Zimbabwe
A land that is portrayed bad in the media, has some of the best game parks, sites, and people in the world
What can I say about Zimbabwe!!!! It has just about everything you can ask for in a country that is given a negative portrayal in the media. Let’s forget that they had the second biggest hyperinflation in history just 8 years ago and their president is not exactly the most liked person. Let’s forget that prices are somewhat expensive compared to other African countries as they use the US Dollar. Lets also forget that they had an unfortunate incident with a certain Lion that was killed which was not covered correctly by the press. Let’s just focus on how much this country has to offer in all the different regions.
First of all, Victoria Falls is one of the natural wonders of the world and is split by the Zambia and Zimbabwe side. With just a few accommodations and restaurants in this little town, it almost feels like you are right at home staying here. With so many activities here, you can spend a life time and still not get the full effect. Different things to do are High Tea English style at the ever so quaint Victoria Falls Hotel, a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls, a sunset cruise down the river with many different game animals, and the ever so famous extreme activities (I only did the flying fox across the gorge as my fear of heights led me to cancel the gorge swing and also the zipline).
Victoria Falls High Tea
Extreme Activities (which i chickened out on the last two)
Helicopter ride over Victoria Falls
Sunset Cruise with Animal Safari
Bulawayo was next up as I saw this town which was a blast from the past (looked something like 1960’s small town America). I really did not spend much time in town at all in the city as my main focus here was to see the Black Rhino staying in its natural habitat. THIS IS ONE OF THE ONLY PLACES IN THE WORLD THAT YOU CAN STILL DO A WALKING SAFARI!!!!! Of course, this was also the final resting place of Cecil Rhodes who helped to colonize parts of Africa and Rhodesia is named after him. To my luck we actually got about 5 meters from 3 Black Rhinos and were able to take pictures of them for a long while before they scampered off. We also got to see some petroglyphs that some people think are thousands of years old and tells about how life was with the Khoi people of the area long ago…
Walking Black Rhino Safari
Next up was probably one of the highlights of the trip for me as we stayed at Antelope Park. Started in the mid 80’s it was home to many Antelope, now it is a Lion Release program for all of the lions in the area. Many of the farmers here will shoot the lions as they threaten their livestock, but through efforts of this organization, they are able to save them then release them into an area in order to help the species. They had different programs including the Lion Feeding, Elephant Encounter, Lion Cages, Lion Walking, Lion Cub Viewing, and of course Horseback riding across the game park. This place was truly and amazing experience and one of my favorite campsites across Africa.
Elephant Encounter
Lion Cub Viewing
Safari Horseback Ride
Lion Enclosure
Lion Walking
Lion Feeding
We then made our way down to one of the southern most parts of Zimbabwe to see The Great Zimbabwe. This is a structure perhaps a thousand years old that is one of the best preserved signs of Civilizations in Sub Sahara Africa. I have taught this before in my classes and it was truly an amazing experience to see. This was only shadowed by the band of monkeys that invaded our camp trying to get food and harass us.
We then headed to a National Park called Chimanimani. This park located in the Zimbabwean Highlands was once a favorite vacation spot for people back in the hay day. The town now has very little tourism as they are trying to recover from the financial crisis that looms. I did a hike to the Bridal Veil Falls to see this great natural wonder before heading off to lunch in a traditional village and finally to see a traditional Medicine Man who told us about his remedies from tree bark and roots found in the area….
Stayed in Harare for about five days sorting out visas was a fun time. Met some great people around the city and did not take too many pictures as it is a capital city and I am not a big fan of any capital city…….and the adventure continues….