CatchUp Post

Day 8 – Bumi Hills







Woke up early today, piled into 2 cars and headed north to Charles Prince Airport where we met Solly and Lindsay, our charter pilots for the 2 planes we took to Bumi Hills on the shores of Lake Kariba about an hour and half flight from Harare. Mom, Dad, Nina, Simon and Colette left first with Solly, while Paul, Jan and I flew behind them in a smaller, slower plane. We flew over Darwindale dam, not far from Jennifer’s old farm, Woodrow. We landed on a gravel airstrip just behind the hotel and were greeted by a herd of elephants and impala. Bumi was stunning – very modern and comfortable. We had a relaxing afternoon poolside before catching a late afternoon boat ride to watch the sunset behind a dramatic storm cloud with shandies and g&t.






Day 9 – Bumi Hills






After sleeping in a bit, we all gathered for an amazing full English breakfast on the veranda overlooking Lake Kariba. We essentially had the resort to ourselves with the exception of a rather shy, and probably often startled, French couple. After some louning around the pool, and still more shandies, we all (yes, even Dad) piled into the boat and headed west to visit Jan’s cousin, Vickus, who runs a mapana fishery on the shores of the Lake. We had a great visit with him – he was thrilled to have company as he lives on the fishery alone while his wife and kids stay in Harare. He told us all about the overfishing, and unusually high water levels from the heavy rains of late. We then piled back into the boat and headed back to the resort. While cruising alone in some choppier waters than mom would’ve liked, we spotted a camp fire on the beach – turns out that was a surprise “bush dinner” Nina arranged. So, we beached the boat on the shore there and enjoyed still more sundowners along with some incredible Zim beef. An incredible meal to wrap up an incredible day.






Day 10 – Mana Pools






This morning we met caroline, Liam’s old boss and charter airline owner, at the airstrip and all piled into a little corporate-style plane for our quick trip over to Mana Pools. The Vardens, our safari guides, greeted us at the strip in Mana. We bid Paul and Jan farewell as they headed back to Harare, and then piled into the Land Cruiser to head to camp. We were joined by a great couple from Harare, and originally from the UK, Lachy and Mel. Lachy is a diplomat with the UK foreign service based in Harare. They were such a cool couple and were really cool with what many might’ve considered a disruption to a quiet weekend in the bush. They joined right into the group and were great fun. We arrived at the camp along the Zambezi River, had a tasty lunch under the Zambezi Fig tree, and then went for a bush walk hosted by James Varden, easily one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met. While we didn’t’ find our elusive lion, we saw wart hogs, zebra, loads of elephants and plenty of hippos. Wrapped the day with a great dinner and sundowners around the camp fire. And mom even braved the outdoor shower. Meanwhile, Colette and I plowed head on into our first real camping experience with our usual sense of humor and lots of giggling that kept even Lachy and Mel amused.






Day 11 – Mana Pools






Woke up with a baboon wakeup call and the sound of splashing hot water in our tent-side washbowl at 5:30. After some fire-brewed Zim coffee, Colette, Nina, Simon, Mel, Lachy and I headed down to the shores of the River and piled into canoes for a 4-hour river tour – complete with LOADS of hippos, egrets, eagles, buffalo, elephants and a Lochness-monster-sized monitor lizard that decided to pop its ugly head out of the water right next to me; for those of you who are familiar with my fear response, let’s just say it was consistent even in the bush… the ENTIRE group had a great laugh and the guide later on told me he thought I was going to jump out of the boat! Needless to say, that was NEVER an option. We arrived back in camp for brunch and I then spent the rest of the day lounging in my tent catching up on my magazine reading.






Day 12 – Mana Pools






After an invigorating early-morning bush walk with James, we all piled into the Land Cruiser and headed further west to the Konge camp, a truly hip 5-star tented camp alongside a gorgeous lagoon. The road to the camp traversed a very sandy wash where the road had been washed out by the recent heavy winter rains. After some strategic grading and shoveling, we managed to get both Janine’s Prado and the Land Cruiser across and then blasted through the Mopane forest and tse tse fly hell beore arriving at the Camp. After another bush walk, and several g&ts in the bush, we headed back to camp for hot showers, sundowers on the deck overlooking the lagoon, and then a drive out to an open vledt with palm trees and white sand for an hour of star-gazing and a champagne toast for my birthday.






Day 13 – Mana Pools






We arrived a bit late at Mana Pools airstrip this morning to catch what we thought would be both a charter flight, as well as Simon’s plane, for our trip back into Harare. Unfortunately, we arrived to find only one plane, the charter one, as Simon’s plane hadn’t yet been cleared for flight following its annual inspection and service. So, we sent mom, dad and Colette back to Harare while Nina, Simon and I stayed behind on the airstrip to await the plane’s return. As luck would have it, the camp hadn’t packed a “cooler box” on the Land Cruiser, so we were without water and food. So, we had the driver take us to main camp where we filled the two small water bottles we had with us, along with a larger one the driver found somewhere in the truck. He then dropped Simon and Nina and me off at the airstrip hanger where we raided Colette’s bag (thank God we kept her bag behind) for energy bars and zip fiz for sustinence, along with her yoga mats for nap pads and eyebrow tweezers and eyelash curler for entertainment. We were truly rolling Zim style! I hear there are plans this evening for my birthday, though have no clue what they might be.