24 JULY 2010 - Victoria Falls
We re-routed. After two months of local knowledge - being told that Zim is where it's at - we are heading east through Zimbabwe. We crossed the border from Botswana into Victoria Falls yesterday, and have been assaulted by touts ever since. Shame, because it really spoils a promising town. More shortly.
28 JULY 2010 - Harare
Who knows what to say about Zimbabwe? So I’ll keep it relatively factual.
We had $100 USD stolen within 5 hours of entering the country.
Vic Falls was big - just like I imagined it actually.
Bulawayo may, once upon a time, have been Zim’s “loveliest city”, but that time has passed. Walking around Bulawayo at night is not fun. “Cape to Cairo” may once have been Bulawayo’s loveliest game restaurant, but now it’s the local sports bar and its dinghy.
If you share my taste in movies, you will find “The Virgin Territories” so utterly awful that it is endearing. Add the sheer novelty value of watching a movie at all, and it was actually quite a fun experience.
Great Zimbabwe truly was great. We were the only foreigners there. That could only happen in Zimbabwe.
I make a mean roast chicken in a dutch oven, even if I say so myself.
A cop tried to pull us up for not having the right reflectors at the vehicle at a roadblock today. Thwarted once we promptly hopped out, pulled extras out of the boot and fitted them, he resorted to flat out asking for 50 rand or a cold drink. He got neither.
Each of the 3 former leading campsites/overlander spots in Harare that we went to had closed down. Eventually we located the former operator, who is now running a guesthouse for quasi-residents. He said that at one point, they didn’t see a backpacker for 2 years. I am uploading this from a mattress on the floor of that guesthouse.
Zimbabwe is, to quote the great Brohad, weird.
SC
We re-routed. After two months of local knowledge - being told that Zim is where it's at - we are heading east through Zimbabwe. We crossed the border from Botswana into Victoria Falls yesterday, and have been assaulted by touts ever since. Shame, because it really spoils a promising town. More shortly.
28 JULY 2010 - Harare
Who knows what to say about Zimbabwe? So I’ll keep it relatively factual.
We had $100 USD stolen within 5 hours of entering the country.
Vic Falls was big - just like I imagined it actually.
Bulawayo may, once upon a time, have been Zim’s “loveliest city”, but that time has passed. Walking around Bulawayo at night is not fun. “Cape to Cairo” may once have been Bulawayo’s loveliest game restaurant, but now it’s the local sports bar and its dinghy.
If you share my taste in movies, you will find “The Virgin Territories” so utterly awful that it is endearing. Add the sheer novelty value of watching a movie at all, and it was actually quite a fun experience.
Great Zimbabwe truly was great. We were the only foreigners there. That could only happen in Zimbabwe.
I make a mean roast chicken in a dutch oven, even if I say so myself.
A cop tried to pull us up for not having the right reflectors at the vehicle at a roadblock today. Thwarted once we promptly hopped out, pulled extras out of the boot and fitted them, he resorted to flat out asking for 50 rand or a cold drink. He got neither.
Each of the 3 former leading campsites/overlander spots in Harare that we went to had closed down. Eventually we located the former operator, who is now running a guesthouse for quasi-residents. He said that at one point, they didn’t see a backpacker for 2 years. I am uploading this from a mattress on the floor of that guesthouse.
Zimbabwe is, to quote the great Brohad, weird.
SC
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2 AUGUST 2010 - A Capital, a Cave, and a Crossing (and a park… but that doesn’t start with ‘c’)
My top 10 cities in the world are not under threat from Harare. The bustling, smoggy capital of Zimbabwe needs a coat of paint. Zimbabwe’s economic decline has seen maintenance put on the backburner. The Lonely Planet’s top 3 hostels had closed down due to the plummet of tourism and on our 4th attempt we were redirected to a longer stay guesthouse. Harare was a gateway to the north of the country - a reluctant but mandatory service stop.
We moved on from Harare with zest to the spectacular Chinhoyi Caves National Park for Steve to scuba dive in a 100-metre sinkhole filled with electric blue freshwater. The German tourists near us insisted it was Copper Sulphate that gave the water its colour. Steve’s dive buddies Paul #1 and Paul #2 who had been diving the caves for 17 years reiterated it was the lime. “Neine, it is ze Copper Sulphate ja!” The Pauls run a dive shop and given the combination of being great lads with permits to dive a great location, its an unbeatable combination. Info on the web is scant, so if you're interested in diving the caves, their details are:
pauljdewar@yahoo.co.uk
+263 912 250 458
paulsparkes@scubaengineer.com
+263 712 64 050
Steve's edit - Divers, DO THIS! There are slots and swim-throughs in 40 metres of blue water with 90 metre visibility and nothing but an underwater skydive to the bottom far below. I got vertigo. Paul and Paul are great guys and if I had my time over I'd try to talk them into camping up there with us and doing a night dive in the cave.
Mana Pools National Park was next. Much hyped up by previous visitors, our expectations were lofty and it didn’t fail to impress. We added a further 11 wild dogs to our tally, various hyena, saw a recently wounded Zebra sporting a bright red gash on its hind leg, and had a night time visitor run his beefy hippo frame 5 metres past our tent (chomping and urinating his way back to the water).
Discussing how strangely disappointed we were by the lack of bribery/extortion attempts in Zim, we arrived at the Zim/Zam border crossing. All proceeded smoothly until the Zimbabwean Police wanted to inspect the car. Compliant, we showed them our documentation and opened the car. “No, you don’t have a required document, you won’t be able to leave, you need to make a plan - what are you going to do about the situation?” Understanding that this was Zimbabwean for “Give us money”, we stood firm, innocently enquiring as to which document was amiss? “Errrmm... the Checklist… of… InterPol.” At a stalemate with us insisting our paperwork is in order and the Police desperate for their bribe, I casually mentioned that Steve is a Lawyer. Faster than the Socceroos exited the World Cup, the police had given us approval to proceed and with Zimbabwe in the rear vision mirror, we crossed on to Zambian soil.
MR
My top 10 cities in the world are not under threat from Harare. The bustling, smoggy capital of Zimbabwe needs a coat of paint. Zimbabwe’s economic decline has seen maintenance put on the backburner. The Lonely Planet’s top 3 hostels had closed down due to the plummet of tourism and on our 4th attempt we were redirected to a longer stay guesthouse. Harare was a gateway to the north of the country - a reluctant but mandatory service stop.
We moved on from Harare with zest to the spectacular Chinhoyi Caves National Park for Steve to scuba dive in a 100-metre sinkhole filled with electric blue freshwater. The German tourists near us insisted it was Copper Sulphate that gave the water its colour. Steve’s dive buddies Paul #1 and Paul #2 who had been diving the caves for 17 years reiterated it was the lime. “Neine, it is ze Copper Sulphate ja!” The Pauls run a dive shop and given the combination of being great lads with permits to dive a great location, its an unbeatable combination. Info on the web is scant, so if you're interested in diving the caves, their details are:
pauljdewar@yahoo.co.uk
+263 912 250 458
paulsparkes@scubaengineer.com
+263 712 64 050
Steve's edit - Divers, DO THIS! There are slots and swim-throughs in 40 metres of blue water with 90 metre visibility and nothing but an underwater skydive to the bottom far below. I got vertigo. Paul and Paul are great guys and if I had my time over I'd try to talk them into camping up there with us and doing a night dive in the cave.
Mana Pools National Park was next. Much hyped up by previous visitors, our expectations were lofty and it didn’t fail to impress. We added a further 11 wild dogs to our tally, various hyena, saw a recently wounded Zebra sporting a bright red gash on its hind leg, and had a night time visitor run his beefy hippo frame 5 metres past our tent (chomping and urinating his way back to the water).
Discussing how strangely disappointed we were by the lack of bribery/extortion attempts in Zim, we arrived at the Zim/Zam border crossing. All proceeded smoothly until the Zimbabwean Police wanted to inspect the car. Compliant, we showed them our documentation and opened the car. “No, you don’t have a required document, you won’t be able to leave, you need to make a plan - what are you going to do about the situation?” Understanding that this was Zimbabwean for “Give us money”, we stood firm, innocently enquiring as to which document was amiss? “Errrmm... the Checklist… of… InterPol.” At a stalemate with us insisting our paperwork is in order and the Police desperate for their bribe, I casually mentioned that Steve is a Lawyer. Faster than the Socceroos exited the World Cup, the police had given us approval to proceed and with Zimbabwe in the rear vision mirror, we crossed on to Zambian soil.
MR
