Zimbabwe Chapter II
As usual, not a day passes by without bringing its share of excitment...and Zimbabwe was no exception.
After Vic Falls, we headed down to Bulawayo down south, then across to Harare and then back up to Mana Pools.
The road to Bulawayo gave us the chance to pay our first bribe...To our complete surprise, Zimbabwe (and Zambia) requires every vehicle to have a reflective tape in the front and the back of the car. Red in the back and Grey/Whitish in the front. So despite of our futile protests, we ended up having to give the courteous policemen a little something to accomodate them...It's one of these situation where you can't win, no matter what. They usually have more time than you do. So the Troopie now bears 2 strips of grey tuck tape in the front, rescued from our tools box....We would repeat the experience with 3 officers in Bulawayo when I illegally stopped the truck in the middle of the road so Marc can get some bananas...
From Bulawayo we went to Maposo park, where we had the chance to visit the rest place of Cecil Rhodes.
In case you did not know, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was named after him...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Rhodes
The visit took longer than expected and we found ourselves driving to Harare (about 400 km) at night...huge mistake. As everyone would tell you, you don't drive at night in Africa...especially not for that long. We almost never made it to Harare. About 50 km before reaching the city, Marc and I stopped to switch drivers. A truck that we had been overtaking earlier passed us during the switch. About 2 or 3 km after I had started driving, we came to the scene of a major accident. The truck who had just passed us collided with 2 cars coming in the opposite direction and trying to pass each other. We were the first ones on the scene and if it hadn't been for our imprompty stop, this could have well been the end of the trip for us.
By some incredible miracle no one was seriously hurt. We provided water and directed traffic while all the drivers/passengers were starting to come back to life...
After about 30 minutes we left and finally reached Harare around 11 pm, spending a good hour trying to find a hostel that was still open. We ended at a place called "The Rocks" just in time to catch a last drink at their bar with the locals. No need to say we were the only ones camping there that night.
From Harare we headed to Mana Pools. Turned out it was a bit more challenging than expected to find diesel in Harare. We had to visit 5-6 station before finally be able to refill.
Mana Pools was all that they had claimed to be and even more. Our campsite was visited by hippos and elephants! There are no fence there...there is a real sense of wilderness and untouched beauty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana_Pools_National_Park
Our last day in Zimbabwe again brought its share of surprises...
Mana Pools is only about 120 km from the border and Lusaka another 120 on the other side. But what I had expected to be a quite day turned out to be another long one...
A section of the road to Mana Pools is in really bad condition. About 15 km from the exit, we ran into a couple who had trouble with the truck. Their fuel tank was dragging down the road...having lost a nut and twisted the holding strap.
Possessing the right tools and nut, we offered our help. But what I thought would take a few minutes turned out to be a 2 hours engagement...with all the dust/heat/dirt that comes with working under a truck.
With them was also an Irish guy who was hitchhiking to get to the closest fuel station, his friend waiting patiently by his Land Rover down the road. They had spent a few days at Mana Pools and are also heading up to Nairobi. We ended up staying at the same place in Lusaka afterwords and had a blast all together.
So it was about 1pm when we reached the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. And about 5 pm when we finally left. It was without doubt the most challenging border crossing we've had so far. The kind of passage that makes you wonder why you did not booked an all inclusive tour...I would spare you all the details but let's just say it was the first time we had to deal with a Zimbabwean officer directing the local Interpol office. Apparently the real Interpol - we would never know for sure.
We are now in Lusaka (Zambia) and heading to Malawi. Lusaka is a great city and we are having a fabulous time here. But we are getting a little bit tired of freezing every night so we are going to head a bit faster into Malawi/Mozambique hoping that the temperature will be warmer...I think I wore my shirts twice to far.
---all the pics here:
http://2aroundtheworld.smugmug.com/gallery/8738721_5vn2J/1/583349148_F4crf
As usual, not a day passes by without bringing its share of excitment...and Zimbabwe was no exception.
After Vic Falls, we headed down to Bulawayo down south, then across to Harare and then back up to Mana Pools.
The road to Bulawayo gave us the chance to pay our first bribe...To our complete surprise, Zimbabwe (and Zambia) requires every vehicle to have a reflective tape in the front and the back of the car. Red in the back and Grey/Whitish in the front. So despite of our futile protests, we ended up having to give the courteous policemen a little something to accomodate them...It's one of these situation where you can't win, no matter what. They usually have more time than you do. So the Troopie now bears 2 strips of grey tuck tape in the front, rescued from our tools box....We would repeat the experience with 3 officers in Bulawayo when I illegally stopped the truck in the middle of the road so Marc can get some bananas...
From Bulawayo we went to Maposo park, where we had the chance to visit the rest place of Cecil Rhodes.
In case you did not know, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was named after him...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Rhodes
The visit took longer than expected and we found ourselves driving to Harare (about 400 km) at night...huge mistake. As everyone would tell you, you don't drive at night in Africa...especially not for that long. We almost never made it to Harare. About 50 km before reaching the city, Marc and I stopped to switch drivers. A truck that we had been overtaking earlier passed us during the switch. About 2 or 3 km after I had started driving, we came to the scene of a major accident. The truck who had just passed us collided with 2 cars coming in the opposite direction and trying to pass each other. We were the first ones on the scene and if it hadn't been for our imprompty stop, this could have well been the end of the trip for us.
By some incredible miracle no one was seriously hurt. We provided water and directed traffic while all the drivers/passengers were starting to come back to life...
After about 30 minutes we left and finally reached Harare around 11 pm, spending a good hour trying to find a hostel that was still open. We ended at a place called "The Rocks" just in time to catch a last drink at their bar with the locals. No need to say we were the only ones camping there that night.
From Harare we headed to Mana Pools. Turned out it was a bit more challenging than expected to find diesel in Harare. We had to visit 5-6 station before finally be able to refill.
Mana Pools was all that they had claimed to be and even more. Our campsite was visited by hippos and elephants! There are no fence there...there is a real sense of wilderness and untouched beauty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana_Pools_National_Park
Our last day in Zimbabwe again brought its share of surprises...
Mana Pools is only about 120 km from the border and Lusaka another 120 on the other side. But what I had expected to be a quite day turned out to be another long one...
A section of the road to Mana Pools is in really bad condition. About 15 km from the exit, we ran into a couple who had trouble with the truck. Their fuel tank was dragging down the road...having lost a nut and twisted the holding strap.
Possessing the right tools and nut, we offered our help. But what I thought would take a few minutes turned out to be a 2 hours engagement...with all the dust/heat/dirt that comes with working under a truck.
With them was also an Irish guy who was hitchhiking to get to the closest fuel station, his friend waiting patiently by his Land Rover down the road. They had spent a few days at Mana Pools and are also heading up to Nairobi. We ended up staying at the same place in Lusaka afterwords and had a blast all together.
So it was about 1pm when we reached the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. And about 5 pm when we finally left. It was without doubt the most challenging border crossing we've had so far. The kind of passage that makes you wonder why you did not booked an all inclusive tour...I would spare you all the details but let's just say it was the first time we had to deal with a Zimbabwean officer directing the local Interpol office. Apparently the real Interpol - we would never know for sure.
We are now in Lusaka (Zambia) and heading to Malawi. Lusaka is a great city and we are having a fabulous time here. But we are getting a little bit tired of freezing every night so we are going to head a bit faster into Malawi/Mozambique hoping that the temperature will be warmer...I think I wore my shirts twice to far.
---all the pics here:
http://2aroundtheworld.smugmug.com/gallery/8738721_5vn2J/1/583349148_F4crf
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