We actually went to Zimbabwe twice on this trip. We flew into Victoria Falls from Johannesburg the first time and then we drove into Zimbabwe via Kasane from Botswana. This meant we needed two sets of visas to enter the country for each of us. Zimbabwe was the only country we needed ETAs/VISAs. I was able to do it all on line and pay for it ahead of time and it was in their system under our passports. They scanned our passports and were able to just stamp us in and let us go through, which was nice. The capital of Zimbabwe is Harare and the currency is Zim Gold (ZiGs) and it is not worth the paper it is printed on! The citizens of Zimbabwe deal almost exclusively in barter-trade and credit cards. They use multiple currencies to include the U.S. dollar. Rich took some ZiG out of the ATM and we couldn’t even spend it. The owners of the craft stalls had never even seen it before! They were all staring at it and passing it around, marveling that it was their money but had never seen it before. Zimbabwe once was one of the world’s worst hyperinflation countries in the world. Rich actually has a 2.5 billion ZiG note. The poverty level is as high as 60%. Of the 17.3 million people who claim to be Zimbabweans, 6 million live in RSA – and 70% of them are there illegally. Another fun fact about Zimbabwe is that it has the highest number of official languages in the world at 16. English is considered their business language where Shona and Ndebele are also quite popular. Zimbabwe has only been called that since April 18, 1980. Before that it was called Rhodesia. Zimbabwe had one of the highest literacy rates in the Africa at 90%. Zimbabwe is bordered by Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia. It is a relatively safe place to walk around. We did a lot of fun things while in Zimbabwe.
The first thing we did was go to Victoria Falls is also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya (the smoke that thunders). The falls serve as a natural border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. (Zim and Zam). The falls are 354 feet down and 5,604 feet wide, making it the world’s largest sheet of falling water. It was ripping while we were there! Over 2 million gallons of water go over the edge per second. On a clear day, you can see the mist rising from the falls for nearly 40 miles. It was unfortunately overcast the day we were there. Otherwise, you are guaranteed to see multiple rainbows in the mist. The whole area around the falls is a tropical forest atmosphere due to all the mist. We were given rain ponchos to wear but even those didn’t hold up to the driving mist we were walking through. We were soaked through. I brought a second pair of shoes just for this visit to Victoria falls. My shoes were wet for 2.5 days!
This was the tent camp we stayed at in Zimbabwe. We could hear the baboons well into the night. We saw a lot of warthogs and a friendly giraffe was around when we ate breakfast.
One of our trips in Zimbabwe was to a research/rescue/rehab facility for wild animals. Melusah showed us around. They do soft releases with orphaned animals (letting them go out during the day and come back to the facility at night until they are ready to be completely on their own) and hard releases such as treating an adult animal and releasing it to the wild as soon as possible. He is standing next to an elephant collar. They work the Kasi enclave, which is roughly the size of France. There are 80,000 elephants in that area. The elephants can be a nuisance, as they love to go into neighborhoods and eat the mangos off of trees and knock the trees over. The researchers here use firecrackers to scare the elephants away. The bull elephants are more stubborn. Elephants don’t like spicy foods or smells though. The workers sprinkle chili on the elephant dung. They will also used a golf ball covered in chili oil and shoot the bull elephant with the golf ball out of a potato gun at 200 km/hr. It doesn’t hurt the elephant but elephants and their long memories will equate that place with spicy chili oil and it will keep them away for years. To scare off lions, they use vuvuzelas (you know those annoying long plastic horns they blow into at soccer games – or used to until they were banned). This facility also has a top notch animal forensics lab to help figure out where animals are migrating to and to help get evidence against poachers.
The next place we went was the Wild Horizons Elephant Sanctuary. We were able to be up close and personal with one of the three herds that lives in that area. I fell in love with the matriarch of this herd – Coco (the handlers call her Coco Chanel). She is in her 40’s and a sweet girl. I actually got a foot print of hers to hang in our house.
We also had the pleasure of breaking up into smaller groups of 4 and going to a local Zimbabwean house for lunch. We went to Chipo’s house. She and I are both 55. She served us some of the typical food she would serve her family. About 1/3 of the plate was filled with hot, thick white polenta. Some of the other foods were kale seasoned with salt and pepper, chicken, hot kale in peanut butter, black-eyed peas, carrots & beans, dried little whole fish, chicken, and beef. We ate with our hands. We scooped the hot polenta in our fingers and then dipped it in whichever food we wanted to eat and then ate it together. Chipo came around and washed our hands before and after the meal, serving and washing the men first before the women. Chipo means “gift or talent” in Shone. She said that on her mom’s side, all the female relatives were called moms and male relatives uncles. On her father’s side, the male relatives are called dads and the female relatives aunties. When a girl wants to marry, she has to talk to her aunties (her female relatives on her dad’s side). There is a dowry that must be paid to the father of the woman…usually in cattle. Polygamy is okay for men but not for women. Mpisi talked with us at length about the loss of Joe. He was very compassionate and was truly genuine talking to us about our grief and losing a child. This was really interesting!
We also went to a tribal village in Zimbabwe and met with their chief, Mpisi. He was a character! He had a lot of wonderful life lessons to share with us. He seemed much younger than his 83 years. He greeted each of us as we got off the bus and asked us our first names. Names are important. He asked me how I spelled my name. He said they have a similar name Sindi, which means “blessed.” The surnames of the tribes are all wild African animals. Their laws are very simple. When you turn 18, you become a voting member of the legislative wing. You can vote and have the right to have land. The tribes really dislike lawyers and politicians, who just make things way more complicated. Mpisi stated that women are very important in the tribe. A woman’s counsel can change men’s minds. Men can’t be a leader without women but women can be a leader without men. Men fight and women bind. If a member commits a crime, the tribal laws will hand out the punishment unless it is a criminal offense. They don’t really believe in putting offenders in jail. It doesn’t help their family but hurt them if they are in jail. Instead they are forced to do community service from 8-4 for 5 days a week. This tribe has over 9000 people in their legislative assembly. They grow corn, soybeans, pumpkins, watermelons, and beans. If you feed the nation, you are not taxed. Mpsis handed around a big floppy black sun hat and asked if we could figure out what it was made of. We couldn’t figure it out. It was made from VHS tape! We had a lot of fun walking around their area. They had a liter of puppies that were roly-poly and eating on of the men’s pant legs. When Mpisi dies, one of his children will take over for him. Women can be chief but they cannot marry because the chief’s family is tied to their surname. She has to keep her father’s name. If the chief doesn’t have a child old enough to be chief, the chief’s brother can lead until the child is old enough. It also doesn’t always go to the oldest child, but the most qualified as a leader. The widows are allowed to mourn for a year and then they look for a husband within the family. The eligible men sit in a semi-circle. The woman places a walking stick in front of the man she wants to care for her. She then goes to wash the hands of the elders. If they allow her to wash their hands, they are voting yes to the union. Pretty interesting, right?
Messina Musings 