April 28, 2025
The end of our safari and a long travel day is upon us. Kayleen and I were up early to start cramming everything into our bags. We had to meet Joe for the drive out of the reserve at 5:30AM. Somehow we did it and were only 10 minutes late to leave!
We had a nice sunrise on our drive out and got to see a variety of animals waking up to start their day. Two rhinos were still laying down sleeping, almost on top of each other, as we drove by. Even these giant animals like to cuddle.
After an hour drive we said goodbye to Joe at the welcome lodge. Joe’s time at Mhondoro lodge was ending as well. He has been a guide for 19 years and worked in this reserve at a different lodge years ago. That is why he knew so many of the other guides when we were driving around. For our stay Mhondoro hired him as a freelance guide just for us as they must have been short on guides unexpectedly. He is starting a full time guide job at a different reserve in the next few weeks. We had a great time with him so it worked out for everyone.
We loaded into our van with Daniel driving to get us back to the airport. It was roughly a three hour drive but we were able to listen to the second Harry Potter through the car speakers this time. Everyone fell asleep except for Ollie who has no use for a nap under any circumstances.
We made it through airport security in Joburg, though unlike the airport in George, they did not allow any water through security. We had quite a few reusable bottles full of water which Kayleen and I had to chug because there was no where to dump them out.
I was able to get Hamilton downloaded on Ollie’s iPad for him to watch on the plane. Another shout out to our friend Kevin’s VPN login. He was thrilled to watch it but it also re-energized his overall enthusiasm for repeating lines endlessly. The flight was uneventful, only one hour and forty five minutes, but the boys once again where not happy with the no headphones during take off and landing. Constantly asking for an explanation I could not give.
When we landed in Zimbabwe is was in the 80s so we all quickly shed a layer. We went through immigration and got our visas right there for 120 USD total. The immigration officer was probably the nicest person I have ever met in that role. He let Ollie stamp his own passport and even offered to stamp Ollie’s hand with the immigration stamp!
We met our driver, Steve, and waited for the other groups he was driving to get through immigration. Our hotel was the first stop and only a 20 minute drive from the airport. The other groups in the van where four middle aged Germans and a couple from Texas that has lived in Angola for the last few years.
Once we got moving Steve started to give us Zimbabwe facts which I was happy to listen to so I could avoid a Trump conversation with the Germans. He told us how there are ~10 million Zimbabweans that live in the country but actually many more throughout the world since a lot leave to find work due to the poor economy in Zimbabwe. We had met a few Zimbabweans working in SA, including Martha, at our Cape Town house. There is little trust in the government and their currency, so USD is the main currency used. If you go to an ATM, USD will come out.
Steve also started giving other random facts such as the need to give the parents of the woman you want to marry between 5 and 15 cows when trying to get their permission for the marriage. He said that the number of cows depends on how attractive the woman is. At this point I wasn’t sure if he was kidding. Then he continued that if it is a second marriage, because of divorce or being a widow, there is a step discount in the number of cows. Like a used car he said. At this point he apologized if he offended anyone and said that is just the culture here. Then I knew none of it was a joke.
When we arrived at the hotel there was a bunch of mongoose rooming the grounds. Kayleen was relieved to know we were in a snake free zone with these guys on patrol! We relaxed in the hotel room until dinner. Everyone was tired from the travel day so dinner was a struggle and even Uno barely kept everyone sane. At the end of dinner a flying cricket landed on our table and gave us all a scare. We survived the meal and on the way back to the room saw a handful of frog/toads which caused some excitement.
We are all in one room at this hotel stop. It is still nice but they squeezed a twin bed and a crib into the room with the normal king bed. Lenny was pleased to go into the crib but the thrill wore off after five minutes and he was in the king bed with us.
