Looking Back to Hwange

I just can’t seem to get away from the African theme this week, plus it’s been a looonggg time since the last Flashback Photo Friday. I was almost going to do pictures from Paris, though I’ve been holding on those for a while (well, ever since DH told me my face looked fat in one of the photos, which are from almost 10 years ago. Whether that is true or not is beside the point. Don’t worry, they’ll show up eventually. I’m not that vain. Really.)

Back to Zimbabwe! We traveled to Zimbabwe in 2007. Things were not that great in the country–though pretty safe for visitors. Victoria Falls was empty. Hotels were empty. Streets were empty. Grocery stores were empty. And the exchange rate was something beyond absurd. Government agents/Army hung out at the market to make sure people weren’t shirking the ridiculously awful exchange rate. Of course they were, just not when the patrol was around.

Hwange National Park was actually some of the best game viewing we had there, and also the first time I saw a rhino in the wild. It also was freezing. Do not think that July in southern Africa is always warm! We also went to Victoria Falls but of course that deserves its own set of photos (and stories…like why I’m terrified of home cooked lunches on trips).

I’ve included a picture of the lodge where we stayed, which I’m almost certain was a Wilderness Safari property at the time. I’m not sure it still exists, and if it does, I’m not sure who runs it (and I haven’t successfully google stalked it). It was stunning (as most lodges are), but even when we were there they didn’t know how long they were going to operate as visitors simply weren’t visiting.

Zimbabwe was beautiful. It’s clearly a broken country, but it’s stunning. Sadly, they’ve had a lot of wildlife conservation issues as a result of constant conflict, political instability, and a very, very bad economy. Hopefully that changes in the future; I would love to go back.