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Published: June 17th 2017
01 Elephant Sign
The road sign warning us of elephants on the main road.Geo: -17.93, 25.84
We woke up at sunrise and packed up the tent. Then I went to the bar, I really wanted and needed a hot drink after the cold night, so I bought a cup of tea. I drank my tea and I watched the birds flutter around the waterhole. A little while later the guys joined me. I had a second cup of tea and we had some biscuits for breakfast.
We left at about 7am. The drive to the Pandamatenga border was not long. I was hoping to see wildlife along the road, as we did last time we were here. I was on the lookout for the sign indicating that there are elephants on the road. We stopped at a sign and took some photos - now to see the real elephants on the road! Along the way we also stopped to take some photos of a lovely field filled with sunflowers.
At a bit after 10am we arrived at the border. There were no issues on the Botswana border. The Zimbabwean border took quite a while, there was a lot of paperwork and they were not happy at the amount of fuel we had. We were not
02 Flowers
A field of sunflowers. aware that we were over the limit, in the end they said it was not our fault, but the other border's fault as they hadn't seen it.
We were entering Zimbabwe through a safari area, which was used as a hunting concession. I was on the lookout for animals, but I had a feeling that there would not be much to see if there was hunting occurring here. Paul did spot some tracks, but the grass was so long, it would not be easy to see animals if they were there.
We choose somewhere to pull over, by a dry river and have our lunch. We ate hummus, potato salad, pasta salad and spinach & feta puffed rolls. I am glad that I had made this food, as we did not pass anywhere along the way to buy fast food.
We continued driving through the safari area that bordered Hwange Game Reserve. I was not expecting to see much here, as we saw hardly anything last time in this part of the reserve. We were not driving too closely to each other, as the road was very dry and there was a lot of dust.
Finally we saw animals, it was
03 Close Up
A close up of a sunflower's head. a tower of giraffe and they were not skittish, as I expected them to be. There were both young ones and adults, on either side of the dirt track, enjoying leaves from the bushes. We watched them for about ten minutes and then continued onto Victoria Falls.
At this stage I was driving and out of the corner of my eye I saw an impala, it was running really fast right across the road in front of me and I just missed it. That wouldn't have been a good start – killing the wildlife! This 'road', which was really a dirt track, was in a better condition than last time. It was very welcoming to see everyone in the villages waving to us. The village huts were very traditional, thatched round mud huts.
Ahead we saw a tarred road, which bought us and the car a lot of joy. The dirt track had finally come to an end. There were two options, right for Bulawayo or left for Victoria Falls. We turned left and came across a police block. We were warned about the police road blocks. Apparently the police were very corrupt and will find little reasons to fine
04 Us
Paul and I among the sunflowers. tourists. We were very friendly and had no problems at all, they were just checking our licence and paper work. Then ten minutes down the road there was another road block, once again we had no issues.
At 2 o'clock we arrived at the town of Victoria Falls. On the way into town we stopped on the railway bridge to watch a large, animated troop of baboons. We checked into Shoestrings Backpackers, we loved this place last time, great atmosphere and all the amenities we could need. We agreed to meet back at the bar at 3:30 for a walk around town. It was also a nice treat for Paul and I to have a room to ourselves, as the next two weeks we would be camping in tents. Our room was sufficient and I was really looking forward to a shower, as there was no hot water this morning at the campsite. I had a shower, which I really appreciated, even though the water was like a dribble. It is amazing what we take for granted and so quickly miss, such as hot running water.
While Paul and I waited at the bar for John and Francois, we booked
05 Across the Border
When we crossed into Zimbabwe we entered this safari area. tonight's dinner at the Boma and a booze cruise on the Zambezi River for tomorrow afternoon. We also had a demonstration from Dexter the Artist of his work, which he makes using wire and scrap cloth. He sells his work and relies on donations to continue his art. It was very creative and after he gave us a demonstration we gave him a donation of the dirtiest, most worn out dollar notes that we had.
It was a very short walk into town, but along the whole way we were pestered by local men to buy old Zimbabwean currency as a souvenier. The notes ranged from one thousand to one hundred billion dollar notes. Their currency is no longer valid and now the local currency is US dollars. We politely said no thank you, but after being asked more than a dozen times we were no longer being polite.
We looked at the many curio shops, choices, choices. I finally choose some souvenirs. For mum I bought two fabric angels made of traditional African designs and a few pairs of wooden serving spoons for myself. I really like the small wooden stools that could be stacked up. We came across a
06 Fur Ball
A fur ball coughed up by a predator. crocodile cage diving place. The crocodiles looked very fake because they were so still. The haggling was tiring, all the vendors had the same lines, "where are you from? Oh Australia, I have a cousin in ____ (they would respond with a various capital city), come have a look, it is free to look- no charge, please support the artist" etc, (all stores have the same stock, artists are lacking originality!). We had enough of being pestered, so we walked back to the backpackers and got ready for dinner.
It was about a ten minute drive to the Boma restaurant. I was excited about being back here, we had a really great time last time, a memorable experience. When we arrived we were greeted by traditional singing. As we listened to the singing and dancing we were given a piece of traditional cloth to wear and a stroke of paint on our cheek. We were early, so we sat at the bar and had a drink. I had a double G & T and I was surprised when I found out it was $11. We then decided that tonight was going to be a very sober night. It was just
07 Main Road
The only road from the border. the start of our holiday and we were not going to spend that much on drinks.
We then entered the restaurant. Our waiter gave us some traditional home made beer, which he poured from a large hollowed seed. It was only a mouthful, but more than enough for me. The main course and dessert were from the buffet. The starter was served to us, I enjoyed a mushroom pastry and the guys had crocodile tail, which they really enjoyed. We then hit the buffet. Even though I am vegetarian, I still had more than enough to choose from. The meats on offer were guinea fowl, ostrich, kudu, warthog, impala & wildebeest and the worst thing of all- mopane worms! We filled up our plates a few times.
As we enjoyed all the yummy food, there was traditional singing, dancing and drumming- they were pretty good and I enjoyed watching the performance. Before attacking the dessert buffet, we went for a walk to the bar for a shooter, $8 later we had a Springbok. The desserts were yummy, I ate more of them than I had wanted to. As we ate dessert, the staff came around and gave each of us
08 Palm
I wasn't expecting to see palm trees here. a drum. Then the drumming started again. This time we were all encouraged to join in. It was so much fun. After the interactive drumming session ended we paid the bill and returned to the backpackers. As it was still early so we went to the bar for a few drinks and then called it a night.
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