Our Zambian Mother

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With Diana at Mama Rula's

One meets a lot of great people while traveling, but some go over and above. Nothing is too much trouble for this lady. Discovering Diana, the managing director at the Spar, has been one of the best things that has happened to us recently after my homesick spell in Lusaka. She cheered me up no end. Not only did she take us under her wing when we first arrived in Chipata, she just seemed to know everyone in town, calling a variety of her connections for us regarding public transport, wifi or even money exchange rates etc. One bizarre outcome of her connections was the money exchange transaction: because of the current economy crisis in Malawi we decided to change our Zambian Kwacha to Malawian currency beforehand. Diana said she knew someone reliable and with a good rate, rather than us do business with the swindling guys on the street corners (the real Bureau de Changes don't change local country currencies). It felt extremely sinister to be sitting in the Spar coffee shop counting piles and piles of Malawian Kwacha on the table. (I wish we had taken a photo)
Diana is truly amazing and inspiring. She has the best heart and it's wonderful to be around someone caring and familiar so far from home. She is like that with everyone. Even her employees say that she's like a mother to them. Well, she certainly felt like that to us!

The following day we headed off to Malawi making the most of the ride that Diana had offered us. It was a comfortable ride (no being squashed in mini-vans for us!) with her and Andrea (Mama Rula herself) to the Zambia/Malawi border, about 20 minutes away from Chipata. But crossing wasn't plain sailing for Andrea who was traveling on a day pass, her passport at an embassy elsewhere. Apparently it seems only black Africans, as opposed to white Africans, can travel on a day pass and we sadly had to leave her behind. Thankfully, Diana could do Andrea's urgent errands for her in Lilongwe, and so we continued on without her. Diana as ever, entertaining and good natured, with the heart of gold, treated us to lunch at Spur Steakhouse (which are all over Southern Africa and not that cheap) meeting up with another friend, Luanne, quite a gregarious and entertaining character too. Nice memories. Well, we certainly appreciated the pleasant and comfortable travel day and we were very sad to say goodbye to our Zambian Mother, Diana. We won't forget her!  *Mush

A Day in Friendly Chipata, Zambia

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Eating chips and eggs with the locals

Dreading the prospect of waiting around for transport back to Chipata we were rewarded with only having to wait about an hour and got a shared taxi with locals back to town. We asked our driver, James, to go direct and not stop to wait around to pick up locals, but of course he did do pick ups (thankfully, not much waiting). But the journey back only took us about three and half hours including running out of petrol (again) just as we came into town. Not bad compared to our squashed 5 hour drive to the park. We didn't have a speaker blaring right in front of us, but I did get splattered with mud through the back window as we squirmed through a deep puddle formed by the recent rains. (The button for the window only worked from the front so I couldn't raise the window in time).

Chipata's Flea Market

We were welcomed once again back to Mama Rula's and started planning our next move to get to Malawi. Diana (our Spar lady) suggested that we come with her and Andrea in a couple of days time as they were running errands in Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi) their nearest city. Remembering our reformed travel format, this offer was too good to refuse. Not only would it make us stay longer in one place (at Mama R's), it would definitely make for a more comfortable and less stressful travel day avoiding public transport across the Zambian/Malawi border.

Making the most of our extra day we explored town, grateful for a ride in from one of the guests. Thank you Fouri. First stop was to meet up with our taxi man, James, from yesterday to retrieve my zip-off trousers which had fallen out from my bag in the boot. A relief as I was not looking forward to the prospect of replacing clothes right now. Phew!

Our Bicycle Taxis - check out the cushioned seat

There was not much to town apart from flea markets and shops, but we hung out with the locals eating (not the healthiest) egg and chips. Half way home we caught up with some much-needed internet for the first time in over a week scavenging wifi in return for a drink at the Protea Hotel bar. Getting home from there was an experience as we hopped on two bicycle taxis for the remaining 4km. There we were, precariously perched gripping on to the padded seat bumping up and down along the rough dirt road home. It was fun, but scary at the same time! *Mush

Indredible Storms of South Luangwa National Park, Mfuwe, Zambia

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Dancing with Capt. Cook at the Bus Stn

A scenic 8 hour drive through Zambia planted us in Chipata, a medium sized town near the Malawi border, and the gateway to South Luangwa National Park.  We got lucky as we were shopping for our next few days supplies, to find that the owner of the SPAR grocery store, also owned a reputable campsite 4km from town.  We hitched a ride from the shop with one of the family, and set up camp at Mama Rula (so named for her love of Amarula liquor - like Baileys).   They were exceptionally nice and friendly at Mama Rula, even giving us a ride back into town early the next morning to find a ride to South Luangwa National Park. 

We had heard that it's quite tricky to get to the park without your own transport, but we found a minivan that was heading there once it was full.  No problem right……WRONG!  We found out relatively quickly that these don't leave until around Noon or so, as that is when most finish their shopping in town.  So, 6 hours after our arrival at the minibus, we were on our way.   That is a new record for us, and it was a bit miserable sitting around that long.  Michelle passed the time by briefly dancing with one of the bus ticket sellers named Captain Cook in the parking lot, much to the delight of all watching.  I think he was a little drunk, but it was 8 AM at the time!!

Oxpeckers on a Giraffe

Once the logistics of who was selling the tickets was worked out (because when you get to the station, you get swarmed by people asking where you are going), we plunked ourselves in what we thought were good seats right behind the driver.  Well, just before the minibus left, they placed a massive speaker behind the drivers seat, and right in my footspace.  It was really cramped, so Michelle ending up switching with me, because believe it or not, I do have longer legs!  4.5 hours later, and a super bumpy road, we were in Mfuwe.  This road was pretty terrible, but it is mostly under construction, so maybe in about 10 years it will be finished, as we didn't see too many men working!
South Luangwa National Park has a great reputation, but we were hoping to arrive before raining season started, as apparently the animals move away from the main waterholes, and find water elsewhere.  We were really cutting it close, as it should start in early Nov, but I think it started the day that we did our game drives!

Elephant Road Block in South Luangwa

We had been recommended a place called Track and Trail, which was right on the Luangwa River.  It had two-storey platforms built for tents, as there is a real possibility of animals coming through the campsite during the night.  And I'm talking hippos, and elephants, being the main problem for us.  We had to have the night watchman walk us to the tent and around, so that he could spot the dangers.  I thought this was very cool, and we did have some elephants in the resort with one mother and baby actually trying to come into the kitchen.  Also, our last night we were about 50 feet from a hippo and baby, as we walked to our tent - wow.  Needless to say there were baboons, and vervet monkeys everywhere, so we couldn't leave food around.  One actually stole our malaria medication pill pot, and we (and he) were lucky that he couldn't get it open and finally dropped it out of the tree.  We also had a treat seeing our first bushbaby outside the bar.  It kind of reminded us of the lemurs in Madagascar - big eyes and bushy tail.

Huge Kudu and Baby Impalas

T&T also had a raised pool right over the river, and a nice bar/restaurant area for chilling out in.  Peter, the Dutch owner, is a professional photographer and had photos showing on the screens at the bar all day which was fascinating, and inspiring.   We found ourselves relaxing for a few days in the atmosphere, whilst looking over the river to see all the birds, and some larger animals coming down to drink.
Of course, coming all this way to the park we had to do some game drives.  Since you have to pay an exorbitant $25 park fee each day, we decided to do both our morning and night drives on the same day.  We would have loved to do more drives, but have to limit it because of costs.

Even driving out of the camp, we spotted a group of giraffe near our campground.  Crossing over the Luangwa River, there were hundreds of hippos, and possibly the densest population of them in Africa.  We heard there are plenty of crocs too, and saw them all lined up along the shore.  Haven't managed to spot any croc attacks though.  The owner of Track and Trail, Peter, was our guide, and you can tell he was passionate about the animals.  He was very patient with us at all the animals, and was even giving photography tips.  We were in an open top, open side Landcruiser and he made us feel very calm around the animals, even though some would come quite close to the vehicle. 

Funny Faced Giraffe

One curious elephant was only about 10 feet away from my side, but we weren't really that nervous because Peter told us how to act.  We also had some close-up encounters with some giraffe.

One of the highlights of the park at this time of year is the abundance of baby impala, puku and bushbucks.  They were tiny, and I think we came across a few that had just been born THAT day.  Still a little wobbly with the legs, and trying to figure out what the heck WE were!!!  The mothers let us get rather close as well, which shows they do not fear humans, which is nice to see.  Another highlight were the dozens of colourful and interesting birds around, and Peter knew his birds well.

That afternoon, we returned in the same open top, open side Landcruiser.  We had a discussion before leaving as to whether it would rain or not, and decided to take our chances.  We had more wonderful interactions with elephants that night, but other than that, nothing real noteworthy until dark.  After a great watermelon/goat cheese snack with a drink along the riverside, we started seeing some amazing lightning in the skies.  We drove around in the dark, with a spotlight looking for animals, but I think all of us were more interested at the time in the lightning that started to encircle us.  It was flashing from all sides, sometime silhouetting trees, other times lighting them from the front. 

Lightning from our Tent Site

I don't think I've seen a storm quite like it in a long time.  All this, and we weren't getting wet!!!  We actually stopped and set up the cameras on long exposures to capture the massive bolts that crossed the sky.

We then realized that we were actually in search of leopards, so put the spotlight on again, and back to our game drive.  The assistant guide, Friday, must have great eyes, because he finally spotted the elusive cat.  I think we saw it for about 5 seconds, then the heavens opened up and torrential rain started coming down.  Not to blame the spotty one, as he dove for cover, we didn't even get a photo as we had to bag up our cameras quick and hightail it out of the park.  We were drenched, and I don't even know how Peter could drive because it was so hard to see, as your face got pelted by huge raindrops!!  We all had a good laugh at Friday's prediction of no rain!!  Home safely, and time to dry out.  It was bittersweet - we had such an amazing drive, and not even for the animals. But when we finally saw only our second leopard of our whole trip, we didn't have time to hang out and enjoy watching it. 
The next couple of days, we just found ourselves enjoying Track and Trail camp.  On one of the days, it rained from morning until about 4PM, so not a lot to do, but once the rains stopped, the animals came down to the river.  The next day, you could see the river rising, as a couple of islands disappeared - had we now hit rainy season??

We did a little research in the little town of Mfuwe, trying to figure out how to get back to Chipata.  Seems like all the minibuses leave at 9 or 10 PM, and that puts us far too late back in Chipata.  We asked around, and decided we would just give it a go, and try and hitch early in the morning.  We did take a pleasant walk through town, with all the curious kids looking and waving at us Mzungu's. 
Since we were having trouble leaving this wonderful place, we spent another lovely day just at the river's edge.  We had gone up and down to all the resorts to try to find a ride back, but to no avail.  That night we were treated to some great company, with a family (John, Jill with their daughter Jade, and husband JP) and another guy named Mark from Aus.  Jade had dreamed of setting up a wildlife hospital, and was in the process of making it happen.  Her family came along for support of the research, and Mark was there as a business partner.  It was lovely chatting with them all and hearing their passions for Zambia and the animals.

Crazy Coloured Skies from Track and Trail Camp

At sunset, we were treated to another wonderful lightning storm, and then one of the coolest skies I have ever seen.  It turned the river and ground into a vibrant orange colour, with a purply sky.  Hard to explain, and I hope the photos do it a little justice.  We also saw tons of hippos making their way upstream, as I think they figure the rains have come, and they are heading out!!
What a fabulous place to visit, and we will struggle with leaving the next morning, especially as we don't know how we are getting back!!  *Stub

Homesick in Zambia

Happy Mush again, with Zambian Kids

When we arrived in Lusaka, for some reason I suddenly felt overwhelmed by a combination of homesickness missing family and friends and Kelowna-life, and a frustration at Africa. Being on the road as long as we have, the smallest thing just tipped off all sorts of stuff. Don't get me wrong: traveling southern Africa has been absolutely amazing and we have definitely enjoyed our fantastic adventures so far, especially meeting so many people who have been so good to us in so many ways; I don't think they even realise. However, Africa has definitely held many challenges and down-moments, some that we have encountered before on previous travels and some new ones. 

Of course, it's not one thing in particular, but a series of lots of little things together: for example, it gets a bit old camping in a tent, or cooking very basic, uninteresting food because of limited resources, or not being able to eat out like we generally do - all to keep costs down here in Africa. Haggling for fairer prices gets tiring: the 'Mzungo' or white-people prices can be through the roof for buses, taxis, groceries etc. Finding cheap, suitable travel options are challenging too. Public transport hasn't been always easy sometimes especially Zimbabwe. And although the people are very nice wherever we go, we have communication frustrations: they don't always give you a straight answer and we don't know whether it's because they don't understand our English, or they just don't want to tell us because we're foreigners, or they don't want to admit they don't know! Sometimes, they will just tell us what they THINK we want to hear which is really very annoying because it's not generally correct information!

Add to this that we're always on the move, and when not visiting people we know, we rarely stay longer than 2-3 days somewhere. Our longest stay in one place was Livingstone and that was because we were rafting for the week (a long time) for the kayak festival with a few days either side.

Anyway, regardless of the reasons it is now a question of what to do about it all!  We found ourselves having a long, looong chat about what happens next. Coming home and seeing family could be an option. But are we ready to come back? And come back …and WORK? Not really. To have a break, then, and go and see family and friends? That would be an expensive interlude especially as my family is in the UK, Martin's family in TO and Arizona, friends all over, and Kelowna another continent away. So, to continue onwards we need to make some changes in our travel format. Perhaps having a rest and finding a nice place to stop will help, possibly in Malawi, our next country. Perhaps spending more time in each place instead of moving on so quickly? Even though we're spending much more than our travels in Asia, maybe we just need to accept that spending a little more is worth it just to avoid the frustration of watching the money. These are some possible solutions to some of our issues, so we'll see if things change!

Sorry for rambling, but even just airing it all out helps. So, wish us luck with our new approach to our African travels. *Mush

Two Capitals - Harare, Zimbabwe to Lusaka, Zambia

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Massive Baobab Tree near Kariba

With sore heads we arrived back in Harare, after seeing some massive baobab trees along the way.  I've got to say that these have to be my favourite type of tree on the planet!!  It was to be a short stay back with Mike and Fiona, as we decided that it was time to move on to Zambia.
Mike was still keen to show us a good time back in Harare (bless him) and the next day after we'd done a bit of research at the bus station for buses to Lusaka (Zambia's capital), he took us out to a game park just on the outskirts of Harare.  We were surprised at the huge area it encompassed, but struggled to see a lot of game.  We struggled even further when we attempted to have our braai (bbq) lunch and discovered that we had no lighter or matches - oops, that was kind of important! I was looking forward to the boerewors (sausage) too.
In the park we spotted eland, wildebeest (with recent babies), zebra, baboons, and one lone giraffe.  We hunted high and low for more giraffe, and hit many dead ends.  Eventually, we called it quits and found out at the gate on our way out, that they only have ONE giraffe in the park.  I suppose we should have asked more questions when we arrived! Must be pretty lonely out there for the giraffe! Poor thing.

With Mike, Ashleigh and Fiona in Harare

We finally cooked up lunch when we got back home, chilling out with the Freelands for the rest of the day whilst packing up for our onward journey.
The Harare bus station turned out to be relatively organized, and we easily got ourselves on a coach at 7:30 in the morning which left by 8:30!!  Not bad at all for Africa! It was a pleasantly uneventful journey, with the driver actually driving responsibly for the most part.  And, the scenery was interesting coming down off the plateau and into the Zambezi Valley, although we saw plenty of burned out skeletons of trucks that hadn't quite made it down the steep hills!  Even the border crossing was pleasant and uneventful! Why can't they all be this good??
In to the hills of Zambia and onto our business in Lusaka, a city that we found to be reasonably pleasant and not as dirty as we expected (remember, it's all relative!).  Not much on the agenda apart from some banking and other chores whilst walking around seeing the town. We did have a bout of homesickness and frustration as we wandered and had a good heart to heart about what our travels would like form now on.

With Cecile and Ashley at Mint Cafe in Lusaka

That night, we had arranged to see our American friends, Cecile and Ashley, who live in Lusaka, and who we had jumped into to Devil's Pool with at the top of Vic Falls.  We had a super nice meal with them at Mint Cafe at a fancy mall in the suburbs of town.  The ride there in the local minibus was pleasant, and as usual, we chatted with some of the locals who took care of us and showed us where to go.  I find the Zambians to be really nice and friendly, and they pride themselves on that.  That sort of thing is really important to us and we appreciate it thoroughly, and most of the time it's genuine and sincere. Although, we found out that Cecile had recently been attacked and robbed, with the bruises to prove it, so it means we still have to keep our heads up and be careful who we trust.  Hope you feel better soon Cecile!

The dinner nicely topped off our day of difficulties with homesickness and general frustrations of being in Africa, and it was nice to see some familiar faces. *Stub

Aaaayyyyy Kariba, Zimbabwe

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The Kariba Dam

About 370km from Harare is the vacation village of Kariba.  Built beside Kariba Lake, which is a 270km long lake created from the construction of Kariba Dam on the Zambezi.  Most people come to the lake to houseboat and/or fish.  We expected to do neither, but would see what came about.  So, we headed out in Mike's little Toyota Hilux bakkie, and tackled the Zim roads up to Kariba.  No fines and no bribes were handed out in the journey which we were happy about.
Arriving in town, we set up tent at Warthogs Backpackers, and toured around the town a little.  Not much here really, but seems like a decent place to hang out.  On our way back to the camp, we discovered that it is built on an animal thoroughfare, and there were elephants in the campsite area.  Cooooool!!

Mike, John, Michelle and Wayne at the Country Club

That evening, we headed in to the bar at Warthogs, and met a few of the locals - Mike, John, Wayne and Keith.  There was no effort required to meet these guys, they just started chatting to us!!! We heard some of their stories about how they ended up in Kariba, and as usual Zimbabwean stories go, they were quite interesting. The next day, we were invited for drinks at Mike's house, to see the hippos outside his door.
Having a car in Kariba was a necessity and we used it to it's fullest.  We were able to do a self-drive safari around the small Kariba National Park, and cruise right along the waterfront where all the hippos, zebras, crocs, waterbucks, and tons of birds were out feeding.  We stopped for a picnic with the hippos on shore, but keeping our distance.  I think we were the only people in the park that day too, so we had all the animals to ourselves.

Female and Male Zebra in Kariba

Martin with the Hippos in Kariba

When we arrived at Mike's we found ourselves at the end of a point in a development called Lomagundi, and he had water on both sides.  This water was inhabited by lots of hippos, crocs and the elephants would even walk right past his fence.  Within the first couple of drinks, Mike had invited us to stay at his place, so we quickly drove over to Warthogs, grabbed our tent and came back to find our own private room with AIR CON!!!  Fantastic!!  What a nice offer.  We also had breakfasts and lunches cooked for us by the hired help, and they were delicious.
The next night we found ourselves at Warthogs bar again for chicken night, where we met more of the locals.  We found out it is a pretty small town, and close knit community here.  We would also run into a lot of these characters up at the Country Club high up on the hill the next night, with views over the lake for sunset.  We felt like one of the gang, and we had different invites to events or happenings in town.  So nice!

In Mike's Jacuzzi - see the hippos behind??

What we did manage to do was do a little tour of the dam.  You actually have to pass through Zimbabwean customs and head down to the dam, as the centre of the dam is the border.  We actually met one of our local friends Rick on the dam and turns out he is the Chief Maintenance man for the dam.   So, we got some inside scoop on the place, along with some urban legends and facts on the dam.  The urban legend is that the guy who designed the dam, actually had two other dams burst and then he committed suicide.  Because the location of this dam is a little suspect, there has been much attention to safety, and it is highly monitored!!  Totally safe????  It was pretty impressive to look over that big wall, and see the arched concrete heading up towards you, and the mighty Zambezi flowing away.

Feeding the buffalo and hippos

On our last day in Kariba, Mike was having a party.  And, not like us to turn down a party, we chipped in helping him prepare some food for the night, before hopping into the jacuzzi and having some wine while watching the hippos.  John came over with his boat and we finally got out on the lake which had been so highly recommended to us.  Over on one of the islands, they were bringing a big hay bale to feed the buffalo and hippos, and the food was scarce.  I helped the guys push the bale up the hill to pretty close proximity of the beasts - quite possibly the closest I had been outside of a vehicle.  A job well done, and we relaxed on the boat with some sundowners, a swim, and watching the sunset.

Out on the boat on Kariba Lake, Barnyard, M, John and Mike

When we got back to the house, the party was already going.  We had a delicious braai that night, but I'm afraid I got into the wine a little too much in the afternoon, and hit the bed quite early for my liking.  Michelle came upstairs to discover me fast asleep in bed before midnight.  Poor showing, but the air conditioning was good.
We all woke up with heavy heads the next day, struggled through breakfast, then all got in our cars for the 5.5 hour drive back to Harare.  Loooooooong afternoon!!!   *Stub

At The Freelands in Harare, Zimbabwe

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We were this close!!!

Back to normal on transport in Zimbabwe.  Our combi-van actually left pretty quick and we had the front seats, so no-one could be crammed in beside us.  The driver, Artwell, was really nice, but kept stopping for long periods of time.  Who knows why?   So we sat, and waited and waited in the heat of the day.  After loading a freezer on the roof at one stop, we actually ran out of fuel about 10km from our destination.  This was only about 50km from where we last fuelled up, so no IDEA why the bus boy skimped on the fuel.  So again, we sat waiting for him to run to town and get fuel.  Luckily he found some rides, so only waited an hour.  But the entire 160km trip had taken us 4.5 hrs on good roads.  But, you get what you pay for, and it only cost us $5.  Next, on to a big bus which was full when we arrived at it.  Off it went and we thought things were looking good, but it went to another station 1km away, where everyone got off the bus.  Turns out it was just arriving in to town, not leaving.  So, we sat and waited and waited for it to fill.  2 hours later and plenty of heat and frustration from the driver continually honking and revving the engine high to attract people, but after 2 hours it was a bit much.

Tommy, the 300 year old Galapagos tortoise

Aside - I don't really understand that in very poor countries with not much money, they insist on leaving all the engines running for hours and revving it up constantly. That just wastes money, but they don't seem to understand that concept!!!  It's all about noise and attracting attention I guess!
But I digress….  upon arrival in Harare, we noted that the city looked quite clean, modern, and quite orderly.  Our friend Mike Freeland (that we met in Plettenberg Bay) picked us up and took us home to see Fiona, and they also had a little party going.  Lots of good food and drink with their friends - it was really nice.
While in Harare, we had some more contacts and managed to visit Ryan and his mother Barb, along with the family for the afternoon.  Great to have a braai and chill out by the pool, but most of the guys were a little hungover as it was Ryan's stag the night before. 
Fiona was working as a teacher, and their daughter Ashleigh worked at a local restaurant, but lucky for us, Mike did not have a regular job.  That meant he was eager to take us around, and discover places he hadn't been to before either.

Flamingoes at Lake Chivera

First, was a drive out to Lake Chivera via the downtown of Harare.  The lake looked like it used to be a nice place to visit, but a little rundown around.  There was an impressive bird sanctuary there that nurses some of the birds of prey back to health.  There were plenty of specimens of owls, kestrels, eagles, and then some large birds like kori bustards, storks, and the largest heron in the world.  You were also allowed to walk freely through the flamingoes and other water birds.  All in all, I was pretty impressed for $5.
Then, we took the backroads to eventually find the Lion and Cheetah Park.  This one was also a shocker - for $6 each, there were about 45 lions.  And you could drive into the large enclosures and we literally had the cats outside our car doors. 

Wake up yawn

One male had some bad bedhead, and the females were busy cleaning the ticks from each other.  It was good to see them in a good environment.  There were loads of them around too, everywhere you looked.
They also had a small but impressive game park that we could cruise around.  Impressive amongst the huge balancing rock landscape, were zebras, antelopes and others.  Possibly my favourite part was as we parked up to enter the cage area, there was a massive Galapagos tortoise.  His name was Tommy and is estimated at 300 years old!!  I couldn't believe how big he was, and you could get close to touch him.  He was pretty slow for a 300 year old. They had cheetah, hyena, serval, wild pigs, and others in some cage areas, but Tommy was the highlight.

Martin on the Balanced Rocks of Domboshawa

The following day, Mike took us out to Domboshawa, a place just North of Harare.  It is an area of interesting landscapes, with large granite rock hills, and balanced rocks all over the place.  Very bizarre, and plenty of caves with ancient rock paintings.  We hung out there for sunset, which disappointed, but the surroundings were what we came for.  We played around, balancing some of the rocks above our heads, at least that's what the photos show!!
We had some delicious meals at Mike and Fiona's and they also offered to loan us a pick-up truck to visit the lake up North.  Great offer, and we will take them up on that tomorrow.  *Stub

The Eastern Highlands in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe

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Local kids heading to school in the tractor trailer

After a last meander through the Great Ruins in the serene morning mist, it was with a little trepidation that we set off onto our next destination, Chimanimani in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe - only because we knew what lay ahead: at least a couple of miles of walking and about 5 or 10 combi-vans! We shouldn't have worried. Instead, once we made it to the main road, our second thumbs out for a ride brought success, and Allan, Patrick and Pindai who had been at a conference at the Ruins hotel, happily gave us a lift to Masvingo the nearest town. Easy peasy!

A quick stock up on supplies and Martin and I went in search of the bus station. A little frustration as we got passed from pillar to post, but we finally got on a big coach - which happened to be full with people standing in the aisles, but, no problem, Dis Is Africa, we could sit on the engine compartment at the front next to the driver. It was a trouble-free and fun journey chatting to the driver (Lovemore) and bus boy (Jonah) and with front-row seats for the scenery. Our final combi-van was cramped as usual, but as we climbed our way higher, the beautiful mountains were breathtaking and the cool mountain air streaming in, a refreshing change from the hot stickiness of earlier in the day.

Bridal Veil Falls

In Chimanimani, we pitched our tent at a backpackers lodge that used to have a good reputation, however, we learned that it doesn't have a good reputation now! Especially at weekends when the locals come to the lodge bar, it apparently turns into a bit of a brothel! Nice. It was a Monday night and thankfully, was quiet, but the next morning we moved on to the "Frog and Fern' and spent a relaxing time just chilling in its welcoming, tranquil setting. Unfortunately, Chimanimani - like the rest of Zim so it seems - is a little expensive especially if we wanted to get to the Chimanimani Park itself -  $40 for a taxi for approx 16km to the entrance. Not good for our budget. We settled for some closer hiking which turned out to be scenic though still not really worth the entrance fee of $10 US each. It was a pretty picturesque waterfall called Bridal Veil (very common name), but the 4km walk there wasn't really very scenic.  Then we tackled Pork Pie Mountain, but the trail wound all the way around it, rather than the more direct route up, creating a long walking day in the HEAT!!  The views from the top, towards Chimamimani Park were nice, but there was no shade up top at all!!

Msasa Cafe

Back in town, we stopped for an ice cold Coke at our favourite little place called Msasa Cafe (probably the only cafe in town).  We returned often for a Coke, or a delicious meat pie (very home made by Daphne and the most delicious in weeks), or a local meal of sadza and chicken.  Sadza is basically a stodgy maize meal, thicker than mashed potato, and a little bland.  You have to flavour it up with some kind of sauce!!  But filling for sure...... and cheap.

Back at Frog and Fern, we chatted with the owners Dee and Jane.  They had lived in Zim for some time and lived through the lean recent years.  Telling us how far things had come since the 'bad times' when there was no food in any of the shops, and no fuel at the gas stations.  Everything was bought and sold on the black market and street, but at hefty prices.

Our tent site at Frog and Fern, with Holly the dog

This was only a few years ago.  So, the sight of tourists coming back into town, for them, was a welcome sight.  It's hard to imagine what it was like just a few years ago.  But Zimbabwe will be on the mend for some time to come, but prices will have to come down to attract more tourists!!!!

We went to bed every night with our watch dog Holly, outside the door of our tent.  She just liked to be around us, and take care of us!!  She was a good friend!  But, time to move on to Harare and visit with friends we met in Plettenberg Bay.   *Stub

Things Michelle will remember:

1.The crammed combi-van with Martin holding a large flat box of about 50 one-day old chicks for a family. He called himself a 'chick-magnet'.
2. The four dogs, four cats at the Frog and Fern, but especially Holly.
3. The delicious meat pies at Msasa Cafe - we took extras for lunches

Houses of Stone, Great Zimbabwe National Monument, Masvingo, Zimbabwe

To see our Zimbabwe Photos, Click Here

Running out of Fuel near Antelope Park

So, things are starting to look up a little.  We had a successful travel day consisting of a ride from Antelope Park to Gweru by a staff member heading in for supplies with a bakkie.  This ride was FREE, but he did run out of gas along the way. Lucky for him, we had a just got our new SIM card a couple of days before and so had a working cell phone.  The crammed combi-van that we took next was just that - crammed, but fine, and we arrived in Masvingo no problem.  Then, some helpful locals pointed us in the right direction and we were on to a short combi-ride just outside of town, to catch another combi the final 24km, the closest to the park we could get.  The walk to the park and campground was about 3km (2mi) but we luckily hitched 2 separate rides for short distances which still helped as at least it was less to walk with our heavy backpacks.  So three combi-vans and three hitches made for a long and hot and sticky, but uneventful travel day, and everyone was nice and fair to us (apart from the first combi that wanted to charge us $3 extra for our bags after we'd been traveling for 5 minutes, which Michelle flatly refused to pay).

Alongside the 11m high Great Enclosure wall

The Great Zimbabwe Ruins National Monument Park had one entry fee that we could use for however long we wanted. So knowing that we would be there for a couple of nights we squeezed in a quick visit into the ruins for an hour or so before sunset.  The Ruins are the largest ruins in Africa south of the Pyramids which is pretty impressive.  The town was built and inhabited between 1200 AD and 1500 AD, with three separate locations.  The Hill Complex, the Valley Complex and the Great Enclosure.  The Hill Complex was where the King lived, and as you can guess, was high atop a hill.  The Valley Complex was where his 200 or so wives lived, with his guestimated 2500 children!  Then the Great Enclosure was where his first wife - the Queen - lived, near the Valley Complex, and taught the daughters pre-marital lessons.
 

The solid Tower inside the Great Enclosure

I mentioned in a previous blog, that the name of the Zimbabwe Ruins was derived from the phrase "dzimba dza mabwe", meaning 'houses of stone'.  These houses of stone were built using no mortar, just granite chunks (mined by building a fire on large boulders and then pouring cold water to make it crack) placed on top of each other and wedged into place.  The largest of the buildings is the circular Great Enclosure and at it's highest, the walls are 11m tall, with a thickness of 6m at the bottom and 4m at the top.  Massive walls, and the best preserved structure in the city!!!  It contained a curious structure, that looked like a granary tower approx. 10m high, but seemed to serve no purpose other than to show wealth or possibly just a phallic symbol to show power. It was completely solid, so of no internal use.  It is a symbol of the park.  We enjoyed some of the tall, skinny entrance corridors for their coolness on a super hot day!

The valley complex was a series of ruined walls with on complete structures but some super old aloe vera plants scattered throughout the walls added some character. 

On top of the Hill Complex, in amongst the big boulders

A walk up to the Hill Complex was tricky along the ancient trail.  At times, the path was only 50cm wide, and between two large boulders.  This was a good defense mechanism, as attackers could only approach single file.  We were surprised to find a series of complex paths and walls up on top.  You could not tell from below how extensive the hill complex was.  Fascinating to walk through the old paths that the king must have passed along.  The hilltop was a series of big boulders that the buildings were intertwined with.  You could climb on top for great views, or hole up in the 'echo' cave that the the king used to call down to the valley from.  It was here that he could call a particular wife up to 'visit' him, as he had a view of the valley below.  I guess he could also check that none of the 200 wives were fooling around on him!!

View of the huge Great Enclosure from on top the Hill Complex

It was nice to have some time to hang around and really soak the place in, not to mention, finally having a chance to see something in Zimbabwe that didn't drive us to the poorhouse.  *Stub









Things Michelle will remember:
1. The family that was crammed next to her in the back of the comb- van. Along with Michelle there were three adults and three children. To make things more comfortable, the Dad would pass one of the kids to sit on Michelle's lap which made the journey even hotter and stickier. The two year old and four year old alternated sitting on her lap falling asleep and upon waking would start crying to see a scary white person holding them!
2. Our Ruins guide, Lovemore, from whom we learnt a lot about the ruins and felt like we got good value for our money - finally!
3. Chilling out high on the Bird's back in the ritual area and admiring the view of the valley below.
4. The heat was incredibly intense and verging on unbearable even at 8 in the morning. Then a storm came through that looked like it would blow our tent away (but thankfully didn't) and was followed by a more comfortable temperature.

Independant Travel in Zimbabwe

To see our Zimbabwe Photos, Click Here
So we've been in Zimbabwe for about 5 or 6 days now and I haven't figured out how this country works at all. 

In train Sleeper compartment - 17 hours

It used to be the 'bread basket' of Africa, but definitely not any more.  Zimbabwe was called Rhodesia (after the explorer and colonist Cecil John Rhodes), until 1980 when it gained it's independence from England.  The name Zimbabwe is actually formulated from the name of the ancient town ruins "dzimba dza mabwe" which means houses of stone.  The country adopted this name, and also the symbol of the bird found carved in soapstone at the site.
Robert Mugabe has been in power here since 1980 and probably far too long.  He will not relinquish his 'prime ministership/dictatorship' and has driven the country into the ground.  Recently, he has been quite ill, and possibly near death, but I'm sure there is someone just as bad waiting in wings.
This is what I deduce.   There were many whites living in Rhodesia, but had originally taken the land from the black locals.  I think most of the farms were successfully run by the whites, and Rhodesia was a prospering country.  Since Mugabe took power, there has been much violence, massacres, voter intimidation, and then the land reform program.  Although many whites had already left Zimbabwe (only possibly 20,000 remained), Mugabe was furious that the whites had backed the opposition party and not voted 'yes' for the referendum, so he began violently confiscating the land and redistributing it - not to black farmers, but to ministers, party faithful and foreign friends.  We actually have friends who had offered up two of their farms for redistribution previously, only to have forces arrive at their third and last farm, ordering them to leave within 8 hours, and to take no possessions that had to do with the farm.  Everything lost!!!  As you can imagine, the results of this would devastate the nation, and they have been trying to recover ever since. 
In 2005, an operation called Murambatsvina ("Clean out the trash") was started, that targeted the poor in towns, and basically was set up to drive them back to their rural homes.  Some think he was just trying to quash a possible revolution by separating the people.  Basically, it just drove most of the nations people deeper into poverty. 

Trillions of Zimbabwe Dollars

The money here is also a little strange.  The nation went through a period of excessive inflation, where they couldn't print money fast enough.  I have seen bills that actually have an expiry date on them, because by that time, they wouldn't be worth the paper they are printed on.  The situation became ridiculous, and they actually have printed the highest denomination bill of "ONE HUNDRED TRILLION ZIMBABWE DOLLARS".  As this couldn't possibly continue, they have now adopted the US dollar but the actual bills were probably quite hard to come by at the start.  Nowadays, the US dollar is in use, but they do not have any coins.  So, how do you buy something less than a dollar????  They try to give you change in South African Rand, and Botswanan Pula.  A messed up system, and most of the time nobody has change anyway.  So, most things end up costing at least $1 and sometimes considerably higher.  We have found Zimbabwe VERY expensive to travel in, and I think they are trying to make up for the previous 15 years.  We have flatly refused to pay some of the exorbitant fees asked for, but have then had trouble getting around.  $20 for a 12 km taxi ride - not sure if I would pay that back in Canada??!  But we have to get places, and they won't take much less.  i don't know how the locals can possibly manage with these prices!!  To me, instead of attracting more business and tourism, they are driving it away with overpricing!!

Typical local transport - Combi-van - notice freezer on roof

It's been a bit of a shame because we have wanted to visit certain sights in Zim, but just don't want to get ripped off, and have refused to pay the prices set, and move on to the next town.  To really experience Zimbabwe, I think you need your own vehicle, not relying on public transport.
So, this is a quick rundown on what we have done in the first 5 days.  First night after walking from Zambia to Zimbabwe, we spent in the town of Victoria Falls.  We had already done what we wanted at the Falls, and contemplated going to Hwange National Park.  It seemed difficult and very expensive to visit, so we decided to skip it seeing as though we had been to many wildlife parks and done many safaris already.  That night, we boarded a train to Bulawayo.  The train ride was great and relaxing (although a little hot at first), even with it being 17 hours instead of the 12 scheduled.  Arriving in Bulawayo, we struggled

Young boy at Bulawayo Youth Hostel

to get any information on getting to the two main Unesco sights nearby, and were lucky to find a cheap place to stay - the only one in town ($6 each for a pretty ratty looking hostel).
Since they wanted at least $80 each to visit the parks, we decided to skip these as well, and took a combi-van to Gweru.  This is where we encountered the $20 taxi ride to Antelope Park, but after much arguing and waiting (more than an hour), somebody finally caved down to $10 since he was heading home anyway.  An aside - this may seem like a low price to pay, but when you are trying to travel for 2 years on a budget, this is exorbitant given that our daily budget is only $33 each for food, accommodation, travel, etc.   Anyway, camping at Antelope Park was the only thing we wanted to afford, as everything else was out of our range.  So, we did relax in the tranquil area of Antelope Park for 2 nights before moving on.  Next attempt to do something in Zimbabwe will be near Masvingo, and the Great Zimbabwe Ruins.  *Stub