Is there a more rewarding way of getting to Gonarezhou than via the Beitbridge Border Post? Having travelled via Mozambique in the past, Mariska Bartlett decided to do so again. But this time with a twist, by taking the ferry across the river at Mapai.

When you plan a trip to Gonarezhou from South Africa the first thing that pops into your mind is the Beitbridge Border Post. Over the years it’s acquired an almost mythical reputation of endless queues, corrupt runners that want to make your journey “quicker” and a glacial system of custom officials out to make your blood boil. Therefore, when we decided to go to Gonarezhou last year, we opted for the Pafuri Border Post in Kruger National Park, routing via Mozambique and Limpopo National Park. 

For our most recent trip in May this year, it was going to be just my husband and I with one vehicle. So I contemplated doing the same route as last year, travelling on the “bospad” from Dumela Wilderness Safaris to Chiqualaquala Border Post. (On the Zimbabwean side, the border crossing is called Sango.) 

No go on the “bospad”

However, in late summer, large parts of Southern Africa had received masses of rain. I knew the chances were small that we could cross the Limpopo by driving through. Lourens, the owner of Dumela Wilderness Safaris, confirmed this was the case. He also shared that the locals had not done the annual clearing of the “bospad”, so that route wasn’t passable either. Then he casually asked why I didn’t drive towards Mapai and take the ferry over. 

Whenever someone says ferry in Africa, I am well aware this means more hand-operated pontoon than ferry. He laughed and said they had even upgraded the ‘ferry’ so that it could take a trailer attached to a vehicle and that he would send me a photo. This photo proved to be very valuable later on…

I was personally veering towards just biting the bullet and going through Beitbridge. However, my husband, being of more finely bred material, relayed it to me in my mother tongue with his English accent: “Ek sien nie kans daarvoor nie.” It did make more sense logistically to go via Pafuri as I was doing a 4-day wilderness trail in that area prior to this trip. It was decided: we would brave the pontoon on the way to Mapai. 

Crossing the border at Pafuri

My husband picked up our bakkie in Pretoria where I’d left it the previous week. Then he picked me up at The Outpost Lodge in the Makuleke concession where our hike ended. We stayed over at Punda Maria Rest Camp that night and headed out in the early morning for a game drive. Since we had the whole day to cross the border and get to our campsite at Dumela, we did the Mahonie loop. What a beautiful road! The landscape was just spectacular and thanks to all the rain everything was still very green and lush even though it was late May. We made our way to the Pafuri Picnic Spot where we had lunch. Because of all the food available in the bush there were no monkeys or baboons pestering us. I love this area of Kruger with all the big trees on the river’s edge. After our bellies were filled, we made our way to the Pafuri Border Post. 

The SA side is an absolute breeze but the Mozambican side asks for a little bit more patience. First you go into the far building to stamp your passports, then you go to another building to do your car papers. Then you take all the papers you’ve accumulated to the officials sitting under an open shed at a makeshift table. They then decide what the TIP cost is for the day; we were charged R300. A classic move is for them to hold onto your documents and “inspect” your vehicle. I don’t know if I looked like a big game hunter but I was asked three times if I had a gun. Generally, it is here that you must summon your patience and appear as if you have all the time in the world. 

At the water’s edge

The two officials and I made a couple of turns around the bakkie, with them trying very hard to get a cold drink from me. My motto is that I don’t give any form of bribe. After 5 minutes of this back and forth we were off. But wait! There was another official a few kilometres after the border at a makeshift boom by a tree that also just wanted to know, in a very friendly manner, if I hadn’t brought him anything from SA. My answer was the same in an equally friendly manner – no. 

We arrived at Dumela Wilderness Safaris in the late afternoon to find we were the only campers there. The camp manager greeted us and showed us where to camp right at the water’s edge. Two well-deserved gin and tonics were enjoyed! We made a fire and cooked our food and then had a lovely hot shower. 

The next morning we set off for Mapai at first light. Since there are elephants still roaming in this area, you do not want to drive in the dark. The aim was to make Chipinda Pools by that evening. I thought this would be a stretch as it takes five hours from the Gonarezhou park gate to Chipinda Pools. It is three hours from Dumela to Mapai and we had no idea how long the ferry would take. Then an hour to Chiqualaquala/Sango and an hour for the border crossing. We had to push. 

A smooth start

The road to Mapai was fairly easy going, tweespoor most of the way but no corrugations and minimal thick sand. It would, however, be a completely different ball game in the wet season as we saw dried mud holes and alternative tracks. From a scenery point of view, this is one of the most beautiful roads I’ve done. We stopped counting the baobabs – some were the biggest we’ve ever seen. There were also some rural villages with typical Mozambican scenes. And then you start to see the Limpopo as you get closer to Mapai. This is where the photo of the ferry came in very handy. 

There is a fork in the road about 10 minutes before the crossing. A big board with the words ‘ferry’ and ‘Mapai’ written on it tells you to go left. Not long after that you end up at the edge of the mighty Limpopo. I won’t lie and say I was not intimidated. The river was very wide and still flowing strongly from all the rain. A galvanised pontoon lying on the bank looked like it hadn’t worked in a while. There was no one to be seen. My courage to take all of our belongings across this massive river was starting to wane. However, your options are pretty limited here. Turn around and go to Beitbridge? That would add two days. Then I remembered the photo the owner of Dumela had sent me! That ferry had a big Punda Maria sign on it. This was not that. I saw on Tracks4Africa there was another crossing a bit further on. 

The Punda Maria ferry

After about 15 minutes we arrived at the real makoya: the Mapai ferry departure point. We could immediately see that lots more activity went on here. The river was also much narrower and shallower, which made us feel a bit more confident. The three operators, who were across the river, soon made their way back to us. We could see one man was steering the pontoon with a pole. With the river flowing as strong as it was, we thought it would take them an hour to get to us. What’s more, he would surely have to push the boat upstream first to end up where we were. We were positively impressed by his total skill and strength. It took them about 15 minutes and he did it all in a straight line! 

Now for the negotiations. One of the crew came up to us and introduced himself as the captain. Great, let’s do this. R1,000 he said. I laughed with false bravado, knowing very well this was our only option. However, the name of the game is to negotiate, so I started at R300, mentioned something about the other ferry and we all agreed on R500.  

Driving on was not too bad, everything felt strong enough. They directed me to switch off, put the handbrake on and get out. We balanced ourselves on the exposed beams and the three guys got to work. There were also about a dozen passengers that got on. Each of the operators had a long pole secured through a steel ring on the edge of the pontoon. Then they started to manoeuvre it over the river. My husband had the passports in his shirt pocket if mud were to hit the fan…

Across the Limpopo

We arrived right on target after about 20 minutes. They secured the pontoon to the bank with two ropes, I drove off and we paid our money. 

Once through Mapai, you reach the N221 tar road. This is a very good road; however, true to Mozambican form, you have to slow down to 60km/h every 10km. An easy hour later you enter Chiqualaquala. Just before the town there is a new garage on the left. This had no diesel last year but we were more fortunate this time and got to fill up. Only to hear afterwards they take no cards. Luckily, they accepted rands! Cash is still king in many places, so remember to carry a stash. 

The Sango border was fairly easy. It was around noon when we entered Gonarezhou’s Sango Gate and I asked the ranger if we could drive to Chipinda Pools via Boli. This would be on main gravel roads and would cut our travel time significantly. The ranger agreed that it was a much quicker way. And it would’ve been the route for us if the crossway at Chipinda Pools hadn’t washed away. We reached the Bravo 4 Gate around 15:00 and the ranger there directed us to Nkwangulatilo Causeway. This was a beautiful route and became an afternoon game drive. We arrived at the main office at Chipinda Pools around 17:30. 

Chipinda Pools is one of my favourite campsites in a national park. With hippo sounds all around us and the African sun setting across the river, we got our fire going. While that day’s drive was fun and full of adventure, we were not keen to do it in reverse after spending a week in the park! So we had to brave Beitbridge on the way back. 

Exiting via Beitbridge

It is a very easy five-hour drive from Chipinda Pools on mainly tar. And once the roadworks are done, it will be even quicker. We arrived at Beitbridge around 17:00. We couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised! We had visions of old buildings, thousands of people queuing and rows of trucks trying to get through. None of this – instead new state-of-the-art buildings preceded by big roundabouts showing clearly where who must go. The trucks are completely separate. There is parking right in front of the building with big info boards showing you where to go and what to do. 

At the passport stamps, you get a slip with a QR code. Then you follow the steps to the different counters to pay to get out of the country (yes, you read correctly), do your vehicle papers and TIP. Make sure each counter scans that QR code. When you are done, your car registration comes up on the massive billboard in the parking lot. You are then good to go! Drive to the boom, scan that same QR code and you are as free as a bird. We couldn’t believe it. I’ve been to European borders that were less efficient. 

Tracks4Africa says: Processing time at Beitbridge can vary considerably; some days you may be in and out in 40 minutes, others it could take closer to four hours.

I cannot wax lyrical in the same way about the South African side. Although in a beautiful historical building dating back to the early 1900s, it does need a bit of love. However, there were very few people in front of us and all the counters had officials behind them. Therefore, it took us a full five minutes to complete the border formalities. We were laughing all the way out! The new Zimbabwean border system is definitely much more efficient than the old system and I think the nightmare tales of Beitbridge are something of the past. 

The bottom line

In conclusion, which route is best? If you are pressed for time, then yes, absolutely, go through Beitbridge. If you are an overlander for whom time is not a factor and you like off-the-beaten-tracks or adventurous experiences, then totally go for the Mapai option. Either way go to Gonarezhou! But please don’t tell too many people about it…

About the overlander

Mariska Bartlett is one half of the duo known as Safari Susters, siblings who host photographic safaris in Africa’s wild places. Overlanding is their way to explore new destinations and feed their own need for wilderness time. To see where they go, check out @safarisusters on Instagram.

Dreaming of visiting Gonarezhou and other wild places in Zimbabwe? Get the new Tracks4Africa Zimbabwe Self-Drive Guide. It contains all the information you need for an overlanding trip, covering what to see, where to stay and how to get there. In addition to detailed maps and a comprehensive atlas section, the guide covers vehicle preparation and practicalities.