The one drawback was getting there and back. Long overnight flights in economy class are definitely to be endured not enjoyed, especially if, like me, one is over six foot. I have, on occasions, splashed out on an upgrade to Business Class - quel différence! - but had not done so this time. It is a grievance with us that, in out many years of travel, we have not once been given a complimentary upgrade - though our daughter has on several occasions! Whilst, in terms of the friendliness of its people, I would rank Zimbabwe at or near the top of the fifty countries we have visited, I have to say that, on our outbound journey, the service on its national airline was indifferent and the meal awful. To be fair, things were better on the way back.
As usual I hardly slept on the flight out. But I was able to catch up when we got to our first hotel, the Meikdls in dowtown Harare, which is one of the finest in the country. For, though ours was a morning arrival, we were able to check in straight away. After an excellent lunch in the hotel, we were refreshed and ready for our afternoon city tour, which started in nearby African Unity Square. This was once called Cecil Square and the paths across it still form the pattern of a Union Jack, this being the place where, in 1890, the British flag was first raised in Zimbabwe (as it then wasn't). It was named after the Prime Minister of the day, Robert Cecil, who also gave his name to the city, for he was otherwise known as Lord Salisbury. Harare is an attractive, clean and - with its many high-rise office blocks - modern city, with an interesting blend of European and African influences. A highlight of the tour was our visit to the Kopje, a hill to the southwest of the city, which affords a fine view over the downtown area.
Next day we had a long journey by road to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city. At about the halfway mark, we paused for a fascinating tour of the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, which cover a wide area. Here was once a great city, which ruled over a vast domain and which attained a level of civilisation which, in earlier times, scholars did not believe existed in ancient Africa. It was the Shona, nowadays Zimbabwe's largest ethnic group, who founded this city but it suited the purpose of pre-independence regimes to claim foreign origins. But the historical evidence is incontrovertible: this was a Shona settlement. During the sixties the idea gained ground that, as and when the country gained majority rule, it would take its name from this once mighty city - continuing to name it after Cecil Rhodes being hardly an appealing option!
Next day we had a brief city tour of Bulawayo. It was already familiar to us for our train had, during our previous trip, broken its journey here for a couple of hours, during which we had visited the city's excellent Museum of Natural History. This is a pleasant city, with a rather more relaxed atmosphere than the bustling capital. The streets here are very wide, for the founding fathers decreed that it should be possible for a team of sixteen oxen to turn round in them full circle.
In Zimbabwe the distinction is made between high and low density suburbs. I am sure that Bulawayo, being a city with around a million inhabitants, has plenty of the former. But we saw only the prosperous low-density areas and could almost imagine ourselves back home in Surrey. Any such illusion swiftly disappeared when we entered the Matobo National Park. This had been billed as a visit to Cecil Rhodes' grave, not much of a selling point as far as I am concerned. However, the real interest is to be derived from the magnificent location of the grave, atop a mountain known as the 'View of the World'. This is a slight exaggeration but the view is splendid nevertheless and the mountain itself offers a curious moonscape scene. Rhodes had asked to be buried here and a prolonged funeral procession from Cape Town was necessary.
Our ascent to the 'View of the World' was preceded by a visit to a small exhibition devoted to Cecil Rhodes. Our black Zimbabwean guide offered a balanced view of his life. Of course, he was an imperialist, but he is given credit for wanting to put back into, and not just take out of, the lands that he conquered - he was not rapacious in the manner of, say, King Leopold in the Congo. He appears to have believed, at least in theory in the equality of races. So maybe he did not turn in his grave when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. Our guide had a wry sense of humour. Zambia, he told us, is less prosperous than Zimbabwe because it achieved independence in 1964 and "they weren't ready for it...we decided to wait until 1980!"
We saw in the new Millennium in the Hwange National Park. Our hotel gave us commemorative T-shirts (so we really have been there, done that). After a good al fresco dinner, we went on a night safari. Some wildebeest obligingly presented themselves just as we drove out of the Lodge and a sharp-eyed person in our party later noticed the gleaming eyes of a bush-baby, but the highlight was a group of elephants. Back at base, we saw in midnight over drinks with two other couples. Then we wandered off on our own, down to the edge of the hotel grounds. Just beyond were some zebra, who were no doubt enjoying their own celebrations. It was a wonderfully starry night and I can truly say that there is nowhere else on earth I would rather have been on this very special occasion. On returning to the hotel, we rejoined our friends and shared with them a bottle of champagne - we'd brought it out from England and the hotel had kindly kept it for us on ice. Zimbabwe is two hours ahead of Britain and some hardy souls in our party were determined to stay up until the GMT midnight hour. But there was an early morning game drive the next day: for us, it was good enough to have seen in the new millennium at local time.
The morning game drive was rewarding: no elephants this time but sightings included a lioness at close quarters, a family of warthogs and quite a few giraffes. At one point one of our tyres got a puncture; as we clambered out of our vehicle, we were grateful that we were no longer in the vicinity of the lioness. We next transferred by road to Victoria Falls for a two-night stay. This time our base was the Elephant Hills hotel. This is a five-star establishment, but lacks character and compares not at all favourably with the Victoria Falls hotel. The best that can be said about it is that, from its hilltop location, there is a fine view over the surrounding area. But it does not reciprocate, for people looking in its direction see an unlovely modern edifice.
The Victoria Falls by contrast, is one of the best hotels we have stayed in anywhere. There are fine views from here across the Zambezi into Zambia and one can see too the spray from the Falls. We returned there for our meals, sharing on our second evening a superb chateaubriand in the palatial Livingstone Room for about a quarter of the cost back home.
Jacket and tie in this restaurant are de rigeur. I was prepared for this, but there's no problem if a chap turns up unsuitably clad - the restaurant will lend him the missing garments. The hotel seems frozen in time. On its walls one finds such items as posters of "Southern Rhodesia", charts depicting the product from all parts of the British Empire, two huge oil paintings of King George V and Queen Mary and photographs of the visit of the princesses Elizabeth arid Margaret Rose in the late forties. Amidst all this, the obligatory portrait in the reception area of Comrade President Robert Gabriel Mugabe seemed a tad incongruous.
We had done a lot during our previous stay, including a three-night stay over the border in Botswana and a day trip into Zambia. We decided to take things easy this time though naturally we returned to the Falls, enjoying them all the more this second time round. They really are one of the natural wonders of the world. We then walked over the bridge across the Zambezi, thereby crossing into Zambia. We spent some while watching bungee jumps, which take place from the middle of the bridge, exactly on the border. Those who did the jumps seemed exhilarated when they got back - but we're still not persuaded that this is something we want to do! Our other excursion was to a crocodile farm.
The final two nights of our week-long stay were in the Lake View Hotel, on the shores of Lake Kariba. This is a simple yet pleasant hotel which, as might be deduced from the name, offers fine views across the lake. To get there from Vic Falls an internal flight was necessary; going by coach would have entailed a long and circuitous journey all the way back through Bulawayo and Harare. The views en route were spectacular. Our last full day was spent in very pleasant fashion, cruising the take. We saw many elephants (including some in the water) and hippos (including some out of the water). On the final morning we visited Kariba Dam. This spans the border so once again we went just inside Zambia. The fun was now at an end. All that remained was an internal flight back to Harare, along wait in its dreary airport and that dreaded flight back home.
Zimbabwe then, and still more since, has not exactly been getting a good press in Britain. In our experience, the countries we have visited are far more agreeable than the image generally portrayed back home. Admittedly we have not put this view to the ultimate test of visiting, say, Iraq or Afghanistan. But far from being the grim sort of place that might be imagined from recent reports, Zimbabwe is a beautiful and friendly county, with an impressive infrastructure - its people, if not its stern-faced president, are the smiling face of Africa.
Racism exists but, left to their own devices (i.e. without officially encouraged mischief-making), the various ethnic groups, black and white rub along fairly well. UDI in the sixties was disastrous, as well as morally wrong, yet Ian Smith, who locked up his opponents, is not just at liberty but is able to go around expounding to anyone who cares to listen his view that the country is going to the dogs. Alas there are serious economic difficulties, exacerbated by the military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its president is not (shall we say) universally admired, at home or abroad (main thoroughfares in Harare, Bulawayo and elsewhere are named in his honour - at least Lenin had the decency to die before Petrograd, née St Petersburg, was rechristened Leningrad). It would certainly be tragic if tourism dries up for, in recent years, it has become one of the country's top revenue earners, which is as well for the tobacco industry, upon which the economy has traditionally been reliant is decidedly vulnerable nowadays - even Air Zimbabwe has recently banned in-flight smoking. One must hope that the country surmounts its present difficulties, for its people deserve much better.
First published in VISA issue 37 (summer 2000)
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