“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us” .
J.R.R. Tolkien
The contrast of when an overland truck arrives at a place is like day and night. A quiet camping spot at a quiet backpackers, with quiet talks with other travellers becomes an overrun campsite full of drunken people and their antics.
The camping garden quickly turned into a music festival like campsite.
It was time to leave the tourist bubble of Vic falls and start cycling in real Zimbabwe. The evening before my departure a Canadian cyclist called Ryan turned up so we decided to cycle towards Bulawayo together, Ryan has been on the road an amazing 5 years.
Cycling south with a light headwind it was refreshing to be travelling through rolling hills, such a relief after thousands of kilometres of mainly flat boring roads. The low sun and trees in their autumn colours made it feel like an Indian summer.
I felt as though I could be anywhere in the world cycling the rolling hills on a warm autumn day in Europe, America or wherever the only hint that I was in Africa was the occasional small grass hut village.
A little annoyed to be woken from my lunch time nap, I quickly relaxed as a cold coke was put in my hand by a motorist who had stopped to chat with us, an hour later a small group of picnicking locals also insisted we stop for a chat and thrust apples into our hands. This combined with very courteous car and truck drivers(the best drivers so far) gave a great first impression of Zimbabwe, an impression that hasn’t changed. Despite a rocky history the people of Zimbabwe are as friendly as they are resilient.
Naturally part of travelling in Zimbabwe is the regular police checkpoints, where police in moth bitten worn out uniforms look for excuses to supplement their income.
“where are you from?”
“England”
“what gift have you brought me from England?”
“My charming smile……..”
I’d promised myself when I left the army never again to call another man sir. However a white man calling a black Zimbabwe policeman sir helps his power hungry ego enormously and if that helps me get through the checkpoints smoothly then so be it. Sometimes they started whining over lights or looked for other excuses to start a story about “gifts” but generally we were allowed straight through without hassles and any hassle was light hearted, one policeman even wanted to have his photo taken with us. I suspect travelling in a car as a tourist here is a little more tedious.
During the 4th day Ryan and I parted ways, my guts had once again had a disagreement with borehole water the previous day so I couldn’t keep up and needed a power snooze every couple of hours, my fever was getting worse so I just took a bus for the last 140km to Bulawayo, I didn’t see the point in allowing myself to go downhill any further.
Bulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, second only to the capital Harare. Despite its size and the hustle and bustle, it has a small town feeling thanks to the wide streets, colonial style buildings downtown and lack of skyscrapers.
I’ve had a stroke of luck here in that I’m being hosted by a teacher at one of the flashy private schools in town. For the last couple of weeks I’ve replaced cold winter nights in my tent for a nice warm bed, good company and walks with a goofy dog.
It really is quite a luxury to wake up in the morning and just chill out after breakfast and watch crappy tv programs and have my own space while my host is at work rather than packing up and moving to some new place each day.
While here I also visited the Zimbabwe National Museum. The museum has quite a collection of stuffed creatures including the 2nd largest stuffed elephant in the world. The more observant visitor will also see where Rhodesia had been scratched off some of the exhibit names. Unfortunately the image that sticks in my mind most is the small statue of a mother giving here young child an enema with her mouth….yuk….
Riding roads Rhodes rode
Last week I took a trip to the Matopos Nation park. The ride through the park is nice if you’re into rocks. I camped the night in the park at a great spot by the dam and enjoyed a sun downer drive and braai with other campers.
The next morning heading over for a look at the Cecil Rhodes grave and his “world view”. Unfortunately they wanted $10 entry fee to see the grave which is a lot really, especially on top of a park entry fee of $15. Its a great scam, the grave is part of the National museum dept, and not National parks….so they claim anyway. To me this seemed non-sense so I cycled back a kilometre and climbed a small hill to have the same view, great view but not worth $10.
Slowly Slowly
After months of pushing on and struggling through mountains and deserts and cycling 1000-1500km a month I appear to be in a new phase in my journey. In the last 2 months I’ve cycled a total of less than 1000km, spending most of my time on long breaks in Lusaka, Livingstone, Vic falls and now here in Bulawayo.
In Lusaka I was ready for a week off, Livingstone I was just lazy, Vic falls I was enjoying the spot and tourist food. It seems for each location I find myself trying to justify to myself why I hung around so long, and so the internal struggle continues………..
………….Slowly I’m coming to terms with the fact I don’t need to justify anything to myself or anyone else for that matter. Who care where, when and how long, if it feels right to stay, then fine. A journey like this will probably only happen once in one’s lifetime and I now have the ultimate luxury, the luxury of time. Time to rest, time to enjoy, time to explore, time to get to know a place like Bulawayo and its people better than other tourists.
My time in Vic falls and Bulawayo have given me the opportunity to befriend some locals and speak to them behind closed doors about this countries past and present. Most people have an image of Zimbabwe as farmers being burned off their land, people queuing for food with worthless trillion dollar notes and of the extended reign of Uncle Bob. Of course there is much more to these stories from the point of view of the local people, some of which I may share, but for obvious reasons will wait until I’m further on in my trips so to speak…..
Zimbabwe has a great mix, a taste of “Africa” out in the sticks but once in town there are all the trappings and luxuries of modern life.
The only sign of continuing problems here (for an outsider) are the regular power cuts as part of a load shedding program, ATMs without money or with long queues and the lack of change for the new currency, the US Dollar. Instead SA rand or Botswanan Pula are used as (coin) change which makes life very complicated, often there is no change at all so I’m forced to stock up on lollies or chewing gum to round things up to the nearest dollar. Life here is expensive, even for me, it must be really tough for people on low incomes as the dollar is poorly valued or things are often priced(rounded up) to the nearest dollar.
After the weekend(ish) I’ll once again hit the road and bring some momentum back into my trip. I’m not looking forward to camping though, it’s now often around freezing point at night and I’m not really geared up for that kind of nonsense so I’ll be sleeping in most of my cloths(maybe I should try and pick up a cheap blanket at the market for the next 2 months, or dig my space blanket out). From here I’ll head to the Great ruins of Zimbabwe for a little more culture then on to the mountains in the east where I’ll head North to the Tete corridor through Mozambique to Malawi and its lakes and many more hills, can’t wait.
Great read Shane. Makes me wish I was back on the road again. Overland trucks… aarrrggghhh! Disturbing the peace!
176 days? you where in quite a hurry? Hope you managed to enjoy yourself all the same 🙂
Hi Shane , Glad to hear you are well and enjoying Africa. I was the tourleader with the UK cycle tour group that met you on the Swartberg Pass outside Oudtshoorn. I only found your business card this week. May I pass on your details to our UK office who I am sure would like to Welcome you home when you re-enter the UK.Keep the wheels turning,and remember “trepidation and fear of the unknown are temporary and regret is forever”May the sun warm you and the wind always be on your back.
Regards,Brian Curtin.Cape Town
Please do , thanks Brian
So you are finally in that ‘laziness trap’. 🙂
Different topic: How is camping in Africa so far? I heard so many different storries when I cycled through SA and Lesotho (had no probs at all). Some people to me that it is faaaaar to dangerous (people or wildlife). How often do you camp wild? Looking at your posts it seems like you are staying on campgrounds most of the time.
Indeed the laziness trap:).
Check out my stats page for how often I’ve wild camped. So far it has been fine, didn’t do it much in SA apart from in the Kalahari. Lesotho didn’t do it because its all cheifs land and the shepard boys where every where. From Namibia on up it has been really easy, low population and lots of bush next to the road(apart from in the Namib) so I just ride 30-50m into the bush and no one can see me. I heard alot of those horror stories too but most people are just full of crap 🙂
And obviously you aren’t part of the food chain of lions 🙂
Lets hope it stays that way 🙂
The stats show I haven’t wild camped much, I thinks thats because all my longer breaks have been at tourist spots or towns, inbetween I wild camp as much as possible.
Thanks for another great blog post! So interesting. Good for you for taking your time and “stopping to smell the roses” on your journey! You are right, it’s an incredible opportunity you may not have again. Taking extra time out gives you better understanding of what life is like there, and how the people live and think. Awesome pictures as always! How cool it must be to see giraffes in the wild! Glad to hear you are taking good care of yourself…no sense in taking ridiculous chances. After all, you are going to be out there awhile. Good travels to you. Enjoy!
All so true, thanks 🙂
Shane,
Laughed at the smelly’s arriving at your peaceful backpackers. Been there, as you said, time to leave!
Get a blanket. Cheap, and can always give it away to a poor Policeman when the time is right! You wont need it pass Zambia.
” smelly’s” hehe so true :). Going to pop to the market this weekend and score a blanket or cheap sleepingbag. Only need it for 2 months then I can donate it to someone 🙂
I’ve not had a chance to catch up on your blog for two weeks. It’s been a pleasure to read it and thoroughly enjoyed too.
Instead of donating a beer how about a plug for your !!
Great attitude to life Shane, I like it 😉
Now get back on that bike you lazy bugger 😉
Great that you’re meeting such friendly hosts along the way. Tell us more about the teacher and your activities in Bulawayo….
I’ll devote a whole chapter in my book to Bulawayo 🙂
Hey … just randomly stumbled on your blog through that Canadian guy (Ryan) you talked about in this post. Found it on his facebook page … I just met him in Dar Es Salaam and was supposed to cycle with him to Moshi this morning but the beds at the YWCA here ruined my back to the point that I now feel and move like I’m 80 years old. Took three attempts and much pain even just to straddle the bike last night
Anyways I liked what you said in the slowly slowly part. I am currently in that mood too hahaha. Had to get my Tanzanian visa extended an extra month cause I just kept finding places (mostly the cold ones in the mountains) that I liked staying in. For a while I had trouble justifying it even to myself. Anyways man … enjoy your trip and stay safe on the roads!
Dave
Thanks Dave,
Was it easy to Extend the Tanzanian Visa? I suspect 3 months wont be enough for me. I plan to do an awful lot of nothing there 🙂