Southern Africa - Day 22 (Part 2)

Monday, 3 February 2020 - Botswana to Zimbabwe

Going into Zimbabwe, the others had to pay for a visa but for me it was visa free (😁). The capital of Zimbabwe is Harare. There were archaeological remains of a Southern African ancient city built of stone, located in present-day Zimbabwe which was once the centre of a vast empire known as the Munhumutapa Empire (also called Monomotapa Empire) covering the modern states of Zimbabwe (which took its name from this city) and Mozambique. In fact, the word 'Zimbabwe' means 'house of stone.' It is said the these stone cities were built in the 15th century, but people had been living on the site from about 400 AD.

The population was overwhelmingly made up of Shona speakers until the 19th century when the Nguni tribe of the Ndebele (the click language!) settled in what is now Matabeleland (in 1839-40). Then in the 1880s, Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company arrived and applied for some concessions. The region was named Rhodesia after him. Later Southern Rodhesia became Zimbabwe and Northern Rodhesia became Zambia post-colonialisation. 

The United Kingdom annexed Southern Rhodesia from the British South Africa Company in 1923, when the country got its own government and Prime Minister. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favoured whites in power. In 1965, the government unilaterally declared independence, but the UK did not recognize it and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority. UN sanctions and a guerilla struggle finally led to both free elections and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980.

Robert Mugabe was the first leader of Zimbabwe and was in power from independence in 1980 until he was overthrown in 2017. From 2000 onwards, Mugabe instituted a policy of extensive land redistribution on party political lines favouring his cronies. Following Mugabe's removal from power, the President of Zimbabwe now is Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former Vice-President under Mugabe. 

They have their own currency known as the Zimbabwe Dollar but it is not recognised internationally and crazy inflation means that they have a billion dollar bank note or bond or whatever which is pretty much worthless. So everything is priced in USD here which is then expensive for me 😢.

Cross the border and straight to Victoria Falls, which is also known by the local name of “Mosi-oa Tunya”, meaning the smoke that thunders. It is the mighty Zambezi River dropping into the Batoka Gorge below. The cliffs of the Batoka Gorge are made up of basalt rock that was laid down 150 million years ago and when this lava cooled and solidified, it contracted, thus cracking or “faulting” in the area of Victoria Falls. It is the second highest waterfall in the world after the Niagara Falls; falling almost 2 km down into the gorge. This creates a cloud of mist that can be seen up to 32 km away! The constant spray from the falls makes this area an important traditional site for rainmaking ceremonies even until today.

We had lunch here but I just had a local beer (Zambezi beer) as I wasn’t in the mood for food; I was still upset. I guess I’m not as street smart as I thought I was. Boy, you let your guard down for ONE MINUTE and shit happens. It’s very tiring to be on guard all the time. Right. Stop whining.