#6) Arrival in Africa

Stepping off the plane in Harare, Zimbabwe after spending an entire month in Turkey was quite the culture shock. As opposed to the huge and hectic Istanbul airport, the Harare airport was quiet, small and dimly lit. Immediately after disembarking the plane we were all screened for Ebola using a machine that could read heat signatures in the human face. I was worried that I would not be allowed through since I was still struggling to get over a cold as a result of some of the late nights I had had in Istanbul, but thankfully I passed inspection and then it was on to get my visa and pass through customs.

(Important side note – Some of you might be really worried about me now that I’ve mentioned Ebola and the fact that I am traveling to Africa at all, but to assuage your fears I assure you I am at a very minimal risk of catching the disease while here. Africa geographically is a huge continent and it is filled with so many distinct countries, cultures, traditions, languages and peoples. Since I’m only traveling through southern Africa in the countries of Zimbabwe and South Africa I’m barely scratching the surface of the continent’s amazing diversity. So far the outbreak has been centralized in Western Africa in the countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria – which are all thousands of miles away from where I am. If you’re still not 100% convinced you can check out my handy travel map so you can see for yourself. Okay, now back to the action!)

The public transportation structure in Harare is not well developed and when I arrived it was after dark so I had no option but to begrudgingly take a taxi to my hostel in town at the exorbitantly fixed price of $30. The only upside was that my taxi driver was amazing and made me feel very welcomed right away. His name was George and he happily told me all about Zimbabwe and its people. When he spoke he oozed with pride for him home country and how it was on its way back up after its prior economic and political struggles. He was the best introduction I could have asked for to the country and as it turns out his friendliness wasn’t unique to just his personality – pretty much every Zimbabwean I met was extremely kind and helpful the whole two weeks that I was there. My favorite experiences there were in the capital Harare, Victoria Falls and Hwange National Park.

The street outside my hostel in Harare. I stayed in a more middle class neighborhood called Avondale. The purple tree on the right-hand side is called a Jacaranda and they were in bloom on pretty much every street in town.

A flea market near the strip mall in Avondale. It was incorporated into an old parking garage. It's unfortunate I have to travel light because there were tons of beautiful crafts, but I managed to pick up a few bracelets.

At first glance I wasn’t impressed by Harare because it didn’t seem like there was much to do or see in the city. Persistence and initiative paid off however and I was able to find a hidden corner of culture – the House of Hunger Poetry Slam. It was at a little place called the Book Café with colorfully painted cinderblock walls and a sheet metal roof that I discovered a haven for young artists and intellectuals. I only understood about half of the poems because the majority of them were performed in Shona (one of the official languages of Zimbabwe), but that didn’t prevent me from feeling the emotional intensity conveyed by the artists. What made this place even more unique was that it was an open venue for freedom of speech and expression. In Zimbabwe there is no guaranteed right to free speech – in fact it is illegal to criticize President Robert Mugabe and the government. Most of the poems were apolitical, but one teetered on the edge of controversy by calling out some of the human rights abuses perpetrated by the reigning president. I could definitely feel the tension in the crowd as it listened intently to the rebellious poet piercing the air with his politicized prose. It was really profound for me to witness the entire spectacle and I think it was really important for me to be so forcefully reminded that as an American citizen I have a lot of rights guaranteed to me that I don’t even give a second thought to. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from that day because I left my camera at the hostel, but the memory will be ingrained in my mind forever.

Union Square in downtown Harare - If you look at the layout of the park from overhead it is shaped like the Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom. The park and much of the downtown architecture serves as a reminder of when the country was colonized by the British and was called Rhodesia (after the explorer Cecil Rhodes).

1st Avenue - I was told that before independence this street and everything beyond it used to be exclusively white and it served as a strict line marking the boundary where black people were not allowed to go.

The Meikles Hotel - The wealth disparity that exists in Zimbabwe is striking and this hotel is the perfect example. There was a brand new Aston Martin parked right outside the lobby while just across the street there were multiple women sitting on the ground selling tomatoes, bananas and various candies. 

While in Zimbabwe I also had the chance to see one of the wonders of the natural world – Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya – meaning “The Smoke That Thunders” in Tonga (a language spoken mostly in Zambia but also parts of northern Zimbabwe) Words can’t really do justice to how beautiful and powerful the Falls are. October is late into the dry season in southern Africa so the water rushing over the Falls was at its lowest level, but contrary to what one would expect it is actually the best time to view the Falls and take pictures. Even though the rainy season starts shortly, Victoria Falls won’t reach peak water flow until March and April of next year because it is so far down from the headwaters of the Zambezi River. During that time of year there is so much water flowing over the Falls that the resulting smoke-like mists completely soak visitors and make it difficult to clearly see the Falls. Even while I was there the mist produced by the cascading water was quite powerful and it could be seen rising up above the tree tops from the nearby veranda at the posh Victoria Fall Hotel. I was completely mesmerized by the Falls and after walking along the viewing platforms for a while I just sat and took it all in.

Victoria Falls extends quite far down a deep gorge and the water falls at various points along it - you can see here how the resulting mist obscures the view.

This part is known as the "Main Falls" since the largest/longest portion of falling water

The first portion of the falls which is known as the "Devil's Cataract" - note the faint rainbow in the bottom left corner.

An unobscured view down the gorge - the river serves as the official border between Zimbabwe and Zambia so the side that the water is falling down is actually another country.

People on the Zambian side taking a swim in the "Devil's Pool" right on the edge of the falls.

However, it wasn’t until I got a view of the Falls from below that I truly appreciated their scope and grandeur. There is really nothing like being in the bottom of the gorge and looking up to see the torrential downpour of water from above I was only able to get a view from below because I decided to go white water rafting down the Zambezi River with my friends Jan (Germany) and Pascal (Netherlands) who I met at the hostel in town. It was hands down one of the most adventurous and exhilarating things I have ever done in my life. At the end of the trip we conquered 20+ rapids ranging from Class 1 to 5 and I fell out once, we all flipped once and on one of the last rapids everyone else but me fell out. There was one rapid on that section of the river that is Class 6 (the highest possible) but they call it “Commercial Suicide” (aka “Bad for Business”) because of how dangerous it is so thankfully we got out and walked around it instead. When we finally got to the end we were all completely exhausted, but we still had a long, precipitous climb back to the top of the gorge. My only motivation was the braai (BBQ) lunch and celebratory beers waiting for us at the top. Two of the guys on our raft had GoPros attached to their helmets and I was able to get their footage of us going down all the rapids. I’ll try to upload a couple of the videos below so you can check them out, but my internet is not the greatest at the moment so pictures will have to suffice for now. Check back for an update/edit in a day or two.

This pool here served as our training ground before heading further down the river. (that's Pascal on the right)

The view of Victoria Falls from below - absolutely breathtaking! The current was so strong that it was impossible to get any closer. (That's me in the bottom left)

After straining my budget on the rafting excursion I thought it would be the end of my adrenaline-infused adventures in Victoria Falls, but I was mistaken. I got extremely lucky and while I was hanging out at the hostel’s bar I was approached by a guy who was responsible for marketing for one of the local adventure activity companies. In exchange for strapping a GoPro to my chest to collect footage for a marketing video he was working he offered me a free ride on the Gorge Swing – so of course I said yes! The swing is sort of like a bungee jump, but rather than being attached by your legs and bouncing up and down you are instead attached to a cord by your chest and you swing through the gorge after you jump off a platform on the very edge of the gorge. I’d never done anything like it before and so I was pretty scared, but I just couldn’t chicken out after getting to go for free. When I was getting harnessed and walking up to the platform my heart was pounding and my hands were sweating, but I psyched myself up for the jump by thinking “What would Macey do in this situation?” even though she wasn’t there with me. I concluded that she would probably do a handstand on the platform and go down face first and so that’s exactly what I did. It was a steep 70 meter free fall and then 90 meter swing over the Zambezi River and it was awesome and liberating to feel completely weightless gliding right through the air. (Shoutout to Macey Hallstedt for being an all-around fearless, badass woman and helping me conquer some fears abroad – I bet you didn’t even know you did that!)

Epic.

After getting my adrenaline fix at Victoria Falls I moved south to Hwange National Park to do some camping and go on safari with a German woman named Cordula and her two young boys Kai and Emil, ages 10 and 7 respectively. I camped for three nights in the Main Camp and went on two game drives to see the wildlife. We saw an abundance of animals – zebra, giraffe, kudu, bushbucks, hippos, crocodiles, ostrich, baboons, vervet monkeys, warthogs, jackals, wildebeest, hornbills, nocturnal cats etc. We were only able to spot two out of the legendary “Big Five” - the elephant and water buffalo – but the sheer diversity of wildlife was amazing and there is truly nothing like seeing all the animals so close in their natural habit. (The “Big Five” also includes the lion, leopard, and rhino). Hwange is known for having a population of nearly 40,000 elephants and it certainly didn’t disappoint – we saw more of them than any other animal combined. Unfortunately the lens I have for my camera doesn’t have the greatest zooming capabilities, so I apologize in advance for the quality of pictures.

Tyler on Safari!

Not sure what kind of birth this was, but it was beautiful. I also just really liked the visual that this picture provides.

A Vervet Monkey. This picture is a little deceiving because yes, I was actually that close - but no, I didn't actually take it in Hwange. (You're not allowed to get out of your car in the park.) This picture is actually from just outside Victoria Falls, but it felt at home with the other animals.

Wildebeest

Giraffe munching on some leaves

Zebra munching on some grass

An ostrich being a diva

Baboons - some chillin' hard in the shade and for the one on the left the thirst was just too real

A herd of elephants enjoying a late afternoon bath in a pan (aka watering hole). Notice the one on the far left spraying water over himself.

The pan was filled with wildlife - notice the hippo flexing his jaws in the water just under the two elephants in the middle. There were also multiple crocodile slithering beneath the water but you can't see them in this picture.

A baby elephant! He was so cute and it was funny to watch him hobble along.

Nightfall in Hwange. Lots of nocturnal creatures come out to hunt after the sun sets which makes for great game viewing if you're equipped with floodlights. Unfortunately, independent cars aren't allowed to drive around the park after 6 pm so you have to book a night safari with the park rangers if you want to see the predators out to play.

From the main roadside of Hwange, I flagged down a bus to Bulawayo and then went onward across the border on an overnight bus to Johannesburg, South Africa. Although at some points it was really quite challenging to travel alone in Zimbabwe, I’m really glad I made the decision to stay the full two weeks I had originally planned rather than dashing across the border to South Africa as soon as things got tough. Persistence paid off and I learned a lot more and was able to gain greater insight into the people and the conditions in the country by staying longer and truly immersing myself.

I’ve been here less than a week and already South Africa is proving to be quite a striking contrast to Zimbabwe, but you’ll just have to wait for my next post to find out. I promise I won’t keep you waiting as long as I did on this one!