At Chishakwe we had a day off the bikes, but we had a
mission. Part of the Pedal4Paws objective was to get some education material to
the seriously under-privileged schools in the Save Valley Conservancy. Rosemary
Groom (if you read the heading, she gets a mention again later ) heads up a
project which involves and uplifts the surrounding area with one of their
objectives being to create conservation through education. She is not only
pretty, she is also quite clever with a string of degrees and a doctorate. Back
to the education, we had been requested to bring as much material as possible as
we had seen photos of kids sitting on the floor drawing pictures on old scraps
of paper. Quite a few of the classes are based outside under trees and although
the government supplies teachers, they do not have the resources. When we
compare it with the smart boards and electronic media our kids work with, it is
worlds apart. I had sent out e-mails to over 100 people requesting donations and
Beth did some presentations at Winterton Primary School (WPS) showing the conditions
the kids have to learn under. I got no response, but the kids at WPS were
incredible. Many little kids used their pocket money to buy a few books or
pencils. It nearly brought me to tears when I saw what came in. Kids cleared out
their book shelves and some made up little parcels with special notes to the
save kids. How great it is to see kids growing up with a caring culture. It also
nearly brought me to tears when I realized how much we had to load in the car
over and above the cycling and camping kit. Luckily, Landys are tough. Our
objective for the day was to visit the local school, judge the art competition
promoting Wild Dog Conservation and visit a den of Wild Dogs. The school was very
jacked up and had put in an incredible effort driving the promotion. The art
work was great with over 80 kids doing something. It was heart-warming seeing
they joy on the kid’s faces when they received the donated reading books. The
whole thing got me thinking on the privilege of being able to give and as long
as it is not self-serving and as long as it does not denigrate those receiving,
it is great.
One of the highlights of the whole trip was the visit to the
Wild Dog den. The dogs have been observed by Rosemary and her team to study
them. The dogs had pups in the den but they kept them hidden in the morning.
After a guided trip around the pristine reserve with Dave Goosen of Sango Lodge
( www.sango-wildlife.com it’s worth a
look), we went back in the afternoon. After a bit of a wait we were spoilt with
a sighting of about 8 dogs and once they were relaxed about the vehicle being
there, about 11 pups came out of the hole. After never having seen Wild Dog in
the wild, we have now had the privilege of seeing them with their pups which had
recently been weaned.
Back to the riding, when we left Mutare, Mark Rodwell joined
us for the second part of the trip. He has a great sense of humour and cheered
up the ride. After a week and a half of such diverse strangers being put in a
pressure pot together, tensions were showing. Mark and his wife Andy created a
balance. He tells me he had only done few training rides since last October, but
he amazingly just hung in. As we were about to leave Chishakwe the morning after
the dogs, we were chatting to Rosemary while getting ready to go. I was a bit
dog-balled from no sleep as Beth and I had been debating about whether to
abandon our ride or not. Instead of spraying sunblock on me, I had picked up a
sprayer which had our rosemary tsetse fly prevention in it and sprayed it
liberally all over me. Mark commented that I better not tell Beth that Rosemary
was all over me. Luckily Rosemary has a sense of humour.
When we were about to leave, Rosemary asked if Jess, one of
her colleagues, could drive with Beth. Well, Jess is very pretty and super
cheerful. I did think about making Beth ride and me driving with Jess but Beth’s
death stare made me hop on my bike. It was the first time in our whole trip
where Beth had had any company in the car. As always, any adventure like this
has unsung heroes and Beth was definitely the one here. She followed every inch
slowly in the Landy, waiting while we got through the sand. I did see the joy on
her face when faced with tricky exits out of river beds. I have a feeling we
will be fighting about driving on our next Landy adventure.
The days ride to Senuko was about 65 kms but it was in an
area full of game. Luckily Dave Goosen kindly followed us to ensure we would not
blot their reputation and become a statistic to the local ellies or black rhino.
We saw quite a few lion and leopard spoor. We rode through a big herd of
elephant, saw a lot of antelope and had to slow down for a herd of wildebeest to
cross the road. Once again the track had a fair amount of challenges with sand
and corrugation. Thank God for 29ers and full suspension bikes. Some of the kids
wanted to ride but the only one able to do anything was Nicky, Anthony and
Amanda’s daughter. On a shot bike, she just smiled and cranked it. We found out
later that her chain was twisted and her gears kept jumping. There is nothing
like attitude and tenacity to overcome little problems.
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