zimbabwe and zambia

We finally left our friends in Harare on January 13th. We didn’t want to leave, but we had stayed a week longer than we had originally anticipated (we should know better than to try to make a schedule!). First stop after Harare: Victoria Falls! After a long day of buses with a switch in Bulawayo, we finally made it. I’ve never been to Niagara, but believe me, Vic Falls tops it. In the local language, Vic Falls is called Mosi-oa-Tunya which translates to The Smoke that Thunders. It’s one of the seven natural wonders of the world and even though my expectations were sky high from everything I had heard about it and pictures I had seen, it did not disappoint. I’ve never been so happy just to stare at something for hours. I think the whole day we were there we saw maybe 6 other tourists. On the one hand, it was awesome to have it feel like our own private place, but on the other hand, it’s really sad that the current political situation in Zimbabwe scares away the tourists. If you ever get a chance, this is the one place you can’t miss!

The town of Victoria Falls is not that great, except there was an ATM which was a welcome sight! The town is full of hawkers trying to sell carvings, necklaces, a taxi ride, etc. and it’s hard to remember that their persistence is born out of desperation. Elsewhere in Africa we’ve always had the experience that if you say “No thank you” or ignore them they go away, but in Vic Falls they don’t give up that easily. They follow you down the streets. It’s not menacing in any way, it’s just annoying. I just had to keep reminding myself that they are just trying to make a living.

We had an interesting experience trying to actually get to the Falls. It was within walking distance of our hostel so we walked there, but somehow – typical tourists – we missed the entrance and ended up walking to Zambia. (The Falls are right before the border.) Of course the immigration officer at the border knew we had made a mistake and took advantage. He decided to charge us $30 each to cross and come back, rather than tell us to turn around, the Falls are behind us. Being the smooth operators that we are, we bargained him down to $15 each. (Yes, even immigration officers are susceptible to bribes in Zimbabwe.) We crossed the border pretty proud of ourselves and our bargaining skills. Of course, ten minutes later, we were still walking and walking in the midday heat with no sign of the Falls anywhere up ahead. That was about the time that I got that sinking feeling in my stomach – the one that makes you think, “Oops.” We got to the other side and I said to the guard at the bridge, “This is Zambia, isn’t it?” Yep. We turned around, looking like complete fools, and made our way back to Zimbabwe $15 poorer. But even with that unfortunate but hilarious experience, the Falls were completely worth it. Amazing, breathtaking, magnificent… words don’t do it justice.
The next day, we crossed over to Zambia… on purpose, this time. Zambia is the first place I’ve been where I’ve known literally nothing about the place before going there. I had no idea what to expect. Our first observation was how much better the infrastructure was after coming from Zimbabwe. We never went without power or water, and bus rides were much nicer on roads that had fewer potholes (still not totally pothole-free, though). Zambia is also the first place we’ve encountered the wet season! We spent two nights in Livingstone camping in huge thunderstorms. Zambia is also the first place where we’ve really had to watch what we wear. I think the further north we go, the more conservative we have to dress. Covering our knees and our shoulders is a must. One day I wore a skirt that hit my knees and the following day I wore a skirt that hit the ground, and I noticed a huge difference in the way I was treated in those two days.

Lusaka is such an interesting city. We spent over a week there and I think I can see myself living there. (That’s how I always judge a place, by whether or not I can see myself living there.) Unlike South Africa and Zimbabwe, there isn’t a huge white population – just a few uprooted Zimbabweans, South Africans, and international NGO workers. Lusaka is a study in contrasts: fancy high-rise buildings sit on muddy garbage-strewn streets; a woman in a business suit walks down the street next to a woman in traditional garb carrying a heavy load on her head and a baby wrapped on her back; sparkling new SUVs drive past dilapidated minibuses crammed full with people; craftspeople sell their wares at a traditional market in the parking lot of an upscale shopping mall. Very strange mixtures everywhere, but somehow it exudes an appealing charm.

When we first got to Lusaka, we met Maggi, a family friend of Anna’s, who was in town on business for a couple of days. We stayed with her in a fancy shmancy hotel for two nights. Getting off the bus and to her hotel was interesting; we knew if we told the taxi driver the name of Maggi’s hotel he would assume we had lots of money, so our conversation went something like this:
Me: “How much to go 5 kilometers?”
Taxi Driver: “Where are you going?”
Me: “How much would it cost to go 5 kilometers?”
Taxi Driver: “Where do you want to go?”
Me: “5 kilometers from here. How much would that be?”
Taxi Driver: “Where are you going?”
And so on. At some point I just said the name of an intersection that I remembered was near the hotel (thank you, map in my Lonely Planet book), and we paid about half of what other tourists would have paid. Now that is how you travel on a budget.

Words can’t really describe how much we enjoyed Maggi’s hotel. After so much time on the budget travel route, we reveled in the clean beds, modern showers, air-conditioning, and all-you-can-eat breakfast buffets. (The shower was brown after I used it.) I would have loved to see us arrive at the hotel – two sweaty, smelly girls decked out in cargo pants, Tevas, and huge backpacks. I felt like that scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts goes shopping and is just a little out of place.

When Maggi left we moved back to our usual: a hostel. It is in a great location and we got to explore a lot of the city by foot. The bar at the hostel is also a hangout for locals, not just travelers, so it was a great way for us to meet locals. As much as I revere my Lonely Planet guidebook, it’s always better to get off the beaten track. Our Zambian friends took us to places that are definitely not in any guidebook. We loved the atmosphere of a local bar where everyone was watching a big Zambian soccer match against Nigeria – it was a tie and went into a shootout so it was intense! (Zambia unfortunately lost.)

On January 26th we left Lusaka to take a two-day train to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We had heard from other travelers that it was a great experience, and it really was. The beds were little more than benches with sheets on them, but it was fun to be on a train. We also heard that the train breaks down a lot but surprisingly the train never broke down and we were only five hours or so late getting into Dar. (Delays are pretty standard… everyone here just shrugs and says “TIA” which means “This Is Africa” when things like that happen.) At one point the train went through a national park in Tanzania for a few hours and we saw elephants, buffalo, and lots of zebras and impala out our window. Pretty cool.

I find it very hard to describe my surroundings sometimes. When people at home ask me to describe Africa, it’s like people here asking me to describe America; everywhere is different. I guess the most surprising thing for me, as an ignorant tourist, is discovering how unique each country is. Each country I visit I find very different from the last; yet there’s something similar that I can’t quite grasp too. Comparing Tanzania and Zimbabwe is like comparing New York City and rural Mississippi: they’re such completely different places, yet they’re both American. So, as different as each African country is, there’s something unifying that makes them all African. Does that make sense? I hope so.


**More to come on Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Kenya**

south africa, mozambique, zimbabwe

So much to catch up on! Anna and I left Cape Town on December 10th to go visit our friend Carmen in a town called George. The bus we took is called City to City but it's more commonly known as Shitty to Shitty... since we had such low expectations, it really wasn't too bad. George was hosting an international rugby tournament that weekend called Sevens (because they are shorter games with only seven men on each side). It was an amazing atmosphere and fun to sit on the bleachers and watch rugby for two straight days, despite the blazing heat. I got a really awesome sandal tan. Again, we went out and partied with the rugby players that night - like we did a few weeks earlier with the cricketers. (We're starting to feel a bit like rock stars.) New Zealand ended up winning the tournament which made a lot of South Africans happy - South Africans support two teams: South Africa, and anyone who plays against Australia. We enjoyed our weekend in George and it was great to meet Carmen's parents who spoiled us rotten, especially compared to the way we were feeding ourselves before that. (I think we survived the seven days before that on a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter.)

From George, we caught an overnight bus to Johannesburg to visit our friend Keza on our way to Mozambique. Since December is a really busy travel month, it was difficult to find a bus on the day that we needed. We ended up on an expensive bus called Intercape - we had no idea what its reputation was like, but it was our only option. When we got on the bus, we couldn't believe our luck - it was clean, spacious, and really comfortable. Just as we settled back in our reclining chairs for a good night sleep, however, the TVs came on with the opening announcement: "May Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior bless each and every one of our passengers for a safe journey through this beautiful land." Anna and I, two Jews, just looked at each other and burst into laughter. Apparently Intercape is a Christian bus company; who knew? The video went on for quite a while about how blessed we are that Jesus died for our sins. Then they played a movie in which the main character was a murderer because he did stem cell research. It was quite a journey, to say the least. It also happened to be the first night of Hannukkah, so we very quietly celebrated that.

When we got to Joburg, Keza and her mom were waiting for us at the bus station. Keza was one of our friends when we were studying abroad and we hadn't seen her in two years, so it was great to see her again and meet her family. We were only in Joburg for 24 hours and I can't really say that I saw the city. We stayed at Keza's apartment in a wealthy suburb and other than the bus station, we didn't see anything but the upscale suburbs. I'm a bit afraid of Joburg because of all the crime that I hear about, so I'm not that sad that I didn't get to see more.

On December 15th we took a bus to Mozambique. This time we took Greyhound - no awkward religious situations, plus they played movies like Mrs. Doubtfire. Can't go wrong there. We had gotten visas in advance at the consulate in Cape Town so crossing the border was very easy. We arrived in Maputo, the capital, and spent only two nights there. Camping on concrete is surprisingly comfortable! Maputo is a very different city - I don't think I could live there, but it was interesting to see. The buildings are pretty run down but beautiful, with Meditteranean architecture left over from Portuguese colonial days. Getting around was a bit harder than expected, as Portuguese is the national language, not English. The little Spanish that I remember was enough to get us around, as were my impressive miming skills. After obtaining independence from Portugal in 1975 - when the Portuguese left they sabotaged the country, even pouring concrete down wells - Mozambique became a communist state that was almost successful. But in the 80s the state went bankrupt and started doing things like killing anyone with professional skills, and 1994 saw the first democratic elections. But it's interesting to walk around and see the remnants of the communist state - all the roads in Maputo are named after people like Lenin and Marx. We stayed on Mao Tse Tung Avenue.

There were a million places I wanted to go in Mozambique, but since we only had ten days or so we decided to just pick one place and spend the majority of our time there. We chose Tofo (pronounced "tofu"), a very tiny but beautiful beach town about ten hours up the coast. Most public transportation for long distances in Mozambique leaves very early in the morning, and our ride to Tofo was no exception. Chapas are minibuses that contain about 15 seats but are always crammed with no less than 23 people. Our chapa left at 5:30 in the morning and we had a hot, miserable, crowded ten hour drive to Tofo. Picture the stereotypical minibus: being squished shoulder to shoulder with big fat African women, their babies screaming, live chickens squawking... that was our experience. And on top of cramming more people in than there are seats, everyone's luggage, furniture, and animals have to be thrown in there too. Words can't really describe it. Miserable at the time, but hilarious now. I think it just made Tofo seem even more of a paradise once we finally arrived. It's amazing how untouched this Mozambican coastline is! I never saw more than a handful of people on the beach, and there are no buildings that ruin the view. We camped at a hostel right on the beach for 8 nights and quickly got into a relaxing routine: waking up around 6 or 7am (there is some rule about camping that you can never sleep later than that, especially with the Mozambican sun beating down on your tent), lounging on the beach and swimming in the ocean in the mornings, then finding shade by 11am because the sun is unbearable. We made friends with a bunch of South Africans and an Australian girl named Sherona who has also been traveling around Africa. Mozambique was disgustingly hot and you can't drink the tap water so most of my budget was spent on bottled water. Power outages are common as well; we got pretty used to having 5 or 6 power cuts in one hour. The power always came back on within a few minutes though.

hitchhiking to an ATM outside of Tofo

Here are a few things that I learned in my time in Mozambique:

• My feet and fingernails will never be clean, and I just have to accept that.
• There is a direct relationship between food and my mood.
• Sunscreen is the best invention of all time.
• Give me a map and I can find my way around anywhere.
• Sometimes water is a better choice than beer.
• The Coca-Cola Company rules the world. (Why are there so many remote places in the world where you can't find ANYTHING, but you can find Coke?)
• Patience is the greatest virtue a traveler can have.
• The "smell test" is a faultless system of getting dressed every day.
• Camping on the beach means there will never be a time when you're not sandy.
• A scarf can be a scarf; it can also be a towel, a shawl, a sarong, a blanket, and a pillow, and you'll save lots of room in your backpack.
• You don't know what real darkness is until you're in the middle of nowhere in Africa.
• New friendships can be formed in the strangest of circumstances.
• There's always someone poorer than you.
• Support local merchants rather than beggars.
• Toads make better shower-mates than spiders.
• Not knowing what time it is for an entire week is completely liberating and terrifying at the same time.
  

me and Sherona - do we look like tourists?

Sherona decided to come back to Maputo with me and Anna. Our chapa back to Maputo was leaving at 4am on Christmas Day so we decided beforehand to just stay up until then. This ended up being a great decision, as we slept the entire way. I don't do Christmas but Sherona was bummed not to be home for the holiday so we all went for a big Christmas dinner. I'm no expert on Christmas, but I'm pretty sure our seafood buffet was not the typical American Christmas fare.

The day after Christmas, we flew to Zimbabwe to visit my friend Vanessa. Our South African friend Candice was also visiting, as well as Vanessa's boyfriend Craig and his brother Ryan. Craig and Ryan are cricket players and live most of the year in Ireland. We came to love our group of six.

the gang: Ryan, Craig, Candice, me, Van, and Anna

Our plane landed at night and Vanessa told us some bad news: her house had no power or water. We quickly realized that the power goes out a lot in Zim, sometimes for days. We stayed at Van's house in Harare, the capital, for two nights. One day we rode elephants which was really fun.

riding an elephant!

Then we drove to Craig and Ryan's parents' farm a few hours north of Harare. It was really interesting to see their life there. Their house looks like something out of a fairy tale. They were kicked off their farm a few years ago during President Mugabe's farm invasions - allegedly land reform, but in reality just kicking white farmers off their land and giving the land to his friends and party faithful. Now most of the land lies unused and that is why there have been such empty grocery store shelves. As recently as last year, people had to stand in line for hours to get a loaf of bread. Craig and Ryan's parents now rent the land they are on from the local community, and they are involved with an orphanage, a school, and a medical clinic with American missionaries, so they won't be kicked off again. But imagine people entering your house and telling you that you have 24 hours to leave.

how we got around Zim: the back of Craig's truck

We went hunting and Craig taught us how to shoot a gun! Anna and I felt a little like we were in that scene in Wedding Crashers.

Craig teaching me how to shoot a gun

The next day we drove to Kariba, a town up north on the border with Zambia, for New Years with all of Van's friends. Fifteen of us stayed at her friend Sarah's house - a house Clint Eastwood has rented! Kariba is a very sleepy lakeside town except over New Years when a lot of Zimbabweans go there to vacation. It was strange to have my New Years dangers not only be the usual worry of people drinking and driving but also hippos, crocodiles, and elephants. Every day we heard about someone getting "taken" by a crocodile in the lake (a choice of words that always gave me shivers) and of elephants overturning cars (mental note: never leave an orange underneath your car). But it was very cool to be driving down the road and see wild elephants - we saw three one day, and we saw two hippos while driving home one night. One day we went on a friend's boat out on Lake Kariba and we were stopped by the police because we had "too many people" on our boat. What that really meant is that the police wanted money. There is no law in Zim; any time you see a policeman, you end up bribing them and going on your way. In this case, we gave them $10 each (which is a lot for here), and that was that.

me, Sarah, and a sunset over Lake Kariba

We left Kariba on January 4th to go back to Harare, but we stopped at Craig and Ryan's farm for a couple more nights. We went fishing on a little lake behind their house and caught fish that we then cooked for dinner. Ryan even gutted and descaled the fish. It's pretty amazing how self-sufficient these boys are.

so proud of myself

From the farm we came back to Harare and stayed two more nights at Van's house. We've gotten to see a bit more of Harare. It's funny; I actually ran out of pages in my passport and had to go to the U.S. Embassy to get more pages put in. (Why do I always carry my Swiss Army knife with me? Clever explanations at the embassy security ensued.) Anna and I then moved to our friend Chloe's house - she also lives in Harare, only 10 minutes from Van. We are being spoiled rotten by everyone's parents - and their maids! Yes, everyone here has maids. Kind of ridiculous. I can't imagine going back to fending for myself.

Some things I've noticed about Zim:

• They use US dollars here but not cents, so when you buy something you have to buy useless crap like gum or lollipops to round up your purchase to the nearest dollar.
• A lot of places don't have change so if you don't have any bills smaller than a $20 you're kind of screwed.
• There's more often than not a line at the gas station, and sometimes they don't have any.
• People are SUPER friendly here. When you drive around, especially in the country, everyone waves to each other, even to complete strangers. And if you go to buy something you always get into a chat with the person before getting into what you're really there for.
• As much as people say the country is improving and is way better than it was a year ago, we still hear things like "I couldn't go to university last year because there were no teachers," and "I walked ten hours to get to this medical clinic." It really puts things in perspective and makes you appreciate the things at home that you took for granted.
• There is a HUGE level of segregation here between whites and blacks, even more so than in South Africa.
• There are no ATMs; you have to just bring enough money with you when you come.
• Sometimes it's better to drive off the road than on it. (Potholes.)
• Some red lights are best ignored because of "smash and grabs." If you stop at certain red lights in Harare, people will smash your windows and steal everything you have on you. Of course, if you run a red light, you run the risk of being pulled over by "cops," except they're not really cops, they're just guys with guns, who you then have to pay an exorbitant amount. Difficult decision. Luckily I haven't encountered either situation, but my friends have.

TO BE CONTINUED!