life, the universe, and donna

Zimbabwe Travelogue Index

Aug 31st – Morning

I was given the option of starting a day early (my placement officially started September 1st) or resting all day. Eager to get going, 6:30 found me at the fire pit with everyone ready to go on a bird walk. We saw one. Huh. But we did see a fair amount of buffalo poop and trees that had been knocked down by elephants. Both would soon become a common sight, but it was exciting & new to me at the time.

After breakfast, we went into Dete village to put a roof on the new Red Cross building. So, we donned our work gloves and off we went.

Dete is an interesting village, with wide dirt streets and a combination of huts & houses, carefully cared for with small vegetable gardens in front. The fences are pretty simple — roughly even sticks in the ground with wire running across them. The red cross was surrounded by a high chainlink fence with barbed wire.

The first thing we did when we arrived was cover our mouths & noses with scarves, as the roofing material is made with asbestos. We joked about how our mothers would have fits if they knew — most of us looked forward to telling them.

Our work team consisted of 5 volunteers, Kailos our guide, and the local carpenter. We started working, lifting these bloody heavy pieces of corrugated asbestos up onto the existing framework.

One piece had four gigantic wolf spiders living happily under it. I was not impressed. The little bastards were happy to stay there as we moved it into position, and wound up above our heads all day. Gah. I’m happy to say that I didn’t totally freak out… only partially.

After getting about 6 of the blasted roof pieces up, we realized a bit of a problem with the original framework — it was sagging badly at one of the joints. Shit. After much conferring, we decided it would have to come down. So, we then undid all of our hard work. When we left, it was exactly how it had been to start. I’ve never worked so hard to accomplish so little.

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In my little hut, away from the main lodge (I stayed here for the first few days, then moved into “Drogo” with Susan and Kim) I have an outdoor shower. A nearby sign reads, “Run hot water for six minutes for it to reach you’re (sic) location.” It’s a thoroughly awesome shower.

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Aug 31st, Evening – Ivory Lodge

I should evidently have been one of the big game hunters — I appear to be lucky when it comes to the Big 5. I’m on day 2, and I’ve already seen 4 of the big 5. Yesterday were buffalo, today were elephants galore, a lone lioness, and a pair of rhinos. Grab me a leopard, and I think I can just go home already.

Last night, we went to the newly opened Painted Dog Conservatory, an organization dedicated to education about the Painted Dog, and how humans are wiping them out. It was an incredible display, informative and fun all around. Local scientific/educational displays could learn a thing or two. From the ground up, the building was created with conservation in mind — the framework even includes snarewire to actually build the main building.

After looking at the main display, we walked almost a km along a slightly rickety raised walkway to the kids camp, where they have 4 day “field trips” of various schools (any school kid in grade 5 or 6 welcome) to teach them about Painted Dogs. We got a tour of the camp, where the kids sleep, and even the separate (but outdoor) bathrooms & shower facilities. It’s incredibly well thought out, and includes a portion of the education via computers.

After all of that fun and games (and another km walk back to the main lodge) we headed down the road to Ivory Lodge, one of the few places nearby to still have some alcohol available. And alcohol they had… albeit with some limited choice. Between a few of us, we finished off the last of their available rum, and I think Laura & Kirsty put a pretty good dent in their available vodka too. Ivory Lodge is beautiful. The owner, Cedric, was the sort of person who should be running a place like this. Personable and funny, but friendly and generous as well. For one, he didn’t turn tail and run at our ragtag group, mostly filled with giggly girls in their early 20s.

We got our drinks, and sat outside on the patio chatting. This particular patio overlooks a water pan. Well, that’s handy. Even then, it was a surprise to most when a lone lioness came down to drink. We immediately headed down to the hide for a closer look. She was beautiful. Through the binoculars, we could see her sitting patiently for almost 45 minutes to make sure it was clear — while a few baboons nearby shrieked and hollered warning all the other baboons away. Eventually, she went down to drink, then vanished as quietly as she’d appeared.

And once the lion was gone, it opened right up — soon, a pack of 5 or so male elephants showed up, a little crew of bachelors all looking for some ladies. One of them was obviously the “alpha”, telling off the others while he got his drink first. They came up quite close to the lodge, and from the hide we were able to take some excellent pictures. The size of these things is freaking amazing. And while we were busy with the elephants, we noticed a pair of rhinos on the other side of the pan having a drink from there.

Eventually, we headed home, me & Kirsty in the back of the truck — she was drunk enough that I basically held onto her to make sure she didn’t fall out of the truck (or freeze in the process, since her jumper had gone home without her a few hours earlier with Kailos, Kim & Susan), with her (open) bottle of wine between my legs to keep it from falling over. Safety doesn’t quite mean the same thing here as it does at home. Here, it’s more about making sure you have a rifle available if you’re wandering out where elephants may roam…

On the way home, we found another elephant, and then a pack of zebras crossing the road further down. With our music blaring and headlights flashing, we chased them off the road quickly enough.

It’s the next morning that I’m writing this, and I’m a touch hungover, although nothing that a good breakfast won’t cure (and all of our breakfasts have been amazing). Evidently 3 rum & cokes and a gin & tonic is a bit more than this girl can handle… although I don’t envy the headache on Laura & Kirsty who had far more vodka than I ever went near.

(More pictures here, and a video of elephants drinking here.)