26^th July 2013

Zimbabwe at last.

It seems fair to say that having celebrated several ‘halfway points’ Zimbabwe is the key point of departure. Once we leave Zim (It is worth pointing out that in this region a great deal of time effort and energy is saved by abbreviating the names of countries. So Zim, Zam and Bots are all apparently acceptable titles) we will really be pointing in the direction of home and to some extent it is kind of a point of no return. For the past few weeks our conversation has been punctuated with, ‘if we want to break our journey then we could retreat to the Shoestrings in Johannesburg, leave the van there and have a break or even fly home for the break’. There have been many times when we have been sorely tempted, despite a strong desire to see the whole thing through. We are acutely aware that many of these despatches have been dominated by a tiresome commentary on the state of our tyres.  Neither of us wants such pessimism to prevail so we will try to avoid the subject although it will be difficult.

28^th June 2013

We crossed the border from Botswana into Zimbabwe

We left our friends Abi and Jerry in Botswana we had such a lovely meeting with them for 3 days, but travel is the name of the game so we did have to part but it was a treat to spend time with them.

We made the short drive to the border and crossed out of Botswana without difficulty and then into Zimbabwe. This side of the crossing was chaotic and everything took place in a tiny office with 4 service windows. 2 windows were marked customs and 2 marked immigration. Oddly the immigration window had two people working in one, although the window next to it was empty.  The two customs windows were staffed but one was run off his feet and the other guy did apparently nothing. The hall was packed out with travellers.   It took about an hour and we emerged with our passports stamped and about US$100 lighter, and off we went.

Now, I did say I would try not to mention these things but after about 20 km we had another puncture! So I put on a brave face and set about seeing if I can get the wheel change down to less than 15 minutes.

Not to be! It seems that when we had the tubes changed, the guys who put on the wheels had apparently left the wheel nut machine on and gone to lunch, because I could not shift the wheel nuts. I put an extra extension on the wheelbrace but it would not shift only bent the extension bar.

Then I used my long socket wrench and that broke.

I flagged down a truck and the driver gave me a 4 foot long tube which only helped me to twist the wheelbrace!

So what to do? A very nice chap stopped to help and we decided that Ping should go to Victoria Falls about 40km away and get help from the people who run the lodge we were going to. We knew them a little and thought they may be able to help.

As Ping left with this nice man, his parting shot was to say, “do not stand outside the van too much as there are a lot of lions a round here”. Oh great!

I waited for more than 3 hours for her return, I had time to ponder the irony, Ping who has yet to see a lion, not being around to witness me getting eaten by one!

Several people stopped to offer help and to advised that I should be careful as ‘there are a lot of lions round here!’

There was a brief further irony when an elephant came out of the bush, crossed in front of the van, about 20 feet away, he stopped, turned,  looked me in the eyes, making me consider that instead of getting eaten by a lion, I was in danger of getting charged  by an elephant instead.  Sorry to ruin a good story but he merely turned away and disappeared on to the other side of the road, leaving me to  sweat and shake until Ping came back with our saviour whose name was Ishmael.  He had found that there was no help to be had at the lodge so he had brought a mechanic friend together with the local tyre man who struggled for more than half an hour before finally chiselling off the wheel stud protector which is a bit like a hubcap on steroids. Having chiselled it off he was able to put a flat ring spanner on it with a big lever and with huge effort eventually the nuts were freed and the wheel was changed after some 4 hours or so.  We then followed Ishmael, who was unstinting in helping us. After all he drove some 80 km and took a lot of his time. That night we took him and his wife to dinner which turned out to be a lovely evening.

We set ourselves up at the lodge. It was necessary to stay there a few days to get the wheels sorted out, clean the van and generally get all our ducks in a row.

We met with 3 young lads who it turned out were from The Harrow School which is just up the road from our home. They were travelling for a few weeks around Southern Africa before going off to University.  They were such good company and we enjoyed spending quite a lot of time with them.  We went to watch them hurl themselves off the Victoria Falls Bridge attached to rubber bands. God knows why they would want to do that.

looking for Zambezi crocs

And we had a really interesting walk along the mighty Zambesi River which seen above Victoria Falls is quite serene and beautiful albeit crammed full of crocodiles and hippos. Our walk took us to ‘The Big Tree’ which is a Baobab about 1500 years old and is quite big.  While there, our Harrow boys put their cricket skills to use by hurling rocks into a palm tree as a ranger had enthusiastically informed them that you can eat the fruit. To my amazement they succeeded to bring some of the fruit down. Coincidently these fruit have the appearance of a cricket ball. The ranger showed us how to peel them. We were then able to cut off slices and eat. I am here to tell you that despite never having tried to eat one I found that they had the texture and flavour of a bloody cricket ball!  You can chalk that up as another of our exotic experiences.

The wonderful and mighty  Victoria falls

Ping and I spent the day at The Falls which was a wonderful experience. It is hard to describe the experience. It is best to say that they are so much more than a waterfall. In total they are about a mile long, which makes Niagra  look like a bit of a sissy by comparison.  We have experienced the sensation of rain rising upwards and the ‘Smoke’ which rises from the falls can be seen for miles. Just incredible!

We went to sort out our puncture and the guy who managed, with difficulty to shift the other wheel nuts, told us that the previous firm had again fitted the wrong size of tubes.  Like an idiot I took his word for it and took up an argument with the previous firm.  They apologised profusely about the wheel nut problem but insisted that they had fitted the right size tubes.  We learned later, a little too late, that the correct size is not available in Zimbabwe. So we now owe an apology to Maxx Tyres of Maun Botswana. And I am still afraid of when the next tyre problem will come; we are now up to 19 punctures in 9 months.

At the Shoestrings Lodge we also met some remarkable people, a group of South Africans travelling together as they do every year. They brought with them their own fridge stuffed to the top with essentials, it was like a well-stocked bar! Jacques,  Adam, Freddie and Chris were a bunch of very funny as well as interesting and thoughtful guys.

We made friends with Tim, the man who owns the lodge premises. Tim and his friend Martin kept us entertained with interesting tales of what life had once been in Zimbabwe and before Rhodesia. We were invited to stay with Martin in Bulawayo which was also a very generous and enjoyable experience.

Breakfast with Martin 'Jolly cicvilised!'

Martin and Tim are in the process of starting a new business of bottling and selling Zambezi Water. They are yet to go into production but we sincerely wish them well with the venture. 

We left the lovely town of Vic Falls to drive to Bulaweyo.  We broke our journey to spend a day in Hwange (pronounced Wankie) National Park. Very enjoyable, saw two rhinos and had a startling confrontation with a giraffe. As we came round a dark corner he was standing in the middle of the road. It was close enough that we were pretty much eyeball to eyeball; it took several seconds of alarm on both our parts before he took flight and loped off into the bush.  However, there were no lions to be seen.

Everywhere you drive in Zim, there are police checkpoints, sometimes every few miles. It is hard to know what their real purpose is. They seem obsessed with minor traffic offences. We got fined $5 for not having a number plate light. It hard to think of a matter less relevant to good order anywhere in Africa than a number plate light, which leads one to suppose that this is either a source of corrupt income or a form of taxation. It is also an important part of the dangerously oppressive regime which is concealed just below the surface. Tension is palpably though silently rising as a general election is just a few weeks away.

On the way to Bulaweyo we stopped to help at an accident where a minibus taking a gospel choir was overturned due to a disintegrating tyre. We had to deal with 5 people with serious injuries and two with lesser ones. As it turned out we had to nurse them for more than one and a half hours as the ambulance failed to arrive and we ended up sending them to a local clinic in a police pickup truck. I hope we made a difference but altogether it was not a happy scene.

As we drove away, we saw a road sign we have never seen before ‘Deadly Hazard!’  They were not kidding as the road gave way suddenly to mountainous undulations in the road. 15kph was quite enough.

First sitting for dinner!

We stayed a couple of days with Martin before we set off for a place called Antelope park which is and incredibly well run camp dedicated to supporting Zimbabwe’s dwindling lion population They offer up close and personal experiences with lions which was not to be missed.

    Ping finally got her lion(s).

Having had a really interesting and enjoyable time in Antelope Park and after we witnessed three lions being fed, we left quite late in the day to move on to Harare.

It was quite a long drive complicated by a bit of a ‘navigation glitch’ by Vasco de Gamma in the navigators seat! This as well as the numerous police checks we’ve had to stop for. No fines this time but rather bizarrely, one where the officer did not ask for documents but said ‘I am happy to find you are quite well ‘.  Then he waved us on. We arrived in Harare after dark which was very trying. I was very tired, there were no street lights at all and lots of unlit bikes, pedestrians and the odd stray cows. We were so glad when we found a backpackers lodge and I was able to stop at last.

The place we stayed was a peculiar place filled with all kinds of beautiful African art but the whole place was in a very poor state of repair. Dozens of notices entreating you to save water,  but which went on to instruct you in some detail about how you might make use of the bathroom but failing to tell you that the shower does not actually work. 

Picture the scene if you will, I had just removed all my clothes, found a safe place for my glasses , climbed into the shower to find that there was no water coming out. Lots of signs around but none indicating that it was out of order. Don’t want to picture it?  I understand!

We had a long standing arrangement to meet up with the family of a friend of Pings from work, as well as another former colleague who was coming to Zimbabwe following a family tragedy.

The next day we met with Sebastian, the brother of Ping’s friend.  He met us with his friend John with whom he had arranged for us to park our van in his garden.

John, Sebastion and the gang

What turns out is that these good friends have made us incredibly welcomed. We stayed for over a week with the van being moved from his home to a mechanic who overhauled the van prior to the last leg of our journey.

We have also met with one other colleague of Pings who had to come back to Zim for a funeral. 

Elliot and Gladys 

Elliot and Gladys have been very kind. He brought us some new inner tubes which were unavailable in Zimbabwe.  Despite being deeply embroiled in sorting out problems here in Zim, he showed us around town and introduced us to his family.

As I write it is becoming more evident that the tension around is heightening.

16^th July 2013

So what are we doing now?

The van is in for overhaul. They have been incredibly thorough and have found that the brake master cylinder needs replacing. This has turned into a bit of a saga.  It has not been easy to find a new on in Zimbabwe so what about a repair kit?  Not one to be found here!

Finally a new cylinder has emerged but is hugely overpriced and we are currently engaged in a fairly robust negotiation session. I am sure it will work out, one way or another. I did find a van of the same vintage which is being broken for parts I got quite excited as I opened the bonnet to find that there has been a fire of exactly the same type as we had and there are no usable parts to be had.

We continued to stay in John’s house; he is such a good host and very good company.

Bilbo, Bilbo! Where do yer think you’re going? Ouchh!

John has a dog called Bilbo he is getting on a bit, he is as blind as a bat with cataracts and maybe suffering a bit of age related daftness. The day’s events are punctuated with Bilbo crashing into things. It is both funny and distressing in equal measures to see Bilbo happily wandering around and if you see him heading into trouble you must reach out and redirect him. However he doesn’t really seem to learn much, being quite able to ram a bookcase that has been there since the dawn of time. He will repeat this two or three times a day. This morning he enthusiastically ran to greet his master when he came home, he succeeded in running headlong into his stationary car! It really is hard to watch. The other day he was found wandering around in the empty swimming pool!

Bilbo complete with cataracts ( this not redeye!)

John has said he would like us to appeal to our readers, are there any vets out there who can advise him if there is likely to be any kind of treatment for a dog with cataracts?

Pity Poor Bilbo!

Money laundering!

One of the very interesting things happening in Zim at the moment is the use of the US dollar.  As most people are aware the country went through a long period of the most startling inflation of the Zim dollar it all came to an end after they had issued a 30 Trillion dollar banknote. Someone had the inspired idea that as the US dollar was being used for an alternative economy, it was decided to adopt the US dollar as their own currency. I do not think it was done with the wholehearted blessing of the US treasury. Prices are very high and something had to be done. So the US dollar is used as the currency. 
There is a downside and that is that there is no exchange or replacement of old notes and so, especially small denomination notes just go round and round  as they become increasingly grubby and tatty. The problem is that after a while no one wants these barely recognisable notes and there is a kind of pass the parcel game that goes on as no one wants to be stuck with them. It might be a kindness if the US Treasury could offer to help them out.

Dollars that can't be used outside Zimbabwe

We have to get some visas sorted out.  We were lulled into a false sense of ease by the Tanzanian Embassy who made it very easy to get our passports stamped. The lady was charming and very able. Whilst we were there we saw her taking the fingerprints from a baby who was fast asleep. I had to bite my tongue as she was making such a lash up of it, I wanted to get in and show her how to take fingerprints.

We then moved on to the Ethiopian embassy which was another story altogether. First we had to encounter their security system. There were no signs to direct us to the visa section. There was a huge locked wrought iron gate barring our way with a kind of shelter for a security guard but he was notable by his absence. So there was no one to ask.   I wandered around not knowing how to get in when a nice man in a UN car called me over as he drove past and explained that I had to reach around behind the lock and find the key and with that let myself in.  Voila! We were in.

We found no visa section, only a rather odd little reception. We were handed forms to complete and told it was no problem at all to get a 90 day visa. Once the forms were completed etc we were told that we couldn’t have a visa as we do not have residency in Zimbabwe. We argued and pleaded and tried to use any means we could to get a visa.  Going through Ethiopia was the only practical route to Egypt, and they weren’t going to give us a visa.

We went to the British Embassy in Harare but they were not able to help much. Then Ping remembered that she had been given the blog address of another person who has kept a very detailed blog of their journey. Low and behold there was a detailed account of how to get an Ethiopian visa the detail included how to get the best from the disposition of the woman who issues them in Kenya.

Elliot and his wife Gladys took us to visit his friend and relatives in Mtera. What wonderful and hospitable people. We met Annette who is disappointed that we are not spending more time with them. We will leave Zimbabwe on Friday 26/7/13, on to Zambia. We both feel we need to start moving along partly as we would like to be back in Europe in October and also as we are getting a little anxious about Egypt being the only route out of Africa. We hope things will be ok enough by then.

Pullin Chicks!

On the way back from Mtara,   we were asked to take 100 chicks in a cardboard box to hand them on to the farm workers who would meet us along the way. When we got there we found them with a huge tractor which would not start. We handed over demented chicks who were frantically chirping away. A lorry driver had agreed to give a tow start to the tractor. It was a truly surreal scene in the pitch dark the lorry had a cargo of a number of soldiers (no explanation they just were!) towing an unlit tractor using a chain that was no more than 4 feet long.  It was hazardous and strange but they got the tractor started, Elliot somehow ended up paying the truck driver for his efforts and we all went our separate ways, some with and some without lights.

Zimbabwe is a beautiful interesting country and the people are almost universally pleasant, helpful and polite. We have again been the subject of extraordinary hospitality and newfound friends. Oh yes, even the cops on the incessant road checks are always friendly especially when they are after your money. However I shall be glad to leave as I am finding the tension here is rubbing off on me a bit.

I am writing this in a campsite on the shores of Lake Kariba. During the drive here we have been again subjected to incessant police checks. On one occasion as I was driving at no more than 70 kph due to the road conditions, we were stopped by a cop proudly carrying a radar speed gun. He showed me the dial on the gun and told me that I was doing 92kp I said “No, I was not, this truck doesn’t do 92 kph”. He looked baffled, “so I said, “see you later!” and drove away, all very odd!   

Later on at another checkpoint we were threatened with being brought to court over a spurious offence and even threatened with arrest.  I am sorry to say that I settled the matter in the only way that brought a smile to the cops face. It was either that or I was in for a very uncomfortable time and a long delay. I have to say it was horrible and I find it so difficult to see how these ineffectual and greedy police officers contribute to maintaining the peace or for that matter road safety in their proud country. When the cop directly asked me how much I would pay him to avoid court I had to bite my tongue not to ask him if his mother is proud of him!

As we wait to cross the border to Zambia, I have to say that despite being so well treated by so many people and having made friends with some very decent people we nevertheless feel a strong sense of relief.  Zimbabwe may often appear to us in Europe as being a country that is still somehow on its knees and a very unpleasant place to be. This is just not the case, it is in many ways growing and flourishing, sometimes against the odds and amid difficult politics. The country strides on mostly smiling  as they go.

So all being well we will turn in the direction of home!

Hippos on the doorstep

For now though as we  sit on the bank of the lake There are hippos mooching past in search of some fresh grass (no kidding!) there are signs warning of wandering crocodiles and the crickets are singing their crickety songs It is moderately scary!

Next stop Zambia, keep the emails coming
Love
Ping and Noel