Chasing the black rhino
Trip Start
Jul 24, 2006
1
10
19
Trip End
Oct 28, 2006
Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe
Friday, September 8, 2006
Took the luxurious bus to Bulawayo - in addition to the waitress serving complementary drinks and snacks, probably the most luxurious part was that the driver did not go at break-neck speeds and restricted himself to the posted speed limits (a nice change from most buses).
Once we arrived and set up camp in Grey's Inn, we organized a car rental for the next day to visit the Matopos National Park. But before taking our Toyota fourwheeler for a spin, we 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 came through.
After our little cultural excursion, we headed for the national park - home to Zimbabwe's largest population of black rhino, but most well known for its rock formations and caves containing San wall paintings dating back 2000 years. Philippe was a fantastic driver - not only did he successfully stay on the left (wrong) side of the road, but he was able to negotiate very difficult unpaved roads, getting us up and over boulders, through sand, and over dry river beds.
Due to the low volume of tourists in general in Zim, we were 2 out of 6 people to visit the park during the day, and the ONLY tourists to be spending the night in the park.
01Dam in Matopos Nat. Park (Bolowayo)
Since we had gotten a late start, we ended up getting into the park just before sunset, and had to set up our tent in the dark. It was a very eery feeling indeed to know that there were no people for miles and miles around - just us with the leopards, crocs, and hippos. We ate our little dinner that we had brought along under the light of the full moon, and enjoyed our first solo bush experience.
The next day, we got up bright and early to explore the park and its caves, and had a wonderful time hiking up the huge matopos (bald heads), to, as one Zimbabwean explained to us, communicate with our ancestors. We made it back to Bulawayo just before dark, in time to hop on the train for the next leg of the adventure - Vic Falls!!
PS, Concerning the train: My cousin Ant had told us that he wasn't sure that it would be working between Bulawayo and Vic Falls because the train had derailed the week before we arrived. It turned out that it was running, and we were able to snag the last two first class sleepers. We were lucky because we actually had our own little compartment for two, in a train that dated back to colonial days (with the Rhodesian Railways emblem still on all the windows, though the National Zimbabwe Railroad initials had been written in large letters on each car), and so our little compartment had beautiful wooden furnishings with dark green leather sleepers, and a beautiful brass basin for washing hands and teeth! It turned out that two nights later, the train derailed once again, causing several deaths because a herd of buffalo was blocking its path. We thanked our lucky stars that we had not dawdled too much in Bulawayo!
