Day 102: 25/07/2011 – Gweru to Bullawayo, Zimbabwe

 Robs had decided to spend the night in the rooftop tent with Gray and I and she was the only one who was warm during the night. I had on winter pyjamas, a fleece top and a fleece sleeping bag, a down duvet over us and I still kept waking up because of the cold. 

Thankfully, morning came but only gray had the courage to leave the tent before the sun was high in the sky. He checked the temperature in the car and it was 0°c. Not helping matters, the water in the shower was only luke warm. As the sun warmed us, helped on by hot coffee, we were able to function. The highlight of the morning was watching some woodpeckers build – rather peck out – a nest in the tree in our camp area.

Eventually we were on the road, for an easy 160km journey into Bulawayo. Bulawayo is a very busy town and filled with people who don’t seem to be doing anything. It is neat and clean and the shops are busy. There are a number of old buildings, obviously dating back to the colonial era – they are in great condition and are still in use as government departments, the post office, the National  Gallery and so on.

We (Doris) easily located our accommodation for the night – The Bulawayo Club. Being members of Jo’burg Country Club, we have reciprocity in a number of Clubs around South Africa and other parts of Africa. This has been a bonus and we have enjoyed evenings in a few of places, particularly enjoying the Kimberly Club. I so love these old buildings, filled with pictures of pompous old men, war heroes and royalty.  The huge old rooms, with wooden floors, smelling of polish and decorated with antiques from a bygone era, make one feel part of history. The wide ornate staircases led us to our comfortable rooms on the 2^nd floor.

From there we set off to explore the town. Gray deciding we needed a local experience led us to the Take-away food court area for lunch. I would rather have had a real local experience and found a rural hut, serving pap and goat meat. As a ‘real treat’ he got us ice cream cones and set off down some dirty alley way, hoping the dust swirling around and landing on our cones didn’t contain anything life threatening, in the form of germs and bacteria. We already had concerns of having contracted botulism from our lunch. Eventually we landed up at a beautiful old building – the National Art gallery, obviously it was closed on a Monday, but we still went in and had a look around their art shop. From there we wondered around some curio shops and then headed back to the Bulawayo Club to investigate all the old rooms, it really is like a museum and it was wonderful to soak up some colonial culture.

We found the smartest we could find in our cases (not easy to find anything after so long in the bush) and dined in the old dining room. It was a wonderful evening.

                                                         National Art Gallery, Bulawayo

                                                         Entrance Hall, Bulawayo Club

                                                         Antiques

                                                         Atrium

Day 101: 24/07/2011 – Gweru, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has turned out to be the easiest country to travel by road; the roads are in good condition, the traffic is not a problem and drivers are courteous. We are also finding the distance between destinations of places to visit is short. Due to this we are able to take it easy in the mornings, we are able to lie in, have a leisurely breakfast and pack up slowly before heading off to our next destination.

Today was no exception and after to chatting to Norma Jeanne and some of the other guests we set off for the 260km trip to Gweu. Gweru was not prettiest town we have passed through but was pretty busy with weekend shoppers.

Once out of town we headed a few kilometres along to the Antelope Park, where we were camping tonight. We saw giraffe on the way in and I was expecting a small reserve with a few buck and general game. On entering the reception/camp/entertainment/dining/chalet area, I was surprised to see how commercialised and busy the place was.

We were given a personal guide and shown to our camp site, overlooking a pretty dam, teaming with birds. The buffet lunch, in an open thatch covered area, was clearly popular and the area was packed with people. 

We soon discovered that far from this being a little game park, it was more of a glorified zoo. We could go on elephant rides, swims, training sessions, lion walks, lion feeds, horse rides and so on and so on – each one costing more than the next in US$. Although we are not in agreement with this unnatural way to keep animals, it didn’t stop Ga, Robs and I booking a slot to interact with the lion cubs. We spent an hour playing with 2 adorable, 4 month old cubs – Robs thought she had died and gone to heaven.

The Antelope Park, is assisted by ‘volunteers; people, mainly from America who pay huge fees to come over and stay at the park, while helping - feed, walk and play with the lions, horses and elephants. There were plenty of these volunteers around, someone has stumbled on a great business plan and is making lots of money.

We had been warned that Gweu is can be very cold at night, this was an understatement, it was bloody freezing. We hurried through our braai, made hot chocolate (with marshmallows) and headed for our tents, duvets, fleeces and sleeping bags.

                                                                           Robs at her happiest

                                                          Ga having fun

                                                         How cute !!!!!

Day 100: 23/07/2011 – Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

 100 Days on the road

I had a really bad night; I have pulled a muscle in my leg and couldn’t get comfortable in the tent. We lazed around this morning enjoying the garden, the view and the resident trumpeter hornbills, which sound like crying babies.

Around mid morning we set off to Great Zimbabwe – formerly known as the Zimbabwe Ruins and the place from which present day Zimbabwe derived its name, after its independence in 1980.

Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, which existed from 1100 AD to 1450 AD during the country's late iron age. At its peak it housed up to 18 000 people. Great Zimbabwe acted as a royal palace for the Zimbabwean chiefs and would have been used as the seat of their political power. One of its most prominent features is its walls, some of which, in the Great Enclosure, are over 11m high and which were constructed without mortar.

Eventually, the city was largely abandoned and fell into ruin, first being encountered by Europeans in the early 16th century. The most important aftefacts recovered from the ruins are the eight Zimbabwe Birds, made mainly of soapstone. One ofwhich is depicted on the Zimbabwean Nationa Flag.

It was truly a humbling experience visiting these amazing ruins and we spent three hours exploring the various complexes, the most impressive were the great Enclosure and the Hill Complex. The Great Enclosure is surrounded by 11m high walls, and housed many smaller complexes, including the conical tower. The mostly square stones were made by heating rock and then pouring water over them to weaken and shape them. No concrete type material was used. Walking through the narrow passage way of the great enclosure, clearly none were overweight, made one feel a little nervous. I guess if the high walls have survived the last 6 centuries, we were ok. In order to reach the hill complex, 450 m up a hill, overlooking the valley of ruins below, we took the ancient route up (sore leg and all). It was even more exciting to explore all the nooks and crannies of the walls and rocks, knowing that the rocks had to be carried all the way up the mountain. Gareth decided to climb up one of the boulders at the top, his slops slipped on the smooth surface and he just managed to stop on the narrow wall below, or we might have been scraping him up from the bottom of the mountain – clearly no Health and Safety rules had been put in place.

After exploring the area, we headed down for a well deserved cooldrink and back for lunch. I eventually gave in and took an anti-inflammatory and for the first time this trip had an afternoon snooze. Gareth made dinner and we all had an early night.

                                                         Part of the ruins

                                                         Inside wall of the Great Enclosure

                                                                             Passage way in the Great Enclosure

                                                          Ga  Exploring the Hill Complex

Day 99: 22/07/2011 – Mutare to Masvingo area , Zimbabwe

 

Robs says when she wakes up in the morning, she lies there for a few moments and tries to remember where she is, we can all relate to this. After 99 days on the road and the most time we have spent in one place is 5 nights, we can be forgiven for feeling disorientated, from time to time.

Kirst, after a few days at home; visiting family, spending lots of time with her new cousin, Luke and her boyfriend, Teddy – returned to a freezing cold Cape Town today. She has a few days to sort her life out before starting lectures on Monday.

Our plan for the next two days is to visit the Masvingo area, home to Great Zimbabwe, formerly known as the Zimbabwe Ruins. The trip was 280km km and the scenery was very different to what we have seen so far. The terrain is extremely dry and there is no grazing for the hundreds of goats that are around. Clearly they live off the trees, as the leaf growth on the trees starts once past the browsing height of the goats. There are also hundreds of baobabs along the way, in one area, squares had been cut out of the bark of every tree, not sure why but I assume it was for natural medicines or to make baskets. This is a very populated area and there are rural huts and villages along the road. 

The scenery is great, the landscape is littered with hills and mountains, covered with sheets of black rock that are in a permanent state of exfoliation, looking like an onion that is being peeled layer by layer. Along the main road were numerous road blocks, more so than usual for Zims. There were also men, flagging us down, using the hand signal of a diamond. This is a big diamond mining area and putting two and two together, we realised the guys were probably trying to sell us illegal diamonds and hence the number of road blocks.

We crossed a major bridge, the Birchenough Bridge, over the Save River; this huge metal bridge seemed so out of place in this area. 

With 40km to go, Gray decided to take, what was signposted, as the scenic route. It started off as a bit of a disappointment as we travelled through some not very exciting forest areas. It was more fun waving at the little school children, on their way home from school. The forest gave way to some farming areas. We had an interesting chat to one of the managers at Inn on the Vumba. We were chatting about how much we were enjoying Zim and he was cautiously optimistic about the country, it seems to be a matter of waiting for the ruler to pop off. He was saying that as far as the farming situation was concerned, the black farmers, who were given land, were really struggling. A lot were now getting together and consolidating neighbouring farms, getting the white farmers back in to manage these big farms and all were getting a share of the profits. This is truly turning out to be an eye opening visit.

The highlight of the trip was crossing the dam wall over Lake Kyle. The scenery was once again amazing, as the lake meanders around the mountains and through the valleys.  A few kilometres later we drove into Norma Jeanne’s Lakeside Resort (not named after Marilyn Monroe but after the owner). After requesting to see the cottages, we realised there was a wonderful camping site, with all the necessary facilities, in a beautiful garden, overlooking the lake. Camping was saving us about R1000 a night and we were all happy to get back into our tents, especially Ga, who is convinced this will clear up his sinuses.

We were the only people around and so had the whole place to ourselves. The camp assistants made us a huge fire, for warmth and to braai on. Red wine, braaied chicken, atmosfire, in a beautiful natural garden overlooking Lake Kyle – Life is good.

                                                         Birchenough Bridge

                                                         View from Lake Kyle Dam Wall

                                                         View from our camp site

Day 98: 21/07/2011 – Vumba , Zimbabwe

Being at a lower altitude, the winter weather is considerably warmer and we are back in summer clothes. Gareth had a bad night with his allergies, so we let him lie in late; it was a good excuse for us all to lie in. By the time we had packed up and left Forest Inn, it was 9:45, no problem, as we were heading 15km down the road to Inn on the Vumba. The surrounding forest area is full of Samango monkeys and we frequently stopped to catch a glimpse of them as they as they disappeared into the undergrowth.

On the way down to Inn on the Vumba, we stopped at Tony’s – what a find. We got out the car, not knowing what to expect, we were blown away by the cute stone and thatched roof tea house, in beautiful gardens of cycads and fruit trees. If you are looking for morning (or afternoon) tea, this gem would rival any coffee shop in Jo’burg, or London or Paris, for that matter. The menu is exclusively coffees, hot chocolates, teas of every description imaginable and homemade juices. Then one has the choice of 5 cakes, we ordered 3 of them to share, they were amazing in taste, texture and presentation. We would have been forgiven for thinking we were at an English garden party as opposed to a little tea garden in Africa.

After filling up on chocolate whiskey cake, choc torte cake and Viennese coffee cake, we continued down to Inn on the Vumba and checked into the family cottage.  The cottage is very comfortable, with a Biggy Best feel. The sitting room / lounge area is very comfortable and this is where we spent most of the afternoon, reading and playing games.

As there had been a power outage for the whole day, we decided to eat dinner in the restaurant. This turned out to be a 4 course meal and it was delicious.

                                                         Tony's Tea House    

                                                         Tea Garden in Africa

                                                         Relaxing at Inn on the Vumba

Day 97: 20/07/2011 – Nyanga to Mutare , Zimbabwe

 

The freezing chill of the last few days seems to have lifted and although it is still cold, it is not that biting winter chill. We left Troutbeck around 9:30 and headed south into Mutare. Mutare is a bustling metropolis by Zimbabwe standards and is one of the largest towns behind Harare and Bulawayo. We travelled through the town in search of the advertised Spar and Nandos. We had just descended down a hill and turned a corner when we heard a rather disturbing noise from behind (not Gareth’s behind this time). We pulled over and our trailer had nose dived, hanging at a rather precarious downward angle. As it turned out, it was not a major problem, the bolts connecting the coupler to the trailer had sheared off but fortunately Panda had connected the chain to the towbar. I am convinced St Christopher is keeping an eye over us, as each time we have had a major car or trailer problem, we have been in or near a town. Gray then set off, with the rest of us in tow (no pun intended) in search of a hardware store – no Mica here. After locating the local hardware and purchasing the required nuts and bolts we headed back to the car. Leaving Gray and Ga to fix the trailer on the side of the road, Robs and I walked to a Tourist Info Centre and got the names of some places to stay in the nearby Vumba area.

There is very little, to nothing, in terms of viable camp sites, so armed with the names of some self-catering accommodation, we set off along another spectacular drive into the mountains of the Eastern highlands. After around    20 km we came to a T-junction – I suggested we turn right (according to all the sign posts of the accommodation we were aiming for – a pretty natural conclusion). Doris (Gray’s darling GPS) told him to ‘turn left’, as always, Doris won and we headed off along a stunning drive, through beautiful forests, after about 10km, Gray conceded that we were heading in the wrong direction, it took another 15km for us to find a place to turn around and retrace our steps – I am still waiting for an apology.

After checking out a few accommodation options, we booked into a family unit at Forest Inn for the night. The major reason being the beautiful view, we were surrounded by mountains with a stunning view down the valley onto a lake. The place is again tired but clean and comfortable, with ‘beautiful’ satin gold bedspreads and silver tablecloths. 

All the places we have seen in Zim, were obviously popular weekend and holiday destinations at one time and it is sad to see that they are now in need of TLC, but due to lack of demand and finance, they just tick over. This being said, we are so impressed with the roads and infrastructure in Zim – and watch this space, Zim will become a much sought after holiday destination once again. It has beautiful scenery and Harare is closer than Cape Town.

After sorting out our accommodation for the night, we returned to Mutare, for a Nandos lunch (the kids choice – clearly they are missing fast foods) and a shop at the well stocked Spar. On returning to the car, we had a number of beggars around, the standard kid with the blind man and a few offering to help us unpack our groceries. Chirp of the day goes to Gareth – one of kids asked for some money – ‘my mother is blind’, Gareth’s response, ‘and so my mother is fat.’ – he would have got a crack if the rest of the family hadn’t found it so hilarious, for this the kid got a bit extra for his ‘blind mother’.

From there we headed to Leopard Rock Hotel, about 5km from Forest Inn, Gray was again mildly unpopular because he didn’t book us in there. He decided this beautiful hotel, on one of Zimbabwe’s top golf courses, was not in our budget. We spent a half hour checking out the living areas in the hotel, that has been host to the royal family, including Princess Di.

After our visit to Leopard Rock, we returned to our, now meagre accommodation to find that the electricity was off – another power outage. Robs and I left Gray and Ga to cook spaghetti carbonara over a braai, this tested Ga’s cooking skills to the limit. 

                                                         Dining room at Forest Inn

                                                         Dining room at Leopard Rock

                                                         Sun rise at Forest Inn