Travel in the time of Cholera

Seriously, where do i start? There is so much to tell you... so many funny stories and sad stories. But I will tell them in bits and pieces as the weeks go by... Make sure I tell you about the White Water Rafting(!!) and the Dhow trip! In the meantime, our trip briefly went as follows....

Ok the brief itinerary was this:

• we first went up to Mozambique to spend about 2 weeks on the island of Bazaruto.


• Then we headed accross to Zimbabwe. Spent a couple of nights in Harare (the capital of Zim) before heading to Mana Pools for 5 days ("The world's wildest game reserve" - so called because although all the big game are present there are no fences and pretty much no rules which means you can walk through the bush alone if you want - we did, of course).


• after a stop at Lake Kariba,


• we went over to Zambia and spent time in a town called Livingstone,


• before crossing over to Victoria Falls.


• Finally after 4 weeks of camping we spent our last night at the most insane 5 star reserve being pampered before heading back via Beit Bridge (Crazy insane border crossing between Zim and SA - I KNOW!)

So countries visited were:

• Mozambique (great place, very poor, Portuguese influence)


• Zimbabwe (the pockmark on the face of Mbeki's presidency... for any who may not know, Zimbabwe is in the midst of genocide and human rights travesties... inflation is in the MILLIONS of percents, people are starving, cholera is devastating the country, the leader is a psychotic despot who refuses to acknowledge the results of the previous election... BUT it is beautiful. The people are some of the best i have ever met. They are genuine passivists. Going to Zim I both fell in love with it and had my heart broken by it. But Zim will be it's whole own post.


• Zambia.... a let down after Zim. People weren't friendly. Felt a bit harassed there.

Currencies we used:

• American Dollars


• Mozambican meticals (25 to the US$)


• Zim Dollars (changes daily, but when we were there it was about 4million to the US$)


• Zambian kwacha (4885 to the US$)


• South African rands (around 10 the US$)

Ok a few cool pics for you.

BAZARUTO:

Sunset on Bazaruto

A dhow - we sailed over from the mainland to Bazaruto on one of these

My little friend "Now". He came and spent a day with The Band and I... so sweet. Holding a giant starfish.

HARARE:

A shop in Harare... the shelves are pretty much empty except for a few sweets.

Prices in Zim Dollars. A bit of a joke. Prices are generally handwritten as they go up on a daily basis. The official inflation rate is 231million percent. I kid you not.

Cars queueing for petrol... the queue goes all the way down the road. There was no diesel available in Harare when we were there.

MANA POOLS:

Sitting at camp watching a hippo grazing

Some zeebeez

The group: The Band, The Joshwaaaa, The Harry and The Caz

Lake Kariba

Lake Kariba at dusk

Victoria Falls

Standing in front of Mosi Oa Tunya "The Smoke That Thunders". Victoria Falls is a sight that literally renders you breathless. Niagara Falls is beautiful, but Vic Falls is RAW.

Just above the falls... see the mist rising in the background.

The Zambezi River

Sunset on a river cruise on the Zambezi

And again

Last sunset on the Zambezi

Back in South Africa