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It has been way too long since my last post! I have been busy with both work and play, and have much to share! I’m starting with the highlights from the “play” category, because of course! But also, writing is not an easy exercise for me, especially writing about myself, so I am really challenging myself with this blog. As my life in Zim has become busier, it has been hard for me to find the motivation to use my free time to write. But at the same time, I have been feeling guilty not recording all of my experiences! I don’t won’t to forget anything! So, I am starting with the lighter side of my experiences as a way to ease myself back into things.

Over the past month I have continued to go on hikes every weekend, with the exception of one due to professional responsibilities picking up (which I will discuss in another post). Of those hikes, there was one that was truly epic, which I detail below. Besides hiking, I also had the opportunity to go on a camping trip over the Easter weekend. There are so many highlights from that trip to share! Finally, last weekend, I participated in a trail running event called the Backyard Ultra, which was as brutal as it sounds! Read on for the details!

Epic Hike outside of Concession

I was invited to go on a hike on Sunday, 10 March, which was not organized by the Mountain Club of Zimbabwe (MCZ). It meant that I missed the official MCZ hike on Saturday, which I was a bit torn about. Given the fact that I am training for a 50 mile trail race in October, I need to do a long run every weekend (soon I will need to do a long run both days of the weekend!). Meaning I don’t have time to do a hike on Saturday and Sunday – one day has to be a long run. After much deliberation, I decided to go with the unofficial hike, and boy am I glad I did!

In retrospect, I don’t know why I was torn. Of course you should always go with the personal invite! The invitation came from my friend Kari, another member of MCZ that I had met on a previous hike. She and another MCZ member, Mitch, organized this exclusive hike. The small group consisted of just 6 hikers: me, Kari and her boyfriend, Mitch and his sister, and another MCZ member. I felt so honored to be included on the guest list!

The location of the hike was the furthest outside of Harare I had gone yet, near a town called Concession. It was north of the city, as many of the hikes have tended to be, but it was about a 2 hour drive. Given the distance, I was picked up very early at 5:40am!

After driving on the main road out of Harare and past Mazowe for nearly 2 hours, we finally turned off onto a dirt road that did not appear to be used very frequently, and we found ourselves driving through very tall grass. Kari, who drove, was extremely nervous that she was going to damage her car, which was not a 4×4 car nor did it have particularly high clearance. But she did a great job navigating her car through the grass and thankfully the path was in pretty good condition. Also, we didn’t have far to go to park the cars and start hiking.

As an aside, Kari has a generally nervous personality. To me she seems overly self-conscious and quite high-strung about little things. She is cognizant of these traits in herself, and at one point during our drive to the hike, Kari made the comment that I am the most calm person she knows! I was a bit struck by that because I don’t consider myself overly calm. It made me realize that I always try to outwardly convey a calm demeanor, even though inwardly it is often the exact opposite! I over analyze, worry about obscure potential hazards, and obsess over how people perceive me. I do however think that these tendencies have decreased during my time in Zimbabwe (as well as my time hiking the Pacific Crest Trail last summer), so I appreciated Kari prompting me to make that realization. Her boyfriend also made a revealing comment that helped me better understand him and Kari. He simply pointed out the obvious that unlike Kari and him I am not a white Zimbabwean, implying that the simple fact of being a white Zimbabwean means a bit of a tendency to be high-strung. In thinking about what I have learned from other white Zimbabweans, I took this to mean that their experiences over the last 44 years since the country gained independence have led to their generally nervous personality.

OK, enough personal reflection. Let me talk about the hike! After leaving the cars, we made our way to a small, but steadily flowing stream. We followed the river upstream and uphill, rock-hopping our way over mini-waterfalls. The views along the way were magnificent. Also, there were some very interesting rock formations along the river that I had not seen on other hikes. This different rock was apparently basalt rock and it was black and very angular. At one point, I questioned whether the rocks were naturally occurring because the sides were so straight.

I was also wondering if the rocks were naturally shaped because of the presence of black plastic tubing running up the river. These pipes were laid by the farmers in the area for irrigation. Once we reached the top of our first climb, we walked through one of the farms. The primary crop being grown in this area was tobacco and we passed a large structure wrapped in plastic that was constructed to dry out the tobacco leaves after being harvested.

After leaving the tobacco farm, we returned to the river, which had widened at this point along the level terrain. After hiking a bit, we came to a lovely swimming pool. Everyone in the group, except for me, had a brought a swimsuit (called a swimming costume here, an effect of once being a British colony) and jumped into the pool. It was still fairly early so it wasn’t that hot and we had not hiked very much, so I was content to simply put my feet in the water while the others swam.

After the brief swim, we started hiking in earnest. After a brief, but steep ascent we walked through another tobacco farm and past a rural homestead. We could see our target in the distance, which required a steep climb over very hot and exposed rock! I have to say, hiking in Zimbabwe is helping me manage my fear of heights! The 360 degree views from the top certainly made the climb worth it.

A little below the summit of the mountain was a small patch of densely growing trees, where we stopped to enjoy lunch. Like an oasis in a desert, this mini forest provided much needed respite from the hot sun during the heat of midday. We rested for almost an hour feasting on the buffet of treats that Mitch had hauled up the mountain in his pack. I was treated to a cup of the most delicious tea, complete with milk, that Mitch had brewed with lemongrass. He also shared sandwiches made with delicious seed bread and fresh veggies. But best of all were the two sweet treats Mitch offered: carrot cake (complete with cream cheese frosting!!!) and a passion fruit slushie that was still quite frozen! These treats completed the oasis-like feel and effects of our lunch in the mini forest.

Upon leaving the forest, it felt like we had traveled a great distance in time or space in an instant. Over the hour, the heat of the day had intensified and we had to descend the mountain again over hot and exposed rock, but at least we were going down and not working as hard. We retraced our path back to the river and stopped at swimming pool again on our way back. This time, despite the lack of a swimsuit, I could not resist the call of the others and jumped in. The water was so cool that I could not stay in more than 5-10 minutes before becoming quite chilled. But that brief soak did wonders to refresh soul and body!

After our final swim, we made our way back to the cars on a path that paralleled the river, so no more rock-hopping. This route took us through more tobacco fields and homesteads, including the shell of a home abandoned for some reason.

Once back at the cars, Mitch had yet more treats to share with the group. I enjoyed another passion fruit slushie as well as a well-deserved Zimbabwean beer!

We then loaded back into the cars and made the long trek back to Harare. I didn’t get back home till after 6pm, over 12 hours after leaving the flat that morning. It was truly an epic day.

Camping Trip to Matobo National Park

The Mountain Club of Zimbabwe organizes a few events throughout the year in addition to the weekly weekend hikes. One of these events includes a camping trip. This year, the camping trip was planned for over the Easter weekend, which is treated as a national holiday in Zimbabwe. This meant that classes at HIT were cancelled on Good Friday and Dingus Day (i.e., the Monday after Easter Sunday). Thus, I was able to go on the MCZ camping trip!

Our destination was Matobo National Park, which is about an hour drive south of the city of Bulawayo. Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, located in a region of the country called Matabeleland home to the Ndebele people, the other majority ethnic group in Zimbabwe. Harare is in Mashonaland, home to the Shona people. The biggest difference between Bulawayo and Harare is the cleanliness: Bulawayo is much cleaner. The second biggest difference is the density of billboards: Harare is littered with them, whereas Bulawayo has very few. These are my superficial comparisons of the two cities, given my only experience with Bulawayo was views from the car as we drove through.

It takes about 6 hours to drive to Bulawayo from Harare, so we left early Friday morning to hopefully beat any holiday traffic. I got a lift from Bernice, a seasoned member of the Mountain Club, who drove the whole way there and back! While I was willing to drive, her car was a manual, which I do know how to operate, but it has been quite some time and I was wary of my ability to recall how with the added challenge of the stick shift being on the opposite side than I am used to. Being right-handed, I don’t know how well I would do operating the stick shift with my left hand. Thankfully, the traffic on Friday was not too bad and just my willingness to take over in the event that Bernice tired was enough reassurance that she needed to power through!

We camped at a privately run campsite just outside the borders of the national park, at a property called the Farmhouse. The site was amazing, with stunning views and almost as importantly clean and well-maintained facilities. I was stunned by how clean the bathrooms were (referred to as ablutions, here). I was also impressed by the availability of hot water for the showers, an absolute luxury while camping. The hot water was provided by a contraption referred to as a “donkey” system.

When Bernice and I arrived at the campground, we chose our campsite based on the availability of shade. Arriving around 2pm, we felt the heat and opted to prioritize shade over view. This meant that we set up our tents next to the bathrooms as that was the only place we could find level ground with ample shade. So our view was of the ablutions, not ideal. However, it actually turned out to be a fortuitous choice because the weather over night was incredibly windy, and many of the other campers complained of issues with their tents being blown over, while we were protected in our site behind the bathrooms!

You might be wondering, and rightly so, where I procured the gear to camp. Did I bring it from home? Did I buy it in Harare? No on both accounts! All of the gear was borrowed from MCZ members! One member in particular, Patricia, supplied me with the majority of my gear, including the tent, not one but two sleeping bags, a camp stove and fuel, a cook set and mess kit, a camp chair, an electric lantern, and a plastic tote to keep everything together and serve as a makeshift table! I was also able to borrow a sleeping mattress and pad from another member. Through their generosity I camped quite comfortably for the three nights we stayed at the Farmhouse.

We spent both Saturday and Sunday hiking in the national park. The weather on both days was absolutely perfect for hiking: overcast in the morning into early afternoon, and then sunny the later half of the day, after most of the hard hiking was done. On Saturday, we could not get to the mountain that the organizers were planning to hike, so we settled for a smaller hill and shorter route, that still ended up offering wonderful views. Following the short hike, the big group of 25 split up into smaller groups and folks went off to enjoy separate activities. My group spent the first half of the afternoon at the Matobo Hills Lodge bar, which offered amazing views and cold drinks! After our refreshment, we visited World’s View, offering more breathtaking views of the landscape, and also the site of Cecil Rhodes’ grave, which was covered in rainbow skinks!

After World’s View, we went to a yet another awesome viewpoint, which was my favorite of the entire weekend. It was here that I was able to get up close to the giant balancing rocks that the area of Matobos is known for.

Besides the excellent campground, the other amazing feature of the Farmhouse was the wildlife on the property. There were giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, warthogs, and many other game. The owners set up feeding stations around the property that they would stock around 4-5pm every day, drawing the game in for visitors to observe. When returning to the campsite on Saturday, I was dropped off in the vicinity of one of the feeding stations where I was rewarded with an up close and personal viewing of a mother giraffe and calf eating, while wildebeest and warthogs grazed in the field nearby. Oh, and on the walk from the car to the feeding station, a herd of zebra walked by!

On Sunday, we climbed a proper mountain to make up for the change of plans on Saturday. Again, I found myself hiking up rock faces that a few short months ago I never would have considered doing!

After the hike, we returned to camp for a leisurely afternoon playing cards, reading books, or napping. Before dinner, I was fortunate enough to join a group on their game drive through a game reserve neighboring the national park. Apparently, there are both black and white rhino in the national park and game reserve. The group I joined for the game drive on Sunday had also been to the reserve on Saturday and had one of the rangers accompany them as he thought he knew where some rhino were located. Unfortunately, the ranger abandoned the group to look for the rhino away from the road. After taking a very long time, he returned to the group to say he found the rhino, but by that time the sun was setting and the reserve was closed, so they had to leave. Thus, on Sunday, the group was determined to see the rhino. Sadly, after driving around the reserve for almost 2 hours, we were unsuccessful in spotting any rhino. However, we did see some giraffe, hippos, and the highlight, klipspringers, which is a rock-climbing antelope. The klipspringer is actually the mascot of the Mountain Club, so it was fate that we saw them!

Monday morning, Bernice and I hit the road around 8:30am for our return to Harare. There was certainly more traffic on our return trip, but Bernice again powered through and drove the whole way.

Backyard Ultra at Gosho Park

Finally, I want to wrap up this epic post with the Backyard Ultra I participated in on Saturday, 6 April. This was my first solo expedition out of the Harare city limits, powered by my newly acquired car (more on that in a later post). The event was held at Gosho Park, a game park in the town of Marondera, located about 70 km southeast of Harare. The event consisted of running a 6.7 km loop around the park every hour on the hour until you couldn’t run anymore! I was hoping to run 4 loops, but ended up tapping out after 3.

During my first loop, I did not take personal responsibility for making sure to follow the well-marked course and instead simply followed the men running in front of me. Unfortunately, those men were distracted by their conversation and we ended up getting lost. So we ran an extra 2 km, eating into our rest time on the first loop. Meaning that I had about 3 minutes after completing the first loop before starting the second. This combined with the intense heat and sun meant I ended up getting dehydrated very quickly and wasn’t able to take in electrolytes fast enough to combat the dehydration. By the end of the third loop, I was feeling pretty lightheaded and even though I probably could have limped through a fourth loop, I decided not to risk it, especially given the fact that I needed to still drive back to Harare!

On the way back, I had to wait about 20 minutes at the toll gate because of the new currency introduced on Friday. The new currency is called Zimbabwe Gold, or ZiG for short. There was little to no warning that a new currency was being introduced, so the payment systems at the toll gate were having issues. Essentially, you could not pay the toll using the previous currency and people’s bank cards weren’t working, since they hadn’t been converted yet. The only way to pay was to use USD. I could do a whole post about the economy in Zimbabwe. But I just wanted to add this little anecdote as an insight into the typical day in the life of a Zimbabwean. In my next post, I will share more about what it has been like working and living in Harare.