Wednesday, January 27th - Matobo HIlls, Zimbabwe

This morning we got to sleep in and it was my turn to have a room of my own so that was wonderful.  However, I woke up at 6:10 anyway but did manage to stay in bed until 7:00.  I later found out that the other guys slept in until 7 so I would have been just fine sharing.

Breakfast was at 8 and then at 9 we left for our bush walk.  We all went, even though it was optional and it was good to be out of the bus and actually moving for a change.  We started off on just some sandy grassy ground and then ended up climbing over some rocks and over fences and under branches and vines, all the time  avoiding the plants which we needed to avoid as they are poisonous, had thorns or some other reason.  I think I was the only one who managed to fall but it was a nice gentle fall into the twisting vine branches that we were trying to go through so no damage done and lots of helping hands to get me up. 

The caves were really interesting.  The first one had many paintings in it and they were over 2,000 years old.  The bushmeat of Africa were from the Bantu tribe in the north and originally went to South Africa.  Then a smaller group of them came back up north a ways and some settled in this area.  They were bush men, hunting animals and living off the meat and the plants that they found.  Some of the paintings were very clear and well preserved while others were rather faded.  There pictures of people and animals mainly and most were simple stick figures but they were quite identifiable.  The paintings seemed more advanced than paintings I've seen in other locations in that the stick figures had more detail and depth, which may mean that I shouldn't be calling them stick figures.  The hunters had bows and arrows and spears.  Others carried bundles on their heads on their backs or in their arms.  You could easily see giraffe, rhino and a few others.  Some of the rest were debatable, but that had as much to do with the fact that I don't know all the animals and their shapes and horns as well as I should.

The second cave had one collage of animal pictures that were very large.  That was at the entrance.  Back further in the cave were pieces of pottery.  No full containers have been found.  There was also a lot of wood in the cave, supposedly their fire source, and a small mud kiln for firing the pottery and showing the hole at the bottom where the wood was put in.  The view of the hills from the big stone in front of the cave was quite spectacular.  From up above everything looks green even though it may be really dry.  And the rock formations are amazing.  There are huge boulders that seem to be suspended by pure magic on top of other boulders..  And they have stayed that way for thousands of years!

When we got back to the lodge I sat outside and downloaded my pictures to my iPad as the maid finished cleaning my room (a cleaning that probably wasn't needed for just a two-night stay).  I then changed into something cool and comfortable as we had several hours off to relax and enjoy the area.  I did a bit of laundry and then moved to the bar area as that was the only place you could get internet.  About half the group was outside the bar on their electronic devices when I got there.  The Internet was slow, probably because of so many users, but at least it worked.

At 3:30 we went for a 4x4 drive into Matobo National Park for a rhino walk.  We had two vehicles, both open in the back where we sat so we could stand up if something was spotted and the vehicle stopped.  After driving to the park gate and paying our entrance fees, the drivers/guides talked to the park officials to find out where the rhinos had last been spotted.  There were two locations so we then drove off to the first one.  The one guide ran on ahead to scout out the area and we slowly walked through the bush in the same direction.  Eventually he came back and said it looked like the rhinos had moved on so we decided to try the second spot.  However, the walk was not totally wasted as we did see other animals and we learned more about the trees and plants in the area.  We saw a couple wildebeest for a few minutes and some zebras way in the distance.  We also saw some Impala grazing but then something, probably us, scared them and they took of running.  As they ran past the one opening in the trees it was amazing to see just how many of them there were.  It seemed like hundreds and they were really running and jumping over things.  

We drove quite a ways to our second spot and it was already 5:30 before we started that trek.  That's when we were supposed to be finished and back at the lodge.  We went to a totally different part of the park and drove very slowly down some very narrow trails to get to our destination.  Eventually the vehicle in front stopped and everyone seemed to be looking to the left.  There were three rhinos in the bushes apparently but I couldn't see them.  Because rhinos have poor eye sight but a strong sense of smell, we climbed up a hill on the side identified by the guides to get a better view.  For a while I still couldn't see them but then they started moving towards us and coming out of the thicker bushes.  There was a female rhino and her baby - not a really young one but still smaller than its mom.  There was also a male who seemed to keep his distance.  The guides said that could be dad or it could just be another male checking out the situation.  At one point the little rhino went nose to nose with the big male rhino and I thought that was really cute.  But then there was a bit of huffing and grunting from both parties and the big male actually started retreating.  Apparently he didn't want this male getting too close to his mom.  They move very slowly so once they were in our view we had some fantastic viewing and some good photos.  Eventually though, the guides said we had to go because it was getting so late so we left the rhinos behind, walked back to the vehicles and piled in for a fast drive out of the park as the gates were already closed and we didn't want to get stuck on the inside.  One of the guides did phone ahead to make sure someone would still be there to let us out and we were then back on the main road heading to the lodge.  

Now by main road I should clarify that it's a wide area but only the centre single lane is actually paved.  Many of the roads in Zimbabwe are that way.  When you are the only vehicle on the road, which happens a lot as there isn't much traffic, you get to use all of the pavement.  When you meet another car coming from the opposite direction or when someone behind you wants to pass and get by, you move over and drive with one set of wheels on the gravel and one set on the pavement.  The other guy does that as well, hopefully on the other side of the pavement, and teh system seems to work quite well.  On our drive back to the lodge there was a lot of traffic and much of it was big trucks.  Sitting in the back of an open vehicle with a semi barrelling down at you is an interesting sensation.  However, everyone seems to know the system and it works well so we made it.  Of course by this time it is dark but I had to keep my sun glasses on because of the wind and the grit and sand in it.  The bonus was that we were treated to a very nice sunset on the way back.

Our drive had taken way longer than anticipated and we didn't get back to the lodge until 7:30, which was supposed to be dinner time so we pushed that back until 8 so we could have a couple minutes to clean up.  In my case, I had to get my contacts out because they were so full of grit that my eyes were stinging and I was crying or at least tearing up for most of the trip back.  Anyway, dinner was delicious.  We had roast beef that was incredibly tender, roast potatoes, gravy, carrots and beans for vegetables, tomato soup as a starter and banana custard cake for dessert.  All of it was great.  After dinner I did some e-mail and posted a few Facebook items and then it was time for bed.