Blogs from Zimbabwe, Africa - page 46

Wow! Wow! Wow! Ce fut une journée 200% adrénaline aujourd'hui. J'ai commencé par la descente de rivière sur the Mighty Zambezi river. Nous étions environ une vingtaine de notre groupe. D'abord, pour se rendre à la rivière, il fallait descentre la gorge de 750 m. Y a pas d'escaliers, y a pas d'ascenceur, y a pas rien pour nous aider et c'est hyper à pic. Un faux pas et on glisse jusqu'en bas ou on tombe dans le vide. Il fait chaud alors le simple fait de descendre était un exercice intense et je suais à grosses gouttes. En plus, j'avais la chienne tout le long juste à penser que sur les 10 rapides que nous prendrons, 3 sont de grade 5, le même grade que "The bad place" ce rapide en Ouganda où j'ai pensé ... read more

We all piled into the converted army Land Rover & headed off to the Matopo National Park. The Matopo are natural stone formations which look like bald old men, hence the name Matopo - The Wise Ones. We stopped to look at some fresh rhino poo which Ian our guide explained was left as a rhino was on the way to or from a watering hole. Our journey continued to the other side of the park where we got out to walk up the rocks to a cave containing fantastic bushman paintings. When everyone had made it up the gruelling climb Ian told us about the bushmen, how they hunt & how their population has declined as they have been forced to live in more inhospitible environments. After a super lunch (only made possible as Ian ... read more

Geo: -17.8289, 31.0406For our last few days in Zimbabwe we chilled by the swimming pool, visited lots of friends, shopped for crafts and tried to figure out Uncle Colin's job! It was wonderful and I could've very easily stayed out:) For me the highlight was visiting the countryside and an exemplary farm, following one of Uncle Colin's colleagues on one of his visits. It was great to see development projects in action. I was also very keen to see the Zimbabwean countryside. I wanted to know where all the people were and get a glimpse of the 'real' Zimbabwe!Time was too short. I was very sad to leave.... read more

Geo: -17.8289, 31.0406Eventually got to visit Uncle Colin (my Father's younger brother), Auntie Chanda and co in Zimbabwe. It was fantastic!After the challenge of how to spend a whole day in Jo'burg we got on the night 'Greyhound' coach to Harare. The 16hr ride was pretty painless as we were still shattered from safari and just slept all the way. Immigration was entertaining. I was quite worried about getting the Zimbabwean visa but it was the most unofficial and run down immigration ever! Got a fat jolly official who seemed quite happy to see us, shuffling through his tracing paper files and popping our 70 USD each into his front pocket! No computers or interrogation. Next we moved onto customs where Rebecca was given a marriage proposal by the cheeky customs officials. Zimbabwean immigration is definitely ... read more

We went to AFRICA!!!!!! It really happened, and what an experience it was. I think this trip tops just about anything else we have done in our short lives. Mike and I met up at the Baghdad International Airport and stayed one night in Baghdad as planned then off to Dubai, U.A.E to connect with our flight to Johannesburg South Africa. It was a 9 hour, early morning, flight and we landed in Johannesburg at 10:15AM where we were met by an agent from our safari booker (travel agent). She handed us all our travel documents and walked us to our connecting flight to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Landing in Vic Falls we started through immigrations and experienced the first of many symptoms of Africa being money poor. One dollar equals 10,000 Zimbabwe dollars. We felt ... read more