Because of the erratic internet and then because my Mac was overheating (yup, I'll rub it in; it's not cold here!) I have missed out on the first few days in Harare and our visits to Antelope Park and Amalinda in The Matopos but am hoping to catch up whilst here in The Falls.
I am currently sitting on Helen's verandah in The Falls and enjoying tapping away and catching up. Penny meanwhile has gone off to conquer the Zambezi on a white water rafting trip - grade 5/6 rapids. She was pretty hesitant this morning setting off and I can understand her nervousness. I have been there. I first did the rafting with Sobek in 1982 on an exploratory trip of theirs to see if this could be a new tourism venture. I was one of the first five girls to do this along with Hazel from Air Zimbabwe, Fleur and Margaret from UTC and Sue (?) from Vic Falls Hotel. The boys (!) included Rob Francis, Steve Perry and Nigel Bichard. At that time we had the Grey Scouts on horseback checking out for mines and John the pioneer oarsman had to stop at every rapid and check it out. It was pretty scary. I did it again in the nineties with a group of about a dozen of us from work. This time it was far more sophisticated but equally as exciting, exhilarating and scary. Boots and Laura and Vicky did it in 2000 and Leanne and Sarah did it in 1996 when they came over to visit us. I'm looking forward to seeing Penny's reaction when she returns in a couple of hours. Hoping that it's been amazing.
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Penny setting off for her white water rafting adventure this morning
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Going back to the first few days in Harare now seem pretty tame. Our econet sim cards were a failure as we could not activate our iPhones without contacting the UK service providers; a bit of nightmare we decided to avoid. Al lent Penny a phone of his so we have one Zim number between us.
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| Garden at the Flat |
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View from Les' bedroom where
we have coffee in the morning |
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| Garden |
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| St George's - near staff housing |
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| Near barrier at Saints |
After seeing Helen in Borrowdale we wandered through Sam Levy's Village and had a coffee at the cafe at the end. All in all not much has changed but I can't get over how much stuff there is for sale. I went with Alastair to Avondale to get something for Penny and I for supper and couldn't believe that there is marmite for sale. Penny and I were pretty tired so we opted for an early night.
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| Marmite on sale - WHATTTTTT! |
I am currently sitting on Helen's verandah in The Falls and enjoying tapping away and catching up. Penny meanwhile has gone off to conquer the Zambezi on a white water rafting trip - grade 5/6 rapids. She was pretty hesitant this morning setting off and I can understand her nervousness. I have been there. I first did the rafting with Sobek in 1982 on an exploratory trip of theirs to see if this could be a new tourism venture. I was one of the first five girls to do this along with Hazel from Air Zimbabwe, Fleur and Margaret from UTC and Sue (?) from Vic Falls Hotel. The boys (!) included Rob Francis, Steve Perry and Nigel Bichard. At that time we had the Grey Scouts on horseback checking out for mines and John the pioneer oarsman had to stop at every rapid and check it out. It was pretty scary. I did it again in the nineties with a group of about a dozen of us from work. This time it was far more sophisticated but equally as exciting, exhilarating and scary. Boots and Laura and Vicky did it in 2000 and Leanne and Sarah did it in 1996 when they came over to visit us. I'm looking forward to seeing Penny's reaction when she returns in a couple of hours. Hoping that it's been amazing.
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