So after all the fun we have had it was time to start making our way back to Vic Falls as we needed to be in Kasane, Botswana by October 24th.  However, It is doubtful that we will be in Botswana tomorrow.  Unfortunately, as we were getting on the houseboat we got a message from Conqueror to say that the coil springs fitted on Humble were a defective batch from Camil and needed to be replaced.  Arrggghhhh  – not again !!!!  Hopefully this has been the root cause of many of our issues.  It has now been two weeks and we are sitting in Vic Falls hoping that they will arrive tomorrow but this has been our thought every morning as we have our coffee and so far – no luck.   The last we heard from Conqueror was that they would phone us in 30 minutes but that was over a week ago and we are still waiting for any communication from them.  We did get a call from DHL last Thursday to go to Bulawayo and pay USD 250 in customs duty so the parts could be cleared and sent to Vic Falls for collection.  So USD 250 poorer and no parts later, we sit and wait.  Our visa’s do expire this week, so coils or not we will need to leave Zimbabwe by Friday.     At this point in time, we are not impressed  – neither by Conqueror, Camil nor DHL !!!!!!!!!!

So far (just for Humble) we have had to repair or replace the following (since we left Jhb):

1. The suspension – nuts, bolts, 3 straps, shock (and soon to be coil springs)……   At this point we are thinking ‘off-road’ means in ‘keep in a garage’

2. Water pump (thankfully we found one at echo caravans)

3. Re-adjusted the handbrake as the bolts had rattled loose

4. Battery charger – twice.  the screws came loose, metal sheared off

5. invertor – twice.  Pop Rivets sheared off (twice) and it now sits on a cushion as we cannot find anything thicker that the 4.8mm we were using

6. Roof catch – still to be repaired.  The bolt stripped and we don’t have and can’t find the correct size

7. Breakfast bar – fell to pieces on the way out of Mana and needs welded back together

8. Slow Puncture (will get repaired in Kasane)

9. Door Locks – keep rattling loose when travelling, even on tar.  Thank god for padlocks !!

10. Hub Caps – one we lost in a sand dune in pandaine – the other – hell knows….

11. T-piece for the awning – also gone.  Hell knows where.  We did get a new one that we now keep inside when travelling.

12. Fire Extinguisher – still haven’t found a replacement

On a happier note, we spent a few nights at Antelope Park in Gweru.  This was after 13 roadblocks on the way from Kariba (we have now been stopped in over 50 roadblocks).  Antelope is really a tourist attraction where you can walk with lions, ride elephants or horses.  They claim that the lion walking is a  conservation effort, as the intention is to take cubs born from habituated lions and re-introduce them to the wild.  So far (+/- 20 years later), all the lions are still habituated.  There are numerous flaws in their thinking and in our opinion this is nothing but a tourist attraction.  At USD 80 for a short walk, it is quite lucrative.   They also have time where (for a fee) you can see elephants being trained.  We happened to be driving out to the shops when we saw the elephants, with chains around their leg, waiting to be trained.  Although the Ellies didn’t seem too perturbed, it really upset our stay there.

We were planning to go from Antelope to Sinamatella in Hwange (having missed Robins camp when we went into Zambia for parts) but by the time we got organised we had left too late and had to check into the Holiday Inn in Bulawayo for the night.  This was fortuitous as we on our way out of Bulawayo when we got the call from DHL and didn’t have too far to go back to pay the customs duty.   As we were under the assumption that the parts were heading for Vic Falls (and we could collect Monday) we carried on to Hwange.  And as you know, assumption is the mother of all f..k ups !! haha  ……