After our adventures and near death experiences in Vic Falls (and please read Kian's version of events on the gorge swing too - http://intothebush.com/2011/02/13/great-zimbabwe-a-poor-trillionaire/), we headed to Hwange (also known as w***ie!) National Park where we met Andy and Norman who were such amazing guides - so passionate and made even footprints ridiculously exciting. We did an afternoon game drive and although we didn't see that much, we learnt a LOT - much more than anywhere else, including smelling broken vegetation to identify which animals had just passed through the area recently, dung types, footprints, how animals track and kill etc. We did a night drive and, just as we were thinking we weren't going to see anything, Andy started sniffing and turned all of the lights off. We then saw a huge female with her baby - so cute! As if that wasn't enough, a load of elephants started passing us to the left and right - they were silent and just creeping up on us. They calmly walked past us and trudged into the forest - all with babies.

We got up at the crack of dawn the next morning to do another drive - we saw a lot of buck etc at watering holes then saw 2 hyenas which were very cool. We were trying to track lions and leopards but unfortunately missed both. We passed a research guy who had just that moment seen a pride of 7 but they were wily things and we missed them. Damn it - at some point I WILL see wild lions!!!

Our next stop was Bulawayo where we stayed on Norman's property. We went via a wild (or painted) dog conservation centre. These are weird creatures - they're unique to Africa and are among the continent's most endangered species with only estimates of 3,000-5,000 remaining. Look them up - they look ever so odd ad have been described as "lean, ghost-like shapes with Mickey Mouse ears, wearing their dappled coats of black, tan and gold, like ink spots on blotting paper."

We spent the next day with Norman and another incredibly passionate guide called Ian. I have to say found the Zimbabweans we met to be lovely - very humble and modest - they don't possess the arrogance of, dare I say it, some South Africans!! We visited some caves that were over 110,000 years old and full of very well-preserved paintings - some of the best examples in Africa. The paintings were drawn by bushmen or san people. There are only around 3,000 true bushmen left in the whole of Africa but only 43 in Zimbabwe. Ian spoke so vividly and passionate about this topic as he knows all of the people personally. These people are physically different to the rest of us which I never knew. The men have a permanently erect penis and the women have a 'flap'. Their bums can act as a kind of storage tank, a bit like camels, and they can store food for weeks on end. When their bums go into storage mode, they start to protrude and you can actually sit a tray of tea on them - imagine that?!! When they want to marry, the male fires an arrow into the female's bum. If she breaks it in 2, it's a no. If she takes it out whole then they go off into the woods and marry. Apparently there is a great film from the 80s called 'The Gods Must be Crazy'. It's on my list of things to watch when I get back to civilisation.

After a short visit to a bushmen's village, we visited Matopo National Park for the rest of the afternoon. This park is popular for rhino - both black and white. The park has been closed for a while now due to poaching. In January alone this year, 6 rhinos were poached and 27 poachers were either caught or shot - unbelievable. There's big money on the black market for the rhino horn, particularly for the Chinese remedies etc - the horns are sold for USD50,000 per kilo which makes one horn worth at least USD 500,000!!! We had to travel with an additional ranger who was carrying a huge and scary AK47 - simply to catch the poachers as they are instructed to shoot anyone on sight!! We didn't see any! We did see 2 rhinos though - the 'terrible twins' - and got so close, probably within 10 metres which was AWESOME!!

Another early start the next morning as we headed to Masvingo, home to the Great Zimbabwe ruins. This is the Machu Picchu of Africa and started construction in the 11th century. It spans an area of 722 hectares and, at its peak could have housed up to 18,000 people. It gave its name to Zimbabwe after it claimed independence. The site was interesting but we were there for around 4 hours after a long drive so were generally feeling a bit lethargic and desperate for a beer! I did make my 2nd purchase of my entire world trip though - the previous day I had bought some carved wooden salad servers and at the ruins site I bought some interesting clay and granite bowls.

Our final stop in Zimbabwe was Harare and myself, Kian, Helen and Tanya headed straight to the Miekles Hotel which is the sister to the Victoria Falls Hotel, where we had spent all of our flashpacking time a few days earlier!! We had a great lunch and then went for a wader to the presidential palace to see if we could see Uncle Bob - couldn't even get near the gates due to armed guards and CCTV. If you go there between 6pm and 6am, the guards are instructed to shoot first and then ask questions - yikes!!

Anyway, I was really pleasantly surprised with Zimbabwe - it exceeded all my expectations and is a beautiful country - unfortunately its leader is not so lovely. There's all sorts I could tell you about Zimbabwe (but then I'd have to kill you!). Its population is 12 million with a life expectancy of 37 for men, 34 for women. White Zimbabweans now make up less than 1% of the population. The politics and economics are the most frustrating. The official unemployment rate is 80% but in realty it's more like 95% or even higher. In 1998, inflation rose from an annual rate of 32% to an official estimated high of 11,200,000% in 2008. This represented a state of hyperinflation and the central bank issued a new 100 billion dollar note. In late 2008, unofficial figures put Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate at 516 quintillion percent (what on earth is a quintillion?!) with prices doubling every 1.3 days! Can you imagine having to push a wheelbarrow of notes just to buy a can of coke??! In January 2009 a new 100 trillion dollar note was introduced which was worth around 50 US cents - crazy!! In February, 2 zeros were taken of the currency and finally, later that year, the US dollar became the legal tender.

So, farewell to Zimbabwe and into Mozambique for a day of transit driving through the Tete Corridor. I had heard such great things about the beaches of Mozambique so was looking forward to experiencing the interior of the country - I actually couldn't wait to leave - and at that point I was still at immigration!! They kept us there for 4.5 hours - for no reason other than to be a load of jobworths! Every time someone asked how long it would take to get our passports back, they told us to go away and wait outside and it would be ready when it was ready. I'm sure the more we asked, the more time they added on - they just weren't doing anything! So frustrating. To add salt to the wound, I had to pay USD30 for the privilege of spending all of about 16 hours in the bloody country!

There was a stark contrast between Mozambique and the other countries we'd been to. I guess most tourists go to the pristine beaches on the east coast but where we were was desperately poor and the people had clearly never seen white people either ever or in a long long time. They were friendly once you smiled or said hello to them though. Our delay bat immigration meant that we had to push on through the dark to get near the next border with Malawi. As it got later, we planned to bush camp but couldn't find anywhere safe enough. We finally reached a motel near the Malawi border and Marcus and Olly managed to negotiate some rooms so we all bunked down in beds and on the floor for the night - with no dinner!

So, not much to say on Mozambique - but based on my short stay there and fairly negative impression, I won't be going back!!