The 39th anniversary of Independence of our beautiful but, sadly, benighted country heralded the start of this year’s Tour de Hwange, a major fund raiser for Friends of Hwange Trust. This year, the event was held up at Robins and by 6pm on 18th April, almost all of the 32 folks taking part, mostly from Harare, had arrived, so the recently revamped camp site was teeming with bustle and busyness as tents were going up, the braai fire was lit and the first of many delicious meals was being prepared.
Day One – Friday
As it had been a long day’s travel for most on Thursday, proceedings for the first day’s ride only got underway at around 8.30am on Good Friday. Participants gathered beforehand for coffee, tea, rusks, biscuits, oatmeal porridge and toast before the requisite photo session at the entrance to Robins Camp. Eighteen riders took part, with ages ranging from almost 70 to a young man of 12 years old. The first day’s ride was to Little Toms and on to Big Toms, a circuit away from Big Toms and back again. Everyone enjoyed some fruit along with egg and bacon rolls, before cycling back to Robins for a welcome swim in the pool. This was followed by lunch, and later in the afternoon, several vehicles trekked off down Tshowe Drive to see if there was a suitable loop road to ride the following day. Unfortunately, the road petered out into an overgrown, little used track, so another plan had to be made.
Day Two – Saturday
Riders took off at around 7.30 am, with, as had happened the day before, an advance party watching for game along the route and escort vehicles back and front. Heading for Crocodile Pools, part of the road ran along the Deka river through riverine vegetation with some lovely vistas of the river, still running strongly in places. The road was, at times, pretty rough and, in some areas, bushed up. There were several signs of recent elephant presence, but none were seen. After a few stops and starts and a puncture to be attended to, the party reached the Croc Pools platform above the river where the breakfast makers were hard at work cooking up the egg and bacon rolls. Most of the riders then took the opportunity of a short, escorted walk along the river, before saddling up once more and heading back to camp. As with the day before, the swimming pool was put to good use and after a late lunch, most of the party took themselves off to various parts of the park in the hopes of finding some game. Ride organizers went off to make sure of the third day’s ride route.
Day Three – Sunday
The Easter bunny had found Robins so while the five kids in camp enjoyed an Easter egg hunt, everyone else guzzled down marshmallow eggs (thanks Di Gibbons) and hot cross buns with the morning munchies, tea and coffee. The ride got going at 7.30am, heading down the main road to the Salt Pan turn off. Salt Pan is a remarkable place and because of some late rain, was fairly full for the time of year. On the recce the afternoon before, the pan was teeming with water birds and although the black winged pratincoles had vanished overnight, there were still plenty of waders and ducks, plovers, ruffs, herons, stilts and lapwings to be seen, as well as a couple of small crocs out sunning themselves. The riders enjoyed their breakfast rolls and a brief rest before embarking on the return journey. At one point during ride back to camp, a rather bemused group of ostrich youngsters, curiously stared at the other strange two-legged creatures peddling away on their peculiar contraptions before hastily disappearing into the thick mopane bush.
Day Four – Monday
Monday’s ride was the longest ride of the tour and as it was not a loop route, riders had to ride in and back on the same road. The route planned the evening before took the party down to Tsamhole pan, close to the boundary of the park, marked by one of the old fire towers and where Bhejane Trust has fairly recently installed a solar unit. This was probably the most interesting ride of the tour as riders rode through all manner of different country enjoying some lovely vistas along the way – mopane forest, open vlei, a couple of rocky hills, red soil, black cotton soil and several hundred challenging metres of thick sand before entering a gorgeous teak forest, where many of teak (Baikiaea plurijuga) were still full of pretty pinkish-mauve blooms, finally reaching the expanse of water at Tsamhole. A short stretch of the return ride was diverted, taking the riders through a black cotton soil vlei and emerging out onto the top end of the airstrip. Later in the afternoon, most of the party tripped through to Deteema dam to the Mike Edwards picnic site, to enjoy the birdlife, watching the Hamerkops dancing across the water in search of frogs and a group of impalas pronking and rutting in the background .
Back at camp, much packing up and preparing for the following day’s early departure took place before the conclusion of the proceedings. The five children in camp had been challenged to learn a complicated song which they delivered with alacrity while most folks added a few more dollars to the kitty for their diligent efforts. The day ended with the presentation of the Trotting Porkers trophy as well as a special presentation to Paula and Dave Dell for all their hard work after which a final delicious meal prepared over the fire was much enjoyed.
Game and Birding
There had been some late rainfall up in the Robins area so while the bush was looking lovely with plenty of grass thick and green in places, sadly for the riders, not much game was seen during the rides. Just outside of camp a bachelor herd of impala with impressive horns were seen each day and they spent a great deal of time rutting, their pig like grunts punctuating most nights. Early mornings hyenas were heard whoop, whooping but one evening there was much hyena giggling heard as they investigated the newly dumped rubbish heap at the side of the camp. Hippo were heard every day in camp as was a fish eagle’s cry, so there must have been a pan close by. One very early morning a lion was heard calling very near the camp, obviously being shadowed by a yipping black backed jackal. Zebra were seen several times and an elegant giraffe with her very young baby were seen on two different occasions. Pearl-spotted Owlets and African Scops Owls called each night as did the Barn Owls. A Verreaux Eagle Owl grumbled one morning just as dawn was breaking and a Barred Owlet was also clearly audible. Participants had to be quick to see the reed buck ram poking its head out of the long grass in the vlei and a couple of rather handsome waterbuck rams also lingered close to camp. Birding during the rides was not easy as the cars had to keep moving, but there were always some avian species to be seen at the various breakfast stops. While out on the walk at Croc Pools, a Black-crowned Night Heron was flushed off its secretive perch as a Giant Kingfisher made its presence known and a White-browed Coucal flapped across the river over the heads of two enormous crocs, their sinister heads just visible on the surface. Several large coveys of Swainsons Spurfowl skittered along the road and a couple of the Helmeted Guineafowl flocks had youngsters amongst them. An amazing number of brilliant yellow African Golden Orioles were seen with a particularly obliging one in a big tree near the swimming pool. At Big Toms, there was a continuous stream of Burchells and Yellow-throated Sandgrouse flying in and out to drink while a Grey Heron stood motionlessly in the stream, and little Black Crakes fossicked busily in the reeds. Salt Pan and Tsamhole were teeming with water birds and a beautiful Saddle-billed Stork languidly flapped into the long grass at Tsamhole as the riders approached.
General
Robins camp site is wonderfully set out with good ablution facilities and plenty of power outlets. Many more trees have been planted all around the grounds. The main Robins complex and accommodation has been beautifully and tastefully restored with gardens beginning to flourish. All the staff were most helpful, and everyone was welcome any time up at the main complex to make use of the swimming pool and other facilities in the tranquil surrounds.
In conclusion, special thanks must go to Dave Bain for his seemingly endless generosity and his superb planning and organization, and to the Trotting Porkers for their sterling fund-raising efforts on our behalf. To the support team of Gary, Paul, John and Jenny Brebner, to our wonderful friends and our loyal sponsors, to our many supporters locally in Zimbabwe and all across the globe, a big shout out. We are immensely grateful to you all.
Jenny Brebner, Paula and Dave Dell.
