Berkeley Place Bulawayo

... Roads were sealed and good quality so we were making reasonable time, despite the numerous pee stops. Arrived at Bulawayo nearing 4pm. A city of over one million people formerly called Gu-Bulawayo meaning Killing Place, in memory of when this land was fought over by various ancient kingdoms. Much more modern than expected with multilevel buildings and wide boulevards. It was only when we entered Shoprite that we found something amiss.... the shelves ...

... can only love them! I volunteered in na orphanage, one of the best experiences of this trip! Info for travellers : There is no cholera in Bulawayo and the people are warm and cheerful! We met some guys who came from Victoria Falls (zimbabween side), they had no problem, and loved it!

... clues. He eventually stopped the vehicle and ordered us out, all to walk in a straight line behind him and crouch down as we approached the Rhino. I was directly behind him and we were enjoying a nice chat when suddenly we both instinctively jumped back, not even sure at first what had made us jump. We looked about 2 mitres away from us and saw a 3 metre long silvery black snake slithering away from us....suddenly it occured to both ...

... while. But the best moment here & probably of the trip so far was today swimming with elephants! I was a bit nervous (putting in lightly) especially watching the forst group of people get flung around in the water. Me & Elly got on our elephant called Amaii with our handler Anisto. Amaii then thought it would be funny to run into tht water. Before we knew it we were being thrown around in the water. They like to roll from one ...

... me out to the bus station. So at 4:30 in the morning, I found myself sitting in the back of a truck at the Mbare bus station. Mbare is in a rougher part of Harare, and Auntie was adamant that it was not safe, and I was to stay in the truck until she found a bus for me. So this reasonably big Canadian was forced to stay in the truck while a 60 year old little woman walked around looking for a bus for him. Moments like that go far in teaching ...

... be used as a narcotic, soap, lavendar perfume, a blood coagulant, and something else i can't quite remember. The park was stunning, all granite blocks littered everywhere, the landsape formed from erosion. (geography A level all came flooding back!). The rhino walk in the afternoonw as amazing. They're not my favourite animals, but are very forbidding, and can be very dangerous, so walking about 2 metres away from them was v nerve ...

... though for the relaxed ambiance...we went there in order to take daytrips to the ruins of Great Zimbabwe and to visit Matopos National Park. Zimbabwe is the Shona word for "house of stone." So one would expect a place with the name Great Zimbabwe to be a really big house of stone, which is exactly what it is. From Bulawayo, we took a full-day tour to the southeastern city of Masvingo to visit the largest stone ruins in Africa south of the Pyramids of Egypt. The ...

... Park (the protected area is off shore and only accessible by boat. We found a local guy who had a dhow (a traditional sailboat used for fishing) and agreed on a price to go over to the island and snorkel. The ride was nice ( but really really slow) but the snorkeling was the best I have ever experienced. Even compared to diving it was amazing because unlike diving... there was no time-limits or intensity. I saw tons of exotic fish and animal life including dolphins ...

... stopped by the Bulawayo National History Museum. Although it has not been kept up very well, the quality of the exhibits was impressive! There was a huge stuffed animal exhibit, that allowed us to straighten out which antlers belong to which antelopes, an impressive walk-through mine (Zimbabwe produces copper, gold, uranium, and other minerals), and interesting relics from different African tribes that were collected at the time that Rhodes and his men ...

We were up at 06.30 and on the road by 07.30. I had a **** sleep as I was on the hard ground! We found the culprit who had two mattresses... it was Baindu the American girl, and to top it off... she didn't even apologise! Our first destination was a place called "The Great Zimbabwe". This place was the birthplace of the modern day Zimbabwe and it's where the country got its name. The place was massive! It is the largest man made structure south of the Pyramids! The views from the top were ...