting and harrumphing which scares me witless. We are a long way from Sean and the others…on that same night Ross’s night camera caught Nigel (named by Cindy), the new male camp leopard, skulking behind our tent. Perhaps that’s what caused the racket – who knows?

The wild mango; Dan and Cindy taking a breather; our landcruiser (sorry Stretch!)

We spend our four days bumping around on corrugated roads, taking in the fantastic views of the Chilo Cliffs, which are ochre red, and at sunset glow like embers. One day we visit the viewing point, looking out over the Runde river; another day we trek all the way down to the influence of the Runde and the Save (sadly just a huge bed of sand, looking over to Mozambique) – and this is where Cindy’s loo stop rustles up the Pels who is disturbed from his slumbers and, obligingly, moves his perch giving us the view  in full flight.

The viewpoint – Sean, master of all he surveys – and our picnic spot on our trek to the confluence of the Runde and Save rivers – by a dried out water hole

We had already been on a fruitless Pels search across the Runde, walking in the sand and wading through the surprisingly clear, cool water – keeping an eye out for crocs, but in truth it is too shallow. No Pels and herds of cow and calf elephants coming for sundowners cause us to beat a sedate retreat!

The intrepid explorers set out to find Pels…

Gonaz (as it’s known affectionately) is home to a large rhino conservation operation with 30 of them released and breeding in the park. We see a rhino footprint, the closest we get to one – but in that hunt come across a huge pack of wild dogs, with eight pups, and at least 10-12 adults. Not a good view as like all the locals they are road shy – but thrilling nevertheless.

Sean is thrilled with the rhino footprint; a natural rock pool (plenty of water in Gonaz); baobabs showing elephant damage (an elephant was crushed by a baobab he was attacking while we were there – rough justice!), and chicken wire deterrents; crossing the Runde river by ford

We love the vistas, with the 2000-3000 year old baobabs dotted about, now protected with (variously) buffalo dung, rocks and chicken wire.  Some deterrent but not 100% as those eles are determined. It is lovely to see small things like dwarf mongeese and hyraxes in abundance, and several klipspringer families. However, it is quite hard work looking for the animals as the area is so large and, as I have said, they are shy, unlike in Mana, where you would not wait 15 minutes for a herd of cows and calves to cross the road (and delay sunset drinks!). We loved our short stay there – a very wild experience.

Rock hyrax (dassie), Klipspringers, Dwarf Mongoose (thanks again Ross)

I also enjoy the ride back, chatting to our driver about Zimbabwe – the drought (serious – no winter maze planted), employment – lack of, he for instance is an extremely intelligent graduate in marketing with fluent English and a great brain – but here he is driving us), the Chinese influence over everything, especially mining, building and propping up the top echelons of government/generals/ministers, the roads and traffic.

Sundowner spot – Cindy takes to the waters, we take to beers and gin!

We look at the new houses being built in the middle of nowhere – commuters from Harare who avail themselves of the cheap illegal taxis and we discuss his view of the future. Like all of us he travels hopefully. Truly this is a wonderful country with lovely, friendly people and it’s a tragedy that most of the time there’s no water, no electricity, no jobs, but somehow people keep going, mostly on remittances from abroad. Let us hope his positivity is fulfilled – the forecast for this season’s rains is good.