It is expensive! Remember it is expensive. As a young hostel guest I heard say, “Is nothing in this county cheap?” The answer of course is no. Not sure but by vote of every one in my hostel, Reykjavik seemed the most expensive city in Europe to them. More than Stockholm or London or Oslo. Buyer beware because you are going to spend some dough. Icelandic Kroner is about 106 to a US Dollar. So if you divide everything by 100 you will get a pretty accurate price.
Example – 1500 ISK for a beer (very usual) is in reality to a US citizen – 15 US Dollars almost. That is an expensive beer.
It is cheap to get to Iceland because the government heavily subsidizes the airlines to Reykjavik, but once they have you – look out. They are after the tourist dollar to correct the horrible financial crash that they went through in 2008 and 09 and are still feeling. So there are no deals in Reykjavik.
It is wet! Bring rain gear, and I mean rain slickers, rain pants, boots. You will not need it all the time, but there are days and places that you are going to need it big time and you will not know when. Also all the weather clothes in Reykjavik for this type of weather – (lets say it together) are EXPENSIVE!
On the day that I went to Black Sand Beach outside of Vik, and the waterfall that you can walk behind – I was drenched to the bone. I had a rain poncho but with the strong wind that day, it made no difference. I wanted a rain suit or at least water proof pants.
3. It is beautiful. Amazingly so. A new vista, a new waterfall, a new cove, a new glacier, and new volcano just around every corner. Get out of Reykjavik. By car, by bus or tour bus, by boat, just get out and see this amazing place.
4. Rent a car if you can. The tour buses are great tours make no mistake – but they are on a time table. Slow down and enjoy this beautiful island. The Golden Circle tour is 8 hours and 69 dollars and while the day was great, most of it was on the bus. The Southern Coast tour was wet, wild and fun, but we were gone of 11 hours and most was riding from point A to point B. The cost for both trips was 170 US over two days and 17 hours of riding and getting out and running around because we usually had about 45 minutes to see everything. The day I rented a car with Canadian lawyer, Andrew Guerra the car cost us about 140 US with gas and we saw a lot of things that were not on a tour, but also things that were. Cost wise, it is better to share with someone if you can. Even a stranger that you meet at your hotel or hostel. Everyone wants to see the same things, and this way is cheaper and you move at your own pace.
5. No need to do the Blue Lagoon. It is a thermal with blue water for about 120 US. Pretty and it has a bar! A 30 minute bus ride out of town.
For a 20 minute walk through lovely Reykjavik and 1200 Kroner (12 dollars US), I had a great afternoon at one of the two local bathing houses/thermal pools in Reykjavik itself. Cheaper, not touristy, locals all around and you can meet some very interesting people.
Word to the wise, Reykjaviks are not hung up by nudity. Not in public so much, but in the locker rooms. In the pool areas, everyone has proper bathing suits on, but in the locker room flesh everywhere. Only speaking for the male side here, but young boys, old men, all colors, every male I saw walking around in the locker not covering with a towel at all. For people from some cultures, it can be a little shocking at first. But since they already have what you have and have seen their own, they do not care about yours. So relax and enjoy yourself. The heated water by volcano is wonderful.
6. If you came to Reykjavik to party and drink. Please be responsible. But save some money and get a local app called “Appyhour”. It is an app that you can load on your phone that tells you when every happy hour in every bar in Reykjavik is. Since they all have different or rolling happy hours, some starting as early as 2 PM, you and your friends can move from bar to bar and save money. Sometimes a lot. Remember a beer at regular price is 12 to 15 dollars, this app will let you drink for about 7 to 8 dollars per beer. Depending on your intake that could be a lot of money.
It is very easy to get around in the party area of Reykjavik. You walk everywhere. Cabs are EXPENSIVE. They are not many police, but the bouncers at these bars do not take any crap. They are nice and professional, the ones I saw and talked too. But if you bring trouble, you are gone and in a not so gentle hurry. So behave!
Please do not throw your trash around. Seriously. Every Icelander I spoke with told me how upset at how their country is filling up with trash at all the natural sites. They take amazing pride in the country and treat it as a sacred place. Tourists do not. Especially the Americans and Chinese seem to be the worst to them. So pick up after yourself, throw your stuff away – plenty of garbage cans everywhere and do not treat Iceland like your trash can please.
On my last full day in Reykjavik, I rented a car with my new Canadian friend, Andrew. He had not been to Thingvillier National Park yet, and I felt like I had not had enough time when I went there on the first bus tour that I took so that is where we headed first.
Photo Credit Andrew Guerra
Located about forty kilometers from Reykjavik, Thingvillier holds a very special place in Icelandic history. It is where they established the parliament or the Althing when the Vikings first arrived in the mid-900’s. They came to Iceland to escape a Norwegian chieftain who was uniting all the different factions in a bid to be the first king of Norway. It would work, he became Harald Fairhair. Plus they wanted more farmland they felt that Norway was overcrowded in 940 AD.
Interesting fact is that while Iceland (known as Islandia) had been known for hundreds of years. A Greek scholar referred to it in 4 BC, it was totally uninhabited when the Vikings arrived. They brought cows, sheep, horses, seeds, wives and slaves. The slaves were mostly from Ireland which the Vikings had been raiding for some time by the mid-900’s. As a matter of fact, the city of Dublin was first a Viking outpost. Rumors about that time has that the original city wall around Dublin built by the Vikings (called the Pale) was built not to keep Irish hordes out, but to keep Viking men inside because they desired Irish women so much. This is also rumored to be where the term “beyond the Pale” comes from. When the men left and did not come back, they had gone “beyond the Pale”. I do no have factual back up for this theory as it is just an age old rumor in Dublin, but current DNA studies done by the Icelandic government have proved while 80% of the original men that came to the island were Viking and 20% were Irish (most likely slaves), the original women who came were 60% Irish and 40% Viking. Most of those women were wives and not slaves. Thus the island while claiming to be Viking the actual original population was 60% Viking and 40% Irish.
Iceland was the only part of Europe that was not directly ruled by a King so a ruling council was set up that met once a year at Thingvillier for two weeks or more that made laws and rulings on how the land would be ruled. The council was only run by the ruling chieftains, but in it way it was the first democracy in Europe since Athens in Greece in 500 BC.
Chieftains decided on a “law giver” or a judge whose word was final. The Law Giver had to learn by heart all the rules and laws of the new land in order to offer fair judgement. So for the first three days of each Althing every year, the Law Giver would recite in public all the laws. It could take him up to three days to do this, and after this the trials and meetings of the council would begin.
Thingvillier was where this took place, but it was also a social and economic gathering as well. Merchants, traders, and slavers would all bring their offerings to buy and trade. In some cases, people would travel for up to two weeks in order to attend this gathering.
Executions and judgements were also handed down and performed at this annual meeting of the island’s people. The executions could be anything from hanging from the rocks, or drowning in one of the ice-cold lakes, or beheading. All in public view, so people saw the laws and punishment carried out. And the gathering or Althing would go meeting for several hundred years in one form or another.
The current Thingvillier is a park where people come from all over the world to see another very important gathering that takes place every day. This is the only place above ground where the North American and European tectonic plates can be seen. The plates are currently moving away from each other at a rate of 4 meters a year making Thingvillier an ever-changing place of incredible rock formations and water falls and lakes and streams. The water is crystal clear here as it runs off the nearby glacier Langjokull and you can go diving (only in a wet suit because the water is so cold) and actually go inside the rift between the plates.
Andrew Guerra leaving 1st Icelandic Church
Thingvillier is also where it was decided by the Law Giver to move from Paganism to Christianity. This was done in 1000 AD at the Althing. Both sides presented their cases to why one religion should lead to the Law Giver, and he decided which one would be the official choice of the people. Christianity won, but the decision was very wise. You would be Christian in public and by law, but if you wished to continue to be Pagan and worship the Norse Gods of Odin and Thor and Loki in private that was totally accepted. This way Iceland avoided the bloodshed that most of Europe was swept up in during this long epic transition.
Prime Minister Summer Residence
For that reason, the first church built in Iceland was constructed here in 1000 AD, and the church is still standing. It has been rebuilt and moved around the park because of the tectonic plate shifts, but the symbol is very strong. And the history and place of Thingvillier in the minds of Icelanders is so strong that the ceremonial summer home of the Prime Minister is also located here. IT is only used for official occasions and ceremonies, but this place seems to be the symbolic center of the country.
Kerio Volcanic Crater
After an hour, we went to see a nearby volcanic crater, Kerio which was created about 6500 years ago, but now looks like a giant swimming pool (but really, really deep one).
James Carey at Kerio
Then we had a very expensive lunch (no surprise) of lamb soup and pizza (surprisingly excellent) at a small hotel restaurant outside of Silfoss . Then we drove along the southern coast back toward Reykjavik through an ancient lava debris field that looked like you on some other world. Movies like Ridley Scott’s movie, Prometheus, and Thor, Dark World and Game of Thrones have used the strange magical environment of Iceland to create their other worlds. It was a very pleasant last day in Iceland and we had beautiful sunshine until the drive back when rain and dark clouds made the lava field even more ghostly.
Note is you are renting a car here in Iceland like everything else here it is expensive, but there are plenty of firms to choose from. Gas or petrol at the moment costs almost 7 dollars US a gallon. However, here they use liters and not gallons.
My second day in Reykjavik, I woke up and had breakfast in the tiny but well equipped kitchen at 101 Hostel, and set out for the day.
First, I bought a bus tour for the Golden Circle tour which is a series of stops just outside of Reykjavik featuring geysers, waterfalls, the Hellisheidavirkjun turbine and generator and Thingvellir National Park rift valley. The tour lasts for about 6 hours. That was for Day 3.
Than I wandered down to the Old Harbor for some amazing scenic views of Reykjavik and the surrounding area. The day was overcast in the city area, but just across the bay the sunlight played off the far hills and bluffs. The truly clear Icelandic air made everything vivid and pop.
Than a long walk through the city to the National Museum of Iceland where I got to experience how this beautiful city is laid out and filled with parks. Also some really interesting architecture is featured throughout the city, and very interesting use of space like the parking lot that is under Lake Tjornin that Reykjavik City Hall sits on. Plus there is lots of public art in the parks and other open spaces.
The National Museum is small but has a permanent exhibition on the settling of Iceland featuring the early settlers, their written history, how Christianity became the accepted religion, the plight of being ruled by first by Norway and than Denmark, and how their sense of national identity evolved. There is a large section on the influence of the church first Catholic, and than a rather harsh forced conversion to Lutheran teachings. There is also a section where anyone, but especially children can actually touch and even put on a chain-mail suit of armor, hold a real size battle shield, and put on a real Viking battle helmet.
On the lower floor was a wonderful photo exhibit by an Icelandic amateur photographer Bjorn Bjornsson, who documented wildlife, people, and vistas while living in a wild part of Iceland that could only be reached by boat until the 1980’s. Really powerful and interesting images.
Back to the hostel for dinner, then back out to find the much discussed Reykjavik night life of bands, non-stop dancing and parties. I am afraid that it is not all that. I may have missed the real hot spots, but Dublin’s Temple Bar is pretty much the same atmosphere. While Reykjavik does go late on the weekends – some places stay open till 5 AM – but not any real wonderful bands or DJ or night spots did I see or experience. Just a lot of tourists drinking expensive beers and going to the same 50 places up and down Laugavegur Street and the side streets.
I did find a really interesting restaurant on Laugavegur that is just opening and serves great food and drinks plus has amazing service. Sumac has already gotten really excellent reviews on Tripadvisor.com, and is still in the tryout phase. Owner/chef Prainn Freyr Vigfusson has created a really great eatery with excellent personal service and attention to detail and quality. He showed me around the restaurant, and told me his plans for his private dinner room and future expansion. Sumac is located in the ION City Hotel which is part of a small chain in Iceland known as Ion Adventure Hotels. This is a real gem and I wish him a lot of success.
Also met his lovely girlfriend, Katrin Sif Einadsdottir who was helping out as hostess. Katrin is Icelandic but with South American heritage. She also lived in Canada and got a Masters at Berkeley in the USA. She returned to Iceland to complete a second Master in Icelandic History, and continue her first love which is giving private horse-riding tours to small groups in the back country of Iceland that can last up to 6 to 10 days. For more information on what sounds like an amazing adventure contact her through www.ishestar.is.
After a really nice time at Sumac with Katrin and Prainn, I returned to the hostel to get ready for touring the countryside of Iceland.
So I left LA at 9:50 PM on WOW Airlines, and the reason that they are WOW is that they charge for everything. Leg room, carry-on luggage, every bag that you put in the hold, and ALL food items. You get nothing for free. WOW. The fare was cheap, but by the time you add seat selection, plus checking a bag that was 23K (the industry standard), but for WOW their limit is 20K, the total cost increased by 147 dollars. The bag alone was 135 dollars that includes 75 dollars to check and an extra 60 dollars for the 3 kilos over.
Other than that cost, the flight was very smooth to Reykjavik. Nine hours non-stop. I arrived at 1:35 PM and breezed through customs. You have to take either a taxi or buses into town because the national airport is about 27 kilometers from the city. There are no trains. I used Gray Lines for about 25 dollars, but there are a couple other bus lines that I also noticed.
Hallgrímskirkja church
I was staying at 101 Hostel, really nice family hostel run by Svava and her daughter Sara right in the middle of Reykjavik’s city centre. Perfect for shopping, walking around the city, dining and the famous Reykjavik night life.
Reykjavik at 11 PM
Food in Reykjavik is very expensive as is everything else as well. So I am buying food at a chain store known as Bonus, and cooking at the hostel. An example of the eating out expense is a beer is about 12 dollars, a simple hamburger could be 17 or more dollars, and a steak could be as much as or more than 50 dollars (in not an expensive place). The money here known as the Icelandic Kroner (ISK) and is about 100 ISK to one US Dollar. So all the prices are like 5000.00 ISK or 2250.00 ISK, and those break down to about 50 US and 22.50 US. Not exactly but close enough if you always divide by 100.
By this time it was about 4 PM and I was exhausted. I crashed for a bit and took a nap. I woke up around 9 PM to full sunshine outside and went walking around the city centre to get a feel for the place. You can tell the Icelanders very quickly. They are walking around in shirt sleeves or light jackets (it is their summer), the tourists are in coats with hats and scarves. The projected temp for the time I am in Iceland is 57 degrees F daytime and 45 degrees F at night. Summer indeed.
Hallgrímskirkja church
Did some sightseeing. The image above is the famous Hallgrímskirkja Church, the unofficial image of Reykjavik. In front of it is the statue of Leif Eriksson, son of Iceland and the man who discovered North America for the Europeans. He called it Vinland and landed there about 400 years before Columbus. The statue is a gift from the United States to Iceland.
Lief ErikssonFrom the USA to Iceland.
I sampled some of the local beer in two places – first the American Bar, which I can vouch that there was not one American in the place, but a whole bunch of hard drinking Icelanders. A really great band playing American rock songs in perfect English but talking to the audience in Icelandic was fun to hear. While thumbing through my phone looking at the photos I had taken so far, I realized there was an older man standing right in front of me just staring at me. I asked him if I could help him, and he repeated back to me “Can I help you?” Being somewhat confused now by him, he began telling me that he disliked Americans and Trump. I told him I was Canadian to avoid any problems, and he hugged me than walked away.
The next place was a cute Irish bar called the Drunken Rabbit. Fun place where I met a couple from Boston who had driven the Ring Road (the road all the way around Iceland). They were amazed at the beauty of Iceland and all the different types of terrain. The only drawback was the car rental for a week that was 1000 dollars. Everything is expensive in Iceland.
I wandered home about 1:30 AM and it was still light comparable too early twilight. Great first day in Iceland.
(This is part of an ongoing series of stories about the first visit I ever had to Zimbabwe or Africa in general. All the stories are true and based on my own experiences. They are also part of my one-man theatre production, Coming to Zimbabwe which was published in Germany, and has toured the USA and parts of Africa.)
First days in Zimbabwe
After my day in Imire Game Preserve, this was the first day of my new job. (You can find the story Imire Safari Ranch – Zimbabwe 2012 in the monthly section menu) I woke up the next morning and met Gavin. We loaded into his incredible small car and we headed out toward the small city of Gweru located in the Midlands section of Zimbabwe. This drive should have taken about 3 hours but the engine was so small and tired in Gavin’s car, we were in for a 5 hour ride.
We headed out of Harare on the A5 Highway or Gweru-Harare Road. This was really the first time that I was going to see the real countryside of Zimbabwe. Of course on my journey to Imire, I had seen country. But that was in such a rush and I was so on edge from Kathy’s driving, that I did not pay much attention to the scenery.
Now because the slow nature of our drive through the mountains toward Gweru, I could very much see the lovely country, yet I could also see that field after field and farm after farm nothing was growing. There were no crops in the fields that I passed on this major road through the heartland of Zimbabwe.
Farmland sitting fallow
Whether is was the outcome of Mugabe’s land reforms or for some other reason, it was plain to see that this part of the economy was hurting. Zimbabwe during the Ian Smith years, during the civil war for independence, and even during Mugabe’s first years in power, was known as “the bread basket of Africa”. The farms were so successful and abundant and Zimbabwe grew so much food that it exported it surplus food stuffs to countries all around Africa. Now they had to import food items just to be able to eat.
As we drove south, we passed through the village of Chegutu and the small city of Kadoma. We drove through beautiful mountain areas, over rivers and across savannas where the sky seem to stretch on forever. After driving for a couple of hours, we stopped in Kwekwe to stretch our legs and get some coffee.
City Marker for Kwekwe
Kwekwe is a city of about 100,000 people located right in the center of the country. At one time, it was a very lovely little town, but it is very poor there now. Unemployment in the area is about 80% or more. The town has become very dusty and dirty, the gutters are filled with trash and there are 100’s of men standing around with no work and nothing really to do. As we pulled into the town and went around the roundabout, I was wondering where we were going to stop. We passed the beautiful but very tiny Mosque on the right as we enter Kwekwe. About 3 blocks passed that on the same side of the road, we stopped in front of this seemingly brand new building made of chrome and glass. It was like an illusion in the middle of this rundown town. The place was buzzing as people came and went from the double glass doors.
Kwekwe main drag
As we walked inside, Gavin told me the place was called Ripperz and that is was a fairly new place. The place seemed to be a combination of a restaurant, bakery and food market. Gavin and I walked in and went over to a coffee bar. And to be honest, I was surprised at the thought of a coffee bar in a rundown city in the middle of a 3rd world country. As I was to learn my first world impressions of Zimbabwe were going to be radically altered in the next month in this surprising and lovely country.
Ripperz bakery and cafe
As I sat down at the bar, I realized that I was the only white in the place. For just a moment, I experienced a momentary disquieting feeling that I was truly alone in this country. I did not know one person in Zimbabwe or this part of Africa. Further, that I was truly a minority in this country. You can read tons of information about a place and hope you understand it on an intellectual level, but the feelings that you get on the ground in a place are what truly define your experience and attitudes. Not that I was in fear for my safety because of my race; on the contrary, everyone so far in Zim had been very friendly and helpful. Yet, at that moment, I realized how different I was from anyone in the room. I had only experienced that feeling once before while standing at a bar in a nightclub in Mazatlan, Mexico trying to get a drink, and not even the bartender would speak to me because I was the only Angelo there. Both of these moments were profound for me, and reminded me that I was “the stranger in a strange land.” That I had so much to learn about this country, her people and her culture, and that was on me to do. So many times as I have traveled in the world, I have found Americans who are visiting a place and act like it is still the United States. They forget that they are visiting a new place, yet they expect the people there to treat them like they are still in the US. As the visitor, you are the one that needs to adapt to the new place, because the new place is not going to adapt to you. And that has always been my guiding principle when traveling. As Mark Twain once said, “…traveling doesn’t lead to a new destination, but to a new way of seeing things.”
After ordering our coffee, one of the two white owners came from the back and walk over to us. He was from Canada and had settled in Kwekwe to work the farm that his family had owned there. They later had lost it to the Mugabe land reforms which consisted of the government taking legally owned land away from the professional white farmers and giving it to black citizens of the country. Many of whom did not know how to farm or did not want to work that hard or were not capable of running those large farming concerns, so the farms began to fail in record numbers and the food production bottomed out for Zimbabwe.
Zimababwe’s President Robert Mugabe chants Zanu PF slogans with supporters gathered at the Harare International Conference Centre in Harare, Wednesday May 3, 2000. Mugabe launched the Zanu PF’s election manifesto which bears the slogan “Land is the Economy and the Economy is Land”. (AP Photo/Christine Nesbitt)
Now please do not take this that I disapprove of the idea of the original people of a country that had been colonized by white Europeans getting their own country back. But to remove at gun point and in several cases by death at the hands of gangs of Mugabe thugs, farmers who had worked that land for at least 3 to 4 generations, who provided jobs and about one quarter of Zim’s GNP seems wrong on any scale. Plus the farmers did not do themselves any favors when they made the mistake of thinking that Mugabe was running a democracy. They provided funding to the rural party (MDC) in government elections against Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and thus provoked Mugabe to actions against them. This whole misadventure that resulted in poor food production, lost jobs, ruined communities and families, and in many cases death could have been done better and gotten the same results without the ruin and bloodshed. Mugabe took an ax to a situation that needed delicacy and the resulting decline in food production and lost economy is proof of its failure.
Marquee with my play, Coming to Zimbabwe, Harare.
We are soon joined by his partner, who was from Greece (I believe). In my play, the second owner is from Greece but to be honest I do not remember where he was from. The following conversation is what truly happened at the moment of introduction:
Gavin – (to the Greek owner) “This is James from Hollywood, CA.”
Owner – (to me) “You are from Hollywood?”
Me – “Yes, I am.”
Owner – “Do you know any famous people?”
Me – “Yes, I know some famous people.”
Owner – “Do you know Tom Cruise?”
Me – “No, I don’t know Tom Cruise.”
Owner – “You don’t know Tom Cruise?”
Me – “No I don’t. Never had the pleasure.”
Owner – “I love Tom Cruise. I have seen all of his movies. Risky Business, Top Gun, Rain Man…” (at this point the Greek owner continued to name several more Tom Cruise movies and talked about how much he liked the movies and Tom Cruise himself.)
Mr. Tom Cruise
I should also point out at during this entire time, the owner never asked why an American was sitting in his store, what I was doing or how I liked Zimbabwe. It was Tom Cruise 24/7 with this guy, or so it seemed. Gavin realized that the conversation was going south and asked for “take away” coffee for us, and it was provided. We left and had a good long laugh about Tom Cruise and the Greek owner.
Yet, two days later, as we returned toward Harare, we stopped again at Ripperz for coffee. As I walked through the front door, the Greek owner who was working the front counter greeted me with, “Hey, Tom Cruise.”
I would go through Kwekwe about 8 to 10 more times over the next 4 weeks as I traveled around with Gavin or Gary, the Irish consulate and his family as they took me around Zimbabwe to places like Great Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls, and Matopos National Park. I would often stop in Kwekwe as a mid-point for several of these journeys, and every time I would eat and shop at Ripperz. And every time I walked through the door, the Greek owner would greet me as “Hey, Tom Cruise.”
Reps Theatre, Harare. Where my play debuted 2012.
Now in my one man show, I make this part of the story a comedy high point of the show and enlarge the number of people who began to call me Tom Cruise including great numbers of people on the street. Yet in truth by my third visit, a couple of employees started to refer to me as Tom Cruise. I was also greeted one day as I walked down the main street in Kwekwe with Gary’s son to the local internet cafe by a perfect African stranger, someone that I had never seen before as… “Oh you are the Tom Cruise guy.”
So that is my 15 minutes of African fame being called “Tom Cruise” in a small city in the middle of Zimbabwe – Kwekwe. For a month, I was known as Tom Cruise of Kwekwe.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
Matusadona National Park (MNP) once supported Africa’s second highest density of lions. The plentiful grasslands on the foreshore of Lake Kariba provided for swelling herds of buffalo and consequently the lions thrived. Yet, following fluctuations in lake levels and increases in poaching, the buffalo herds disappeared, quickly followed by the lions. The last census of lions in 2005 suggested just 28 individuals (down from nearly 90 individuals in 1998) remained on the valley floor and concerns have since been raised as to the populations long term viability.” An extract from the ALERT (African Lion & Environmental Research Trust) website.
The beauty in a lifetime is to live your passion and the reward in that passion is having a purpose : Rae Kokes embodies this. Her work as Principal Researcher on the Matusadona Lion Project sees her collaring, tracking and monitoring these magnificent creatures and her intimate knowledge of each pride member located within this vast national park is phenomenal. When she speaks of the lions her connectivity to them is almost palpable.
With the return of the buffalo and more plains game, the lions are growing in number with two new litters being recently sighted this month. There have also been sightings of lone male lions that are moving into the area which will add to the gene pool if breeding takes place.
A network has grown among the camps, lodges, MAPP (Matusadona Anti-Poaching Unit) and the National Parks Authority. All are collectively reporting the sightings of the lions, their spoor or recent kills to the centralised Matusadona Lion Project. The Project also aims to work on a community driven conservation strategy for all of the area’s wildlife and not just the lions.
The combined efforts of all involved are a definitive and positive step which works towards the understanding of lions, the impact of the changing environments they live in, both natural and human, and our ability to ensure that their existence is a given for the next generation to enjoy on an African safari.
There is an expression in Shona (Zimbabwe’s main local language) – tiri tose – meaning “we are together”. Witnessing the synergy, commitment and passion of all involved in the Matusadona Lion Project I believe that the lions of Matusadona National Park will have a tomorrow.
Written by Mel Mostert, Travel Consultant for Vayeni Escapes (https://www.facebook.com/melaniemanuel.mostert) (story used with the permission of Vayeni Escapes-info@vayeni.com)
(shared courtesy of Mel Mostert at Vayeni. com. The original blog can be found at this address – http://www.vayeni.com/blog/. The article is about Norma Jeane’s Lakeview Resort in Masvingo (Great Zimbabwe) near Lake Mutirikwe located in south-eastern Zimbabwe.
When you travel a new silence goes with you and if you listen, you will hear what your heart would love to say.” – John O’Donohue
This quote perfectly summarises the feeling I have on a road trip. There is something about driving to a destination that allows you the time to disconnect fully and gradually have the environment you’re going into to wash over you. That and allowing your body the time to adjust to the change in temperature.
This past week, I had the opportunity to travel to Great Zimbabwe. It IS October and, therefore, hot (!!!!) and dry. There is beauty in every aspect of this land even when she is dry and barren, the promise of tomorrow’s greenery is just below the surface. Although there were security checkpoints en route the police officers were friendly and actually provided humorous relief on the 4-hour drive to Masvingo.
A pitstop in Masvingo reminded us all that we were famished and as this was an adventure, we stepped into a local establishment to try out authentic Zimbabwean fare (sadza and chicken) and walk through their town square which is decorated with antique tractors and train engines.
The drive into Norma Jeane’s was a welcome relief simply because she presents herself as an oasis with lush green lawns and abundant flowers. Being gorgeous in her simplicity and unpretentiousness, this was a delightful beacon at the end of the road.
After a quick freshen up, I braced myself for the tour of Great Zimbabwe Ruins. The time of day, I believe was perfect, 4.30ish – sunset over the ruins what more could you ask for? The climb was quite arduous. The view from the top of the King’s Kraal breathtaking! I was struck by the ingenuity and industriousness of the people that constructed this city. The sun began to set and I stood (for a moment taking on the mantle of royalty) as I survey this kingdom of year’s gone.
On our return, to Norma Jeane’s a welcome and refreshing shower which I very quickly followed up with a sumptuous dinner. The almost full moon shone down on the path as I walked back to my lodge. A magical ending to this day.
Mel Mostert was born in Zimbabwe and raised on a cotton farm in Shamva until she was 8 years old. She immigrated to Switzerland where she primary schooled and returned to Zimbabwe as a teenager. Prior to leaving Switzerland, Mel and her family traveled the entire country. Upon returning to Zimbabwe, they embarked on the same kind of trip to re-familiarize themselves with their country. It was these adventures that gave birth to her wanderlust and also her passion for her country.
Mel has worked in and around the tourism industry since she was 20 years old. She joins the Vayeni team fresh from being Reservations Manager, Camp Hostess for VIP groups and Temporary Camp Manager at a luxury safari camp on Lake Kariba. She continues to still have the same enthusiasm and love for Zimbabwe and the region as she always has had.
It was Saturday and Keith took me to see my first cricket match. We drove around downtown Harare on the way to the cricket stadium. The Brits laid out this city in a beautiful way. Wide streets and on a partial grid that makes it somewhat easy to get around in.
The constant jaywalking and almost non-existent traffic laws takes a little getting used to. I forget that Americans seem to have some of the most rigid traffic laws in the world. Here it is a complete mess with everyone going everywhere at once but it seems to work somehow. Driving here for the new comer would be extremely overwhelming. I have not had to make that choice yet, as everyone as been so kind to take me where I need to go, or I am walking distance from shopping areas. http://wikitravel.org/en/Harare
We got to the stadium to watch Zimbabwe’s national team play South Africa in a Pan-African Cricket tournament. I knew something of the game but not enough to describe anything to anyone. WOW. I love cricket. We were watching a type call Twenty20 cricket as opposed to Fifty/50 or One Day cricket which takes all day, or the 5 day classic Test match cricket. Can you imagine watching a 5 day match of the same two teams playing the same game for 5 days and still maybe ending in a tie. My head would explode, but people here are totally into it.
I cannot explain the game here in just a few words, because it is as complex as baseball in the record keeping and strategic moves. Yet once you get the basics down it is a really fun and exciting game to cheer for. Zim lost, but due to a tournament rule they somehow got into the finals.
We were in private boxes enjoying the game. Like watching football in a luxury box – only way to watch a sport really! I was taken to two other boxes as I continue to meet the sponsors of the drama festival here in Zim.
I am a bit of a local celebrity or curiosity since I have come all this way to do the festival on my own dime. Some appreciate it, some are worried that I will bring an American influence to a festival that is 100 years old next year, and some are worried that I will underestimate Zim’s education system. It is strange to be an American on the ground in a small country. They respect us and dislike us with equal measure. They know more about our country and elections then we do because we are such a huge influence in the world that what we do affects them as much as ourselves. I cannot tell you how many conversations that I have had about how they see the Obama/Romney contest.
It is like we are the Mafia Don at the end of the street protecting his neighborhood. We can provide protection and benefits to the local street, but it comes at a really big price. And even when we do nothing, it affects them. They have taken the Chinese money because of all the international sanctions that were leveled at President Mugabe because of his Land Reform measures where his government seized white owned farms and gave them to native Zimbabweans.
The sanctions are against him and his government personally, but the effect trickles down to all the businesses and people here. Whether the sanctions were right or not, they are one reason that the Zim economy is a disaster. They did not effect the leaders, it effected the every day person destroying jobs, pensions, and savings.
While we were fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chinese quietly came in to Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular and have bought all the minerals rights. So Zimbabwe has taken all that the Chinese will give them, because they were getting very little now from the US and Europe.
The final score to the cricket match was 129 to 126. I can kind of explain the scoring if you are interested at some other time, but I can tell you it was a nail biter right down to the last over. Yes, I said Over. It is like an inning/turn/bat in baseball but shorter.
Then I went to over to Gavin’s house for a really quick dinner and off to the local theatre called Reps. Not professional, it is more like a community theatre. Reps Theatre is a private non-profit enterprise with two theatres, one large and one small and an excellent pub bar that is open all during the show. I saw part of the Norman Conquest trilogy. It was ok. Couple of really good actors, but felt like an actor’s showcase in LA.
Back on home and to bed. Tomorrow I am going on SAFARI.
I am flying high over the Atlantic on Ethiopian Airlines. Talk about luxury. Certainly no American airline offers this kind of service any more. Blankets and pillows for everyone. Free meal and free booze and basically free everything. The people are incredibly friendly. They ask what I am doing and when I tell them, they all give me advice on how to survive in Zim and Africa in general. People are friendly everywhere if you take the time with them, and are courteous yourself. But this was really very pleasant.
My stop-over in Washington was completely uneventful. I landed at 1:45 AM, and I had booked a hotel room. I am just too old to try to sleep in a row of chairs in the airport. It was worth it, because I was exhausted after a day of taking care of last-minute details and the stress that I have every time I fly. Plus is was really nice to spend one last night in what I perceive as American style luxury. TV, ESPN, ac, coffee in the room and a very large hot shower.
I am currently watching the cutest little Ethiopian boy run up and down the aisles. Big smile on his face as he laughingly runs back and forth. How can you not smile at that? The pure joy of just being able to run around with no cares.
Even with the help of alcohol and a few pills it is very hard for me to sleep on a plane. Although for one stretch I did manage to until a beautiful air hostess woke me up because I was drooling. How romantic and sexy is that image?
I am about halfway to Addis Abeba, and I still have 9 more hours after I land there. I will arrive in Harare around 12 PM on Thursday. This jet lag is going to be awful.
(For spelling junkies – Addis Ababa can be spelled two ways. I choose to use the spelling used by the official Ethiopian Mapping Authority Addis Abeba.)
I will try to send this out when I get to Addis Abeba as there is no internet on my planes. I marvel at people who can do all their work from the skies, but unfortunately I am not booked on one of those flights.
My two seat mates are two Ethiopian men who are returning home after long times away. One is a college professor in computer science in North Carolina, and the other is a man who has not been home for over 15 years who lives in Seattle and has three kids. They have been very kind answering all my stupid questions about Ethiopia and trying to teach me useful words.
Listening to Miles Davis at the moment – on the airline sound system – he is so cool, that he makes me feel cool just listening to him.
“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe”……Anatole France.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Day 2
(It is hard to get online here for a number reasons. So please bare with me. I will write as often as I can.)
I have been flying for about 10 hours now and it is dawn. I am watching the sunrise over the east coast of Africa and it is amazing. It is the same sunrise as in any part of world, but since I have never seen anything in Africa this is especially amazing. I am flying over Somalia and Khartoum. The view screen on the back of our seats shows us flying over places that I have seen on maps all my life but never imagined that I would ever come near too.
As we flew into into Addis Abeba, it was grey and dreary. It is winter here and grey seems the main color. The airport seems in a total state of chaos, but it makes sense to them. Must be 20 or more duty-free shops selling everything that you can imagine. Pray rooms in all corners of the airport for men and women to pray separately. No clear idea of what gate that a flight is landing or taking off from, yet everyone but me seems to know exactly where to go. Someone in LA taught me a phrase in Ethiopian that means “good health to you”. A common greeting I was told. So I have tried it on about 10 people in the last day or so. I usually get a strange stare. It is due to my amazing and very special pronunciation I am sure.
The plane that I am taking to Harare is the size of a sardine can. We have not even taken off the man behind me is already snoozing loudly and every third person on this flight is Chinese. Talking with people on the other plane they confirm that while we were fighting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chinese have bought all the minerals in Africa. They own Africa just like the Europeans owned it in the last century. This is the new form of colonialism, so has anything really changed? It just seems a new master is all.
Finally I am in Harare dog-tired, yet I still have customs. The people are very nice but the process is clumsy at best. I stood in three lines over an hour while one man in one booth processed about 60 people. I arrived with a temporary work permit, my passport, my contract with the Festival and proof of my ticket out of the country – all required to enter the country. They never asked of any of it. They only wanted my 45 dollar fee for my visa. Oh well.
I finally got through and met Gavin Peter, the festival director. We have spoken for months by email and Facebook – but to finally meet him in person was great. A big, friendly, gregarious man who drove me through Harare to the home of my hosts for the next week, Keith and Jeannette ——. Keith is the chairman of the board of the NIAA who sponsors the festival.
A quick shower and a brief nap. I was so knackered, but I got up so that I could try to get on the Zim schedule. It was still about 4 PM, so they showed me around their property. The homes in the suburbs seem to consist of large to moderate homes on large tracts of land (2 to 3 acres) surrounded by high walls and fences. Their garden is amazing with so many beautiful plants and flowers that blazed with color even in winter. Then a very pleasant evening in their lovely home with a fire (it is winter here), dinner and a bottle of wine. What a very lovely introduction to this interesting country and what promises to be a very life-changing adventure.
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