Right now I'm lying in a hammock in the hot African sun listening to the waves of lake Malawi wash on the squeaky golden sand. It's the closest we have got to being by the sea in over 6 weeks. I know this blog post has taken a long time to air part of that is due to limited African wifi but mainly it is due to bloody technology deleting the draft so this will be a case of retrospect writing.
When we last left we were waiting at the boarder to Zimbabwe. This only took an hour or so to get a multi entry Zim – Zam visa unlike the queues of trucks which were waiting anywhere between 3 and 7 days. Vic Falls is a sleepy tourist town and The Falls were as impressive as anticipated especially as the seasonal rains had finally made it down from the head waters. This also meant the river was charging for rafting. We were only the second group down after the wet season. It was a very bumpy truck ride and a steep scramble down into the gorge where we finally met the mighty Zambezi River. Due to the high flow we had to put in half way down the normal section but the first rapid was still huge with massive curling waves which we did well to stay upright in. Once we had navigated this though it was all fairly plain sailing as all the rocks and technical stuff had been washed out, next time we return it will be in low water when it becomes a bit more gnarly. The lunch and cold beers the boys put on after the rafting was excellent and we even caught the end of the Highlanders game.
There were plenty of locals pedalling produce between the two markets of Vic Falls and Livingstone (in Zambia) so we hired some bikes and biked across the boarder. All the friendly locals thought it was very funny to see white mzungas on bikes and gave us a wave or tried to race us. We had a good wander through the local craft market while some friendly stall owners kept a watchful eye over the bikes before our tummies demanded a great $2 local meal of sadza (maize porridge) and beef stew.
A leisurely breakfast of beans and eggs followed by a game of scrabble occupied the morning (Nick had already been for a run) before Lucy, due to celebrate an upcoming birthday, took to the air in a helicopter to experience the falls from above and marvelled at the sheer volume of water and mist that thunders over the edge. On our last day before we got the rickety old night train to Bulawayo we got thoroughly soaked by the falls as we got an up close and personal experience of this amazing sight. Although the falls were a magnificent sight we had a very unique experience while walking back from watching the old steam train and sunset as we ran into 13 elephants happily destroying the front garden of one of the hotels. We must have stood and watched them for nearly an hour and got to within a few meters of them at one stage.
The train was pretty cool, not a single piece of maintenance had been done on it since its conception and the musty pink walls and crinkly green leather bunks in the four person cabins really showed their age. It was a comfortable ride and we got a fairly decent nights sleep even though it stopped very regularly. The true extent of this once prosperous country was revealed in Bulawayo with siding after siding of rusting railway cars, disused old factories and wasting warehouses everywhere. It was such a shame to see as the locals are all so open and friendly, much more so than in Namibia and Botswana maybe that was the German influence…
Lucy's birthday had finally come and to celebrate we spent the day chasing rhinos. Norm was an old, white bachelor who guided us expertly through the park and we got to walk right up close to 5 rhinos including one huge bull. All their horns had been removed to curb poaching but it was interesting to learn more about the game hunting trade which provides so much revenue to the very poorly funded national parks in Zim. After a nice lakeside picnic we saw some very fine old cave paintings, had plenty of high fives from kids running past our truck and watched a great sunset from a rocky outcrop where Cecil Rhodes-the founder and once owner of Zimbabwe is buried. We got back well after dark to find dinner already cooked and a nice birthday cake with a big candle for the birthday girl.
Next stop was the some what controversial Antelope Park which has a large number of captive lions and has intentions to release the cubs of some of them back into the wild. The campground was stunning with a lily pad river and lush green grass and the cutest wee donkey called Jackie who loved to poke her nose in conversations. Lucy saddled up an old nag and with a few others girls and a very scared Chris went for a trot through the game park while Nick went for a trot of his own. A few commandeered tent ground sheets and a hose provided the afternoon entertainment as we slipped and slid like little kids before jumping in the pool. A few people opted to do the controversial lion walk where you stroll with cubs bred specifically for this purpose while we went with Yvonne the fantastic scientist in charge of the pride which has 4 females about to be released into the wild. The parents of these lions were captive raised but the cubs have never had much human interaction other than the vehicles with spectators. The cubs, now 5 years old all hunt very effectively together and it is hoped that if the relocation is a success the model can be used for other top predators.
Feeling refreshed after our three nights lounging at Antelope we hit the scenic road through countless small subsistence farms with well maintained mud huts to Great Zimbabwe Ruins. These huge stone structures once provided shelter to 9000 inhabitants. On the flats some of the stone walls are 11m tall with intricate patterns while the cliff top fort had many small misleading alleys and provided a good viewpoint for the king to watch over his 200 odd wives… We camped near the base with a whole troop of very cute but equally cheeky monkeys who had great delight trying to steal our breakfast bananas.
Harare the capital was our next destination and as usual along the way we got stopped at a police road block every 50km or so. Our truck is one of the only ones that spends any significant time in Zim and the pedantic police looking for any excuse to siphon a little cash off certainly detracts from the otherwise amazing people. The capital also highlights the corruptness of the government with plenty of brand new Range Rovers parked outside any government building yet lines and lines of people unsuccessfully trying to get cash out of the ATMs (the govt is holding all the US$ and there isn't enough bonded notes in circulation). Never before have we witnessed people so desperate for their cash from banks. Many people have credit on their phones that they can use to pay for groceries etc and they would always come and ask us if they could pay on this or that debit card in exchange for our cash. I don't think it will be long before we see crazy inflation again.
In spite of all this Harare was generally very relaxed and we felt completely safe walking the streets taking it all in but we were ready for Chimanimani National Park. We ended up having four nights here as we had had to send our passports back to the Ethiopian embassy in Australia to get a visa. It was a long slow drive through some big mountains to Heaven Lodge. Our truck is full of well travelled adventurous soles so we all opted to head into the mountains for a night without a guide with the intentions of climbing 2430m Mount Binga the second highest mountain in Zim but the highest mountain in Mozambique (the mountain range acts as the boarder).
Most people spent the night in a hut while we went exploring this amazing landscape complete with huge rocky outcrops and lush grassy mountain plains and ended up spending the night in a stunning wee rock overhang. Up early the next morning it was a straight up scramble Norway style though with many more wild flowers and butterflies. We got slightly lost at one point and probably hadn't eaten enough on route so the final slog was pretty brutal. The views from the top were awesome but it had taken us much longer than expected so we had to put our skates on to get back in time for our pickup. After a couple of very steep rocky pitches we were again on a large grassy plateau before dropping down into a huge gorge filled with tropical trees which had escaped the bushfires that frequent the flats. All up we walked for a solid 8 hours and must have covered 24 to 28km plus nearly 1500m elevation gain so it was a healthy day out!
We needed a relaxing recovery day and what better way than to have a round of golf… The course in all fairness was well maintained with nice greens however if you can't hit straight then finding your ball in the head-high grass and shrubs becomes a mission. There was also plenty of big swampy water features that we found the hard way, luckily there was no shortage of little kids who were happy to get up to their knees in mud to find our balls and chant "I am fine how are you" their first English sentence learnt in Africa. When bad light stopped play it had taken us nearly four hours to play 5 holes with Lucy having a slight lead on the score card. We couldn't be late back as we were taking a break from cooking on open fires as a truck and having pizzas for dinner cooked expertly by a couple of local lads washed down with a cold rum and ginger beer.
Back in Harare again. We camped at the Shambles – the Oasis truck base complete with a few dead and dying old yellow trucks. It was one of the boys birthdays and he thought no one new until we brought him out a cake. Upon this he made a hasty exit only to return with plenty of booze and a few drinking games later we were all inside one of the old trucks having a truck party.
Thanks to DHL who forgot to send the correct details with the return addressed envelope and pick up our passports as required we had to kill an extra 4 days (sorry mum we might be late to Sri Lanka). So we left our tour guide behind and headed off with our very reliable and hilarious Kenyan driver Walter to Chinoy Caves. Here there are a couple of big sink holes with crystal clear water that takes on a splendid blue colour. We camped the night outside the entrance and Nick found a game of football with the local kids at the village while Lucy was on cook duty. We also got lulled to sleep by the pitta patter of rain for the first time on our trip though it was gone as quickly it came.
Our final destination in Zim was Lake Kariba where we were kept awake at night by noisy hippos and saw elephants, crocs, zebra and buffalo in and amongst the small town. A sunset lake cruise complete with a few gins and big barby topped off a really enjoyable 3 and a half weeks but we were relieved to have our passports and our tour leader back so we could continue north. This seems like an appropriate place to draw this latest addition to our blog to a close. We will endeavour to keep you updated in due course but hey we have much more pressing issues like trying to spot elephants so bare with us!
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