Overland Adventure Consultants

We started off our 2nd chapter of Expedition Zimbabwe with a couple of nights in Kazuma Pan. A beautiful unexplored paradise in western Zimbabwe - read more from Jo below.

South Western Hwange beckons next...

Expedition Zimbabwe!

Photo updates with todays earlier write up - connectivity issues from the bush!

Expedition Zimbabwe has got off to a great start, with some of Zimbabwe's wildest and most remote terrain now behind us. We have covered close to 800kms since we left Harare with 600km of that being offroad. The team are in good spirits and despite some long, hot days (temperatures in the high 30s) we are thoroughly enjoying the trip - with good sleep and fresh food thanks to our Eezi-Awn tent and National Luna fridges doing their thing while our Tough Dog Suspension has handled the rough tracks with ease - thank you Mr Cruiser Zim.

From Magunje we descended the Escarpment at sunset into the Gache Gache basin, where we were warmly received by Rob and Steph Davy and their family and enjoyed a fantastic meal and good company around a crackling camp fire. We spent the night at the Gache Gache Campsite courtesy of Ray Townsend - a great little spot which he is developing for the self drive and overland traveller.

Leaving Gache Gache, we headed through to Kariba, filling up the vehicles at Chawara Harbour before boarding the ferry for the 3 hour trip across the lake to Fothergill Island in Matusadona National Park. We spent two nights camped in the Kanjedza area, a beautiful spot under a large Tamarind tree on the banks of the Kanjedza River. Basing here for a few days, we explored the Nyamuni River on foot, with its prolific springs and good game viewing. We also climbed the Escarpment in search of Rupert Fothergill’s plaque - a tough climb in rising temperatures. The views from up there are hard to beat and we were grateful for a clear day with minimal haze obscuring the huge inland sea of .

We took the 4x4 route at the base of the escarpment from to , a tough slog that took over 3 hours to cover 36kms. The road hadn’t been opened, son we were cutting and clearing branches, filling in holes and shaping river crossings while both vehicles spent a large portion of the afternoon in low range. A beautiful route and for the adventurous visitor wanting a serious 4x4 experience - this route awaits the experienced and prepared enthusiast.

Tashinga, the Matusadona National Park HQ is a buzz of positivity with huge amounts of work being tackled by the Matusadona Conservation Trust - a joint venture between Zimparks and African Parks. A detailed tour by Mike Pelham gave us a insight into the various initiatives they have taken on - including managing the legal fishing of designated fishing areas around the park, human wildlife conflict prevention, law enforcement and anti poaching work and the all important community outreach work with the adjacent villages. We also had a detailed update from Chris Chaparushe the Tourism Manager - who gave us a run down of the exciting new accommodation and camping options for the self drive visitor. Matusadona National Park is certainly staking its claim as one of the most scenic and must visit destinations for the seeker of a true adventure and wilderness destination. Our last night in Matusadona National Park was in the Maronga River - a very scenic location with prolific amounts of game.

We were welcomed by the towering cliffs and incredible views of Friends of Chizarira, a wild and remote wilderness park and despite its reputation for poor game viewing were had reasonable sightings, particularly in the Mabola area. The highlight of our stay was the drive along the cliffs from Mucheni down to the Buzi. A must do for any visitor to this beautiful park. Our plans here were disrupted by a freak accident involving the Park tractor which jumped out of gear and rolled down a hill crashing into the Hilux - luckily nothing serious and no one was injured as it could have easily been the case.

Yesterday we left Chizarira, descended over 600m to the shores of - traversing the barren, harsh hills of the Chete Safari Area. We were accommodated at Chete Safari Camp by Wayne Diedrickson - thank you Wayne for your hospitality and valuable info to the area. At one stage in our past the Chete Safari Area held the highest concentration of black rhino in . The views over the gorge are impressive despite a large fishing village on a Zambian Island - with over 200 Kapenta fishing rigs chugging out at last light.

We are spending the night in the Ruzi River tonight and will tend to a few expedition chores this morning - cleaning vehicles, maintenance checks and lists for our resupply at Bingo tomorrow. We head to Maabwe Bay, Lake Kariba on Sunday and then on Monday where we will take 2 days of R&R and prepare for our 2nd chapter into Kazuma and Friends of Hwange Trust Thank you for the support and enthusiasm on the various platforms and please follow along for our updates over the coming weeks.

The folks behind these awesome companies support, inspire and help make adventures like this possible - check them out.

Bad Rabbit Studio
Tracks4Africa
Eezi-Awn
Terrain Tamer 4WD
Bushtech Aluminium Canopies
Garmin
Pro 4X4
National Luna
PaulMarsh4x4
Essence Of Overlanding

Sunrise in Matusadona, on day 5 of Expedition Zimbabwe. What an epic few days we’ve had in some beautiful parts of the country.

Our route has taken as from Harare-Magunje-Gache Gache - Kariba - Matusadona (Kanjedza) to Tashinga…

We’ve walked the Nyamuni River, hiked to Fothergill’s plaque on the escarpment, driven the Matusadona escarpment road - low range definitely works - and cooked dinner over a mopane fire listening to Leopard calling.

We now make our way onto Chizarira and then Chete Safari area in the coming days.

We’re able to seek, explore and share this expedition thanks to the support of the awesome, like minded people behind these industry leading companies:

Bad Rabbit Studio
Tracks4Africa
Eezi-Awn
Terrain Tamer 4WD
Bushtech Aluminium Canopies
R&B Offroad
Pro 4X4
National Luna
PaulMarsh4x4
Essence Of Overlanding

We’ve been exploring the Kanjedza area of Matusadona the past two days. With our last two nights in Tashinga and Maronga respectively before we head off to Chizarira and Chete Gorge.

Great to have Buck & Jo along with their talents in photography and prose.

The folks behind these awesome companies support, inspire and help make adventures like this possible:

Eezi-Awn
Bushtech Aluminium Canopies
Terrain Tamer 4WD
Tracks4Africa
Pro 4X4
PaulMarsh4x4
Essence Of Overlanding
National Luna

On the 12th of August 2022 Overland Adventure Consultants will be setting off on an 8 week 4x4 expedition around with Bad Rabbit Studio in two self contained overland and expedition ready vehicles.

We will be visiting some of ’s wild, forgotten and least visited areas as well as its traditional tourism spots with the intention of putting Zimbabwe back on the map for self drive and overland travel enthusiasts.

We will also be exploring some key locations for some exciting potential projects with several international adventure tourism & overland companies who have expressed a specific interest in Zimbabwe and the exclusive and unique experiences it has to offer.

Throughout our adventure we will be connecting with professional guides, conservationists, tourism operators, historians, cultural custodians and leadership and we will share their insights, perspectives and passions for this great country we call (home) .

I’m pleased to share that we have partnered up with some of the best offroad and adventure gear outfitters in the industry - I’d like to acknowledge and give a huge shout out to Tracks4Africa, Terrain Tamer 4WD, Bushtech Aluminium Canopies, Eezi-Awn, PaulMarsh4x4 , National Luna, R&B Offroad, Pro 4X4, Garmin South Africa and Essence Of Overlanding for their passion, energy and support in this expedition so far - thank you.

It’s great to work with Bad Rabbit Studio again on another exciting project - thank you both for making the time and for agreeing to capture the great adventure that lies ahead around this beautiful country.

Lastly a huge thanks to Zimparks and Zimbabwe Tourism Authority for their assistance, partnership and collaboration on various aspects of the expedition.

You can follow our progress on our Facebook, Instagram and You Tube channels and subscribe to the WA updates as well. Look out for updates on our sponsor and partner pages too.

See you out there - until then final trip preparations continue.

We believe in the power of unique experiences, we believe in the road less travelled, the spirit of adventure and the uncertainty of the unknown and what happens along the journey.

On our custom expeditions - we provide an unrivaled platform for adventure orientated guests to immerse themselves in an immersive, participatory experience that aligns with their specific interests in a manner that suits their own unique requirements.

From specialist birding trips into the Zambezi Valley, 4x4 group expeditions into Zimbabwe’s wilderness areas, to adventure bike tours and hiking the forgotten trails of the Matusadona mountains - we go the extra (remote) mile in search of true adventure experiences.

Many thanks to John Stevens Safaris, Essence Of Overlanding and PaulMarsh4x4 for your support to date and we look forward to continuing to provide an unrivaled expedition experience for your guests in Zimbabwe. Big thanks too to 4x4ventures, Overlanding With Bruce for putting some exceptional content together on Zimbabwe and it’s overlanding potential!

We have an exciting few months ahead with several expeditions planned over August and September, a specialist Agritourism trip in October and then the Green Season Pitta Safaris in the final few weeks of the year.

We are also very excited to introduce to you some of our adventure partners in the coming weeks and to finish up the build of our expedition specific Hilux.

There’s a lot happening! But we are so grateful to be busy, doing something we love and sharing it with our friends, family, industry partners and guests a like.

See you out there!

BEITBRIDGE UPDATE.

Very pleased to see and experience first hand the new and revamped Beitbridge Border Post today - 10 minutes through the Zimbabwean side and a remarkably smooth process too. RSA side similar time but significantly less organized and more run down.

Huge renovations and construction going on as you arrive at the border from Zim side - some signage improvements would be my only suggestion. But by September this should all be done.

Had the pleasure of meeting Bertha Mutowemba - the regional Zimbabwe Tourism Authority-Beitbridge Manager. (Tapiwa her predecessor has been promoted to Kariba Tourism Manager) She’s your direct point of call on arrival if you’re self driving through and her office is there to assist passenger vehicles.

South African self drivers and other travelers visiting for tourism purposes from RSA, please be assured that the Beitbridge horror stories of old are no longer an issue.

This is very encouraging for our under developed but very important self drive market coming into Gonarezhou and the rest of Zimbabwe.

Well done Zimbabwe Tourism Authority on a great outcome! 🇿🇼🇿🇼🇿🇼

Thank you for visiting this page!

If you live in and want to learn more about our beautiful country and its many wild and wonderful destinations, or you're planning to visit - this page will provide an insight into all the destinations, attractions and inspirations you need to get out there and explore .

We typically take the road less travelled and have a knack of doing things that haven't been done before. So expect adventures to destinations unknown, down roads less travelled where the journey is equally important as the destination.

In addition to our custom, guided expeditions and professionally guided trips, we will also feature past trips and adventures that built the foundations for Graeme Sharp - My Dakar Safari and my journey through Saudi Arabia in 2020.

In the coming few weeks we will share details of a very exciting project that we are working on within Zimbabwe with Bad Rabbit Studio and several other partners from across Southern Africa.

Enjoy and see you out there!