Zim Adventures

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The last week in Zimbabwe has been very busy and very interesting. I think I'll start with what I did first and then I'll talk about my impressions of the people and the country

Chimanimani NP

In the Chimanimani Mountains I undertook two of the hardest hiking days of my entire life. These two days made the hike up John Garner Pass in Torres Del Paine seem like a walk in the park… or at least very close to that.

My hiking in Chimanimani started with a relatively flat, 17k road hike from town to the park (ok I got a lift for 5kms of that). But then you just have a short 4km hike to the mountain hut. Of course, it is straight uphill. I really mean straight up the side of an escarpment. Even the "flat" parts are uphill. Morale wasn't always great by the end of this hike, I was wiped out. You would look up ahead of you and see a cliff face, maybe 100 meters high… not too much huh. So you suck it up and climb that face. Just beyond it, is of course another 100 meter cliff face. The Mountain Hut is 490meters above the base camp and about 4kms away. You do the math. I arrived exhausted and satisfied to the mountain hut.

Day 2 of hiking I intended to climb Mount Binga, the highest peak in Mozambique. No, that isn't a typo. You climb the highest point in Mozambique from Zimbabwe. The peak straddles the border. This proved to be another day of straight up climbing. I don't know how long the trail is, but the peak is about 700meters above mountain hut, of course you start by going down about 100 meters first, so make that 800 meters I'm going to go up. (For those that care, I think Mt Binga is about 24xx meters high). Anyway this was another strenuous day, and I didn't make it. I made it about ¾ of the way up the last climb when the mists and fog set in. I sat down for about an hour to wait them out but they never cleared so I tentatively headed back down. I was happy to see that after going down a little bit I got below the fog and it was clear to hike. I was a little nervous about hiking down a steep slope in the fog and not knowing where I was going. I was thinking I might be spending the night on the mountain. Luckily I had my tent and luckily that didn't happen.

Now, let me describe these trails, lest you think I'm just whining about having to climb up hills. It wasn't necessarily the vertical change that made these such arduous climbs. Let me just say that these "trails", and I use that term loosely, could probably be rated on a rock climbing scale. Overall the "trails" were probably a 5.0 or 5.1, with some sections actually a 5.6. Through most of the climb I had hands on rock as I stepped up. On one short 2 meter section I was actually looking for hand holds. Let me tell you that is loads of fun when you have a 20kg pack on your back. (I don't really know what my pack weighed; I just like to go with 20kgs because that sounds good).

Rock climbing and boulder hopping up a cliff face weren't the only problems. Once again, "trail" is an ambiguous term. There were places where the trail was obvious and places where it was well marked. Sometimes there were arrows painted on the rock faces. But there were many times when I was standing on one rock, looking at the rocks around me. I was looking for wear marks, scuff marks, foot prints, cairns, or anything. And once I found something that looked like it might be a trail the question then became, is that from footprints or water? Hmmm. Yes, there were cairns. But that is another loose term. Sometimes it would be a proper cairn with three stones stacked up. (You have to know these things if you want to be a Scout Master you know (said in Monty Python style)) More often than not though, I would be looking at 1 or 2 stones stacked on a rock. I just had to look and try to decide if that rock is there naturally and from human hands. I will say that I didn't get lost as far as I know, at least not going up. I actually got pretty good at finding unnatural rocks. There are two pictures on yahoo photos that illustrate this. You have to look closely to see them, but they show a cairn on a very steep part of the path.

Coming back down there were several times where I lost the trail. I had to back track back up to what I thought was the last "good" spot, and look around. I was actually only wrong once. That of course begs the question, why is it easier to follow the "trail" going uphill than it is going downhill. My theory is vision. Going uphill it is easy to look up and see places ahead that look like they are the trail, and this might be 1 to 100 meters ahead of you. Going downhill, my vision was limited to maybe 1-15 meters ahead. Just my thoughts.

Despite all this adversity, the Chimanimani Mountains were a wonderful experience. I spent three nights up in the hut. I stayed in the hut, instead of camping in the caves because I've become a wimp and couldn't handle the cold. It was getting down to like 10C outside. I don't believe my sleeping bag anymore when it says +3, I've been getting cold, but the hut was very warm.

The day after the Binga "failure" was a spectacular day. I could have made another attempt at Mt. Binga but elected for a lazy day. I hiked across the plain up to Skeleton Pass and looked into Mozambique. Then I hiked back and checked out some caves, waterfalls, and went swimming. The swimming was an accident and on purpose. I had to cross a river and it was choked with grass. I thought my step was onto some marshy grass and I was going to get a wet shoe. Nope, there was nothing solid, I went hip deep into the river… I didn't think it was that deep. Well, now I might as well go for a real swim and wash out the clothes, which I did before a nice waterfall.

The only people I met in the park were the rangers, no tourists. There were two rangers staying at the Mountain Hut and two staying in a cave at Skeleton Pass. They come up for 14 day shifts. There main purpose up there is to look for illegal gold panners. There is quite a bit of gold in those hills, mostly in Mozambique, but everywhere. So every day these guys go out looking for people illegally mining gold. If they find them they take away their tools. A shovel is expensive, about 95000Z. If the offender is Zimbabwean they send him home. If he is from Mozambique they fine him and send him to Zimbabwe. I asked Munashe if it was dangerous dealing with criminals like that. He said "No, I have a gun, they don't have any weapons." The rangers carry AK47s. Talking to the rangers at Skeleton Pass they said this has really just been a recent phenomenon. It started just over a year ago. Of course he said when it started there were no rangers and someone counted 500 people in an hour on just one trail. It was really great talking with these guys.

Back in Chimanimani Village I decided to treat myself right, I camped at the posh Chimanimani Hotel for 100000Z, not $10, but I'll explain that later. The cheapest room at this place is 765000Z. It was a real shame to be the only guest on these grounds. They had a pool and miniature golf. It was really a pretty nice accommodation. Oh yeah, and a casino which consists of slot machines only. I changed 2000Z for 40 tokens to play the machines. The "tokens" are actually 1Z coins that are not valid anymore, not that you could buy anything for 1Z. The other strange anomaly is that the only restaurant in town serves a mean Enchilada, go figure.

Great Zimbabwe

Well after 4 days of intense hiking and "cold" camping, it was time for a real tourist experience. I was off to Masvingo to visit the Great Zimbabwe. The Great Zimbabwe is a large ruins complex. It dates back to around 1200-1500AD and is the largest ruins in Sub-Sahara Africa. I also think it is the 2nd largest ruins in Africa, behind the Pyramids. There have been many theories about the origin of Great Zimbabwe. I believe now it is generally accepted that they were built by the Shona peoples and it was a major trading city.

There isn't much I can really say about my experience at the Great Zimbabwe. It was a great time and a spectacular place. I think the pictures probably tell the tale best. I can only compare it to my experience at Angkor Wat. Great Zimbabwe is much smaller so you only really need a day to see it. It also isn't as ornate as Angkor Wat. Neither of these factors takes away from the awe of the place. While the accommodation at the ruins isn't great it was worth it to camp there. Being able to sit in the ruins and watch sunset and sunrise was something truly special. (I went to bed in between). It was fun being with the guide and bouncing theories off each other. He says "The door lintel is low so that people have to bow down to enter so they are bowing before the king. What do you think?" I think, "Well, if it was defensive as you say, then maybe they have to bend down so they can't fight as well and the lintel is low for defense." Chris responds, "Good point, I like that."

Back at the campground, I saw my first tourists since leaving Ben in the Bvumba Mountains. The campground was packed. There was a group from S. Africa and a group of Namibians. The guards told me that there were people staying in the rondavels as well. That is good.

Of course all this time alone in Zimbabwe has allowed me to read "Crime and Punishment." That is what lots of alone time will do for you.

Zimbabwe will be a really wonderful place to visit when the tourists come back. There were so many places I wanted to visit and just ruled out because without any tourism I couldn't get there without loads of effort.

Zimbabwean People

I feel I should say something about all the local people I've met here. Outwardly they are some of the friendliest, nicest people I've ever met. Inwardly, I've been told they are very unhappy. The economics of this country is a shambles, and the people don't know what to do. They aren't afraid to admit that their situation here is very bad. Nobody seems happy about it. They all seem to want to talk about it, but they are also very afraid of what the say and who is around.

Here is some perspective. The rangers make 400000Z a month and a well paid teacher makes 500000Z a month. It costs 70000Z for bus fair from Masvingo to Mutare. It costs 10000Z for a loaf of bread and 100000Z for a bag of mealie meal, the staple food of Zimbabwe. They are working to survive.

I had a very interesting chat with Munashe about his salary. He says he isn't married and he buys things. He has a TV, DVD player and Sat. dish. He says it does no good to save money. If you save in the bank they charge you so many fees and give very little interest. If you put it under your mattress, well in a month that 200000Z that was there is now worth a pittance of what is was before. Remember 2000% inflation. So you buy as much as you can. Oh yeah, I've been told that last April they took 3 0's off the money. So by last years standard my $1=26,000,000Z. That is crazyness.

The people are very curious and friendly as I said. I don't know how many people asked for my address and wanted to give me theirs so we could be pen pals. James, I dutifully gave them your address, thought you would like that. They also ask "So, how is America?" I hate that question because I don't know how to answer it. I usually tell them it is nice and warming up for summer. They also want to know how much everything costs in the US. I hate going into that also because it doesn't make sense and it is more expensive then here but then it is cheaper because we all make more, it is strange. Mike who ran the guesthouse in Masvingo, just kept saying "Too much, too much." Didn't matter if we were talking about Zim or US. He wanted a football Jersey.

I think the strangest question I get and I got it often was, "Tell me about wrestling." Apparently professional wrestling is huge over here and they all want to know if it is fake or real. One guy at the bar was very funny when I told him it was fake. He responded, "I though so. The boxers like Lennox Lewis only fight like 2 or 3 times a year. The good wrestlers you see every week. The body can't take that bounding every week. I thought it might be fake." I thought that was lots of thought put into wrestling, all in good fun.

Ethics, Morals, and the Magic Receipt

Well, as I mentioned in my last blog the exchange rate varies greatly between official and black market. Zimbabwe is so hard up for foreign cash that I am legally supposed to pay for accommodation and all entrances in USD. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to pay for everything that way or not, but the grocery and buses only ask in ZD (Zim Dollars). Anyway if you pay in USD you will pay many times what the fee for locals is in ZD. They actually have signs up saying justifying why foreigners pay more than locals. Many travelers have a problem with a foreign rate and a local rate, I personally don't. We do the same thing in the States. Rent a car or hotel room and look at the tax you pay… tourist fee.

There is a way around paying in ZDs though, it is the "magic receipt." What I did was change $5 legally. Then I edited the receipt to show that I changed $50, not real honest I know. It didn't bother me much until I got to Chimanimani. The park lady said 10USD. When I showed her the receipt that said I changed at 250ZD = 1USD, she charged me 2500ZD. So what should have cost me 40USD ended up costing me 10000ZD or <$.50. Now I started feeling bad because I think that is less than the local rate. I really didn't mind paying $10 but I wanted to pay in ZD not USD. It is easier to keep track of.

But we go on. At the Chimanimani hotel they say $10 to camp, oh receipt ok 100,000ZD. That is 2.5x difference. I don't feel bad here.

At Masvingo guesthouse, a similar thing, $25 or 200,000 with receipt (3x). At all these places they insist on a copy of the receipt so they can show the auditors that it is all legit. They say they will get in trouble if they don't make me pay in USD.

At Great Zimbabwe, it is $10 or 20,000ZD (a 10x multiplier).

Like I said, in Chimanimani I had some qualms about the ethics of my fake receipt, but I managed to rationalize them this way. At the hotels I had other options. There are guesthouses in town that are cheaper or ones that will take ZD from a traveler. So by using the receipt I was actually bringing business to these places. At the Chimanimani and Great Zimbabwe well it really is the government that is the big loser. I don't feel bad about that at all.

So that is all, I'm back to Mozambique tomorrow. Will write more when I can.

The Zimbabwe Pictures

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Photos

Trail Down, Chimanimani
You can see the trail below me, also on the big rock if you look closely is a small cairn. Yes the right trail really is straight down to the path