Sketchy bush walk

Mid afternoon we had a coffee break stop in a lovely spot out by a small pond. We drank tea, and observed the wAter bird on the pond. Then we set out on a trek across the marshlands. I know many of you wonder if u have boundaries if what ill do... Well, this walk pushed them. Andy decided to take us creeping silently through the bush to try and sneak up downwind of of popular rock where big crocs sun themselves. Really? Sneaking up on crocs? Are you kidding? This was by far my least comfortable walk in Africa, and I was not bummed that there were no crocs to be found!

Rainbow colored lizard

Yeah, can't remember this guys name, but he was cute!

Checkin us out!

That close

Andy was very comfortable with our proximity to the rhino. Me, not so much. But, trust the experts, right? Right?

Yes, they realized we were there!

Yes. Those are rhinos! And yes, we are that close. Big big animals!

Nap time!

Our first bush walk wasn't so productive.... But we drove on down the road, and quickly found 3 napping rhinos. Yes, really. There they were. Andy walked us up to a "safe" distance, and we observed as the rhino realized we we're there....

Bush walking

As we drive into the game reserve part of the park... It became obvious that Andy's forte was really the animals, and tracking. He was very in tune to the tracks and migrations of each animal. He was adamant that he wax going to find us the rhino, the gem if this park.

Andy grabbed his shotgun, gave us our bush marching orders, and we set off on a walk following rhino tracks...

Big awesome bug

Can't for the life of me remember what this is.... But it was a cool bug.

Andy flicked the bug a little, and it secretes a nasty smell to repel it's predators. Good going bug, cuz you are too cool to be eaten!

Rock formations

One if the main draws if the national park (other than the wildlife and cave paintings!) are the granite rock formations. After the flat landscape we had seen up to that point, it was quite wonderful to see some variety! And gorgeous at that.

Green dung beetle!

The guy was disco!

Granaries

The sticks covering the clay/mud structures were recent additions to keep animals and looters from destroying the artifacts in the cave. We could wander freely around the cave, and Andy mentioned the the pottery and pieces are regularly broken by careless "observers"! Ugh.

Layers of cave paintings...

The paintings on the walks of the caves covered many different time periods and styles.

The motopos

It's almost a month later, and I still need to finish blogging the last few days if the Africa trip! I spent a good deal of time over the holidays describing bits and pieces to people I visited... But the details fade soooo fast!

Don't know that I have as much detail to offer right now on some of the places and experiences, but here are the pic's.....

We were picked up at the hotel in the am by Andy, our guide for the day... And we climbed into yet another safari vehicle. As we drove out of town to pick up a few more people, I quickly realized that I had made some major assumptions about Bulawayo the precious day. As I mentioned, lori and I were the only white people we saw all day... I was really embracing the idea that we were in the Africa where people live and work... And I wasn't wrong, but there was another very separate side to the city. The very wealthy white suburbs. Very separate. I was beginning to understand that we stood out less as being tourists the previous day, and more as why are theses white people in downtown? Anyhow. That's what you get for making assumptions!

A 40 mi ute ride out of the city, we came to the entrance to the park, and made our first stop at a cave full of cave paintings, and granaries from a variety of time periods. The cave was believed to be used as a storage place for grains as late as the independence revolution in the late 70's, early 80's.

Our guide's forte was not necessarily historical artifacts... But as a lifelong Zimbabwean, he was fascinating in his narrative of common life in the country through the last 30-40 years.

Quiet night

Back at the hotel, I had high expectations of getting some postcards done... But the second I laid down and chilled out, I was out!

What? No city pics?

Funny thing. I have been flicking through hundreds of pictures of elephants to find the best one to post... And it comes to our travels off the tourist grid in Africa, and I only have one single picture from our first day in bulawayo. And I only have this picture because it has a rainbow in it!

I was so happy the previous day to have a plan in place, I really didn't spend any time thinking about what this trip might entail. The bus ride from vic falls was over 5 hours. In the scheme of things, I guess this isn't so bad, but it seemed long. Along the way, I was definitely questioning the wisdom of traveling this far for 2 nights. We had traveled 2 hours along the same road on our way out to hwange days before, and I stayed alert the whole ride so as not to "miss" anything.... But it was all pretty much the same until the moment we drove into the city. Flat landscape. Trees. Small villages along the way. Lovely, but fairly monotonous.

After a short wait, we were met at the bus drop off by a guy from the hotel. He walked us the 5 blocks or so down the road to get us checked in. "downtown was a small grid of a city... About 10 blocks wide by maybe 20 blocks long. On the way to the hotel, we passed the open market... Split into 2 sections, clothes and food.

The "Berkeley house" was a clean place, but absolutely deserted! According to the nice lady at the desk, it wasn't travel season. I was also quickly observing that Bulawayo is a town people live in, not go to on vacation. After being the ultimate tourists for 2 weeks, this was both refreshing, and shocking. We joked all day that it was possible we were going to wind up in the local newspaper just for being white tourists in town.

After dropping our bags, and working with the nice lady at the hotel to book our trip to the park the following day... We set off on a mission. Food, find the bus station for Lori to inquire about further travel, groceries for breakfast, and Internet cafe.

And so went the rest of the afternoon. We wandered around. What we learned about Africa on Saturday afternoons is that not much of anything is happening or going on. Ed finally found an open restaurant for a late lunch. Bus station closed till Monday. Internet in the entire town was down for the time being. Found a little cafe where the local were starting to gather for sat night festivities. Made some friends over beers. Hung for a bit, then continued on. Internet finally up and running. Spent a hour or so online, then made our way back to the hotel shortly after sundown. Everyone we chatted with in town to ask direction was really helpful and nice. We stood our like sore thumbs, but no one seemed to care. The last few blocks close to our hotel were by far the sketchiest we encountered, but all in all... Not bad. People were pretty content to leave the only 2 tourists in town alone.

Breakfast of champs!

The early bus

Once again, we packed ourselves up, and were on the move. I split my stuff up, only taking what I needed for a few days. I left a big bag at the hostel, and just hoped it would be there when I returned in a few days.

We caught the bus at a hotel a short walk from the backpacker. Before leaving town, we stopped at the local chicken inn, and were provided a snack and refreshment for the bus ride.

Friday night!

After the fun performance if the kids, another beer and a little dancin... We made our way back into town for some dinner at mama Africa. Really yummy food, probably the most authentic Zimbabwean fate we had had to date. Peanut rice, polenta, and meat stews.

I had every intention of hanging out that night at the bar back at our hostel... Which was also one of the local hot spots on a Friday night. Things were just getting started when we got back... I made it through a fraction of a beer, went back to the room, and was out. So much for my big Friday night!

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Tin can kids

Made it back to the backpacker just in time to catch a Friday evening performance of the "tin can kids". These kids were awesome & talented!!! You can check them out on YouTube and Facebook!

Beers behind bars

Not sure if the cars are there to keep the chaos out, or in? Hummm. Was a quiet afternoon, so guess it didn't really matter.

Victory beers!

We were returned to town, tried to get Lori our of paying for the aborted flight, but no dice. Another quick visit with the travel agent, and it was surely beer thirty!

We enjoyed a few cold beverages and time to sit and watch the town go by. Pretty sleepy town, but all the entertainment we need for that moment.

On my way back to solid ground

It was pretty short "flight"... And the dragged me back to solid ground. Not a minute too fast to get the stupid choking harness off!

Flying fox!

Jumped off the platform, and flew out over the river canton! It was fun, and a rush for sure... And of course, I was totally looking down and checking out the rapids below, trying to remember the boat line from high above! Dork.

3-2-1.... Go!

Next victim

My body's natural defenses against extreme actions were apparently on vacation. Clip me in and show me which way to run....

Not today

Lori got herself up on the platform, rigged into the wires and ropes... But was definitely not comfortable with the idea of jumping any longer. The guys did their best job to try to coax her into jumping, but it wasn't the day. Understandable that the human body has all sorts of defenses against jumping off a cliff, and harnesses, again, just not comfortable!

The second victim...

From the side of the jump platform, we watched another girl get roped in and fly out over the canyon. She was a champ. Came to jump by herself (in work clothes), Just got up there, and went without a thought.

Lori was looking more and more uncomfortable, so I volunteered her to go next.

The flying fox

While talking to the travel office at the airport earlier in the afternoon, Lori spontaneously decided that we needed to jump off the Zambezi river canyon wall, and hang on a wire high above the river, better known as "the flying fox". Me? I'm a good wing woman. My travel buddy wants us to jump off a cliff, who am I to rain on the parade?

We were picked up at the backpacker mid-afternoon, taken to the edge, and suited up in body harnesses. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike harnesses? Turned out, Lori was not a big fan either.

Back in town, time to lock in some plans.

Lori and I got checked into the shoestring backpacker, and after dumping our stuff, we walked a few blocks back to the main street in vic falls, and went straight to the backpacker travel office. We spent a bunch of time talking through the different options people had suggested to us... And a plan finally took form. All the advice people had given us wax invaluable as the travel lady was able to assist in booking the things we had come up with, she really didn't have much to offer in terms if any new ideas.

Here's the plan. We were going to take the Citilink bus to Bulawayo (second largest city in zimbabwe) the following morning at 7:30am, arriving in town around 1pm. The travel lady helped us book budget accommodations in town (Berkeley house, sounded good to us ca girls!) and arrange for someone to meet us at the bus. We would have the afternoon to explore the city, and then we planned to book a tour to go to a nearby national park, Matopo, the following day (Sunday). The return bus to vic falls didn't run on Tuesdays, so I had to head back on Monday. Lori was still working on her "onward plan" from there. She was trying to find a way to travel to Kruger national park in south Africa to meet a friend, but was hoping to avoid having to go all the way to Jo-berg to get there (way outta the way, but the major route everyone was trying to send her on!). We also booked a tour from vic falls on tues to go to the Chobe national park in Botswana. I was scheduled to fly out of vic falls on wed, so every minutes was filled.

Excited to finally have a plan in place, we stocked up on a few provisions at the 7-11 market, and returned to the backpacker to rest for a bit.

Time to finish up

I returned from Africa a week ago. I didn't do a very good job of keeping myself to any kind of schedule upon my return, so jetlag has totally been kicking my ass. Sleeping and meal time have been all over the place! It was great to have the long thanksgiving weekend to unpack and clean up a bit, and getting back to work, as tiring as it has been this week, has done me some good to get back to a routine. In my haze, the trip seems so surreal. A world away, full of so many unbelievable sights and experiences. I've been at a bit of a loss to really describe the trip... Which makes me even happier that I managed to capture so much on the blog, relatively in the moment.

So, before it totally fades, I need to finish it up!

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