Road east of Kariba

[Bernie]

Guys,
Has anyone recently travelled on the road on the eastern side of Kariba. It runs from Cross roads, Milbizi, Binga, Siabuwa and up to Kariba town. I am going up in December and would like to travel that way if it is possible.
Regards Bernie

[cprinsloo]

Guys,
Has anyone recently travelled on the road on the eastern side of Kariba. It runs from Cross roads, Milbizi, Binga, Siabuwa and up to Kariba town. I am going up in December and would like to travel that way if it is possible.
Regards Bernie

Yes Bernie,

We travelled that road in 2010 during winter (not so recent). Relatively OK gravel except between the turn-off to Chizarira and turn-off to Mathusadonna. It seemed as if the vehicles got bogged down during the wet season, and there were many holes left all over the road because of that (30 - 40 km/h max, 10 km/h to get through the holes without breaking something). I think it will be even more interesting if it is very wet!

I'm not too sure where Cross Roads is? No fuel on that road. Think about going with the ferry?

Enjoy.

Cheers,

C

[Bernie]

Chris,
Thanks for the reply. Cross roads is the road from Bulawayo to Vic falls and the start of the road under discussion. We are coming back on the ferry, good idea. Bernie

[Haboob]

Hi Bernie, We traveled that Road August,2012 & other than corrugations in the region near Chizarira & other side Matusadona, the road was not bad. The first 120/180 km's was tar from Cross Roads. We saw a grader that had also done about 2 km's of road maintenance, so maybe you will have less corrugations than we had. From the turn off on the Power lines road the road deteriorates a bit, but then improves when you go over the escarpment,down into the Zambezi Valley. The closer you get to Kariba the worse the corrugations get as the traffic on the road increases. Even though there is no fuel along the way, I used a bit more than a tank with a D4D 3.0 & we also went into Matusadona which is a slow track in which we used 4x4 L once or twice to go over rocky sections or steep gradients. The 240 -300 km's done there was slow driving, so I may have averaged about 9.5 km's/l. My last fuel was at Hwange and I may have used about 90 Liters to Kariba (estimating, as I have long range tank about 150 L)
Good luck & enjoy.
Edge (Haboob)