Leaving Mozambique was a lot easier than entering it, and the border crossing went smoothly without any of the chaos that we encountered when we entered from South Africa. As a special welcome, the skies broke open the moment we stepped onto Zimbabwean soil. We got our visas and were soaked by the time we got back to our car.
As we set off from the border post to Mutare, a couple of kilometres further up the road, the downpour intensified and became a hailstorm. We were snaking our way up the mountain towards Mutare, following a green VW Golf, when a massive truck and trailer came thundering down the mountain from the otherside. As it took the turn, the back of the trailer skidded to the left and slammed into the Golf, sending it flying into the air and into the ditch next to the road. We forced the truck to stop, alerted other cars and went to call the ambulance and police, as we were not quite sure how anyone could have survived that crash.
Somehow, thanks to a great deal of luck and German engineering, the occupants of the car did survive and were helped out of the car. Both were pretty shaken, minor cuts and suspected hip and arm fractures. We stayed with them until the ambulances came a couple of minutes later and after having given them our details, we slowly made our way up to Mutare, realising how easily that could have been us getting hit. Having witnessed such a bad accident from close by had left us rather shaken. We reflected on the numerous near misses that we had had over the previous 10,000 kms of the trip, and decided to drive even more carefully for the remainder of the journey through Zimbabwe and back to Lusaka.
As we set off from the border post to Mutare, a couple of kilometres further up the road, the downpour intensified and became a hailstorm. We were snaking our way up the mountain towards Mutare, following a green VW Golf, when a massive truck and trailer came thundering down the mountain from the otherside. As it took the turn, the back of the trailer skidded to the left and slammed into the Golf, sending it flying into the air and into the ditch next to the road. We forced the truck to stop, alerted other cars and went to call the ambulance and police, as we were not quite sure how anyone could have survived that crash.
Somehow, thanks to a great deal of luck and German engineering, the occupants of the car did survive and were helped out of the car. Both were pretty shaken, minor cuts and suspected hip and arm fractures. We stayed with them until the ambulances came a couple of minutes later and after having given them our details, we slowly made our way up to Mutare, realising how easily that could have been us getting hit. Having witnessed such a bad accident from close by had left us rather shaken. We reflected on the numerous near misses that we had had over the previous 10,000 kms of the trip, and decided to drive even more carefully for the remainder of the journey through Zimbabwe and back to Lusaka.
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