((-: Crazy trip to Zimbabwe :-))
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2008
1
10
14
Trip End
Aug 31, 2008
Harare,
Zimbabwe
Friday, August 8, 2008
millions and billions Zim Dollars
. The country is quite well-developed, roads are good (I know it because I rode the entire way from Harare to Vic Falls by car and bus!!), there are excellent schools (that is something Mugabe did very well here!!), hospitals, universities and infrastrucures, although sometimes there are blackouts or no water out from the tap...but again, I am strongly convinced the situation is going to change. People have a good standard of living and basically the government is poor but the people are rich. Harare, which means "the city that never sleeps" is actually rather quiet. You can't do a lot because there is not much to do. The shops are almost empty (you can witness it with me below...) and consequently the malls, shopping avenues and touristic resorts are rather desert. I should also add that I came on a national holiday, so many people also left to go on holiday. Anyway, it was still very nice to see, especially the Reserve Bank (I really had to struggle to take pictures of most of the buildings you see there, because if you walk around with a camera, people may think you are a spy and call the police or whatever). Basically, in Zim, as they call it, everything is quite informal and the black market rules, especially if you want to change your dollars, rands or whatever. Transport is a critical issue, people just stand for hours along roads and do hitch-hiking or squeeze themselves in overcrowded buses without even having a seat somtimes. They may just stand for hours to go from one city to another. Fortunately I had many contacts with local people and could therefore live the typical lifestyle of people at grass roots level, hence really geting to know the culture and have in-depth conversations over major issues and more futile ones like why isn't there any bread in Zimbabwe etc, with them
but almost worth nothing
. Unfortunately, this was all done in English as I do not speak any Shona or Ndebele, the two main tribe languages, out of more than 40...so I still cound not go to the heart of the people. Being white does not help because people tend to see the TOURIST in you, which I am really not at all! But people are very frank and direct, moreover I would never have expected such an hospitality and whole-hearted friendliness. I stayed by friends of my colleague Kumbi. They offered me food and shelter and Hau! do not dare to offer them any money or any compensation they will look at you with big, wide eyes as if you were a ghost. As I had problems to go to Vic Falls with the plane, which was apparently "over-booked", they did all they could to get me there anyway. You would hardly find such a commitment and helpfulness by Western people in general. The mission was definitely; get the little Myriam to the Falls by any means!! Eventually, we found a couple who was going to shop to Botswana (where you can actually find food..) and they went through Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city, which is at approx. 300 km from the Falls. They offered to share the ride with as many people as their car could contain. So we were three people in total on the backseat and paid then for the petrol. This is a very common practice in countries 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
thx girls anyway!!
. 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 the back of their mothers, tyres and desert gas stations decorating artistically this whole organized mess. I eventually found a combi (little bus) at the "Entumbane bus terminals" which went straight to the Falls. The principle is that there should be as many people in it as it could possibly contain and even more if possible. This took us more than 6 hours included the tyre problem, the fuel supply and the several stops for people to go in or go out. Even when it as dark people would tell the driver to stop precisely here at this tree, because it is HERE that they may go to their hut which was further in the forest, and nowhere else! to me all the trees, bushes and sand formed an endlessly, unchanging landscape so I was quite amazed by the sense of orientation of those people. Anyway, it took me the entire saturday to travel from Harare to Victoria Town, the small town next to the Victoria Falls, pfiouuu, that was an unforgettable experience!! 
