The following morning we drove to the Zimbabwe border at Nyamapanda, having carefully hidden various “contraband” including the satellite phone, laptop, video camera and thousands of US Dollars under the spare wheel on the roof. The idea in Zim is not to give them any cause to believe you are a journalist – or you are in big trouble!The border was slow but the Zimbabweans were friendly and all the people going in were carrying sacks of maize and other foodstuffs that are now so hard to come by in Zimbabwe. The man from whom I bought the vehicle insurance, said to me quietly “we in Zimbabwe are suffering, because the old man will not die”. All over Africa we are (unsurprisingly) subjected to sob stories but here we knew they were true! It was only about two hour’s drive west to Harare through some beautiful scenery but it was also painfully obvious that the farmland was deserted, scorched and empty. Many of the trees lining the road were host to Mugabe election posters with ridiculous propaganda slogans. We all wanted them as souvenirs but knew better than to take them down – immediate arrest would follow if caught.We arrived at the lovely Glen Lorne area on the outskirts of Harare where David and Clare Peech were extremely kind in having the four of us to stay for three nights. The house was amazing and although the electricity and water were off more than on, we still had a very comfortable stay and are immensely grateful to the Peech family for being so generous. Harare really is one of the nicest cities in Africa and in better times must have been a great place to live. Now all the banks have queues so long outside that some people sleep there so they can withdraw their money – the maximum amount you can withdraw is about 50p (UK) but a packet of biscuits would cost about three pounds if you could find them. Daily power cuts have been the norm for three years and some whole areas of the city are without any water at all – it’s difficult to imagine how people survive.
From Harare we drove down to Gweru and stayed at Antelope Park, where we rode horses in the bush and walked with a pair of lion cubs – fantastic! Then on west, to Bulawayo and the Matopos Hills. We had the whole place to ourselves as there are really no tourists anymore and visited Rhodes’ grave up on its lonely granite Kopje. We camped that night by a lake and the following morning Harry set to work on changing a broken shock absorber on the front right wheel – luckily we carried a spare one. However disaster struck when the high lift jack seemed to topple in slow motion and the car crashed to the earth, landing 3 tonnes of weight solely on the brake disc and very narrowly avoiding Harry’s legs, as he’d been working on the suspension. It was a tense few minutes as we struggled to get the car back onto the jack and prayed there was no significant damage – fortunately there wasn’t and everyone was hugely relieved – I do not trust those bloody jacks ever, however careful you may be in giving them a firm base plate etc!!
We left Matopos and headed north from Bulawayo for Hwange National Park to visit a Tusk sponsored project. It was “The Painted Dog Conservation Project” dedicated to saving the wild dog. Peter Blinston, who runs the show, kindly put us up for the night and showed us around the project the following day. There are so many elephants in the area (40,000 ish) that we had to be accompanied by a guard when walking from the kitchen outside to our bedrooms at night – the noise of crackling branches and ripping trees was deafening. It was very interesting to see the workings of the project and it’s great to know that our raised money is going to such worthwhile causes.Our last stop in Zimbabwe was of course, Victoria Falls. Here we spent three great days – white water rafting, bungee jumping etc and generally relaxing before Botswana and the run! Camping at the Vic Falls Rest Camp was very convenient for town and as business is so terrible at the moment all the activity companies are very willing to negotiate – US Dollars only of course. We actually had quite a good time at the casino in one of the hotels, which was pretty empty and for once most of us finished in the black – but being Zim the casino did not physically have the cash to give us – so that was that!So after ten brilliant days in Zimbabwe we drove to the Botswana border at Kazangula. For all its problems Zimbabwe is still a great place to visit and my favourite country of the whole trip.
Toby
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