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!

Sent from my iPhone

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.