Zimbabwe

After leaving Victoria falls our time in Zimbabwe was short, and as a whole spent mostly in the truck driving. Long drives is investable in this vast continent, like Australia, towns are few and far between, covering 1500km’s this week alone meant I even had a to do list of deleting photos and writing whilst sat in the truck…. I haven’t had a to do list in over a month!!

Our journey from Victoria falls took us to the Victoria falls wildlife trust, one of the many partnerships intrepid helps using the money we spend doing their trips. Both the Cape Town to Vic falls and Vic falls to gorillas trips provide funds for this trust to build the bridge between animal and humans. The issue of poaching would not be new to you, however this trust mainly assists communities in maintaining safety and protection of themselves and their crops against wildlife. Elephants and rhinos are a nuisance when it comes to crops, and will use their incredible sense of smell to sniff out a good meal, whilst lions eat with their eyes and will jump any fence that they can see a tasty cow or goat through. This creates conflict between the farmers, families and the animals, killing both in the process. The wildlife trust supports communities by providing enclosures for their livestock that lions can’t see through, and chilly scented burners to surround crops (African elephants hate chilly unlike their Asian cousins!). Using trial and error, and their research of animals likes and dislikes the Victoria falls wildlife trusts support has meant no animals have been killed by farmers since the rollout of these incentives in 2019, and likewise with no livestock being killed. As well as this they tag and take samples from animals to better map their movements across communities, as well as assist police in prosecuting poachers, details I can’t go into due to confidentiality and protection of the trust.

Bulawayo

From here we stopped at Bulawayo for 2 nights as we would be spending the day trekking with rhinos. Arriving in Bulawayo was weird, the large city centre very different to our views for the last 4 weeks, thousands of eyes staring up in awe at the 11 white faces on the huge over lander passing by the busy city streets. Like most of the cities we visited in Zimbabwe, tourism is low and so our appearance would be maybe the first for many people, our truck is also typically used for transporting goods, not humans. The campsite, Birks paradise, wasn’t such a paradise but the actual dinner table was a welcomed surprise after 28 days of eating dinner from our laps. Excited for the day ahead, not even the VERY loud frogs could keep me awake.

Rhino trekking

Rhino trekking with White Rhino Safari’s started at 8 in the morning and we didn’t return until 8pm that night. Our entrance into the national park and being back on a 4x4 exciting. Working with the local rangers who protect the 28 white and 18 black rhinos from poachers, our guide pulled up on the side of the road and after a safety brief and 1km walk into the bush land, we came across our goal for the day. The mum and baby were a sight, mum one of the few in the park who currently still have their horns, most cut down to deter poachers from killing a rhino just for their horns. A rhinos horns grow back at 5cm per year and cutting them doesn’t harm the animal, but poachers kill the animal nonetheless, the bits of horn inside the skin as equally as valuable to them and their pockets. A rhinos horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine as and before poaching became illegal to see a briefcase full of cash in a park like this wouldn’t have been uncommon. The rifles the rangers were holding onto weren’t in case the rhinos attacked, but for poachers, and they ensured all our location tags and gps trackings were turned off.

We spent time observing the 3000kg female, watching in awe as her and her calf relaxed in the shade, her calf 2 years old and still reliant on breast milk. Creeping slowly and closer to her for a pic meant at times we were a mere 4 metres away. White rhinos, unlike the black, are mellow and not aggressive, although a mother will protect her calf if threatened. She knows we are small and we are no threat to her or her baby, having been observed by humans since her herself was a baby she was used to our presence but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have killed us if she wanted too. We eventually left the pair alone to seek some new shade, and headed back to the 4x4, giddy with excitement after our encounter. Absolutely incredible.

Bulawayo is one of the few African towns that kept its original name all through colonisation, many having changed forward and back, and is also home to some of the biggest San rock paintings in Africa, like our indigenous Australian rock paintings, each tells a story of migration, hunting or gathering. The ones we visited were incredibly detailed. From here, still looking out for leopards on our way, the matopos having the highest concentration of leopards in the whole of Africa, we visited the grave of Cecil John Rhodes, an English diamond miner. The grave sits in the top of the Motopos hill, his ‘view of the world’ and not a bad one either, the in setting below the plains another perfect lion king sun set that we took in with eyes wide and hearts full after another magical day.

Wearing jumpers for the first time in a while, the nights getting colder we were all passed out before 9pm, exhausted from the days excitement. Our journey to Masvingo tomorrow would start early, our new group getting an insight into the trip ahead for them. Masvingo is a small town, sitting on the edge of the stunning Lake mutrikwi the picturesque views from our tent and bar taking me back to my time in New Zealand. After setting up our tents the afternoon was spent exploring the Great Zimbabwe ruins, a hot spot for locals and tourists alike to come and pay tribute to the kings of great Zimbabwe. They say you haven’t been to Zim unless you visit great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe literally means big (ZI) house (MBA) of stone (BWE), the ruins a great depiction of the life lived by the kings and their 200 wives, each having a home, its size relevant to their number. A German in 1871 German was the forst to see and report extensively about great Zimbabwe, however this also began the destruction, many came looking for gold and treasures they believed were kept within the 6m thick walls of the homes.

Great Zimbabwe

In 1995 the ruins of great Zimbabwe were restored with now 70% of the original standing, the kings home on top of the hill a hard walk up, meaning it was hard for him to be targeted, often squeezing between two high walls. The views from the top meant you could see the lake on one end and the home of the 1st wife on the other, its size incomparable yet when we were stood inside just an hour beforehand it felt big. Monkeys now are the only inhabitants of these ruins, local villagers showing how this community used to live, many Dhaka huts 🛖 showing how they cooked, ate and slept, of course also another opportunity to sell bracelets and wooden Nik naks.

Falling asleep to the stars in abundance, the small moon and lack of light pollution here the perfect combination, was perfect, waking up to the sun rising over the lake even better, a sleep in this morning exciting, as it would be our last for awhile. The long drive to Harare was a welcomed break from socialising, and some time for silence before we were about to enter utter chaos in the countries capital city. Unlike Bulawayo, Harare was once called…. Meaning the town that never sleeps, which gives you an idea of what we drive into at peak hour on a Friday afternoon. Stopping in the cities equivalent to Oxford street for lunch was an activity I could have quite happily skipped, although we received a lot less attention than we were expecting. Lunch options slim, chicken chicken, or chicken, the westernised culture here was sad, even the main grocery store providing only a small selection of fruits and veggies. I was relieved to get back on the bus having eaten my blueberries and grapes, extra excited for a nice meal from Simon later. Our campsite was fortunately on the outskirts of Harare, although this didn’t mean the party didn’t keep going until all hours of the morning, our 4:30am alarms in the back of our minds each time a dog, or human fight broke out on the street nearby. Yet the tent was down and breakfast inhaled by 5am despite the broken sleep, back on the road for our longest drive day yet, 11 hours to cross the border and arrive in Lusaka, Zambias own capital city. I for one can’t wait to get back to the bush, whilst the hustle and bustle of a city is still as equally important to the countries history and culture, I much prefer the roadside huts and bush camps we’ve had up till now.

Zimbabwe, although our journey through rushed, was still incredible. To get so close to a rhino a once in a lifetime experience, as is hanging off the edge of the world’s largest waterfall, it was a nice cultural and historical break from the adventuring. We are leaving southern and central Africa behind to enter east Africa, where I’ll be spending the next 5 weeks, officially half way through my incredible journey here. A weird feeling knowing 5 weeks ago I was sat in Perth airport unsure of what laid ahead, now very much accustomed to camping each night, packing the truck and awaiting instructions from Nash our trip leader each night for the next days itinerary, not having looked at mine since I booked in February. It’s been nothing I expected in all the best ways since, 5 weeks of new friends, cultures, countries and fun. More than excited for this next half!