RETURN TO CAPE TOWN

In March 2020, just before COVID shut everything down, we spent a long weekend in Cape Town seeing the sights and catching up with some friends who were passing through.  It was our second visit to Cape Town, and we didn’t expect it might be our last.  But then the pandemic hit and we were confined within Zimbabwe’s borders for last 15 months.  So presented with one final week of vacation, and with travel outside Zimbabwe a bit more open, we opted to return to Cape Town as our last adventure before our time in southern Africa ends.

In our first two trips, we’d covered the basics – Hiked Table Mountain?  Check.  Toured Robben Island?  Yep.  Tasted wine in Franschhoek?  Done.  So this time, we decided to do something a bit different.  We started with a couple days checking out some new-to-us wineries in Stellenbosch and then headed further east to hike around the Elgin Valley. 

The views from the tasting rooms (or patios) in Stellenbosch did not disappoint.  This was our vista at Jordan.

Wine tasting in the time of COVID at Hidden Valley.

Fall colors abound at Thelema.

It's like looking at a painting at Delaire Graff.

The Elgin Valley is a cooler part of the region and home to some stellar pinot noirs.  Some friends in Zim gave us a tip about this “wine hike” that would include four days of hiking (anywhere from 6 to 11 miles a day).  We started early each morning with a drive to a trailhead – or would start right from the guest house where we stayed each night – to hike a different loop around Green Mountain.  We hiked to the summit on day one, and the other days we walked various routes around the mountain and through the “fynbos” – the shrubland around the cape that’s dominated by proteas, heather, and an immense variety of other unique plants.  We had an incredible guide point out interesting facts about the landscape to us and the two other couples that joined us for the duration.  And perhaps the best part - each day’s hike either ended at a winery or with a private tasting back at the guest house from one of the local vintners.  We earned our wine each day!

We had views like this from the trail for four days.  Amazing!

At the top of Green Mountain.  Our lunch spot on day one.

Even though we're coming into winter, so many plants were in bloom!

We hiked along and through some of the valley's vineyards too.

Winding our way through the fynbos.

On the trail.

One of the many cool plants we found along the way.

And another one.  There were some new birds for me too - orange-breasted sunbirds! - but I didn't manage a decent photo of them, so you get plants instead.  They don't move as fast.  Makes 'em much easier to photograph. 

The sky!  The mountains!  It's beautiful country.

We spent our last two days in Hermanus, a coastal town about an hour and a half east of Cape Town.  It’s winter here, so we didn’t venture far into the ocean, but it was refreshing to walk barefoot on the beach and hear the crashing waves after being landlocked for more than a year. 

The coastline along Hermanus is pretty spectacular.

A coastal trail runs along the waterfront in town.

Full moon and a clear night.

We did one last (very short) hike up to a lookout point above town.

We took the long way back to Cape Town and stopped in at one of our favorite wineries in Franschhoek before heading to the airport.  It was a beautiful way to say goodbye, for now, to one of our favorite cities.  And it was a fitting last hurrah to our time in southern Africa.

Not a bad view to accompany a glass of brut at Haute Cabriere.  So long, for now, Cape Town!

THE LAST ROAD TRIP

Our days in Zimbabwe are drawing to a close.  Time to start ticking off any last to-dos!  One of those was to visit Gonarezhou National Park in southern Zimbabwe.  It’s an 8+ hour trek from Harare, so we needed several days to be able to make the trip and have time to enjoy it.  Since Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays here, that long Easter weekend seemed to be an opportune time.  So we loaded up the car with all sorts of supplies and joined 6 friends to head to a self-catering camp for a few nights.

We got lots of rain here from January to March, so the park was green and lush, which made the views stunning… but the wildlife pretty hard to spot.  The Save (SAH-vay) River passes through the park, and the rains also meant the water levels were pretty high and the rapids and falls were paying off.  We hiked out to see the falls our first day, and they did not disappoint.

A view of the falls on the Save River.

We filled the rest of our days with some game drives and a trip out to see the “gorge” – a huge sandstone cliff along the river that is kind of the showcase of the park.  We also did our fair share of eating and drinking too… seems whenever we’ve gone on self-catered trips with friends, there has never been a shortage of either. 

A nyala - first one of these I'd seen in the wild.

A male nyala watching over his ladies (the females are the striped antelope in the foreground), along with impala behind him.

Mandatory elephant photo.

View of the gorge from our lunch spot.

The landscape in Gonarezhou NP was beautiful.

We spent the last evening with sundowners on the beach along the river.  The sunsets put on quite a show every night, and we had a great time watching our last one from the riverfront.

Getting ready to watch the sunset with the whole crew.

A lovely way to end the trip.

It proved to be a memorable trip since I managed to get bit by a tick that left me with African tick bite fever for a week or so.  Ten days of antibiotics cleared it up.  I’m sure my Portland friends will not be at all surprised that I managed to contract some weird ailment while I was here.  

Note: When hiking around checking out giant baobab trees, watch out for ticks.

This trip was also memorable since it will in all likelihood be our last in Zimbabwe.  With only seven weeks left here, we’re pretty much in countdown mode to get packed up, wrap up work, and organize lots of final details for our move (though we do have one last trip to Cape Town planned later this month).  While we may be done with road trips here in Zimbabwe, we’re looking forward to where the next road takes us.

22 MONTHS DOWN... 3 TO GO

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!

A flame lily - the national flower - on our New Year's Day hike at Mukuvisi Woodlands.

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 4^th 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.

Showing us their best side.

More littles.

These dead trees are still there from when the dam was built and the basin flooded in 1960.

And this is why there's no swimming in the lake.

These African darters use the tree snags for their nesting colonies.

"Everyone in!"

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.