Day 10: The train from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls

Strongly recommended in the guidebooks, though a little bit of a relic of the past, Mams and Jan started their little honeymoon trip to Victoria Falls, the Niagara Falls of Africa, by a taste of adventure: the overnight train with sleeper. 

Train is still the cheapest way of transportation in Zimbabwe, and often there are overnight queues to buy tickets. We paid 6USD each for mams and Jan, which is actually the most expensive, for first class and a compartment by themselves (two bunk beds). This for a 14h train ride which covers around 500km... 

Bulawayo to Vic Falls is less in demand but the train is a lot more reliable. Still, it isn't the most comfortable way of travelling, but it is definitely an experience to remember.

The train edges along the most famous nature park in Zimbabwe, Hwange, but with all the trees and green after the rainy season, mams and Jan didn't see any spectacular animals. Well, one animal though, but not really spectacular, mams got a tick in her foot which had to be removed with saliva and turning it anti clockwise... 

So, they survived and can now say that they took one of the top ten most famous trains in Africa... 

Day 10: Visiting Matopos, Bulawayo

Our next stop on the visiting Zimbabwe in one week time was Matopos, a natural park not with animals, but with stones. It is a park with magnificent views of rocks balancing on each others, so beautiful that Cecil Rhodes, after who Rhodesia was called, asked to be buried there as the most beautiful view of the world that he knew.   

There are also ancient cave paintings, made ages ago. Especially our mams wanted to see those, since growing up she had a poster of these figures in her room that she could look at for ages. Impressive to image these have spends thousands of years unchanged...

And we also had our share of adventures. Driving over a dam, as if it was a Honda commercial. 

Even to a point where we got worried if we could cross. So brave Jan went out to check on his bare feet, and turned out it was too deep...
No other solution but to turn back, since our mams and Jan also had to catch the train...

Day 9: Cuddling with the lion cups

And our second activity (what excitement in one afternoon), was lion cup cuddling. When we were there, they had three cups, 2 males and one female, that you can spend some time with. It is amazing how much like kittens they are, just bigger and a bit less elegant.

Interesting is that their tongues rasp a lot less than the ones from kittens, they are actually quite soft...
Thomas got scratched by one of the cubs, so now he's all proud saying that he has a scar from a lion ;-)

And while I was playing tug of war with the cubs, one of them actually bit down on my finger through the old carpet, so have I now been bitten by a lion ;-)? 

You have to love Africa, for the good stories... 

The elephant swim

At Antelope Park, Thomas and me decided to do their most 'adventurous' things, so we went swimming with the elephants. First job though is how to get on top:

Then, safely with a guide in front of us, the two elephants walk into the water. And, the heat in Zimbabwe being what it is, they enjoy going under. Completely under... No, not true, their trunk does stay out of the water. Quite funny to see, like an alien probing the air, seeing whether it is fit to come to the surface.

It doesn't last very long, about 15 minutes, during which the elephants go up and down, and at the end they have to be probed to go out of the water, but it is still very impressive. You always keep wondering if the elephant will just go to lay on its back and crush you...

But no, we managed to get back out unharmed, just wet, and an experience richer ;-)

Day 8: the safari

From Great Zimbabwe, we went to Antelope Park, some 200km and a lot of potholes away, heading towards Bulawayo. It is a game park with 80 lions, zebras, giraffes, kudus, antelopes, impalas, etc. Mom and Jan were quite excited at the idea of sleeping in a tent, though honestly, with the amount of comfort in tents here (bathroom, twin beds, bedside lamps), you can hardly call it 'camping'. Still, being out in the wild allows you to enjoy those famous african sunsets...

But it is still adventure, especially when moms wakes up at 5am because the lions are roaring ;-)

So today, Mams and Jan went on a carriage ride into the wild, and Thomas and me are a bit more adventurous, going to go swim with elephants and cuddle with lion cups ;-)

 

Day 7: Great Zimbabwe

Friday afternoon, we drove down to Masvingo, some 300km south of Harare (past the point where Susan Tsvangirai lost her life, not a very safe road). Then onward to the Lodge at the Ancient City, which is really close to the monuments. We got there just after nightfall and mom said it was the fanciest place she has ever stayed in, nice little bungalows in the style of Great Zimbabwe. 

 

Saturday, we went to visit Great Zimbabwe, which is the oldest and largest stone structure in the Sub-Saharan continent. It is often compared (especially by the Zimbabweans ;-) to the pyramids, or to the ancient temples build by the Incas. It even gave the name to the country, Zimbabwe, in 1980, when it stopped being a part of Rhodesia. Zimbabwe literally means 'Big House of Stone': Z- to indicate something big

• IMBA - house in Shona
  
• IBWE- from stone
  

Honestly, I wasn't expecting too much, on pictures it looked like a lot of piles of stones. But I was quite impressed. Built around the 12AD, no ciment or morter was used, stones were 'simply' piled up, up to 11m high, with 6m wide at the base and 2m at the top. 

Our local guide, Champion, told us many stories, also insisting on the role of diviners or spirit mediums. 

He told us that sometimes even nowadays, the 'Elders', the influential political leaders of the country, go up to where the Kings used to meet, and consult the ancestors on the best course of action for problems. Spooky... 

Day 6: Kufunda, een ecologische partner

De donderdag op vrijdag brachten Jan en Annie door bij Kufunda, een partner organisatie in het landbouwnetwerk van Thomas. Die wonen daar in een soort van gemeenschap, een beetje hippie achtig, op een boerderij 30km buiten Harare. Ze werken veel met kompost en kruiden, dus we dachten dat een nachtje ginds doorbrengen wel tot de verbeeldingskracht zou spreken van ons moeder en Jan. 

Bij het ophalen de vrijdag leek dat inderdaad wel het geval, al hadden ze wel iets monder goed geslapen op het dunne bed in een scheef huisje. 

Maar zeker er niet rouwig om, ze hadden zelfs tot een gat in de nacht pintjes zitten pakken (allez, twee pintjes tot 9u ’s avonds). 

Daarna begon onze roadtrip voor de rest van het weekend.... Hierbij ons trouwe stalen ros...

Visit mom and Jan: Day 3 and 4: Streets Ahead: acrobats and puppetry

Gezien ons moeder ook erg geinteresseerd is in het werk dat hare jongste hier uitspookt, gaan we maandagmorgen naar Streets Ahead, een organisatie die met straatkinderen werkt in Harare. 

Daar ontmoeten ze Veerle, die voor Volens werkt en een aantal artistieke zelf expressie instrumenten uitwerkt en uitprobeert bij onze partners. Met de straatkinderen proberen wij momenteel acrobatie uit. Dat is iets dat hen heel erg aanspreekt en dus motiveert om te komen. Eerst werd een kleine show gedaan, waarbij de kinderen ogen opentrokken en erg onder de inruk waren. 

Vooral kleine Tendai, tien jaar stond met open ogen te kijken. Als we hem vragen of hij het ook wil leren, kan hij niet geloven dat hij ook zoiets kan doen. Anderen, als hen wordt gevraagd in te schatten wat ze zouden kunnen doen over tien weken, hebben het ook moeilijk, sommigen denken dat ze alles kunnen, anderen niets. En daar draait heel de therapeutische waarde van acrobatie rond: het zetten van realistische doelen en het gedisciplineerd werken daar te geraken. 

 The next day, puppetry was done at Streets Ahead. 

This is done by Rahim, a local performer and artist who, together with Veerle and the counsellors from the partners, developed scenarios regarding certain issues like trust, falling sick, being blamed for things you haven’t done etc. 

Each time Rahim sets the scene, playing a short story, and then the kids invent an ending to it. This allows them to talk about issues without having to directly relate it to them. But since there is an atmosphere of trust being built, a counsellor after the session has a talk with all the kids. And then personal stories come up, like how they take care of each other if they fall sick.

Visit of moms and Jan: Day 1 - the Arrival. Day 2 - the Lunch

Momenteel is ons moeder hier samen met Jan voor twee weken op bezoek. Het is natuurlijk een lange reis maar ze zijn toch tevreden hier te zijn, en ze hebben nog het Belgisch lentezonnetje meegebracht (dat hier tot nog toe ontbrak met een uitzonderlijk langdurend regenseizoen).  

Na de zaterdag te hebben uitgerust en vroeg het bed in, zijn we de zondag bij een Indische vriendin en collega en haar echtgenoot gaan eten, Sonah en Pedro. 

Lekker eten en interessante gesprekken rond relaties, geloof, traditionele gebruiken zoals uithuwelijken bij katholieke Indiërs, veel gepraat en veel gelach. 

Daarna naar the Celebration Church, één van de grootste kerken hier die op Amerikaans Protestant model werd opgebouwd en waar iets van een 5.000 gelovigen klappen, ‘hallelujah’ zingen en dansen, terwijl er vanvoor een hele show wordt opgevoerd. Daar blijven we toch niet te lang. Om de dag af te sluiten, nog even langs op Bruno zijn bureau bij CFU om ook even te tonen waar hij zijn zweet en tranen laat, en dan thuiswaarts, nog even bijkomen voor een drukke week.