(Okay... we've had a few visitors and the internet situation hasn't been ideal for the past few weeks. Sorry for the wait, and here are some photos from Zim!)
So, we arrived at the airport and Ty, being South African, went right through customs (cause I'm cool in Africa), while I had to stand in line for about 100 years with all the bitchy European tourists.... Meanwhile, Ty and his folks watched some traditional dancers:
We went to our first lodge, overlooking the Binga Gorge. This is the Zambezi River, which flows between Zimbabwe and Zambia, and which is kind of like the Niagara Gorge, but skinnier, less developed and taller. This is the view from our room, by the way:
We'd seen a lot on the news about Zimbabwe (before we moved to Burma, of course) and were curious to actually see what had become of the country after the coalition agreement was signed. From a distance, I suppose we all might still assume that Mugabe is still making a mess of things, with people living in total poverty, with crippling inflation (like 100 billion dollar bills and such) and no way out.
In fact, the country seemed to be in quite good shape. Is it still a rural economy? Yes. Is it still poverty stricken? Yes. But, having spoken to a few Zimbabweans, it was interesting to note that they felt that things had improved (and were quite happy to speak openly about it all). There is food on the shelves, the animals are healthy, the homes and villages are safe, and people have jobs.
Much of the infrastructure that is in place (roads, bridges, even the office of the game park we visited) was built in the time that Zim was Rhodesia, and you get the impression of having gone further back in time than even Burma seems to be...
Of course, we were there as tourists, in a touristy place, and quite enjoying such sights as the famous Victoria Falls (although I didn't really enjoy the $30 for an entry ticket to see it!). Once again, it was kinda like Niagara Falls but (you guessed it) skinnier, less developed (like, no casino, no tacky gift shops all over the place) and taller....
With Dr Livingstone, I presume...
The water level wasn't very high (because it's summer), so instead of being met with a complete solid curtain of water, there were separate streams coming over all along the cliff.
This one is for my Mom:
From Victoria Falls, we drove to Lake Kariba, which also borders Zambia.
On the way, we were able to enjoy the landscape, including a few baobabs.
This is the view from our lodge...
After a day or so of relaxing, we went out to a local (and rather deserted and unkempt) game park. The trees were immense and overgrown, and the grass was amazing and lush. We drove around for quite a while, without seeing very much (except a chameleon, which was super cool!).
Ty tries to see if there are any lions about...
Finally, we saw a herd of waterbuck, with their distinctive circle-butts.
We were only in Lake Kariba for a few days, having met up with Ty's dad, step-mom, aunt and uncle who were on a huge drive around most of southern Africa. They offered us the trip of a lifetime, bringing us to Zimbabwe to meet them during a more 'civilized' leg of their trip.
It was quite an adventure, and gave us views of, well, you know, the kind of 'Africa' you expect to see, the sort of thing you've seen on TV for ages... like villages of small thatched huts.
We took a small boat trip on Lake Kariba and, although we don't have the photos (they were too far away), saw wild elephants and hippos. That was amazingly thrilling and one of the highlights of the trip.
Ty was able to grab a lot of really amazing photos (all the photos on this blog are his).
We had to return to South Africa, and started the drive back to the airport. Rolling along, I spotted some guys under a tree, selling wood carvings. For about $7, we bought a little carved hippo and a three-legged pot, and ended up giving one of the guys (the guy standing on the right in the photo) a lift.
It turned out that he was a police officer, and was more than happy to answer our questions about life in Zimbabwe.... I don't know which of us felt luckier (although he got half a steak and a cigarette too...)
Finally, we got to the airport where we enjoyed the kind of odd small-country feeling that the airport is actually some kind of bus stop or taxi stand. The plane arrived, taxied to just in front of the door, let the people out, then sat with its doors open, waiting for us to board. We were certainly miles away from an international airport like, say, Dubai, with its hundreds of planes and hundreds of thousands of daily passengers.
Well... we've been back in Burma for over a month. The blogs on Africa have one more instalment, and then we'll tell you all about having Stu and Ha Young, and then Zach visit us here in Yangon. It was almost as exotic and exciting for us as it was for them.
So, we arrived at the airport and Ty, being South African, went right through customs (cause I'm cool in Africa), while I had to stand in line for about 100 years with all the bitchy European tourists.... Meanwhile, Ty and his folks watched some traditional dancers:
We went to our first lodge, overlooking the Binga Gorge. This is the Zambezi River, which flows between Zimbabwe and Zambia, and which is kind of like the Niagara Gorge, but skinnier, less developed and taller. This is the view from our room, by the way:
In fact, the country seemed to be in quite good shape. Is it still a rural economy? Yes. Is it still poverty stricken? Yes. But, having spoken to a few Zimbabweans, it was interesting to note that they felt that things had improved (and were quite happy to speak openly about it all). There is food on the shelves, the animals are healthy, the homes and villages are safe, and people have jobs.
Much of the infrastructure that is in place (roads, bridges, even the office of the game park we visited) was built in the time that Zim was Rhodesia, and you get the impression of having gone further back in time than even Burma seems to be...
Of course, we were there as tourists, in a touristy place, and quite enjoying such sights as the famous Victoria Falls (although I didn't really enjoy the $30 for an entry ticket to see it!). Once again, it was kinda like Niagara Falls but (you guessed it) skinnier, less developed (like, no casino, no tacky gift shops all over the place) and taller....
With Dr Livingstone, I presume...
The water level wasn't very high (because it's summer), so instead of being met with a complete solid curtain of water, there were separate streams coming over all along the cliff.
This one is for my Mom:
From Victoria Falls, we drove to Lake Kariba, which also borders Zambia.
On the way, we were able to enjoy the landscape, including a few baobabs.
This is the view from our lodge...
After a day or so of relaxing, we went out to a local (and rather deserted and unkempt) game park. The trees were immense and overgrown, and the grass was amazing and lush. We drove around for quite a while, without seeing very much (except a chameleon, which was super cool!).
Ty tries to see if there are any lions about...
Finally, we saw a herd of waterbuck, with their distinctive circle-butts.
We were only in Lake Kariba for a few days, having met up with Ty's dad, step-mom, aunt and uncle who were on a huge drive around most of southern Africa. They offered us the trip of a lifetime, bringing us to Zimbabwe to meet them during a more 'civilized' leg of their trip.
It was quite an adventure, and gave us views of, well, you know, the kind of 'Africa' you expect to see, the sort of thing you've seen on TV for ages... like villages of small thatched huts.
We took a small boat trip on Lake Kariba and, although we don't have the photos (they were too far away), saw wild elephants and hippos. That was amazingly thrilling and one of the highlights of the trip.
Ty was able to grab a lot of really amazing photos (all the photos on this blog are his).
We had to return to South Africa, and started the drive back to the airport. Rolling along, I spotted some guys under a tree, selling wood carvings. For about $7, we bought a little carved hippo and a three-legged pot, and ended up giving one of the guys (the guy standing on the right in the photo) a lift.
Finally, we got to the airport where we enjoyed the kind of odd small-country feeling that the airport is actually some kind of bus stop or taxi stand. The plane arrived, taxied to just in front of the door, let the people out, then sat with its doors open, waiting for us to board. We were certainly miles away from an international airport like, say, Dubai, with its hundreds of planes and hundreds of thousands of daily passengers.
Well... we've been back in Burma for over a month. The blogs on Africa have one more instalment, and then we'll tell you all about having Stu and Ha Young, and then Zach visit us here in Yangon. It was almost as exotic and exciting for us as it was for them.
