Snapshots from the Road: the Combi Edition

"Cash Money"

Africa's full of such incredibly creatively decorated public transportation.
Welcome to the Zimbabwe edition--a tiny peek!

This one made me laugh right aloud in Harare. Why?  It didn't stop with naming itself "Consuming Fire"....

...it also made sure you knew the devil is a liar!

While on a road trip somewhere on the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, I ran into the Delta Force.
I imagine it's not the Delta Force....and I imagine lots of creative reasons why this would be the name of choice in Zimbabwe!

While the name "Amazing Grace" was quite normal, I was always amazed (and usually laughing) at the creative ways the combis get packed!

A major difference from some other African countries? Zimbabwe's combis were rarely decorated other than an image and the name.
Soooo different from places like Senegal where the car rapides were works of art!

Okay so maybe not a combi, but I couldn't resist adding some snapshots of life around Harare.  I love the man just casually leaning to the side.

Typical bar and restaurants scattered every few kilometers in Zimbabwe, often in the middle of nowhere (or so it seemed).

Harare recycles!  Who knew?!

Passing through one of Zimbabwe's small towns (I unfortunately can't remember which one this was--possibly Kwekwe?)  

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Snapshots from the Air: Flying Over Victoria Falls

While visiting the wonderful Victoria Falls town in Zimbabwe, we soared over the Falls.

Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, is awesome.
Awesome as in the genuine definition: inspiring awe.

Taking a helicopter over the Falls runs away with your imagination and captures the beauty of this world.
It is easy to understand why David Livingstone wrote after seeing it that
"scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."

I've visited the Falls many times; each time is different and leaves me so wonderfully content.
No painting, no photograph I've seen captures its majesty and its indescribable ability to make you feel both tiny and happy.

They also never capture just how ginormous Victoria Falls is. Because it is.  Even that's an understatement.
The other name for Victoria Falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya ("The Smoke That Thunders") is somehow also an understatement.

Here's a video from my flight, look how it dwarfs nearby roads, that building at the bottom corner?
That's a lodge to give you a sense of its immensity.

Oh! Be still my heart, how beautiful the world is.

This was at a drier point of the season and it can still be seen so far away!

Our sweet ride.  It went too fast.

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Snapshots from the road around Zimbabwe

A Zimbabwean woman carries bags along the road between Bulawayo and Victoria Falls.

One of the hazards of driving in Africa?  Trucks precariously loaded and driving way too fast or way too slow.

A woman tends to some cooking in a village.

Laundry hanging in a village.

The Flying Pot Restaurant near Gweru.

The Teecherz shopping mall.  For some reason the name really amuses me.

One of the many car washes outside Harare.

Because the Flying Pot Restaurant was just too creepy not to include another photograph.

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Snapshots from the road: Land of a Thousand Hills

Recently I traveled to the stunningly beautiful country of Rwanda.

It was my first time and I was just in awe of its stunning beauty in the landscape.

The capital, Kigali.

It's nickname, land of a thousand hills, was an understatement and well deserved.

The landscape is a never ending up and down, of gorgeous drops and curving roads.

The mountain lover in me was so ecstatic.

While driving, we passed at least three brides in the bridal march within an hour.  

It was such a joyous scene (although she looks kind of nervous in my shot!).

On a sobering note, heading east, toward the border with Congo-Kinshasa, we passed the Nkamira Transit Camp.

The camp--not too far from the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its infamous city of Goma---

is a transit camp for refugees fleeing the violence in the DRC.

A football match.  In 2012, the UN reported that the camp's population had surpassed 11,000 refugees.

It was sobering to see so many lives impacted by the M23 rebels in the DRC.

It was a sobering thing to see the day after visiting several sites in Rwanda in which thousands lost their lives in the genocide.

For more information on the fighting in the Congo.

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Snapshots from the River: The Chobe Crocodile!

The mighty crocodile of the Chobe River.

A crocodile suns itself in Botswana's Chobe National Park.

I find crocodiles terrifying.  Can you blame me? I mean, look at those teeth!

A river safari always reminds me to have a healthy fear of rivers in Africa!

A water lily.

A herd of elephants drinking at the Chobe River.  Oh, Botswana, you always are so lovely.

Waterbuck!

The wonderful Chobe River.

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Snapshots from the Zimbabwe roads...

While visiting Antelope Park near Gweru, Zimbabwe, this dog kept watch.

Leaving Antelope Park we managed to get stuck in this rainy season puddle.

See the paved road ahead?  Oh it was a tease..and quite embarrassing to fail so close to the road.

Kwekwe's welcome sign.  You may recognize Kwekwe if you are a watcher of The Colbert Report.

Stephen Colbert did a segment on Zimbabwe (Watch the spot here.)

The Air Zimbabwe museum...or if it's not a museum, it should be.  The airline's gone under way too many times. 

A mosque in Zimbabwe.  You don't see them remotely as much as you did in Senegal.

For some reason whenever I see the lights not working signs (and naturally they aren't working ever), 

I usually find it to be the funniest thing ever.

A street side market somewhere in Zimbabwe during the rainy season.

A storm's a coming!

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