Imba Matombo Harare

Saturday 14th.<br><br>Up early, awakened by Gemma's chooks. Bloody Cockeralls crowing from 6.30am.<br><br>Gemma treats them like pets. I&#8217;d have them in the cooking pot even though they&#8217;re some strange fluffy breed with blue skins.<br><br>Light breakfast then off to explore Harare, a city of remarkable contrasts. There&#8217;s obviously much struggling here but also considerable wealth.<br><br>We went to the farm of Patrick Movras, the internationally famous ...

... the people can you)<br>She told me how the markets had shrivelled up<br>..........areas of markets the size of football fields 5 years ago<br>...........were now passed through in seconds..........Shops were<br>boarded up ............Locals hang on the streets trying desperately to<br>get their hands on food or dollars...............In fact i was chatting<br>to one guy who offered to teach me some of the local<br>language..........his first lesson was:<br> <br>"............and ...

... Martin, Jamie, Barsby, Muzza, S&M and Stu in tow. The room then erupted in a party like atmosphere and stayed that way for most the night resulting in some highly entertaining conversations, with the lads being more than slightly drunk and the females completely sober. Think I called it a night about 11:30 and the boys not long after. Good night with fun chats as always. The rooms had thick thick blankets so we borrowed two and had the most wonderful night's ...

... since we did not have our own car or even better a 4x4. Amy offered us her car and said we could just drive that to Victoria Falls or Lake Kariba and then she could always pick it up latter. That was a seriously generous offer since that would almost be a 2-day return journey to Harare. We ended up booking 3 nights at "The Hide" in Hwange National Park. "The Hide" have been voted best luxury safari camp in Zimbabwe for the last 10 years and is owned by a woman called ...

... actually nearly drowned. We also managed to pop a boat on a rock! At lunch we were undecided about whether we could go on we were that shaken up, Vikki and another guirl called it a day as well as one of the lads who had had a bad knock on the head but the rest of us soldiered on and as it happens the afternoon was easier than the morning and we didnt come out once so on reflection had a good day. The sunday was Vikkis ...

... Falls had been full to bursting just three months earli**, only a magnificent gorge was to be seen. It is just unfathomable that such volumes of wat** could simply 'disappear'. In the aft**noon I went to the market selling ev**y shape and size of African animal imaginable. Aft** hours of negotiating I bought a huge smiling hippo with a big bum, and a mum with baby elephant. The following day I made a final attempt to negotiate the iron wood elephant eating a ...

... educated professionals, between the ages of 25 and 40. They have left for greener pastures. In an economy that is imploding and downsizing, one cannot blame them. No so Danayi's family. They have stayed and are weathering the storm. They continue to help out family and friends, and are to be greatly respected for such behaviour. Danayi's family is one of some influence and respect, and I had the opportunity to meet and have conversations with some very interesting and ...

... than you would ever think possible - leapt through the air and brought down the female ostrich in a flurry of feathers, kicking legs, wildly stabbing beak (the ostrich not the lions) and vicious claws. What followed was pretty gruesome but strangely compelling as we watched the two lions eat the ostrich alive. They hadn't figured out how to kill it so whilst it was having it's stomach eaten and was looking at us saying "why are you just sitting there, why don't you help ...

... pay off the officials, directly into their accounts sometimes, to just wave the busses through. City to City was obviously paying something because nobody touched our bags. I don't think they w**e paying enough howev**, as it still took as ov** an hour on the Zimbabwean side. Apparently it was the South African side that was more corrupt. This was according to the two Zimbabweans I spoke to. They had been waiting in their car for ov** eight hours because they ...