Lay by

I don’t know what a lay-by is called in other parts  of the world, or even why they’re called that here in Zimbabwe. I’ve often whizzed passed this one and wished I could stop. (Today we had to wait for a client…so I got my chance.)

It’s on  the main Bulawayo/Plumtree Road.

What a wonderful place to have lunch…imagine the kids – scrambling about in the rocks. Quite safe too, from the heavy traffic on the road.

In the picture (below) you can see the main Bulawayo/Plumtree Rd in the background…Can you spot the rock rabbit?

Zoomed, slightly

We also call them ‘dassies’ and I admit that whenever I see one, I look around for the leopard who may be stalking it!

 

 

Country Roads…

This (above) is a view along the main Bulawayo, Victoria Falls road, overlooking Hwange.

Family, in Zimbabwe…

The picture (above) is the road down into the Ume valley. Its amazing, totally unexpected. We were bombing along a boring flat road, we slowed for Siakobvu and next thing…whoa!!!

The picture (above) was taken soon after we turned off the main Victoria Falls Road. It was about 11.30 in the morning and I couldn’t wait to see what lay on the other side of the Shangani River…Anyone familiar with the Matopos will recognise this rock/tree/road. I love them all!

 

Chizarira

I took these two pictures on the way out of Chizarira National Park. It was hot and mid day, and I thought they captured that hazy heat I so love…

The image below was taken on our way into the Park – we hadn’t even gone to the offices yet!

National Parks were great – allowed us to store our instruments in a lockup, gave us hints of where to find game…the next day (after sleeping near this precipice) we woke to mist!! No photo opportunities! 

Kingfisher

I took a pic of this little guy in our garden in Suburbs.

Years ago on the farm, one very similar to him would sit on the branch overhanging our tea table dive bombing worms in the lawn, sometimes right next to us. One day, he did that and got his beak stuck in the lawn. The cat, lying fast asleep under our chair, zapped him. We were devastated. We loved that little guy…Later the same day we had tea and sitting on the same branch was another kingfisher dive bombing worms in the lawn.

Nature abhors a vacuum…

I lay on the lawn this morning for ages with the camera trained on the patch below, but he didn’t oblige. When he does, I’ll post the picture!

Matopos

If anyone has ever been to Maleme Dam – they will recognise this pile of rocks just after the wall…looks just like some kid threw down a handful of pebbles – just each one weighs a few tonnes!

The balancing rocks are pretty characteristic in this part of the Matopos. 

Reptilian dwellers of the Ancient Ruins of Zimbabwe

He looks sort of pensive, doesn’t he…an intellectual!

If only this guy could talk – he could tell us all the folk stories handed down by his ancestors… Don’t you love these digital cameras – turn us all into pro’s

The guy pictured above gave me one helluva fright. I jumped off one of the rocks and he slithered under the rock…I thought he was another member of the reptile tribe!

I guessed I had better put a pic of the DhloDhlo ruins in here somewhere since I have tagged this post!

Guinea fowl…

Usually, when I take my camera out, I get one decent picture. I took this one driving through Jabulani, on the way back from Nalatale Ruins in Shangani. It’s the first time I’ve really been thankful for the electric windows on the Hilux. I was driving too fast as usual, came around the corner and thought I was too late.

I slid the window down, cringing at the loud noise, balanced the camera on the rear view mirror…

There are lots of things I love about this photo – the characteristic way the guinea fowl are standing on the log – the late evening light…I was racing because I wanted to get to the top of the range near DhloDhlo ruins – I wanted a shot of the sunset from up there, where you can see the Matopos on a clear day, Idunnohowmany kilometers away!

I’m happy to swap this photograph though…I’m sure you will all agree with me, I have plenty sunsets in my collection!

If ever you are here in Zimbabwe, add Nalatale Ruins to your itinerary – you can stay at Jabulani Safari’s close by…  http://jabulanizimbabwe.com  I’ve never stayed there myself, only visited when they were building it…but my niece did, for her school camp and she raved about it. So I’m guessing its “children friendly.”

The road that killed our car…

Passed right through this lovely pocket of forest…a reminder of what the land looked like before the railways and mines gobbled up all the timber.

All too soon, we drove back into the barren countryside where people attempt to scratch a living…then we crossed over these rocks and I couldn’t resist stopping to take a few photos.

I like the shapes worn by years of water – zoomed in, these photos could be used as backgrounds …

Screen-savers…

Then…..we drove and we drove and we drove through thick, thick sand to a place called Zhamba. No, not Zhombe or Zwimba.

Zhamba.

Now if you think Fort Rixon is in the middle of nowhere – try Zhamba. It’s on the bottom end of Chizarira National Park.

The following day, we drove all the way back, after successfully siting a (very good) borehole and our car conveniently broke at Ivory Lodge! Convenient because the previous year we had sited them a bore-hole so they love us…Cedric helped us tow our car and gave us a bed and supper…Imagine if we had broken down on the way back from Zhamba – we could still be there, trying to hitch a lift and you wouldn’t be looking at the pictures.

Ivory http://www.ivorysafarilodge.com is one of my all time favourite places to view Elephants – in fact when we had to walk up to the lodge, leaving the car in the thick sand, we had to dodge about 250 of them leaving the pan.

How much longer…

This is a picture of a Mukwa tree taken in the Matobo Communal Lands. I wonder how long before it becomes this… I’m not innocent either – I have a lovely mukwa table and the (only)  two doors in our former home were made of mukwa. We managed to recover them and have made two more long tables.

Hippo…

We had hippo in our dam – used to wake up to their early morning calls…

These were taken in the Zambezi above the Victoria Falls, with me, safe on the “booze cruise” boat.

They are not called booze cruises any more, you know. Now they are “sunset cruises!” Forgoodnesssakes, most of the people on the cruise were so legless by the time we finished, I thought they wouldn’t make it down the gangway.

He got a little bleak after a while – but luckily the boats are pretty big.