30 June, Thursday    Vic Falls to Botswana  Border  Crossing # 19 
 
Willie, Andrej and Hugo walk down to the Falls. I’ve decided not
to go. I’ve been there many years ago, I remember the awesomeness of the spray
rain as the falls thunder to the depths and seeing it from the bridge yesterday
was good enough for me. 

I stay in the camp to repack the drawers, wash off dust and scrub
and clean all our eating utensils, because I actually have the luxury of warm
water! It is a wonderful morning putting away in my outdoor kitchen, while I
listen to Laurika Rauch and my Sammie-boy sleeping in the sun. I even cook a
  chili-lunch for the guys, because they will be hungry when they get back. They
  are hungry and happy to know that there is something to
eat.


All of us take hot showers and Andrej has the opportunity to
  speak to his parents for the first time since Dar es Salaam. Hugo and I go to
  the Spar for a few snacks. I do not want to buy fresh meat or produce, because
  I remember that they are strict at the Botswana border, because of
  Mouth-and-Claw disease.

 It takes us less than an hour to the Botswana border.
  Border-crossing number 19! We have to get out of the car and walk through a
  rinse as a precaution for Mouth and Claw and my heart almost stops. Sammie is
  tucked away in his stow-away place by Andrej’s feet, but not expecting to get
  out of the car, I do not close my window. Our car creates curiosity, because it
  is stuffed to the brim and the one official walks around the car and decide to
  lean in on my window with the Stow-away on the floor! Hugo says that he is sure
  the guy saw Sammie, but did not say anything. I’m not sure, but it could
be?

 We find a place to camp on the banks of the Chobe river and enjoy
a most amazing, brilliant orange-red sunset as is only possible in Africa. All 4
of us are excited, because tomorrow will be the very long awaited
  day…Namibia!


Amper daar, amper tuis!

29 June, Wednesday    Binga to Vic Falls 
Bingo Binga  and Spur 
 
Strap and pack and back on the road – 2 hours on a good road to
Vic Falls. The campsite is big with bungalows, camping area, swimming pool,
  restaurant: definitely the place to stay for overlander truck groups,
  backpackers and hikers. The rest camp is full with visitors from South Africa
  as it is South African school holidays. 
 
We unstrap and unpack and Willie and I walk to the bridge from
where we want to take photos of the Falls. Long before one can see the falls, a
cloud of mist rises in the air with a thundering roar. It is a magnificent sight
and I can only imagine how awestruck Livingstone must have been when he
discovered the falls for the world to
see.

 Victoria Falls has a Spur! Spur is a franchise
restaurant chain in South Africa and Namibia, obviously now in Zimbabwe also and
it has always been one of our favorite eating out places to go. We’ve talked so
much about it, told Andrej about all the different dishes, our favorites, and
voila, here is a Spur. Willie and I decide we will surprise the guys with a Spur
  treat! We have several celebration reasons: Willie’s 56th birthday in April, Andrej’s and Hugo’s 20th in June, and our 32ndanniversary the 23rd of June!

 Surprise – no! Trust the boys to find the Spur on their
  wanderings through the town…but it does not take away from the excitement of
  the prospect of a Spur dinner. We are not disappointed either. Andrej, Hugo and
  I have Burgers, onion rings and chips and Willie a steak. Yummy, delicious,
  lip-smacking, scrumptious, delectable,
tasty…!

27 June, Monday  
  Mana to Karoi 
 
The night was very cold again and our emotions have not thawed
out either. We leave quite early for another early morning game drive and again
do not see too much. Willie finds out about an unofficial back road out of the
park and although it is slow the road is much better than the corrugated 2 hour
one to the park entrance. We stop in a river bed for breakfast and the silence
and bush beauty also help us to thaw out of our
  silence.

 It takes about 2 ½ hours back to Chirundu where a happy Sammie is
the first to greet us. The 2 guys crawl out of their tent and we are happy to
see one another. It is interesting to hear from them that they also felt as if
something was missing: we’ve grown so accustomed to one another over the last 4
½ months that there is a weirdness when our team splits. We’ve shared so much –
good and bad, easy and difficult, sad and happy: we’ve become travel-comrades
and more than ever I know that we are in this together to the
  end!


We decide to pack and strap and drive to Karoi – about a 4 hour
drive so that we can leave early for Vic Falls. There are 2 ways to get there:
through Harare which will be tar road or through Karoi which will be shorter,
but a bad road. We are not too fond of the words ‘bad road’ after Kenya’s
Moyale-Marsabit-Isiola dreadfulness, but we also do not want to go back to
horrible-Harare again. 

We arrive in Karoi +/- 4pm 
where we stop at Rama Spar to stock up. Supplies are fairly limited and
  seeing the empty shelves, refrigerators and freezers give me a small glimpse
  into the past when at one point it was almost not possible to buy
bread.

 Hugo and I meet Rama, the friendly owner of the
Spar and he shares with us some interesting facts of what happened during the
time of the economic collapse. He takes us into his office where he shows us
stacks of unopened boxes filled with money – useless money. Hugo finally has an
  opportunity to see the ill-famous money that we’ve just heard of: 50, 100, 500
  million and later billion and trillion dollar notes. Rama tells us that you
  could not even buy a bread with a box of the money! 
The currency changed from day to another: he will wake up one morning and
a new billion, eventually trillion dollar notes were born during the night! He
gives Hugo a handful of ‘dollars’ which are now sold on the street as keepsakes.
I have a lot of respect and admiration for the Zimbabweans that hung in there
during those, what must have been, difficult and terrible years and I can only
wish for everyone that the tide will hopefully turn in the
future.


We drive to the only campsite in Karoi, part of what must have
been in the past, a very nice hotel and restaurant. Enough remnants are left to
remind one of a past where life was different than now. Once manicured lawns and
gardens are overgrown with weeds, dry and neglected; buildings are dilapidated
with broken windows, non-functional restrooms, leaking toilets, dripping
faucets, cracked walls with paint peeling, ripped out lights and fittings, no
electricity. The managers of Tiger Safaris in Chirundu have lived and worked in
Karoi for many years. Karoi was a bustling town that served the surrounding
farming community in years gone by. More than 300 ‘white’ farmers have dwindled
to 12 left leaving 1000 acres of farm land untilled with nothing to
produce…


I have only one emotion reigning for as far as we’ve traveled
this beautiful country and we had the opportunity to speak to a few people,
white and black: overwhelming sadness tinged with anger for the destruction
caused by power-out-of-control. 


 

26 June 
  Sunday   Tiger Camp
Zambezi  river Chirundu and Mana Mishap
  
Willie and I leave 6pm for Mana Pools. We’ve left food for Hugo
and Andrej and I hope they will be ok.

 The road from the entrance gate of Mana to the actual pools is
really bad and we are surprised that we’ve seen so few animals. We register and
pay at the office and then go to our campsite which is on the banks of the
  Zambezi. Late afternoon we go for a game drive and I’m not sure if our
  expectations were too high, because we see animals, but nothing like we thought
  we would: deer, warthogs, a few buffaloes and at Long Pool many hippos and
  crocs, but that’s it…On an outside loop we see a few elephants. 
 
Willie picks up firewood – in spite of the fact that I’ve read
the Park rules to him and I get my nose out of shape…back at the camp we talk
about it and have a major misunderstanding and now both of us have our noses out
of shape: Mana mishap! We go to bed cross with one another! 

25 June, Saturday    Kariba to Chirundu
(Mana) 
 
Pack and strap and on our way. It is a short
drive to the gate of Mana Pools – less than 2 hours. Mana Pools have been a
dream for Willie to see for years…so we have a tentative team plan: We will go
to the office and find out if we can take Sammie in, but we do not have high
hopes. We’ve heard from more than 1 person that domestic animals in Wildlife
Parks are a definite no-no which is the verdict: ‘no pets!’ Our plan: the
gracious guys will stay with Sammie in Chirundu and Willie and I will go to Mana
for our 32ndanniversary
celebration. If it is earth-shatteringly beautiful then one of us will take the
boys in the next day.


We drive to Chirundu which is the border town between Zim and
Zambia and find the Tiger Safaris Campsite. It is so beautiful – on the banks of
the Zambezi – 5 thatched roof chalets, huge trees and green grass. They do not
really cater for campers, but the managers are so friendly to allow us to camp
in front of the chalets and they open the bathroom and kitchen of one of the
chalets for us! We are warned that we have to be careful, because elephants,
hippos and deer walk through the camp! They also have a lapa and swimming pool
in an enclosed garden overlooking a small waterhole. The camp attendant tells us
to go to the waterhole, because there are elephants. Hugo and I watch the 3
elephants drink water – 240 liters/day – and then proceed to give themselves a
mud bath which is fascinating! 

We pitch our camp and relish in the beauty of our
  surroundings. Late afternoon the first elephant casually walks into the camp,
  carefully picks out berries under one of the trees and strolls out again. We
  have firewood and I make a potjie whilst the guys play backgammon. Elephants
  wander in and out and before we go to bed we hear the first hippos snort and
  sputter down in the water. Not too long and they are out and grazing – 20
  meters from where we are. We are cautious, because hippos can be territorial
  and most lakeshore deaths are caused by hippos. The nights are getting very
  chilly and we crawl into our tents to watch movies…on
  our computers… (yes, I know…!) 

24 June 
  Friday  
Kariba 
 
Loud chomping, chewing and water-sputtering
sounds of hippos grazing right outside our tent wake us up. We can only see
their silhouettes in the moonlight.  Willie and I take pictures and video
clips of the hippo family in the morning. I never grow tired of hippos with
their fat, shiny bodies, funny little ears, big amphitheater mouths through
which they produce the most colossal sounds so befitting their figures.
 
Our South African friends leave and we spend the morning doing
laundry, cleaning and Willie replaces the fuel filters. The 4 of us drive to the
dam wall in the afternoon. We park our car, leave our passports at the border
post and walk down to the bridge over the Kariba – the link between Zimbabwe and
Zambia. It is a formidable sight and an immense project: the dam was built
between 1956 – 1959 and stretches over 300 km from the Victoria Falls. We cross
into Zambia on the middle of the bridge, take pictures and video of the immense
body of water.   

23 June 
  Thursday   32nd  Wedding Anniversary 
 
None of us had a wonderful night. The guys woke
up often worried that there might be prowlers around the car. They went to bed
armed with a machete and an ax!  We
want to leave the city as soon as we can, but we do need to find dollars. The
  interesting situation in Zimbabwe at the moment is that the US dollar is the
  currency in use! It is very strange to walk through the store and all the
  products have $ prices! I do not understand too well how this happened, but the
  change occurred in 2008 when the Zimbabwean $ and economy totally
collapsed.

 At Barclays bank we find an ATM where one can use a foreign visa
card and with a mean looking Hugo at my side as body guard I manage to complete
our mission successfully. We stock up at a wonderful Spar and leave the city
after 12. All 4 of us are happy to turn our backs on
Harare!

 We head out to the Kariba dam and reach the town
of Kariba after 5pm where we find a beautiful campsite run by an organization
called MOTH. Big shady trees, green grass on the banks of the Kariba dam. A big
sign on the gate said “No Dogs”, but Trust, the camp guard, told us that it is
fine with Sammie. We pitch camp 20 feet from the water’s edge. We notice another
  overland camp-trailer when we drive in, but Trust says they have left to go to
  town. Half an hour later we meet them  when they return: Michael and Heidi with
their 3 children from Cape Town. Willie and I walk over after dinner and we have
a wonderful evening with them sharing lives and experiences. I am always amazed
  in what unusual places and unexpected ways one meet new
friends.

 PS – It is our 32nd wedding anniversary, but I have so lost
track with time and days that I am convinced that it is
tomorrow.

22 June 
  Wednesday  Harare Horror   
 
We leave early for the Zimbabwe border and are there before noon.
Sammie goes into his stow-away hiding place by Andrej’s feet. He now understands
when we tell him to go down. Although all his documentation is in order, we
prefer to be discreet with his presence as the hassle that we might have will
probably not be worth it.

 Checking out of Malawi is easy and we have no problems on the
Zimbabwean side either. Harare here we come! The countryside is beautiful:
  golden savannah fields, akasia and Baobab trees interspersed with farmland. We
  reach the outskirts of Harare at 4 pm and we are not sure where we are going to
  stay. We do not have many choices either, but decide to drive to the few we
  have. The first one in Twenty-Four Deane Avenue does not exist and we are super
  unsuccessful as we drive from one to the other: no camping. The last one on the
  list takes us 14 km out of town: Wild Geese Lodge: a beautiful lodge, but with
  no license for campers. Back to Harare and it is pitch dark by this
time.

 The GPS takes us back on the same road which is the road that
runs past the President’s (Mugabe) residence. We’ve read in the Lonely Planet
that the road is barred after a certain time of night until early in the
  morning, but we have no idea that the road we just turned into is that road.
  When we reach a barrier with a No Entry sign, we realized where we were and
Willie starts to make a u-turn. The next moment all hell breaks loose. Someone
starts to shout and yell and there from the dark a heavily armed soldier emerges
  screaming and shouting as he swings his AK around. We immediately realize that
  something is very wrong with the situation, but also with the soldier. His
behavior is erratic and he appears to be on a high.

 He and another soldier run to the car as he continues to yell at
us. Hugo gets out of the car and the guy walks him to a guard house where he
tells him that we are under arrest; they are going to take us to the Police HQ,
search our vehicle, confiscate our stuff and on and on. This is what will happen
to us unless Hugo can talk to Willie and they can make a ‘plan’ –the discreet
way to suggest a bribe. He walks Hugo back to the car and Hugo tells Willie what
he said. He starts to rant and rave again, tells Willie what he can do with us
while swinging the gun around in our faces. Willie is so uncertain in what to do
– we do not believe in bribing, but the situation looks dire and we have no one
to turn to. It is pitch dark, no other vehicles or people in sight – totally
delivered over to the soldiers’ goodwill. Zimbabwe, after the financial
collapse, uses US $ and Willie finally checks his wallet. He has a $100 bill and
$5. Willie takes the $5 out, but keeps it in his hand, not certain what to
do.The other soldier must have seen this and he comes to Willie and demands to
see what he has in his hand. Willie shows him and then he starts to rant and
rave about the fact that they are honorable and they do not take bribes!? 
 
The “high”, almost out of control soldier continues to threaten
to arrest us and tells Willie what he can do with us. Willie was silent up to
this point, but suddenly tells him, “Good, so do it – take us to where you want
us to go; let’s just get going. Arrest us, take us to the HQ, unpack our car and
…and…” As soon as Willie said this, he suddenly backs off, swings his gun around
and tells us to leave, immediately! 

Hugo gets into the car, Willie turns the car around and there we
go back into the pitch dark street with a soldier pointing his gun at us. We are
quiet and in shock. All we want to do is get to a hotel. We turn another corner
and lo and behold, there is another barrier in the road – a block further.
Willie immediately makes a u-turn and from another corner … another soldier! We
have a repeat of the same ordeal – this time because of the u-turn. He wants to
see Willie’s driver’s license – a copy is not good enough. We know of what we’ve
read that they take licenses off and then do not give it back. Another soldier
arrives and now it is the same story with Hugo and Willie. They want to take
them behind a tree where it is dark, so that they are out of the video camera’s
range, because what they really want is a bribe. Willie and Hugo realize this
and refuse to stand behind the tree. The threats and harassment probably last
for 20 minutes if not longer when Hugo finally tells the soldier that we are US
citizens and we want to speak to our ambassador. Willie takes out pen and paper
and wants to know what his name is. The moment he realizes that he cannot
intimidate them anymore, he suddenly hands back the license and tells us to
leave!

 An awful, terrible experience and I still find it difficult to
think about it. We find a hotel; the boys sleep in the rooftop tent and Willie
and I have a room. All 4 of us are traumatized and extremely tired. We will have
to process this ordeal tomorrow in day light when things are less horrible. 
  

21 June 
  Tuesday   Lilongwe to Shire camp 
 
The car starts to lose power and jerks as if it does not get
  enough fuel. Willie thinks that it might be dirty fuel filters so he drops us
  off at Shoprite and Spar to stock up while he wants to find an auto parts
  dealer. The guys help me to find all the stuff we need to be stocked up for a
  few days. We love walking around in the stores that carry familiar-to-us
  products, because most of the products come from South Africa. Hugo tries to
  find Afrikaans magazines and then we lose him as a shopping helper, because he
  gets lost in words and oddities akin to the Afrikaans culture.

 It seems as if Lilongwe is a gathering place for expatriates from
all over the world: groups of young people on different missions, backpackers,
humanitarian aid workers and travelers. We leave the city after noon and drive
to the southern lake shore area – the Shire river and it is after dark when we
finally find a place to sleep: a small camping compound with very basic
facilities, behind a restaurant on the banks of the river. We are happy for the
safety that the enclosure gives to us as well as to the car. 
 
Tomorrow – another border crossing into Zimbabwe. 

20 June, Monday   paradise to Lilongwe 
 
We wake up with gusts of wind pulling at the tent – a storm is
brewing over the lake and the sky changes to a deep blue-brown color. A few
  raindrops fell, and then all is over. We pack and strap, say goodbye to Richard
  and ‘my’ beautiful paradise.

 On our way in to Lilongwe we try to find a Shoprite or grocery
store, but everything is closed until we realize it is Sunday. Our camp site is
an interesting place: Mabuya camp: a popular stop for overland trucks, groups,
campers and over landers. The place is full with an overland group, a tour group
that just arrived from Scotland, and several other groups. It is not totally our
scene, but it is a safe place for the car and us.

 The owners of the camp have a humongous, beautiful Rhodesian
  Ridgeback, also called Sammy and that meant car-arrest for our Sammie – should
  Sammy decide to not like our Sammie he might bite him in half. Sammy got sniff
  of Sammie and from that moment guarded the ‘prisoner’ with fervor – no ways
  Sammie could come out of the car without Sammy knowing. We tried to take him
out for a quick pee-pee, but were not successful and Sammy hovered like a lion
over our Sammie until we could quickly whisk Sammie back into the car! 
 
Hugo and Andrej manage to smuggle him to their tent, but Sammy
got whiff of his whereabouts and extended his guard territory. The nights are
definitely turning chillier – nice though, not uncomfortable.