After a fairly uncomfortable night, we all woke early and had a good breakfast at Chinhoyi. The town of Chinhoyi reminds me of towns in the Free State, with lots of take-aways, along a main road of shops.
The 140km journey through to Harare was again along good roads and we arrived around mid morning. We found a shopping centre and did some window shopping – mainly because all the auto banks had no dollars and Zambian Kwacha were of no use to us here. Clearly the days when the Zimbabweans could barely buy bread are over, modern shops stock everything from bikinis to Rolex watches and there are wonderful nick nack shops around. We had no idea where to stay, so we found a Travel Agent and they booked us into the Bronte Hotel for the night.
We set off to find the hotel – tonight we sleep in a nice comfortable bed in a nice clean room, actually we are in a suite, with 3 bedrooms and a lounge. After settling in, we headed off to Harare International Airport, about a 20 minute drive from the hotel. After Kirst had booked in we found a working ATM, so now we have US$s. Besides OR Thambo, this is the best airport we have encountered in Africa. With an hour to kill before her boarding time, we decided to have a bite to eat. All the food arrived, except Kirst’s and they eventually brought it to us in a take-away, too late for her to eat, as she had to board – guess it’s ‘chicken or beef’ for her lunch. It’s was terrible to see her walk off into the departure area – we are really going to miss her. Al, my great friend, sent an sms through, informing us that there is no fuel in Jhb due to a strike and the cables have been stolen from outside our house, so our road is without electricity. Kirst will be thrilled, a few days at home with no petrol, no electricity, no hot water and worst of all, no blow-dryer.
On the drive back to our hotel we listened to the radio – they were broadcasting a Bob Mugabe speech on education, wow can he ramble, what he had to say in 25 minutes could be condensed into 4 sentences. We drove around Harare for a bit, it is a peaceful town and reminds me of Durban meets Pretoria.
Back at the ranch we went for a walk in the hotel gardens, they are beautiful, with tall shaded trees and fish ponds. We are certainly feeling the winter chill in the air and went back to our hotel room. Much as we haven’t missed TV - Gray even suggested getting rid of ours the other day - one cold afternoon and the Master Chef series and we were hooked again.
Bronte Hotel
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