#2: [15-Oct-15]

09-Jul-2007 -- We left Lake Kariba at 2:30 p.m. having just spent a week on our boat. We took the route past Charara, Nyaodza, and GacheGache up the scarpment through the Whamira Hills.

The road once past Charara is in poor repair and especially the 15-km section up the escarpment, the change in elevation is from 490 m at the valley floor to 980 m at the top, beautiful country with amazing scenery and wildlife. The roads are better after the escarpment and we got to within 1.6 km of the Confluence before having to go offroad.

The 96-km journey to the Confluence took approximately 3 hours. Travelling down a footpath and having to take it easy, we got to within 800 m of the Confluence coming upon a settlement village of subsistance farmers. The area has low rainfall and is quite remote with no electricity or phones. The occupants of Chiparo Village, the Macheme family, were very friendly and helpful although they struggled with understanding the concept of what we were doing. They thought the GPS was some kind of cell phone and hoped we were there to install a mast for them.

With light fading fast, we decided to do the last 800 m on foot, getting to the Confluence shortly before sunset. The Confluence is on the edge of a small field under some trees on the side of an anthill.