Zimbabwe
Bulawayo

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    • Day 26

      Lehrer:innenbildung in Zimbabwe

      March 4 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      Lehrer:innen-Bildung in Zimbabwe: Ähnlich und doch ganz anders!

      Von Alina Nahrstedt

      Heute besuchten wir am Vormittag das Hillside-Teacher-College in Bulawayo. Dort trafen wir auf die Leitung des Colleges, Verantwortliche des Departments für Geographie und Studierende, die so wie wir Geo-LehrerInnen für die Sekundarstufen werden. Im Rahmen dieses Zusammentreffens sprachen wir über die Rolle von Lehrkräften in der Gesellschaft und verschiedene Aspekte des Klimawandels und dem Umgang mit diesem. Anders als in Deutschland übernehmen Lehrkräfte in Zimbabwe eine äußerst weitreichende Rolle in der lokalen Gemeinschaft. So zählt es zu ihren Aufgaben, Lösungen für lokale Probleme zu entwickeln und mit der Gemeinschaft umzusetzen. Nach diesem spannenden Austausch gaben wir noch den Song „Wahnsinn“ mit vollem Einsatz zum Besten bevor wir zurück zur Unterkunft fuhren.

      Nach einer kurzen Pause führte uns unser Busfahrer Mr. Moyo zu einem Souvenir-Shop, wo verschiedenste Dinge verkauft wurden, welche von Menschen mit Einschränkungen gefertigt
      wurden. Nachdem wir Kämme, Holzschalen, Keramik-Elefanten, Holz-Giraffen und andere schöne Dinge gekauft hatten, fuhren wir zurück ins Lynn's Guesthouse, wo wir den Tag beim Abendessen gemütlich ausklingen ließen.
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    • Day 25

      Von Masvingo nach Bulawayo

      March 3 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

      Nach dem gemeinsamen Frühstück ging es heute um 10 Uhr los nach Bulawayo, unserer vorletzten Station in Zimbabwe. In Lynn's Guesthouse wurden wir herzlich begrüßt und nach einer kurzen Einkaufstour und einer gemeinsamen Besprechung gab es am Abend ein üppiges Abendessen mit Icecream als Nachtisch.Read more

    • Day 29

      Bulawayo

      March 7 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

      von Arne Beckmann und Marie Langendorf

      Heute brach ein Teil der Gruppe zu einer Stadttour in Mr. Moyos Heimat Bulawayo auf, während ein anderer Teil in der Unterkunft blieb, um sich etwas zu erholen bzw. Besorgungen zu machen.

      Mr. Moyo zeigte uns die Innenstadt, das Fußballstadion, das innerstädtische Kohlekraftwerk, den Bahnhof und seinen Betriebshof. Im Anschluss schauten wir uns im Unity Village um, einem Markt für Kleidung, in dessen engen Gassen man sich leicht verlaufen konnte. Einige von uns verließen den Markt mit einem Trikot des örtlichen Fußballvereins Highlander FC im Gepäck. Da uns der Magen knurrte, führte uns Mr. Moyo zu einem seiner Lieblingsrestaurants - the Smokehouse. Neben dem schönen Ambiente überzeugte uns vor allem das Essen und Trinken. Pizza, Burger und Malawi Shandy schmeckten köstlich!

      Zurück in der Unterkunft setzten wir uns alle zusammen und sprachen mit Mr. Moyo über seine Eindrücke der Reise mit uns. Wir nahmen auch die Gelegenheit wahr, ihm weitere Fragen zu stellen und schlossen ihn spätestens nach diesem Abend richtig ins Herz (Moyo heißt Herz, haben wir heute gelernt).
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    • Day 3

      Petra School

      June 21, 2022 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      A visit to Petra School this morning. It’s a private school. I visited the art room and saw a 6th grade and 4th grade art class. Paul Murambo and Pamela Thodlana were their art teachers. I spontaneously taught a lesson!Read more

    • Day 10

      Bulawayo / Faith

      September 30, 2022 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      🇫🇷 Bulawayo, c’est la deuxième plus grande ville du Zimbabwe avec 1/2 million d’habitants. C’est aussi le point de chute de notre plus long trajet, venant du Chizarira park.
      La ville est malgré sa taille pas stressante, le trafic est cool - et partout il y a ces arbres en fleurs pink, des Jacarandas. Magnifique.
      Et c’est aussi une nuit dans un lodge.
      Faith, c’est la propriétaire et manageuse de ce lodge. Comme un idiot, je ne pouvais pas m’imaginer qu’une femme noire soit propriétaire de ce lieu et je l’ai questionné sur ses patrons absents qui lui laissent faire tout le boulot. Pas très fin, ce garçon…
      Elle a été chef cuisinière à Londres pendant une dizaine d’années, et ce qu’elle nous a préparé avait clairement la patte d’un chef.
      Le tourisme en Zimbabwe n’a repris qu’il y 3 mois avec la fin du dernier lockdown - une période bien difficile pour elle.
      Pour pouvoir payer notre facture nous avons besoin de changer d’argent en ville le lendemain. Mauvaise pioche - nous trouvons des longues queues devant chaque banque. Est-ce le salaire du mois (on est le 1er) ou le samedi - nous comprenons vite que le change sera impossible. Un guichet automatique fait finalement chauffer la carte et nous sauve la mise.

      🇩🇪 Bulawayo ist mit 1/2 Million Einwohnern die zweitgrößte Stadt in Simbabwe. Sie ist auch der Ausgangspunkt unserer längsten Fahrt, die vom Chizarira-Park kommt.
      Die Stadt ist trotz ihrer Größe nicht stressig, der Verkehr ist cool - und überall stehen diese pinkfarbenen blühenden Bäume, Jacarandas. Wunderschön.
      Und es ist auch eine Nacht in einer Lodge.
      Faith ist die Besitzerin und Managerin dieser Lodge. Wie ein Idiot konnte ich mir nicht vorstellen, dass eine schwarze Frau die Besitzerin dieses Ortes ist und fragte sie nach den abwesenden Chefs, die sie die ganze Arbeit machen lassen. Nicht sehr feinfühlig, der Junge...
      Sie war etwa zehn Jahre lang Chefköchin in London gewesen, und was sie für uns zubereitete, hatte eindeutig die Signature eines Kochs.
      Der Tourismus in Simbabwe wurde erst vor drei Monaten mit dem Ende der letzten Lockdown wieder aufgenommen - eine sehr schwierige Zeit für sie.
      Um unsere Rechnung bezahlen zu können, müssen wir am nächsten Tag in der Stadt Geld wechseln. Wir taten einen schlechten Griff - vor jeder Bank bilden sich lange Schlangen. Ist es das Monatsgehalt (es ist der 1.) oder der Samstag - uns wird schnell klar, dass es unmöglich sein wird, Geld zu wechseln. Ein Geldautomat lässt schließlich die Karte heiß laufen und rettet uns den Tag.
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    • Day 7

      Ankunft in Zimbabwe

      February 14 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      Um 15.30 sind wir nach 2-stündigem Grenzeprozedere in Zimbabwe angekommen. Zwar sollten wir eine Begleitung bekommen, die für uns die Grenzformalitäten erledigt (mit der Person hatte Manfred auch schon per WhatsApp geschrieben), allerdings wartete diese Person an der Grenze im Norden, in Kazungula. Aber wir bekamen Hilfe von einer anderen Person, die sich den Service dann aber auch mit zusätzlichen 30 US$ bezahlen ließ.
      Jetzt sitzen wir im Garten von Lynns Guesthouse in Bulawayo und erholen uns von der Fahrt und dem Grenzübertritt….der immer wieder eine Herausforderung ist.
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    • Day 104

      Train to Bulawayo

      December 28, 2019 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      We're leaving Victoria Falls today, heading to the old colonial town of Bulawayo. To get there, we opt for the overnight train.

      At the train station, there's a bit of confusion, as we are quoted 90 dollars each. We were expecting it to be 10 dollars each, so we are shocked. Unfortunately, we're locked into this plan now, and we rush around to source some extra dollars. With a grimace, we reluctantly hand over 180 USD. The ticket officer peels off 20 bucks. It turns out the ticket price was in Zimbabwean Dollars (the so-called Bond Notes), and the rate is about 9:1. Since Vic Falls is a tourist town, we haven't had to use Zimbabwean Dollars yet.

      So we turn to our next task: finding Zim Dollars. These are difficult to come by. Since the catastrophic inflation under the Mugabe years, the Zimbabwean government has issued a new currency, which is very tightly controlled. In order to avoid inflation, the government simply doesn't print enough money. It is also impossible to draw money with a foreign bank card. I assume that this is because it is not an internationally recognised currency.

      We ask our regular taxi driver, Clifford, where we can get some, and it turns out that he knows someone who can change the money. We like Clifford, but given the scarcity of moeny, we're worried that we're going to get ripped off on the exchange rate, as we have been at all the border crossing so far. Our concerns weren't justified though, as his brother gives us an extremely generous 16:1 conversion. 50 USD gets us 800 Zim Dollars. a new problem: Zimbabwean money only comes in 2 and 5 Dollar notes. This means we end up with a huge stack of notes.

      After stocking up on water and snacks at the supermarket (where we see someone buy 100 packs of peanuts and nothing else), we head for the train. The carriages are decked out with Rhodesian Railway logos. This was the old colonial railway company, which existed until 1980. It seems that the rest of the train hasn't been updated in the last 40 years, either.

      We settle into our sleeping cabin, and prepare for the journey. It's scheduled to take 12 hours, bringing us into Bulawayo at 7am. As we depart Vic Falls, we see elephants grazing in the bush near the railway tracks. We crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy the sunset. Unfortunately, after the sun sets, we discover that there is no electricity on the train. This means no lights, and no fan. And it's very hot.

      After splittling a bottle of wine, we sleep well enough, and wake up the next morning before 7. 7 comes and goes, but we're stilling pressing on. The hours fly by, and we still don't arrive into Bulawayo. We tuck into our snacks at lunchtime and patiently wait for the train to arrive. Finally, at 6pm, we pull into Bulawayo station, 11 hours behind schedule. At least our Zambian train ride had prepared us for that.

      In the evening, we head to the Bulawayo Club for tea. It's an old colonial club that now, since the fall of the colonial regime, allows guests. It's a strange place- all mahogany wood panels, big fireplaces, hunting trophies and betting books that go back over a century. And it's completely empty. We have the place to ourselves and have quite a nice tea. Given that this is Zimbabwe, a fancy meal at this very fancy place cost us less than a tenner. It's surreal.
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    • Day 21

      May 26 - Sunset Boat Cruise

      May 26, 2023 in Zimbabwe ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

      At 4:00 p.m., we climbed on a boat reminiscent of the African Queen in the movie with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The boat was named Ra Ikane, after one of the guides who first led David Livingstone to the Victoria Falls. There were just seven other people on the boat. We were served drinks and snacks as we lounged amide the period decor as we gently cruised the Zambezi River. We could see the mist from Victoria Falls off in the distance. We made a new friend, Anouk, who is a travel agent based in Johannesburg. She is evaluating properties in the area.

      Along the river, we saw two pods of hippos, a very well-hidden crocodile, and then another crocodile with the distinctive ridges on its back swimming along the shoreline. We saw lots of birds too.

      The boat stopped so that we could enjoy the beauty of the sunset. What glorious shades of orange and red as the bright sun dropped beneath the horizon!

      We had planned to return to the Three Monkeys tonight for dinner, but with the lovely munchies that we had on the boat, none of us was hungry enough for a real restaurant. We opted to eat at the outside bar area on this clear, warm, beautiful night and just have a drink and light foods. Anouk joined us and kept us entertained.

      We have a full day tomorrow - the last day of activities for Sandy and myself.
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    • Day 74

      Bulawayo Railway Museum

      July 19, 2023 in Zimbabwe ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

      We slept pretty well. Everyone else complained about the cold, but we were warm enough in our room. Breakfast was at 8am this morning, ahead of the trip leaving at 8.30am. Those of us not going (Mark and I, Kim, Iona, and Greg) got landed with the washing up, but it was no big deal.

      After the others had left, Vivien arrived to take Mark, Greg, and me to the railway museum. On the way, she explained that her and David are in the process of taking over the company from a couple who are retiring to the UK. At the museum, she introduced us to Mr Murray, who would show us around. She then left, promising to come and pick us up a couple of hours later.

      Mr Murray is a white Zimbabwean who started working for Rhodesian Railways in 1972 and who now runs the museum assisted by Blessed, a young local girl who he is training to take over from him. The museum is clearly a passion project for him. It is owned by the Zimbabwe national railway company. They pay his and Blessed’s wages, but that’s it! They have just told him to do what he can! He has no funding. All of the entrance fees (US$2 per person) go to the company. None of the money goes to the museum. There are no sponsors. I asked Mr Murray if he has been in touch with any international railway preservation societies, particularly in the UK. He has, but no-one wants to send money to Zimbabwe! This is all very sad.

      Mr Murray has amassed a huge collection of Rhodesian/Zimbabwean railway memorabilia, including several steam and diesel engines, and a number of coaches. He even has the coach built for Cecil John Rhodes by the de Beer diamond mining company, which he founded. The coach was used to carry Rhodes’s coffin after he died. All of the exhibits are left as they are. There is no money to preserve them properly. Mr Murray is passionate about his museum, but it’s hard to see how the items housed there will survive for future generations to see.

      After a fascinating couple of hours, we thanked Mr Murray profusely for his time and gave him a small donation towards his work. Vivien then took us back to our campsite. On the way, she told us that her company, Black Rhino Tours, offers city tours of Bulawayo, as well as the rhino excursion the rest of our group were doing. These include the railway museum, the national history museum, the cultural centre, and a tour of the city. Had we known about this, we would definitely have booked it! We will feed back to Laban and ask him why it isn’t offered as an alternative on our trip!!

      Back at camp, we sat in the sunshine writing my notes, posting, listening to music, and chatting to Kim and Iona. It was all very pleasant. Henry cooked us chicken, rice, and salad for lunch. We then went for a wander around the site. It’s a bit rundown, but that’s understandable given the recent history here in Zimbabwe. We took advantage of having the facilities to ourselves and had showers this afternoon!

      The others got back at around 6.45pm. They had had a good day, although some said they were disappointed that they only saw four white rhino and no black. I think we made the right decision for us.

      We had dinner at around 7.30pm – pumpkin soup followed by chicken with pasta and salad. Afterwards, some people came over from another Intrepid truck that’s also on site. They are heading south doing our trip in reverse. They were mainly young Australians who wanted to party! Within 20 minutes of their arrival, all of our group had decided to go to bed, except the two young Canadians who have joined us recently. They were overheard complaining that our truck has too many rules and that it’s full of old people!! Rude!!
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    • Day 22

      May 27 - Chobe Game Drive

      May 27, 2023 in Zimbabwe ⋅ 🌬 22 °C

      Today’s destination was Chobe National Park in Botswana. We had a 7:30 a.m. departure. Sandy and I were the first people in the breakfast room.

      Our driver arrived, and very fortuitously, mentioned to us that, since we would be leaving Zimbabwe for Botswana, and coming back into Zimbabwe, that we would need another entry visa, meaning that we would each have to pony up another $75 US. I was the only one with enough cash left, so the other three opted to stay back while I ventured out on my own. I must say, I was taking a leap of faith in doing so!

      The drive to the border took about an hour. The border crossing was a sad Pepto-Bismal pink building bordered with rusty abandoned vehicles, with a tangle of mini-vans dropping off tourists and safari vehicles picking up tourists and the occasional semi-truck trying to get through the maze. No lane markings, nobody controlling traffic flow. Just chaos. Oh yes, and wart hogs wandering around.

      I rendezvoused with the driver/tracker for the day, Tiki. Five other people loaded into the safari vehicle, and we set off to enter Botswana. We had to get out and dip our shoes in disinfectant (vehicles had to drive through a puddle of disinfectant),

      We got through exiting Zimbabwe, and got our passports stamped to enter Botswana. Off to Chobe National Park – about a 20-minute drive. Chobe is Botswana’s first national park and its most biologically diverse park.

      We set off in search of four of Africa’s Big Five – this park does not have rhinos. My fellow searchers had not yet been on a game drive, so they were eager to see anything of interest.

      The park has millions of impalas. They have distinctive markings on their behinds that look like the McDonald’s Arches, so we quickly became adept at identifying them.

      Then we saw kudu, the largest of the antelope family, with the distinctive white stripes on their bodies.

      Then we saw giraffes. They move from tree to tree eating the foliage. The trees secrete a tannin that makes the leaves bitter to discourage the giraffes from feeding any more, so they move on to the next tree. A tree will become palatable again in a few weeks.

      Then we saw a herd of elephants drinking at the river while a pair of young impala did some play fighting – good practice for when they will have to defend their young when they are older.

      Next, we spied hippos up on their legs. They spend a lot of time in the water to protect their skin against the sun, so this was a good sighting.

      Then we saw buffalo, so we were two out of five on the Big Five. And then, we spied a pride of lions sunning themselves in the shade of far-off trees. All of a sudden, the lions got up and went on the move. The alpha male lion followed behind. Something was up.

      We stopped for our morning water break, and as we finished, Tiki got word that the lions had killed one of the buffalo. We hopped back in the vehicle, and Tiki sped over the rough roads as we hung on. He had to go off the beaten road which Tiki said he was not supposed to do, but this was a very special reason to bend the rules. About 125 meters off the road, there was the entire pride (someone had counted 17 lions) gnawing on the carcass of a buffalo. What an incredible sight!

      We saw elephants - the baby elephant was delightful to watch.

      So, a count of three of of five, and a lion kill. Pretty amazing for a morning game drive. We were incredibly lucky because our river cruise was supposed to have been in the morning and our game drive in the afternoon. We would never have seen the lion kill if the original schedule had held up.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Bulawayo, Горад Булаваё, Булавейо, BUQ, ブラワヨ, 불라와요, Bulavajas, Булавайо, Булавајо, 布拉瓦约

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