Afrique 26 – ZIMBABWE 4 – BULAWAYO TILL VICTORIA FALLS

 Bulawayo to Victoria Falls

Till Guay river the road is nearly flat, slightly undulating, by the bush. On left are protected forests, generally with high trees, sometime with shrubs. But it is yet very dry and most of the trees are grey and without leaves, sadly. On right it is mostly new small bush, abandonned farms and fields, and scared little groups of cases with surviving farms or basic shops, sad too. We get off Bulawayo rather early. At the start we cross fields and farms and some hills, but quickly it becomes flat and new small dry bush, boring. We stop in a lane of shops for lunch. There are houses only each 25 km about, so we have to take care where to sleep. At about 4 pm we see a sign primary school, and we stop. What we see is a farm, with a half ruin big white style house, a case with some blacks, and a new building square style, with large windows, which looks unuse. We try to explain who we are and the autorisation to camp to the young black who comes at the gate, but he does’nt inderstand english. After a minute of dispair, I try to explain by mimiking, sleep, indicating the square building, and us two. He understands, and drives us till the building, the lapa, opens the door, and shows us a room where to sleep. They are restoring the building. As there is noway to comunicate, we are quickly alone.
In the early morning we move by the same flat road threw the bush. As we enter in national forest the trees are high, but there are less houses. We eat in Kenmaur, which is a few shops, a truck stops and a village. After, the village continues by inside along the old road, and by the new road, it is only high forest till Lupane. Just before Lupane we see a big house on left, where we go to ask hospitality. But the house is in works, and unhabited. Fortunately the owner is here, an old man. He explains us that the governement bought his farm to do an university neighbour, and it gives him that house and land in compensation. He proposes us to camp in the university, and talks with the 2 chineses technicians who are here, and also they are the managers of the building of the university. It seems the chinese agrees, and so we go 1 km further at the university. Here the carekeeper at the gate stops us and goes to call a chinese manager. Hee does’nt speak a word of english, and a black try to explain him who we are and what we want by signs and basic english talking. It would be comical if this guy was’nt in charge of building a big university. Well he phones to his collegues, and in the end he proposes us to sleep near the gate. As I refuse, too risky, the black translator proposes us to ask to the boss of the trucks and engine trucks camp, who is inside the university courtyard, just 100 m away. I go and ask, and that is ok. Better he proposes us a tent with 2 beds, the guest tent. So we rest, and by 7 pm he invites us under his tent. We drink beers or juice or brandy, and chat. 2 associates join us. We eat a piece of meat. I go to bed after a while, and Martine stays late, speaking about the history of Zimbabwe.
We awake early and while we eat a basic breacckfast, the boss proposes us a lift till Gway river, he has a truck which is going there in the morning. After a slow ride, avoiding 75 km of boring road, we arrive in Gway river. It is a big village, with all the services, but as always it is looking like a group of basic houses and shops and dust and cahos. We continue and the heat is terrible. After 35 km of very hilly road by the forest, we stop in Crossroad , a few shops and cases, and go to the primary school. The headmaster agree to lodge us, and first he proposes we camp. But I insist, pretexting the rain coming, and we sleep in a classroom. In fact it is because he find it dirty that he didn’t offer it first.
We start early, and already it is hot. The road is hilly by the forest, with a very few fields and cases. We meet a cyclist who comes from Namibia. In fact he startedd 8 months ago in South Africa. He turns to Namibia, which he cycle from South to North, and from West to Est till Chobe park near Kasane. He stops 3 months in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, to make an art work with the art school university, decorating 3 rooms and meeting artists. He has a project along his journey in Africa, http://www.the-nala-project.com, mixing art and the music of the group Sade. Then we stop for lunch in Hwange, which is a mining city. The city was built by the whites, as a garden city for us, and poor townships for the employees, blacks. So the main street keeps his beautiful aspect. First the town isn’t along the main road, but by a little apart by a back road with a gate. Then along the street are all the official buildings, in stones or bricks, welldone and with some architecture. trees are planted in the middle, and on each side of the street. When we arrive at the shops, there is a place with a garden, well nowdays it is mostly a parking. Presently there no whites anymore, only blacks, but yet everything is well maintained, it is the first time I see a nice little town since Swaziland. Bulawayo gets too a lot of greens and trees, but the center is not maintained. The heat is terrible and I feel seek, problems in my stomac. So we get out the town by 2 pm, we cross a trail with lot of black dust, coal mines, and 5 km after Hwange we stop on right in the first suburb, which looks to have a primary school. We fortunatly find it, and a teacher, after talking with us under trees for a while, auutorize us to sleep in a classroom. I notice all the children eat green mangoes which grow on a lot of trees. They eat them mow, without waiting they turn yellow and sweet. I suppose they miss a lot vitamins in the traditional alimentation, and fruits and vegetables are scare and too expensive to be in the diet. So they eat all what they can, and quickly, as if they wait till they become sweet, someone else would have eat them. Good food and complete meals are luxury here.
We awake early and move in the heat. We continue by the hilly road, with very long up and down. We see very poor farms, exactly the traditional old way of living, with the case on legs to keep the seeds, and a small group of cases around. All around are high hills with forest and small bush. We see a very few lanes of shops. We stop in front the airport in one lane of shops for lunch. Martine asks and discovers a primary school very neighbour, where we ask for hospitality. The headmaster receives us and we talk for a while seated under the mangoes. She explains that a few years before the children had to go to school walking 10 km away, so they started school at 9 years old and they arrived at the school tired and hungry. So she decide to build the primary school where we are. She asks help and money at the hotels and tourists around. They start with tents, then cases in mud, and now they have 3 building, one for the primary, one for the college, and one for lodging the pupils who live far and stay all week at school. Yet it miss half of the classrooms, so half of the day studing is outside, in the courtyard. Also 80% of the pupils dont have money enough to pay the school, 60$ by year, but they can come and study anyway. The headmaster continues to ask help to tourists and hotels and anyone. After a long chat, the rain comes and we stay in a classroom. We take a shower in a bucket, like every day.
In the morning, before the class, when most of the children are already here, I play some songs with the mandolin, and Martine play some flute. Then we move to Vicyoria falls. We eat a take away at the supermarket and do some shopping, and we go to the home of Fred and Alfreda, the parents of David family, who lodged us in Bulawayo. We stay four days here. Fred and Alfreda make all that we feel very comfortavble and welcome. Victoria falls is just a tourist town, with tourist shops and lodges and restaurants, internet and 2 supermarkets. We go to see the falls, which are very impressive, all a lane of 1 km about of water falls in a canyon 100 m deep. In fact the Zambeze river, very large, falld suddenly in a crack made when the lave dried, crack which is 100m deep and 60 km long, and looks like a knife cut in the land. Fred drives us mornings and afternoons at view points, excursions near the falls, safari tours. And Martine has very long chats with them. Me it was hard to understand and follow the talks, so I dismiss after a while. One afternoon we go to relax along the Zambeze river in a wild part. Martine hears some cracks and sees an elephant. She runs behind to see him better and snaps some fotos. I follow her with a careful distance. Suddenly the elefant turns, faces her, opens his ears and trumpets twice. we run away. And the elefant continues his walk away. The fence of concrete of the houses in the district of Fred home, district which is in the neiboiring of the town, close to the bush, are all with demolished parts, made by elefants crossing them to visit the gardens and courtyards.