I have been wanting to go and visit my cousins, Anne and Roger Whittall and their family, in Zimbabwe where they have a ranch in the Save Valley pretty much since the borders closed almost two years ago due to Covid. Finally, now, I made it. The land borders still aren’t open, which is a shame because driving is much easier and if we had been able to drive Jay may have come with me, but flights to and from Zimbabwe are available, so I took a bus to Johannesburg and flew from there to Harare.
I booked my stay in Zimbabwe for a month, because that’s how long I can get a visa for, and stayed with Roger and Anne in Humani for just over two weeks. Now, I am back in Harare, soon to head back to South Africa.
This will be the first of my posts sharing photos from the trip, as photos are the best way I can see to convey the beauty of Humani. My cousins do safari trips, as well as lots of conservation work, and the wildlife and natural landscape are stunning and, I think, unbeatable. My very first evening there, after driving the whole day from Harare, I went out with Roger and we ran right into a herd of elephants.
On this first afternoon drive with Roger, we drove right into the middle of a herd of elephants. The first photo shows most of the herd on the left, and the above shows a mother and baby, who we inadvertently cut off from the rest of the group, on the right. Separating a mother and baby from the herd is the last thing you want to do… What followed was angry trumpeting and a charge, as shown below. Luckily, with Roger’s skilled driving, we got out of the way.
Mother and baby charging across the road behind the car.
We drove down to the river to watch the sunset, and there, as Roger predicted, once more ran into the elephants. This time, they were at a safe distance and we watched them peaceably.
We saw three herds together - almost 100 elephants total. This is the most I have ever seen, and they had such tiny little babies with them - only days old.
The light was not great as it was dusk, but you can see how many elephants there are crossing here.
After the elephants passed, we turned and saw that the full moon was rising over the water. In the back, you can see the Chimanimani Mountains, which line the border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. We did a trip in those mountains just over a year ago, which you can see here.
Here is a video I took - again, not the best quality as the elephants were quite far away - but it just shows how many there were. The video opens with a young elephant splashing and playing. At about 1 minute in, you can see two of the little babies tripping in the river as it was a bit deep for them.
What an amazing first night spent on Humani.