Zim and Zam

It was time to leave Malawi, work was as frustrating as ever and I can't say I was enjoying Lilongwe much. Had an amazing last weekend though. Went to the lake for a bank holiday weekend and met a wicked group also working in Lilongwe. Drunken couple of nights and then lazing on the beach with good food. Real shame that I hadn't met these guys beforehand, things might have turned out different. I think with hindsight December was a bad time to look for accommodation and new circles of friends when most expats were going away for the Christmas month. Live and learn.

It was a good feeling to get back on the road again after 2 months in Malawi. Got the slowest minibus in the world to the Zambian border as I was the only passenger on board with the driver constantly stopping and trying in vain to get more passengers. Over the border and stopped over at Chipata and stayed in the 'Travelodge', this family lodge offered a continental breakfast included in the price which I was quite looking forward to. This turned out to be a couple of slices of processed bread and some butter. When I asked for some jam the woman retorted asking why I didn't like butter. Memories of the grandparents giving the 'back in the day' talk when you either had butter or jam!

Caught the African Cup of Nations football when Zambia beat Gabon to get through to the quarter finals. Place went bonkers just like when Malawi beat Algeria. The bars must get really frustrated. Everyone packs into them to watch the football with most not drinking. Then when the bar might expect some celebratory drinks being ordered after the match all the punters pile out the bars and jump in a car to drive round the town beeping their horns. Result withstanding had a great night watching Zambia's next match against Nigeria. Watched it in an old theatre/cinema with hundreds of other locals. Waiter service to your seat with optional popcorn with your beers. Fantastic. Can't believe how nervous I got for Zambia when it went to penalties, in typical English style Zambia lost after outplaying Nigeria. Although I've enjoyed following the African Cup of nations I can safely say the majority of the football has been s***e with the exception of eventual winners Egypt who aren't even in the world cup. I don't have much confidence for any of the African teams in the world cup which is a shame. Prove me wrong.

Back to the trip. Lusaka (capital of Zambia) was better than I was expecting, certainly in comparison with Lilongwe. Weird how they had cooling towers in the city centre though! Victoria Falls were next, a pretty amazing sight, you get absolutely soaked when viewing the 100m falls with the mist, spray, and localised rain clouds. Constant rainbow makes for a good photo if your camera is waterproof. Stayed at the aptly named 'Jolly Boys', I wonder whether anyone has ever told them the connotations this name has from an English point of view. Accommodation really starting to get a bit good, yet another swimming pool and cool social areas, good crowd too.

As Victoria Falls is a bit of an adventure mecca, I thought it would be a good place to try and conquer the fear of heights and did a gorge swing. Basically you jump off a cliff, fall for 50m before your wire kicks in and swings you to the other side of the gorge and back and forth. Obviously the swing is quite a bit of fun especially with the amazing scenery, however that 50m drop really did make me s*** my pants. The photos show my eyes closed and hugging myself. Managed to do it a couple more times where I kept my eyes open! Can't say that this adrenaline rush of feeling that you're about to die will make me do it again.

Decided last minute to sidestep into Botswana before heading into Zimbabwe. A strange experience. A really affluent country and one of the most stable in Africa with some amazing safaris on offer making this an expensive country to travel in. Traveling with a couple of other guys at that point and we did manage to get some really nice accommodation sharing a room between the 3 of us but it was 70pound a night. Bear in mind that this was the cheapest accommodation we could find. A bit of a shock to the system! Botswanans seemed a bit snobby as well, if you didn't have thousands of dollars to spend of hotels and safaris they weren't interested. The most inept staff I have come across in Africa. Anyhow did a quick safari for my birthday, didn't see much on land at all although we did see a lioness stalking a warthog. The river element of the safari was much better though, elephants, hippos, buffalo, crocs, and a variety of herding animals on the river banks. After a couple of days it was time to tackle the enigma that is Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls and the Zambezi river forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe with Botswana and Namibia very close by too. I went back to Victoria Falls after Botswana but went to the Zimbabwe side this time. A different perspective. This part of Zimbabwe is well set up to tourism and you had no idea of the relatively recent troubles. They have finally given up their currency after all the super inflation and now use the american dollar, south african rand, and the botswanan pula as currency. As there is no easy correlation between these currencies it makes it very confusing. You pay a 20 dollar bill and get three forms of currency back in change. Did some river boarding on the Zambezi rapids here. Fantastic, a real buzz, loads better than white water rafting, you basically just have a body board and a pair of fins to tackle the rapids, the white water I was OK with, the crocs by the side of the river I was not!

Caught a sleeper train down to Bulawayo leaving the other tourists behind at Vic Falls. The train had seen better days. 1st class consisted of a couple of bunks and a sink that judging by the ammonia smell had been used for other things. I was woken up half way through the night when my bunk mate decided to batter me with a pillow in an attempt to kill a mosquito. Scared the life out of me.

Arrived in the 'real' Zimbabwe of Bulawayo with jazz music being played through the station loudspeakers. All very chilled and laid back. Food on the shelves, petrol available, well dressed people who were always happy to help you. No signs of the horrors that were broadcast just over a year ago. By all accounts they have had a very good 6 months. It was all quite civilised. This led me to feel quite at ease in snapping a couple of street shots in Bulawayo. Little did I know that one of the buildings on the street was a court building. Before I knew it I was being marched by security to the local police station to answer to his superior. I tried to look humble and harmless to the chief with the Mugabe portrait staring at me behind the chief's desk, it seemed to work and I escaped the death penalty after deleting the offending photos. Sickening.

By more luck than judgment I found the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, near Masvengo. These ruins obviously gave the name of the modern country following the end of colonial Rhodesia. A superb site in the middle of some stunning countryside. I had this huge family lodge to myself for the time I was there which overlooked the ruins. 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, huge living room and kitchen, totally over the top but fantastic! My definite highlight of Zimbabwe, and made the often mundane traveling though the country worthwhile.

After a week in Zimbabwe it was time to make a bee line for South Africa. A torturous journey beckoned with many bus changes looking likely however as I was trying to flag buses on the road to the border a luxury bus looking very out of place pulled up but only had 5 of its 6 wheels. Turns out that it was technically un-roadworthy and the driver was taking it to South Africa for fixing. 6 of us handed the driver a backhander and off we went to the border. Luxurious space on a bit of a wonky bus! After getting over the border the other 5 went their own way, I managed to get the driver to take me further into South Africa to Polokwane for $10 but had to hide at the back of the bus under a blanket for the police checkpoints, a big naughty smile on my face. Happy days.

South Africa? That's a whole different story....