A day of travelling. Not an exciting or efficient way to get to Victoria Falls, but tried and tested. Drive to EUM and leave the car. Lock house keys etc into the desk. Then struggle with the bags to the Airliner stop and take the bus to Frankfurt airport. Check in. Wait. Board. Fly to Heathrow, transfer from terminal 2 to terminal 4 by train. Its early afternoon. The flight is at 21:00. Wait. Wait. Meet Rose as arranged at 18:00 at the Boots shop. Check in. Are told we can collect the luggage at Jo'burg without going through immigration. Seems a safer option that checking through to Vic Falls. Go through into departures. Wait. Board. Settle down for the overnight haul. Listen to music on the CD and watch the display showing the slow progress down through Africa.

Plane arrives on time, but to get the luggage have to go through immigration, and then check in again. Not a problem, but is my shortest visit to RSA - all of 30 minutes. Get into International Departures and settle down for the long wait. No trolleys available, and with heavy hand baggage, not inclined to wander, so find a coffee shop. Play one game of chess - 1:0 to me.

Flight eventually gets called, and quickly goes to final call. Find out on board why it has boarded so quickly - it is no more than half full. This at least gives us good options for sight seeing, but cloud cover conspires against us for most of the trip. Coming in over Victoria Falls however is clear and we get a good sight of the gorge, the upper river and the spray from the falls. Immigration is a liitle confused as the same table is handling issuing visas for a charge, and stamping passports for free. We get in for free, collect our baggage and go out to meet the greeters. Our transport is waiting and we are efficiently transported to the Sprayview hotel and check in. The room is a bungalow type arrangement in the grounds - adequate, but not great. Settle in and get showered. Wander down town and struggle over how much money to get from the ATM. What is the exchange rate? Will 1000 Zim dollars be enough for a beer? It is - its about 20 USD at the official exchange rate. Go back and from memory locate the Explorers bar and have a drink. Its early and quiet, but one of the local guides latches on to us - presumably to see if he can sell a white water rafting trip. He can't. We walk back to the Sprayview - it feels safe enough and have dinner. Start on the McAllans as a digestive.

Get up for a late breakfast at 09:00. Then wander down town. Check out the supermarket - well stocked. Move down to change USD 100 at a ForEx, rate is 100 Zim dollars to the USD. The largest Zim note is 100 ZD, so get 100 of those for our single US note. Wander down towards the curio market. So many stone carvings, good quality too. Prices up to USD 2000. Curio market is also full of wooden carvings and has expanded since my last visit. Not many punters though - the traders seem a bit resigned and don't pester too much.

Go on and into the Falls. Usual tour, out to Livingstone statue, then along the line getting wetter as we go. Visibility seems better, but the rain heavier. Am soaked by the end - its not just spray, but raining.. Get out and dry off a bit in the partly sunny conditions. Go into Explorers, still a little damp, for lunch. Nice burger, Rose has a stuffed butternut, which is also good. Are a little late for our pick-up at 14:30. Out to collect the vehicle and go over everything together (rather than split for cooking/vehicle). No clear brief on fuel situation - will just have to see how we get on. Take the vehicle back to the Sprayview (and yes you can see the spray - especially when its sunny). Order a supply of meat then go for a short drive to check the vehicle. Usual circuit along Zambezi drive. Stop at Vic Falls Hotel and go out into the garden for the view. Another stone sculpture garden, the work looks as good, but the prices seem lower (in the VF Hotel ! ) than in the town curio market; curious. Back to the Sprayview for sundowner and dinner.

Have breakfast, then down to the supermarket for a major shop. 1700 ZD worth of provisions. Have checked out, so change another USD 200, then head out to the butchers. Pick up our order (which turns out to be the order for the group in the 130), get some tonic for the gin, and leave for Hwange. Easy driving and get to Hwange about noon. Turn off to lok for fuel, and there is a fuel station. 'Do you have diesel?', 'Yes.' So we fill to the brim and continue. Doesn't seem too bad.

Get to the Cross Rds and turn down to Dete. Its actually a turning too soon, but we see there is also a fuel station at Dete. Don't bother checking, as we could only have taken 5l max. Ask for directions to Main Camp. Get to the main road and enter the park. Ah - there are some giraffe then. Drive to the waterhole and a herd of about 30 elephant dutifully turn up. Drive on and meet zebra. All ordered by Lean Tours of course. Get to the main camp and check in. Get some missing provisions from the shop, then enter the park proper just after 14:00. Drive down the road for Kennedy, but don't note the distance properly. Pass one pan with some giraffe drinking. Am a bit concerned about finding the site, but eventually at about 16:00 come across a sign. Go on as we can see wildebeest and buffalo on the open area. Go back to the site and meet the attendant - Martin - then back out to see some more. As we sit waiting, a white Toyota arrives stop briefly, then leaves. We continue watching and another vehicle, from the Hide safari lodge, arrives. The guide gets out and comes across - 'Be careful if you go back - the game scout wants to nail you for speeding.' 'Us ? ' We realise it was the other vehicle, and once the guide has this explained he is much more open. He asks us whther we saw anything at the pan on the way down, and explains that lion were seen there yesterday. I'd seen giraffe drinking, so don't think the lions were still there.

We return to camp as it gets dark. Set up camp and settle into the safari way. Reasonably sorted. As it gets dark we are aware of movement on the perimeter. Rose catches something in the beam of the torch, and I try to get closer to identify it- scaring it in the process. It was a small cat, but not sure what.

Make a traditinal start and head out to the pan as soon as the gates open at 06:30. Nothing. Drive on but see very little - too cold. Head back to camp and have breakfast. Leave, heading for Main. Meet another vehicle watching elephants in the bush. Small herd, spend some time with them. On to M pan - no sign of the lion the guide mentioned. Couple of giraffe. Get to the tar and cruise out to the platform. Impala, crocodiles, wildebeest. Ostrich in the distance. Get lunch and then head to Dopi pan to eat it. Park up.

Get the bins for a scan, stop on a small and distant herd of impala, 'Rose, you're not going to believe this.' Its a cat, with its back to us watching the impala. We are down wind of it, it is downwind of the impala. Its probably 45 minutes that we watch it. Take a photo, but the 200 lense is not powerful enough. Still beautiful to watch through the binoculars. Its waiting for something to come to drink, but the day is overcast and water needs are low, so nothing approaches. Then it gets disturbed, something coming downwind. The leopard gets up and leaves. Glancing back over its shoulder 3, 4 times before melting into the scrub. What disturbed it? Not us. Scanning again, I spot a white tail tip further away. A second leopard ! If not, then a cheetah, but suspect leopard. Don't get enough of a view to be sure. Accounts for the first being disturbed, and the way it left. After over an hour of leopard watching, we depart to follow the loop road. See plenty of giraffe and elephant.

Nice drive. Get back to camp. Martin has had some bad news. His grandmother has died. He wants to go to Main tomorrow and is looking for a lift. Wasn't my plan, but we think about it. Later in the evening there is a rumpus and after 30 minutes the Hide safari guys escort a Canadian in a 2WD rental car into the camp. He has tried to come down the Kennedy road, but too late and ran out of light. Works in remote sensing in Graz. Is 23:00 before he gets over his excitement and retires.

Have a slow start as is too cold to see anything early. Leave for Main with Martin about 10:00. See a nice group of kudu, good male. Martin passes on some game lore - elephants placing branches on the road etc. Drop him off and agree a 14:00 pick up. Drive out to the platform - quite busy, but the other groups disappear as we wait. Same selection of animals as before. Rose drives us out to Dopi and almost hits a speeding giraffe. I have visions of turning up at Main camp with a dead giraffe strapped to the bonnet. Don't know why it was moving so fast, it must have heard us. At Dopi the leopard has been replaced by a jackal. Move on to caterpillar pan and have lunch. No game. Back to Main and collect Martin, and head back. In hindsight should have left the camp and collected some fuel, but am too lazy to go through the hassle of checking out and in again. Driving back, I can see something on the road ahead and Rose spots it as well and gets the bins out. Stop. Its a leopard - again. Far away, but in the open. Quickly it decides to cross the road. Drive up to where I marked it and scan with the bins. Get a full view of two eyes staring back at me - then its gone. A more typical leopard sighting.

Back to camp, then go for a sundowner drive to the pan. Elephants slowly appear from the undergrowth, meet and greet, drink, then wander off. Cook chicken in tarragon for dinner. Martin arrives just as the food is ready, so no chance to chat. As the night settles, spot the cat again - get closer - its a gennet. The yound elephant comes into camp, raiding the acaccia pods, and is caught in the torchlight.

Am wondering about the fuel options, if I can't get any at Dete, may have to go to Hwange. If no fuel there - then can't get to Kariba safely on the fuel we have. Tricky.

Learn that Martin earns 950 ZD a month, about 10 USD.

Its up and off. Rose fills out Martin's guest book, and I give hime 500 ZD as a tip, and a tennis ball to Brilliant, his son. Leave at 06:30 and are at the gate at 07:30. Get 20l diesel from the Main filling station, which takes the gauge back to full. But no joy at Dete or at the lodge. Decide, we have enough to get through to the Kariba side, so head for Binga. Good tar. Have breakfast on the way, then pass better places. Lots of small villages, mud/stone huts.

Get to Binga and check for fuel at two places. None. Or at least none for sale - could have asked to see the boss etc, but don't really have the time. Back to the turn off and head on. Now on corrugated gravel, but not bad, so make good time to Chiz. Last part of road climbs the escarpment and is quite rough. Arrive at the office just before 14:00. I don't want to go to the Busi camp which has been booked for us due to the fuel (and also time) and they suggest another one. Go out to the viewpoint. Spectacular view from the top of the escarpment. Have a late / light lunch. Visit the gorge viewpoint then out to the platform. See some common waterbuck on the way and also from the platform, but not much else. Go to our campsite, as I drive in I can see smoke from a bush fire, and sure enough the smoke is drifting over the camp. Its a long way off, and there is a river between us and it. I am ready to stop - its a nice camp with good facilities, but the smoke is not good. We bail out and head for the viewpoint, to find the 130 SD vehicle there. Agree to share the site, but set up separately. Am quite tired, and also stressed by the fuel situation - kicking myself for not getting 20l of fuel yesterday - didn't expect rationing.

As we prepare dinner, yet another LR trundles in. Expect game wardens checking on us, but is the cyclist group we passed. Try to send them to the gorge viewpoint, but they need to stop, and end up staying as well.

Wake early, but well rested. It appears Rose has had a bad night - her cough is disturbing her. Just as well we didn't stay in a smoky campsite. Other SD group start before 06:00, tis 06:30 before I get up. Lovely view again. Have a slow breakfast as the rest of the community get ready. Off by 08:00, sign out at the gate and on to the gravel main road. Pass the other SD group - they've blown a tyre. No sign of fuel on the way - am still worried about our range. Rose takes over driving as we head for the park. Once in the park, the road gets really bad. I take over again, and realise conditions merit low box. Its a long way climbing in and out of (mainly) dry river beds. Check in at the gate and grind on. Road is a little better. Eventually, after 81 km from the turn off, and 2 and 3/4 hours of driving, get to the Tashinga camp. See some impala and a little terrapin on the way in, but not much else. Once checked in get to camp site - Tashinga #3 - sounds like a song title. Nice rondavel - good site. Chap comes over asking about the cyclists - he's got some of their gear and needs to leave tomorrow. Other SD vehicle arrives about one and a half hours after us. They've had another puncture and now have no spare. The tyres are in the workshop for repair. Cook chilli - no wine as we are rationed. Sleep well.

A very lazy day. No driving to conserve fuel, and we need a rest anyway. John has fallen off the 130 and badly bruised his leg. Also the tyres can't be repaired. They're having a bad day. Suggest we can convoy if need be - we still have two good spares. They ring the SD agent and get a similar suggestion, but later get a message that new tyres will be flown in tomorrow. The agent has also arranged for 50l of fuel to be available in Kariba if needed. Looks better. Impala drift through the camp. Books are read and the day slips by. Roast veg and pasta for dinner. Campsite has filled up with an MTV (?) crew and an Exodus party dropped by boat. Sunset photos of dead trees in the water.

Early start to get up and see the rhino being weighed and released. Is about 07:00 before feeding is over and weighing begins. Can wander round freely as they meander off for the day. We go back for breakfast and more chilling out. Run through some chores, but a pretty lazy day. A small herd of impala seem to use the campsite as a place of safety, and are often seem wandering through John's tyres arrive by plane and boat, but one of the tubes is already punctured. No great problem. We go out for a short drive, but don't see much. Some impala and a nervous looking elephant with only one tusk. Couple more eles on the way back, but basically very quiet. As it gets dark we are called over to Johns group - a family group of three hippos has appeared on the foreshore. Its getting dark, but watch them for a few minutes

A long day. Are going to follow John's party out - they intend to leave at 06:30, but we are ready to go at 07:00 and they have just left. Then we pass them watching the rhinos. Not sure what their plan is now, but Rose is driving and they catch up, so let them go. Rose drives to the gate, then I take over. Its a nice drive, once you appreciate the nature of the road. Also the sign says its 25 miles from the gate to Taschenga, not 25 km as I thought on the way in. Get to the main gravel and drive, and drive. Keep catching up with John's dust and after a few stops and a quick lunch, decide they're safe with 60 km of gravel to go, and no punctures. Overtake a nd press on. Am conscious that its going to be late afternoon before we get to Kariba for provisions. The tar is being extended and we drive along the new stretch for a couple of km, before being allowed on. Then its onto tar again. Fuel warning light comes on about 50 km from Makute, so should have been able to make it, but put the last jerry in when the gauge is reading the bottom of the red. Get to Cloud's End and they have fuel, so get 60l. We would have made Kariba, so I reckon the 60l is equivalent to getting 50l at Kariba - it will get us to the eclipse site. On to kariba and drive round a bit, up to the heights and back. Find a butchery and get some steak, then onto the Spar and provision. Well stocked, so no shortage from the tourist influx. Back out of town to the Hog lodge, where we arrive about 17:00 exhausted and filthy. Are welcomed and shown to our room. Get ourselves sorted, washed and changed then head out for dinner. SD has told them that steak is our favourite, so Julie, a vegetarian, has prepared accordingly.

Have a pleasant dinner chatting with Ross, our host. The two dogs, Rhodesian ridgebacks prowl around, but are very friendly - to people they know.

Convoy is to leave at 08:30, so a 07:00 coffee on the balcony, followed by breakfast. Leave a little late but are at the Breezes for 08:30. No-one around. Start checking for messages. By 08:45, decide to start by ourselves, when Hazel's friends turn up. They're waiting at the fuel station - we must have gone past them without seeing them, which as there were a few trucks around ins not surprising. Set out in loose convoy. At the permit office it is very busy, but get the permits for free, and by the time we leave, the place is empty again. Down the escarpment, yet again, and on to the dirt. Follow directions, leaving the crowd at the Mana turn off. Road is OK, but not all newly graded as promised, although we do pass the grader on the way.

Regroup occasionally, until get to Angwa River where we move in close convoy following a guide vehicle. Each turnoff is signed, but is quite complicated. Get to the bush camp. Have had a Tsetse battle on the way in - went chemical on them, but am still dreading what it might be like at the camp. Only one or two tsetse which arrived with us, after that not a problem.

Get settled and Andy Francis, the SD representative encourages us to come to the communal area to cook, but is easier on our own fire. Wonderful Thai style fish curry. One of the best of the trip. I'll call the recipe the Masoka Curry :-)

Eclipse day dawns bright and sunny. John and co set off with Andy to see the dinosaur footprints, but we just chill. About 10:00, I notice clouds starting to build. End of chilling out. Concern builds, but nothing can be done. After a couple of hours, again the sky is clear. John arrives back and it is noticed he is missing the rear spare tyre. Investigation shows that a weld on the carrier has broken, and then the remaining bolt has sheared. Andy goes off to look, and surprisingly returns two hours later with the tyre. We prepare for the eclipse. At 13:00 head down into the river bed, and at 13:50 Dominic announces first contact is visible through his camera. Takes a few more minutes before the unaided eye can detect the contact. The next hour passes with occasional shots of the watchers, of the dappling effect to be seen under the trees, and pinhole camera images of the sun using a collander. Totality approaches and we both catch a glimpse of the Diamond Ring as the moon is briefly visible in the round. Filters off and look at the corona through the binoculars. Superb. A few promininces visible at 3 o'clock and at 9, 10 o'clock. Only a couple of stars or planets visible - not sure which. 360 degree sunset, and crickets chirping. Totality lasts just under 3 minutes, but forget to time it. The time goes extremely quickly, but there is more time to appreciate the eclipse than in 1999. It is all soon over and light bursts back into the river bed. Excited chattering from all as the glory fades. Watch a little from 3rd contact, but then start drifting back to camp.

The Safari Drive helpers fill up the vehicles. Andy is concerned that they won't be able to get fuel at Kariba, and they need to get to Maun. Start the fire, and after the morning's poor attempt, make sure it is well alight. Perhaps a little too successful as it is very hot, resulting in the evening roasting being a little over done. Still manage to get through a 1 kg piece of meat between us. Chat on as the fire dies until I fade and retire.

Andy decides is OK for us to use the short cut, they had used yesterday. So leave about 07:45 and follow John and co out. Is easy apart from one climb out of the river. It has a large erossion gully. The approved route is up and then an S around the gully. Looks like straight up is fine to me, but follow the advise.. Use 1st low, but no diff lock, and stop with one wheel scrabbling for grip - not like the Series III. Am reminded by Andy to use diff lock, and climb out.

From there it is a cruise back on the route we followed on the way in. See some game off to the side, a couple of elephants, but not much. Share the driving and Rose takes us from the start of the Mana park, al the way to Kariba. Have one stop to photograph the large baobab that splits the road.

At Kariba, head for the damn wall. Leave our passports - never like doing that - and walk down. Could have driven, but the walk is nice. They have closed the spillway, so not as impressive as I had hoped, but the engineering is still impressive. Go back and make our way to the viewpoint, after a wrong turn. Have a look at some of the curios on offer, but don't buy. Then head up to the heights. There are a lot of small stone carvings on offer and Rose selects a few and agrees a price of 18 USD. The seller then thinks and offers another piece to make a round 20 USD. It seems churlish to try and haggle. I give our spare change to a deaf beggar who has some sort of sponsorship form. I feel totally useless in trying to explain to him that I am going away, but I will come back and give him some money. He is patient and collects a handful of small notes and change.

Leave to go to the Country Club for a beer, but have missed its lunchtime opening, so head for the hotel. Similar to the Sprayview, with our room a cottage type place in the grounds. No shower though, just a bath. Go to the bar for a beer / glass of wine.

Get up in time for breakfast at 09:00, then back to the room to tidy up. Get a call from the SD guy, and arrange a 10:00 pick-up. Check the vehicle is clear and do basic packing. The guy turns up with Ross from the Hog lodge. Ross suggests we go back to the lodge and wait there for the airport transfer. Fine ! We finish packing, and I check out. I wait and wait - should just have left the key. Get back and drive up to the lodge. Ross has explained that the dogs have been locked up - Cath from Johns party is afraid of dogs. Arrive and have a quiet hour or so waiting for the transfer. Rose finds a reference book for the birds of Southern Africa, and locates the Cape Turtle Dove. Ross confirms there is no such thing as the Cape Pigeon. He also provides an alternative to the Calvanistic 'Work Harder' call, suggesting 'Drink Lager' - works for me.

He arrives and Rose and I claim the back seat - plenty of room. Bit of a panic as we leave and the others don't know where the 130's keys are. I spot them in the rear door - so off we go.

And so to Gatwick. Hand over a card to Johns party as the only exchange of addresses - they say they'll send an e-mail. They look happy to be back. Rose and I part our ways in the foyer, and I take the transfer bus to Heathrow. Try to get on an earlier flight, but no joy. So sit in the Lufthansa lounge for three hours. Then usual Airliner to Darmstadt, walk to EUM, drive home in the Alfa. End of the trip.