We entered at the Giriyondo Border Post which took about an hour.  The staff were reasonably efficient but did go through EVERYTHING – TWICE !!!!   Whilst customs allows USD 200 in groceries, news has not reached this post and they are working on the old USD 50 limit.  So, much to our disgust we were charged 46% import duty on our groceries.  You also have to pay R215 to get through the park on the Mozambique side.  All of this combined with R750 for a visa made it an expensive crossing.

The road conditions are shoddy.  Mainly corrugated sand roads and potholes.  Where there is tar this is in such bad condition, driving is slow.  Roadworks are going on but these are not likely to help much as they are just pouring a thin layer of tar on the top.    All of this made driving difficult and long (6.5 hours or an average speed of 52kms). Greg – take note !!!   Last time we ask you for drive times, 3.5 hours my ar*e (haha).   What made the drive worse was that the park was completely devoid of anything other than Mopane.  The Mopane continued for almost 200Kms making this a truly tedious drive.

Whilst Komatipoort can be a pain and the corruption on the Maputo corridor highly irritating, the road is so much better and we are in two minds which route we would recommend.

However, we eventually arrived at Zongoene where we were met with a warm ‘welcome back’ from the staff who quickly organised a delicious toasted sandwich and an even more delicious cold Laurentina. 

We quickly set up camp and went to bed…..