Showing posts with label Eastern Highlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eastern Highlands. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The Last Resort: Drifters Backpackers Lodge

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En route back to Harare from a lovely visit to Zimbabwe's Chimanimani Mountains, we stopped at Drifters.
(This is the view from the Rogers' home.)

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Drifters is a backpackers' lodge, the focal point of the Douglas Rogers memoir The Last Resort.

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Rogers writes of his parents' experiences running Drifters as white Zimbabweans during the more tumultuous years of Zimbabwe history and how they adapt and fight to survive in the land they love.

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Isn't it a lovely spot, tucked away near to Mutare?

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The Last Resort is one of the better memoirs I've read on Zimbabwe.  It takes a heavy topic, the violence of the 2008 elections, the land grabs and harassment of white Zimbabweans, and the daily struggle for all Zimbabweans to survive during its astronomically failed economy, and touches it both with humor and insight.

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The bar which plays a prominent role in the memoir.

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Would certainly recommend the memoir and it was so interesting to see Drifters after having read it.

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These buildings had been erected by construction crews working on the roads nearby.  They were already months over their stay and the Rogers suspected no payment was in sight.

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It was interesting to meet Lyn and Ros Rogers and to see how humorously their son had captured them in the book.

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Romeo---read the book to learn who he is!---opened this nearby butchery, Romeo's Meat Market.


Sunday, June 16, 2013

Chimanimani's Bridal Veil Falls

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After this lovely hike (including a visit from a tarantula!!), we came to Bridal Veil Falls.

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The falls are in the hills six kilometers outside the Chimanimani village in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.

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Our winter visit meant cold, cold crystal clear water.

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A serene reminder of the beauty tucked into all of Africa's corners.

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The falls' clear pool.

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Chimanimani is one of the beautiful spots in Zimbabwe,
so different than what most think Africa 'should' look like.

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Just beautiful.

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The falls were named for its resemblance at rainy season to a bride's veil.
So different from the last waterfall (Victoria Falls!!) I visited in Zimbabwe.
So different from the last hike I took to a waterfall in Chimanimani.

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The hike into the Chimanimani Park and up to the falls is well worth the effort-- and it's a relatively easy hike.

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A Return to the Eastern Highlands

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Recently I returned to the lovely Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.
Wouldn't you just love to have this view?

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While (re)visiting the cozy Frog and Fern Cottages, we hiked into Chimanimani once again.

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The Chimanimani Mountains are just so stunning and form part of the boundary between Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

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We may have paused in our beautiful hike to freak out at THIS exact point. 
Um, seriously, a tarantula crossing the path? Holy moly, freak out!

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Here's another shot of the guy. Definitely do not like spiders, definitely do not like large, dangerous, hairy ones...

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We hiked up toward Bridal Veil Falls and the scenery was just so lovely.

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Reaching the falls area.

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Sneak peek of the next post: the Bridal Veils Falls!




Saturday, March 10, 2012

Au revoir, Chimanimani, I will return...

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After seeing this view in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe, I knew I had fallen in love with Zimbabwe.

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And I continue to be impressed with the landscape of my new home.

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The hike through the mist was more than worth the hours spent lost and climbing up and down moutains, along cliffs, and through banana groves.

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Leaving through the town of Chimanimani, I captured the MDC-T office (the main opposition to President Mugabe's ZANU-PF). It was featured in a very vivid segment in Peter Godwin's The Fear in which MDC-T supporters continued to paint it over and over in support of MDC-T. 

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Across the Landscapes

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After hiking to a beautiful waterfall, we kept wandering through the amazing varying landscapes
in the Chimanimani Mountains in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.

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We hiked past mist, clouds, and rolling valleys with beautiful streams.

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Past clouds rising against the mountains.

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And along the sides of mountains that made me think of Lord of the Rings--minus the whole Mordor angle.

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And even past banana fields and spots that reminded me of a rain forest.

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The mountains were breathtaking.

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It was impossible not to love Chimanimani.



Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Chimanimani: The Falls

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After hiking through the mist and stopping at a creepy cabin, we found our destination:
this beautiful waterfall in a valley in the Chimanimani Mountains in Zimbabwe..

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After the hours and hours of hiking, even our packs needed a break...

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The air was so clean, the water crisp and cold.

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Simply beautiful.



Sunday, February 26, 2012

A Horror Movie's Cabin: Zimbabwe Style

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After hiking for hours through the mist, we came upon this cabin over looking a large valley in Chimanimani in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe.

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The cabin had places to eat and places to sleep for the weary hiker.

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The cabin offered a view of the valley and its lifting mist that was stunning.

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The cabin.

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While an interesting spot, the cabin---and in particular this room---had a distinctly unnerving quality to it
that made one wonder if you'd stumbled into the middle of a horror movie.

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The cabin, while unnerving, offered us a moment's respite and a spot for lunch.

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The clouds over the Chimanimani valley, seen from the cabin.



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