As young marrieds we spent 10 glorious days at Tashinga every year. It was a logistic nightmare but we were young then and no adversity was too great.
Tashinga is on Lake Kariba in the Matusadona National Park. We would drive the 8 hour drive to Kariba from Bulawayo, with everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. Tashinga offered nothing except toilets, a tiny thatched kitchen and tarpaulins stretched between the shady trees. Once at Kariba we would spend the night at the Cutty Sark and then haul everything down to one of the DDF Ferries - The Desmond. We adored the Desmond, every acrid emission, every cloud of diesel fumes, all except for the loo which annually showed its inability to cope with ten men and their unstinting consumption of Castle dumpies!
When the kids came along, they too, plus their prams, baths, formula, changing tables and devoted Gogos, piled onboard for a journey akin to the ox wagon treks of the eighteen hundreds!!
Speed boats were towed behind the Desmond, the dreaded giant fridge was loaded onboard by ten tough men, and although it had not worked for fifty years, it kept the beer colder than any fancy modern working fridge!!
Out came the camp stretchers, the camp chairs, the mosquito nets, the sleeping bags. Carpets came too to keep ones tootsies clean as the floor under the tarpaulins was pure fine Tashinga dust.... Provisions for ten days was an organisational nightmare no fancy glamping in those days, it was dry ice, cooler boxes and potjie pots. We made our own bread, fresh fruit and veg became much sought after six days into the sortie, but no-one got scurvy, the fishing was fabulous and the wildlife fortunately left us alone.
And so forty years later HeeHoo and I recently made a pilgrimage to that magical place where boys became men, babies played in the sand with sticks and leaves, snakes were chased from tents, and marriages were cemented.
Rhino Safari Camp is just across the river from Tashinga, we wandered around magical, indelible memories, laughing and reminiscing, about the antics of so many precious friends, and their now grown up children with children of their own.
Thank you Rhino Safari Camp for indulging our musings, enjoying with us our endless anecdotes and joyous reveries, thank you also for fabulous fishing, excellent food and momentous game drives conducted by passionate guides.
Phone: +263 77 240 0021
bookings@rhinosafaricamp.com