Meikles Hotel Harare

... not being able to achieve anything. Managed to find slightly better connection at about the millionth store we tried to stayed on that till 4:30 when we had to leave to meet the truck. All in all a very frustratingly unproductive day. Harare itself is surprisingly modern with high rises, pedestrian malls and street entertainers. Locals walked by saying hello and thanking us for coming to Zimbabwe. Were warned about pickpockets but didn't have any problem, even ...

... originally planned!

Zimbabwe is an interesting experience. Due to the silly rate of inflation ( I think it was somewhere in the region of about 200 000 000 % if not higher) there just wasn't enough Zimbabwean money in the country to cope so all prices in the shops were in US dollars and people were using what ever foreign currency that they had to pay for stuff - for a $20 lunch, I paid R200 as at the time the exchange rate was 10 to 1 to the Rand ...

... tour of Mbare, the oldest township in Harare. It's amazing we can drive through here so casually; the neighborhood is poorer than anything I've ever seen before. The streets are packed, and people are selling charcol and firewood, kids playing wallball, and people drinking out of those infamous, supposedly Cholera-infested taps. 8 PM: Dinner from expensive canned ham and tomatoes with rice; afterwards, we watch National Treasure. What a world 9 AM ...

... where both transport and fuel are extremely scarce and you often see huge trucks, cars or whatever fully loaded with lots of people seating in all sorts of acrobatic positions for hours to reach their final destination. In Bulawayo, the trick was to find in this organized mess (people shouting all sorts of destinations, mamas carrying kilos and kilos of good on their head, children selling vegetables through the windows of the buses, babies staring at you from ...

... can only accommodate about 20 people and can only be reached during certain times of the year (due to water levels). As the boat jetted towards the island, it looked like we were going to zoom right over the falls. As soon as we got on the island we were given a protein drink to give us energy for the trek to the edge. Yikes! We formed a human chain and got direction from our guide as we went (which was a little ...

... and making the Falls. How amazing is that? We walked along the same designated pathway of the Falls, but not a single splash or spray of wat**, unlike the drenching last time! We headed back to see the Falls from the Zimbabwean side wh**e it was even more difficult to envisage this huge gorge full of cascading wat**falls. I felt like a drought had hit town or someone had pulled the plug out of the bath that is Vic Falls. Wh**e the Horseshoe Falls and the ...

... a lot of weight. One man I spoke to told me that Mugabe represents a stubbornness and demand for respect that is very Southern Africa in nature. To illustrate his point, he told an anecdote about Nelson Mandela. Once when Mandela was visiting America, and after his divorce from his wife Winnie, he was at a press conference. One young American reporter stood and asked Mr. Mandela if the rumours were true that he might marry his long time girlfriend. It was, in all likelihood ...

... told we had to get back quick smart to the stables unless we wanted to go the same way as the ostrich, as they were letting some of the lions out for one of the walks. The only thing that made it bearable was laughing at Ben's constant cries of pain as he tried to get to grips with a rising trot and failed; "I'm never ever doing this again" he repeated as a kind of mantra to get over what was happening to his bits and pieces. We left Antelope the next day, really in ...

... or should I say fortunately they are now to big to go on client walks or even walks with the volunteers. Shame because they are at the stage where they really start to hunt! At lunch we went into town (Tuesdays and Fridays are town days) then we finished our induction and played with the cubs in the afternoon. Surreal to be sitting with wild lions!! We should have been going on another walk with the ...

... goods, but it is more traditional to bribe the guards to ignore this rule. Thus, much discussion took place between the women and the guards, and there were a few bags of grain that mysteriously had no owner when the guards found them. We eventually trundled on through the border, and entered Mozambique. It is difficult to compare levels of poverty between African countries, just by looking from the window of a bus, through western eyes. This section of Mozambique appeared ...