Day 210 - Whitewater rafting but not as we know it

Today's activity was a spot of whitewater rafting on the mighty Zambezi. The setting was great, with the river winding its course along a 200m deep gorge of very black basalt rock. The rafting itself was fun, but nothing like as much fun as a few months ago in Ecuador in large part down to a boring guide. We'd ask him to steer a slightly rougher course through the rapids and he'd refuse, saying we might fall out (which is really the whole point of whitewater rafting). In some parts we were happy with his advice not to fall out as there were crocodiles lurking around.

We had a go on the internet which worked for a while before the place we were in permanently lost their connection. Very annoying. For dinner we tried to use up our remaining money and encountered another reason why Zimbabwe is such a dysfunctional country. We are used to menus coming in 2 parts, the list of what's available (though not always the case) and a separate (and frequently updated) pricelist. With inflation in the region of 1280% prices change often. Anyway in this place the menu included a cheeseburger, but the pricelist only had a price for a beefburger. Ed asked for a cheeseburger but was told this would be impossible - how could the waitress, and manager (for we did ask) possibly decide on an appropriate price? A burger was $17,500 so we offered an extra $1,000 for a slice of cheese, but were turned down. Testing a hypothesis that we just weren't going to get one we offered to pay double - $35,000 - but met with the same response . Moreover, the $17,500 the burger cost worked out at about US$6 for us because we'd exchanged our US dollars for Zimbabween currency on the black market. At the official exchange rate that burger - without cheese - would have cost over GBP£30!

So overall, on our last night in Zimbabwe, what do we make of the place? Basically, the falls are amazing and everything else is odd, mostly rubbish and invariably a rip-off. What used to be an okay economy has been wrecked by their classically woeful President Mugabe. Their farms produce a fraction of what they used to which means the country cannot feed itself. Given the number of offers we had for our shoes and flip-flops it appears they can't even clothe themselves properly. You can imagine that a few years ago it was quite nice, but the town we visited is literally falling apart before your eyes. Of the 20 something countries we've been to on this trip, our experiences in Zimbabwe leave the feeling that it's the most baffling and desperate (and overcharging) place so far.

And on the topic of Mugabe, our crazy Dutch friend Tobias almost got himself into yet another spot of bother when he was telling some policemen what he thought of their President. It's a wonder he's still alive.

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