Camp Amalinda

On a road trip throughout Zimbabwe, we stayed at Camp Amalinda in Matopos, Zimbabwe.

How awesome is this bathroom?

Camp Amalinda is so well designed that everything blends so well into the surrounding landscape.

Some of the rooms are built into caves with ancient paintings.

This pool was built into the rock and was so amazingly serene.

I want a library like this.

One of the lounges.

Another lounge with the remnants of the previous night's camp fire.

The pool.

The camp and its balancing rocks for which Matopos is famous.

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The Imire Rhinos

One of the rhinos at the Imire Rhino and Wildlife Conservation in Zimbabwe.

Rhinos are heavily poached throughout Africa, especially in southern Africa, for their horns.

Some Asian cultures believe the horns have healing and aphrodisiac powers (they don't.) which has sky rocketed

the black market price for the horns and lead to many rhinos being killed unnecessarily.

One way to try and avoid poaching is to file down their horns to make them less of a target as Imire as done.

This rhino's mother was killed by poachers when he was a month old.  He survived by hiding under his mother's body.

National Geographic did a documentary on him as he grew up in the Imire garden and became friends with the warthogs.
It's called something like The Rhino in the Garden... 

For more information on efforts to save rhinos.

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Take My Breath Away: Domboshawa

After this wonderful hike up Domboshawa, Zimbabwe, for sundowners

we were rewarded with this spectacular sunset.

Zimbabwe continues to astound me with its beauty.

Apparently I have a thing for sunsets...so naturally I put up four shots. Of the same sunset. Go figure.

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Sundowners at Domboshawa

In the spirit of the Zimbabwe tradition, we recently hiked Domboshawa for sunset.

What's a sundowner?  

The fantastic Zim tradition of going somewhere beautiful, having a drink, and watching the sun set.

Domboshawa isn't a taxing hike, but the view from the top of the kopje is beautiful.

Domboshawa means "Red Hill."

Anyone who has the (pleasure?) of meeting me, knows that this arrow--marking the hike trail---

that clearly means "watch out for the hole" would be interpreted as an invitation for me to accidentally fall in the hole.

Part of Domboshawa contains cave paintings.

These are over 6,000 years old!

A teaser of the next post: the amazing sunset over the hills of Zimbabwe!

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Harare's Borrowdale

A farm in the middle of the Borrowdale area of Harare, Zimbabwe.

Sam Levy's Village in Borrowdale...by far the nicest place to shop in Harare.

Even the nicest place to shop has typical African massive holes randomly about...

I love how people in Zimbabwe advertise their services.

Pomona Food Court in Borrowdale.

A small market in Borrowdale.

Preparing for the day in the Belgravia neighborhood of Harare.

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The Oldest Desert in the World

After lovely visits to Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, Namibia, we visited the Namib Desert.

It was really cool to watch these guys on the dunes...I'm tempted to go back and try this!

The Namib Desert is the world's oldest desert.

It was breathtaking to see the dunes literally end in the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

When I think of deserts, I don't think of standing on dunes at the edge of a massive ocean of water.

On the sea edge of the Namib Desert, I passed several of these displays.  The shells spell out "Jesus."

One of the ship wrecks off the Namibian coast at the southern tip of the infamous Skeleton Coast. 

Local Bushman called the coast "The Land God Made in Anger" and Portuguese sailors called it "The Gates of Hell."

Why? The location has dense ocean fogs, the climate inhospitable, constant heavy surf, and lots of rocks..

all of which have resulted in more than a thousand wrecked vessels along the coast.

It's part of the reason sailors were so ecstatic when they would reach the Cape of Good Hope.

What?!  SAND? In the desert?!!  

Why, thank you for the warning.  I'll keep my eyes out for some sand.

(PS. This is by far one of my favorite signs I've seen in Africa.)

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