Zimbabwe

"Take me back to Zim, baby!" is what we've been saying to each other daily since we left this wonderful country. We had been thinking about giving it a miss too, since the country was going through some political difficulties - but after talking with travelers who had just been, we went ahead with our plans.

We entered Zimbabwe through Kasane, Botswana and headed to Victoria Falls. We stayed at Gertie's Lodge, a quiet place about 4 km from the falls (v. nice). The city of Vic Falls is small and easy to negotiate. There's a moderate amount of pressure from touts as you walk down the street but nothing ominous or intolerable. Ate lunch at the Pink Baobab in town and could not get over how inexpensive it was. Vic Falls is pretty well hooked up with internet cafes (for Africa) so we were able to do some catching up with folks online. Our first night we headed to Mama Africa's for dinner and live music. Don't let the name fool you, there were about 100 diners there and not one was African. The band members were African but played a lot of American/British music. (One thing we've noticed about Africa is that many people in tourist industry try to recreate the tourists' home country in Africa. If we only wanted to eat American food in an American evironment we would've stayed in the USA right?)

The next day we visited the actual Victoria Falls. They are big and beautiful, but the experience felt anticlimactic after having slept with elephants and sat 5 feet from the King of the Jungle. That night we went to the highly recommended Boma restaurant for dinner. It's a large buffet with a variety of African food with live performances by African musicians and dancers. The buffet included entree choices like: warthog, buffalo, kudu, springbok, ostrich, and basically all other animals people go on safari to see. Dana questioned the psychological make-up of people who would safari during the day on the edge of their seats hoping to catch a glimpse of their dinner for the evening. The safari-unrelated food choices were quite good as were the dance performances.

On our final day in Vic Falls, Dale opted to raft the Class 5 rapids of the Zambezi River. (Dana sensibly stayed in town). Dale and his fellow rafters were thrown from the raft on the first group of rapids. The speed and depth of the Zambezi resulted in him being pulled under water for so long he recalls thinking that his life jacket surely was defective as it was not bringing up to the surface as advertised. Fortunately he survived and went on to enjoy the rest of the trip and being thrown from the raft 3 more times. (It is possible to bungi jump off the Zambezi Bridge - the longest bungi jump in the world. We watched some sick souls plunge to depths from a height that made us nauseous just to look at).

From Vic Falls we took a bus to Bulawayo (we experienced our first bus breakdown) and checked into the Berkeley Place Hotel ($3/night for a room).

At this point it's probably worth explaining why things in Zimbabwe are currently so cheap. The government has decided, in its infinite wisdom, to artificially peg the exchange rate at $60 Zimbabwe dollars to $1 US. However, on the black market (or more safely, the parallel market), we were able to get more than $325 Zim dollars for $1 US. That means that everything is 5-6X cheaper than it is for locals. Bad for them, good for us. (In fact for locals whose salaries do not nearly increase at the triple-digit rate of inflation, it is quite a sad situation.)

Bulawayo is a small, laid back city. We greatly enjoyed a trip to the movies in a modern theatre for ($0.30) and were even able to afford the popcorn and soda! We purchased tickets to the Bulawayo Theatre Ballet and were surprised when we arrived for the show to discover that it was basically a recital for all the local dance schools (i.e. amateurs aged 3-93). We went on a day trip from Bulawayo to Matopos National Park. There we went out on a horse safari in search of the endangered white rhino. As we rode along with our guide, he stopped us short and indicated an enormous male rhino in the bush to our left. We began to back our horses up and realized the mother and baby rhinos were on our right. We stayed put and watched as the male rhino lumbered peacefully in front of us over to the mom and baby. They watched us watching them for a while and then headed off into the bush. It was incredible being so close to them. Horseback safari is definitely the way to go to get close to the animals without causing any fear.

In Bulawayo we were invited to dinner at the "Cattleman" restaurant by the owners of the place we rented a car, and spent the evening surrounded by Texas state flags and local Shona waiters donning cowboy hats. In the morning we got into the large SUV we rented ($10/day) and blasting the tapes we bought (Queens Greatest Hits and local african music), headed off to the Great Zimbabwe (ruins of an ancient city). On our way, we were stopped at a police roadblock where the policemen politely requested we drive them a few hours to the next town (we decided this is not the kind of request one can refuse). The Lodge at the Ancient City, at the Great Zimbabwe, is one of the most luxurious lodges in the country and we felt like royalty. It was - without a doubt - the cleanest, most attractive, comfortable place we'd been in on our whole trip ($10/night including great meals). Unfortunately, they only had 1 night available or we never would have left. The Great Zimbabwe is a group of ruins set on top of a mountain and around its base. It was interesting to see the structure that housed the chief and his hundreds of wives.

Next we headed to Chimanimani - a mountainous area on the border of Mozambique. We stayed at the beautiful Mawenje Lodge at the base of the mountain range. Chimanimani is a stunning area with lush forest, multi-colored foliage, rivers with stillwater pools, and lots of baboons and samanga monkeys. We hiked out to the Skeleton Pass and walked into Mozambique. Unfortunately, we got lost on our way back (Dale still hadn't figured out how to use his compass) and were running down treacherous trails and steep declines to make it back before dark. We spent 2 nights at the Mawenje (see pics) where group dinners are held nightly to allow guests to get know each other. In residence during our stay was a white Zimbabwean family of 4 (all adults) and an Israeli couple who teach Hebrew in Zimbabwe (who knew there were Jews in Zimbabwe?). From the owners of Mawenje (white Zimbabweans) and our fellow guests we learned a great deal about the present political situation from their perspective.

For those who are interested, the civil strife currently going on in Zimbabwe is related to the fact that mainly white people -- people who are for many generations Zimbabwean but obviously at some point were colonial settlers -- own the best farm land (even though they employ sometimes hundreds of local black (eg Shona) Zimbabweans). The current ruling party, in an effort to stay in power, has been inciting so-called "war veterans" (mostly unruly adolescents) to squat on farm property and to do so violently if necessary. The main struggle for Zimbabwe, which is similar to many if not all African countries, is that of course the white people (and many from India) do own a lot of the wealth and that is clearly a relic of colonization, the slave trade, etc. As a result, they feel the landowners owe the government (and people) a lot, if not all of their wealth. Most white Zimbabweans happen to agree, incidentally, but would rather not be killed in the negotiating process or forced out of the country they call home. Meanwhile, these governments really are unbelievably corrupt -- the senior members of the ruling party are the richest by far, and meanwhile the members of the opposition are mysteriously dying in droves. It is a tricky situation...

We headed next to the Vumba Mountains and returned to backpacker accomodations (Ndundu Lodge) -- quite a hard adjustment after several nights of luxury. We went for a hike in the botanical gardens and mountains. The botanical gardens are beautiful (if you like that kind of thing) and the mountins are lush. We saw loads of Samanga monkeys and as usual became very lost. Dale's navigational/compass-reading skills failed again and we walked several hours out of our way before finding a farmer who led us to the correct path. Dana advised Dale that she would not be hiking with him without the assistance of a guide ever again.

Our next stop was the capital city, Harare. We were both elated as we drove past bakeries, pizza places, sidewalk cafes, bookstores, jazz clubs and supermarkets. Harare is a surprisingly modern city with all the conveniences (almost) of home. We checked into The New Ambassador Hotel -- a hotel primarily for local businessmen -- where we were able to watch CNN in a suite for about $8/night (though realize that it is not the Hilton -- more like a room in 1970s Eastern Europe). We loved Harare -- the advantage of being in a city (as opposed to a touristy place in Africa) is that you are usually the only tourist and can have a more authentic African experience. We went to see live jazz at Jazz 105 where they served real, brick-oven pizza (delicious!). Also saw live local music at The Book Cafe - a place packed with locals and expats. Saw late-night blues at The Mannenberg - a rocking place packed with locals - great music and food!! The Zimbabweans must party until all hours because people were still streaming in after midnite.

Our next stop was the luxurious Sanyati Lodge on Lake Kariba, in northern Zimbabwe on the border of Matusadona National Park. We must note that if you book Sanyati from the USA it is $700/night. Because of the black market and "resident rates" (after all, if not Zimbabwe, in what country do we reside?), we were able to stay for about $45/night including all gourmet meals and safaris, and felt totally unworthy of this delightful experience. Sanyati is beautiful - a dozen stone/thatch cabins set overlooking Lake Kariba. It is here where we finally saw the the highly-anticipated, adorably wide-eyed, bushbaby! If they weren't so fast Dana would have pocketed one to bring home. The bushbabies had set up residence in the thatch of the fitness center bungalow and could be observed romping about beginning at sunset. While at Sanyati, we went on a bushwalk with an armed guide, Mark, in Matusadona National Park. While on foot, we saw 3 lion cubs, elephants, kudu, eland and springbok. Crouching down in the bush as elephant and lions scamper by in front of you is an awesome experience.

On a Sanyati game drive the next day we had the scare of our lives! Mark was driving us in an open-air safari vehicle on a narrow dirt path bordered on one side by a steep drop and the other by a steep mountain. We rounded the bend only to discover 6 elephants walking slowly up the road towards us. The road is definitely only wide enough for one car (or elephant). Fearing angering the elephants, Mark shut off the engine and through clenched teeth said "don't move a muscle!" Dale and Dana sat - our hearts pounding - as the elephant regarded us. The leader of the herd was a very large bull elephant who is known to show his dominance over pesky humans by pushing their boat or vehicle with his tusks. The elephant walked slowly towards us until he stood nose-to-fender with our jeep. Dana thought he might nudge us off the cliff so he could pass unhindered by our vehicle. Dale was trying to decide if he should go for his camera but when Mark warned again not to move, he wisely decided against it. The elephant then squeezed his mammoth body between Dana's side of the open jeep and the steep mountain. He was so close he practically rubbed against Dana's arm. Miraculously he was able to pass, and without even a glance back he continued down the road. His 5 friends were less bold and stood in front of us snorting and stomping their feet. Having nowhere to go but forward or over the edge, Mark started the car -- and the group of elephants headed back down the road the way they came. While at Sanyati we also went on boat safaris and kayaking among crocs and hippos. In total a delightful experience and we were sad to leave our air conditioner and open-air shower behind.

The next night was thus far the worst night of our trip. We were waiting on the street corner in Kariba town for the public bus to Harare. Colin -- a Zimbabwean farmer we had met at the Sanyati -- pulled up and offered to host us at his houseboat that evening and then drive us to Harare in the morning. Deciding he was not a psychopath we agreed, and a few hours later we headed by speedboat out to his houseboat. When we arrived we were startled to see that in fact there was no "house" involved in this boat, only matresses on the top deck. The boat was anchored in Matusadona National Park (home to the above-mentioned lions, elephants and many hippos!). We questioned how safe we would be docked on the shore where all these animals came to drink -- but decided that it was unlikely they would board the boat. Night fell and the bush came alive with the sounds of lions roaring and hippos grunting. An elephant dined on land near the boat. Suddenly, Colin's cellphone rang (you just can't get away from them) and we heard him say "America was bombed, 40,000 dead!" Our first thought was this man was surely a psycho who brought us out here to terrorize us. Then his phone rang again and again -- friends and family watching CNN live were calling him to advise on the tragedy. He let us call Dale's family in the States to confirm the news. It was too late and dangerous to head back to the mainland, so we had to wait until morning to get the news and check on friends and family. This was the longest night of our lives - lying anxiously on the dock of the boat listening to the animals and waiting for the sun to rise. Very surreal!

Unfortunately, the houseboat wouldn't start the next day and it took us forever to get back to town. Eventually made it back to Harare after paying some man to drive us there. Spent days watching CNN, checking the internet and calling home. Asessed our situation and decided it was safe to continue our trip, so headed by bus (through the infamous Tete Corridor in Mozambique) to Malawi. The highlight of the 12 hour bus ride was the collection the bus driver took up to bribe the Mozambican border guard to let us through without a hassle. The first collection didn't cut the mustard, so he passed the hat around again! That was not the first, nor the last corrupt policeman we encountered -- stay tuned for many more tales of corruption and poverty from Malawi!

Zimbabwe Pics! (click picture for full-sized version)

Victoria Falls