New Ambassador Hotel Harare

... in Zim now that the US$ is used as a surrogate multi-currency is in force with no Zim dollars to be seen anywhere. Stuff other than vegies and fruit still expensive though.<br><br>Weather hot (31c) and humid and nice to have a swim in Gemma&#8217;s pool before the night&#8217;s activities.<br><br>That night off to the Diplomatic Spouses Ball which Gemma had arranged for us to attend with her and some of her diplomatic buddies. This was some occasion, held at Rainbow ...

... 1<br>Then at the end of last year...................the Zim dollar no longer exists , from now on we only deal in US dollars<br><br>Even the more well off people found themselves with nothing ...........what fortunes they thought <br> that<br>had stashed away in banks was now just nicely coloured<br>Paper..............they werent compensated for their loss.........and<br>they werent even allowed access to it..i think it was even a legal<br>offence to try and get your ...

... in plans (do I cut the trip short? Do I get the computer fixed? Do I buy another? Or do I abort the mission entirely?), soon degenerates into a deeper existential dilemma (what am I doing here anyway? And why am I attached to these cords like some Matrix mugwump? I only need pencil and paper to write a poem&#8230;), one that may not terminate any time soon. Of course there are contingencies, and its best to take things one step at the time ...

... feeling a little bit tense about what might happen with border guards but it seemed to go as well as it could. All together it took about 2 hours to get through. We all had to jump off the truck with a day bag for inspection and the truck was searched by some guards. I guess they might have been looking for broadcasting equipment/weapons and anything anti-mugabe but we got through no probs. One of the guards was even interested in the Irish writing on my passport. Once ...

... not even a decade of Chaos have been able to spoil that. Jacaranda and Flamboyant trees are everywhere and the houses looks nice. We also saw Bob's (Robert Mugabe) motorcade. We stopped at a light when suddenly a policy motorcycle stopped all the traffic and more police came through, then some large black Range Rovers, then Bob's big black Mercedes and an ambulance and more polce. All vehicles and bikes looked brand new and top models and Bob's Mercedes was huge. Nice to ...

... of people barely surviving and then rich tourist hotels (which have kind of dried up since most people opt to stay on the Zambia side). The falls from Zimbabwe were BREATHTAKING!!!! We also saw the spot off of Livingstone Island where you can trek across the water and sit right at the edge of the falls IN THE WATER. Seeing this firsthand, I started to have second thoughts. We then went to high tea on Livingstone Island ...

... to the Okavango Delta wh**e we w**e due to stay for two or three nights in the wild**ness. A 2 hour bumpy journey on the open jeeps took us to our makoro, a dug out canoe, which took us to down the Okavango Delta. The Delta is formed by the Okavango Riv** which moves into a basin on the edge of the Kalahari Des**t. The riv** has no outlet from the des**t and spreads out into thousands of small streams to form a wild**ness that is totally unspoilt. We spent ...

... 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 ...

... but I suspected something fishy was up. It was. Minibus taxis, bakkies, jalopies and old woman w**e eag**ly waiting to tear apart the precious cargo which we w**e transporting. The bus driv**s w**e co-coordinating this precise op**ation with plenty of exp**ience. The few sleeping passeng**s still aboard w**e nonplussed about the on goings outside. I wasn't worried about my luggage going missing because it was all next to me on the seat. We w**e clearly not ...