Part 1: The Adventurers assemble in Harare

The sketched map opposite shows our journey through Zimbabwe. In the beginning there was only a vague plan which centred on animal capture followed by a cruise along the Zambezi. With no spreadsheet, wow, was Jon out of his comfort zone!

However what happened was one of the most exciting adventures we have ever undertaken. Thanks are due (i) Ron aka “Fixer Innes” for the vague plan, (ii) the generosity and hospitality of the African Wildlife and Management Team and their families and (iii) the willingness of the “Adventurers” (Pat and Ian, Diane and Trev, Ron and Terry plus Jan and Jon) to “JUST GO FOR IT”

We arrived in Harare International Airport on 9th July and soon got a taste of the difficulties people face in Zimbabwe.

Two weeks previously the government had issued an edict “forcing” everyone to swap their $US for “virtual $Zim”. Thus $US became illegal tender overnight whereas before it was used everywhere. Indeed all Civil Servants were paid in $US! Basically the country was broke. It couldn’t even afford to buy paper to print its own money. Having purchased your virtual Zim$ at a bank, it was loaded onto your phone or cards as “ecocash”. All transactions had to be done electronically. As the internet and/or power frequently fail, this was often difficult to say the least. Paying to get out of the airport car park was no exception and took at least an hour!

The introduction of virtual $Zim increased prices tenfold…………not good for Zimbabweans………….fortunately for us, Fixer Innes had a cunning plan and gave us access to funds in the Bank of Ron, at the best rates of course!! Plus we found that $US could still be used by tourists for accommodation.

We spent our first night at Malcolm and Paulette’s B&B in Borrowdale, a wealthy suburb of Harare where cold beer and hot food eased our journey adled brains.

Next morning brought blue skies and hot sun. Marvellous. Trev took to reading his book in the garden with the cat and everyone chilled. During the day we met Josh and Nick who co own African Wildlife Management and Conservation (AWMC) and began to get an insight into what we were likely to get involved in over the next couple of

weeks.

It did not take long for Terry and Di aka the Quartermaster and Chancellor to swing into action. Cash we had just obtained from the Bank of Ron plus any supplies we had brought with us were handed over into their care. Obviously we couldn’t be trusted to look after it ourselves, especially the booze………which I suppose was fair! We were well prepared. In particular we had lots of gin which had been purchased according to “Di’s infallible Gin Algorithm” ie Total volume of gin needed for the holiday = 0.5 litres gin/day (1 round of large G&T’s for 8 people/day) times 21 days = 10.5 litres. Perfect!

Our stay at Malcolm and Paulette’s B&B was brief due to the first of many changes in plan…..in the early afternoon we headed off to another B&B close by. Result….this turned out to be a substantial old “Rhodesian” style colonial residence with massive grounds.

That night we had a delicious curry which we shared with Nick of AWMC, his wife SJ plus their kids Nathaniel and Hannah plus Angus, Ang and Justin (friends of Ron and Terry.) We listened while Ang described their lives in Harare. It was getting very tough and for the first time ever they wished they could leave. Halfway through the month they had run out of cash. Simple foodstuffs like sugar were now too expensive. Good grief! The Quartermaster kindly released some Glenmorangie to salve Angus’ furrowed brow.

The next morning Jon set off with Ron to secure the fuel needed for the animal capture part of the trip. We drove to the swanky HQ of an oil company on the other side of Harare via Mugabe Drive…….probably the smoothest and most manicured road in the whole of Zim! The fuel stations we saw on the way had long queues or were closed. This didn’t look good but Fixer Innes had another cunning plan and using the Bank of Ron at the fuel company’s HQ, loaded cards with prepaid fuel. As long as we could find fuel this meant we could avoid queuing for diesel on the trip…….nice one!