Zimbabwe, You Did It Again

Victoria Falls

We arrived in Vic Falls on June 18^th and went straight to the backpacker lodge. We had booked these dorm-style accommodations ahead of time to save some moolah and because we were worried we wouldn’t have PJ with us – oh and of course we weren’t yet husband and wife, haha. The receptionist informed us we would need to purchase WiFi and gave us a special rate as the town was subject to load shedding, a fancy word for power outages and one we would grow intimately familiar with on the rest of our trip. There was a rotating schedule to provide power either in the morning or evening, although often times there was no power even when it was scheduled. The hostel had a backup generator, but it could only power the hostel for a few hours at a time and that was if they could get gas – did we mention Zimbabwe was currently in the midst of one of the worst economic collapses in the world? A little lack of power couldn’t spoil our mood, so that evening we went out for dinner at Three Monkeys which was an old train car converted into a restaurant, enjoying delicious drinks and BBQ chicken pizza.

“Coons look! There’s an elephant crossing the train tracks!”

Indeed, an elephant was strolling the streets of downtown Victoria Falls. Apparently this particular one is a frequent visitor of this quaint little tourist town. We were loving this place already! This is the only town in Africa that we’ve been to where Kourtney could walk around the shops by herself while Coons checked out the local brewery. After the pre-marriage requirements were taken care of on the 19^th, Kourtney got her dreads maintenanced for five hours with Mabel while Coons went in search of some black market fuel which was scarce in Zimbabwe. In the evening, the whole town lost power so we were in the dark and hungry. The Zambezi House had a generator and made us take-away paella with crawfish and chicken – guess who’s eating rice the day before her wedding, Fatima.

After the most magical wedding imaginable, we went back to walk the entirety of the falls and made sure to capture sunrise. Zimbabwe has the most beautiful views of Mosi-oa-Tunya and the mist wall looks incredible in the sunlight. Victoria Falls is nicknamed the “Smoke That Thunders” and we were humbled to call this our spot. Our elopement was a success and our family and friends forgave us after they saw the magnificent backdrop. We promise it isn’t a green screen!

Hwange National Park

We took a mini-moon (let’s be honest – this whole trip has been one big dream-filled honeymoon) to Hwange National Park. This was our first national park in Africa and our first self-drive safari with PJ. We couldn’t have been more thrilled. The cool thing about this park was that we were the fenced animals in the campsites, although that rarely stopped the hundreds of baboons from coming near. Hwange was both parts desert and green as it was difficult to find waterholes, but infrequent rains kept the roads bumpy (we definitely would need a new suspension system after this) and the trees green (at least the ones the elephants hadn’t yet eaten). We didn’t have our 300x zoom lens at this point but we enjoyed spotting all kinds of animals. Here is where Coons fell in love with the buffalo and his many faces.

Hwange was one of the few parks where you can get out of the vehicle and they provide shady platforms or game hides for viewing. We must have watched a single giraffe circle one of the waterholes seven times as he waited and wondered if it was safe to drink. Finally, he spread his two front legs and bent down to take a few slurps before swiftly returning to a standing position to watch for predators. We had no idea this is how giraffes drink!

Quickly, we perfected our safari game. We are out from sunup to sundown which means a full 12 hours of Coons driving and Kourtney spotting. We keep a small wooden cutting board and bright green bamboo knife up front, so Kourtney can make peanut butter and banana chip sandwiches during lunchtime and we don’t miss optimal viewing at the waterholes. While one person uses the binoculars, the other is snapping photos of wildlife. It’s a good balance for us newlyweds. While we didn’t see any big cats in the three days we spent in the park, we saw an amazing array of wildlife during the day and spent our evenings stargazing around the campfire.

After our time in the park, we retraced our route back up through Victoria Falls and crossed back into Botswana (not after getting three days of food confiscated at the border) so we could refuel. We’re really happy we had an extra jerry can of petrol! From there we made a beeline to South Africa to pick up Kristian.

Mana Pools National Park

Fast-forward to 365 days on the road, we celebrated our wild, dirty, crazy, exhausting, amazing journey by visiting the only national park in Africa that allows you to walk around a park filled with predators completely unguided.  Seriously, we walked into the park’s office and asked for the permit; they charged us $30 USD and gave us a paper receipt they said we must carry around with us for proof and told us to have a good time. We asked where it was okay to walk (anywhere) when it was okay to be out (all day), and if we were required to sign back in (unnecessary). During our five hour self-walk along the Zambezi River, we encountered angry, angry hippos, watched impala and warthog run from us, waterbuck track us from afar, and zebras stare seemingly confused (dude, where’s your car?). We walked to one of the only waterholes in the park away from the river and watched as tons of elephant families walked by.

After our eight-mile walk, we walked back to our campsite to see the ladder of our rooftop tent swinging back and forth as baboons jumped off. Then we noticed the destruction of the campsite next to us. Two German cousins had left their ground tent full of their things while they drove around: beer, bedding, medication, and toiletries were all ripped apart and ruined by the monkeys. This is why you leave nothing out and don’t keep your doors open, folks! After picking up their campsite as best we could and verifying the baboons didn’t get into our tent, we got into the truck to drive to a lunch spot where animals frequent and found some very sleepy lionesses under a tree. Then one hundred feet away Coons pulled the chairs out of the car to make lunch and took a nap. How can he sleep at the time like this?

We spent three days in the park and had two close encounters with elephants who definitely win the award for the most curious animal. The first day at our lunch spot during Coons’ afternoon nap, an elephant walked right up behind him – honestly a trunks length away. Scared and not sure what the elephant might do, Kourtney called Coons’ name half a dozen times before he woke up and saw the gigantic dome behind him. Can you imagine that sleepy Coons picture? In the end, the elephant just walked off. The second day, Kourtney was using the restroom (in Africa they’re called ablutions) and walked out to find the largest male elephant in the park (he’s the one wearing a tracker) walking towards her. Retreating back into the bathroom, Kourtney watched, again scared, as he passed so closely, knocking over branches and leaves of the tree that hangs over the restroom. Once he passed, she booked it out of the facilities and stopped stunned as he knelt back on his hind legs and lifted his trunk up to reach the branches at the tops of the trees. Shoot! How am I missing this photo-op a second time!?

The amount of green in the park and along the river was a great change from the dry, dusty scenery of Namibia and Botswana. At our campsite on the riverbank, we were treated to an almost constant chorus from the hundreds of hippos inhabiting the water. Animals were free to wander through our unfenced campsite and combined with the scenery to make for an unforgettable park.

Zimbabwe, you did it again.