I just realized this is my first blog post in 2021. Three months in. Definitely goes to show how this strange world we’re living in these days really messes with our sense of time. Days, weeks, months of being locked down, not seeing people, keeping to ourselves has a way of distorting how fast those days, weeks, months are passing. Three months ago, we were getting ready for Christmas... but it feels like it was just a few days ago. Three months from today, we’ll be touching down in Portland for first time in two years… and I know those three months will pass by just as quickly. So – better start covering some ground and make sure we take in as much of Zim as we can while we still have time!
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| A flame lily - the national flower - on our New Year's Day hike at Mukuvisi Woodlands. |
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| Inauguration Day on the veranda. |
We’re still technically on “lockdown” here. Borders are open and there are flights coming and going from the airport, but lots of businesses are closed and you need a negative COVID test to leave the country and return. Seems like too much work. So we’ve just been sticking close to home. We spent New Year’s Day doing a hike in a local park about 20 minutes from the house. To mark this historic inauguration, we busted out some of our unused 4th of July decorations and had a few folks over to watch the event on TV. And for our “R&R” vacation, we did a road trip around Zim. Folks serving in “hardship posts” generally get one (or more) R&R during the course of a tour in which the U.S. government (and all you thoughtful and generous taxpayers) give us a plane ticket to get out of the country. The idea is to give us a change of scenery where we can get a bit of respite from the hassles of living in more challenging places. Alas, I thought the ordeal of chasing down COVID tests and braving crowded airports did not seem like my idea of an “R&R” – so we opted for a 3-week road trip instead.
We spent the weekends between our road trips back at the house. Croquet in the side yard, anyone? 
Or a dip in the pool? Not a bad place to have to endure a year-long pandemic lockdown.
First stop… Hwange National Park in the western part of the country near the Botswana border. We’d visited Hwange in July last year when we were still deep in the throes of a long-term drought. In the intervening months, we’ve managed to get a lot of rain. It started raining in November and kept raining almost daily (at least a passing shower) until just the last couple of weeks. So on this visit to Hwange, everything was green and lush. Whereas in July, all manner of animals crowded around the few-and-far between waterholes, this time there was water – and tall grasses – everywhere. Made for decidedly more difficult mammal viewing… but the variety of birds put on quite a show.
Over yonder! Elephants! 
The grey crowned crane. Part bird, part showgirl. 
Carmine bee eater. Or cotton candy on a stick. 
Racket-tailed rollers. 
All sorts of antelope and buffalo passed by the lodge - and these 3 elephants. 
Not sure if this trunk move is the equivalent of waving hello or flipping the bird. 
Kudu. One of my favorite antelopes. 
Lilac breasted roller. 
The aptly named knob billed duck.
A quick stop back home in Harare to do laundry and then back on the road to… Lake Kariba on the northern border with Zambia. This was our first trip to Kariba, and it honestly hadn’t been something that was lighting a fire under me to visit. It’s basically a giant reservoir on the Zambezi River and a source of hydropower for Zimbabwe (when there’s water in the lake and the power plant is working). The drought had left water levels at their lowest point in years when we arrived in Zim in 2019, and I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about making a 5-hour trip to see a dry lake bed. But, again, the rains have brought up the water levels, and the floodplain surrounding the lake was lush and green and teeming with elephants and antelope. We stayed at a lodge right on the lake and had a wonderful guide who took us out for game drives and sundowners on the lake, and it was a magical trip. The power of low expectations – you can find amazing experiences where you least expect them.
That's just me hanging out with an elephant. 
Did I mention the lodge had a pool? 
This tortoise added some variety to the usual safari sightings. 
This was one of several pretty spectacular sunsets in Kariba. 
Just sit right back an you'll hear a tale. A three hour tour... 
Another awesome sunset... and moonrise. 
Elephants... EVERYWHERE! 
The elephants at Kariba are smaller than the ones in Hwange... but their tusks are enormous. 
The very rare flying impala. 
These were the hugest herds of impala we've seen. Clearly, lions have not discovered this treasure trove yet. 
Oh, the elephants and impala can be friends. 
Check out the little guy. 
A quintessential photo of Africa.
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| Showing us their best side. |
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| More littles. |
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| These dead trees are still there from when the dam was built and the basin flooded in 1960. |
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| And this is why there's no swimming in the lake. |
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| These African darters use the tree snags for their nesting colonies. |
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| "Everyone in!" |
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| Kariba was definitely more picturesque than I thought it would be. |
Back to Harare to load up the car with groceries (and do another load of laundry) for our last leg… to Vumba in the eastern highlands on the border with Mozambique. We’d visited Vumba in July 2019 as our first trip out of Harare when we first arrived. The eastern highlands are some of my favorite scenery in the country. Rolling hills, pine trees, lovely vistas. We stayed at an Airbnb and spent lazy days on the veranda, enjoying the view, reading, playing games. We took a hike one day to a pretty waterfall along a hill crest with stunning views. The trail went through a mango orchard, along a stream, and through woodland forest. My happy place.
Hiking through the woodlands. 
Our reading, games, crosswords, napping spot for the week. 
On the road in the eastern highlands. That over yonder is Mozambique.
Now the countdown is on. Three
months to go… and it will go fast. We’re
starting to organize the myriad logistics involved in moving us – and our stuff
– back to DC (temporarily) and then on to Indonesia. And, of course, we’re still working at our hectic,
regular jobs in the midst of it all. We
have one more trip planned over the long Easter weekend to see one more part of
Zim that we have yet to visit. We’re
definitely going to make the most of the little remaining time we have left.
