21 November 2013
This is Africa!
Before we departed on our long journey, to the ancient historical Great Zimbabwe Ruins, we stopped over in the capital Harare. The city boasted some of the old colonial British influence in its architecture. Some of the group members posted postcard and others went on a scavenger hunt to find souvenirs.
After exploring the Harare jungle, we set off on our journey to the ruins. As we became accustom to by now, we were stopped by the police, lucky only twice and not 6 times as the previous day.
At the first stop the police demanded to see our fire extinguisher. We didn’t have one because we didn’t need it and made up a story that we have one in the back of our bus underneath all the luggage and if they need to see it we have to unpack everything in both Quantums. I knew they won’t want to do that and the police let us go without paying a fine!
We weren’t so lucky at the second roadblock. The police pulled us over and said we exceeded the speed limit. They demanded a fine of R400 per vehicle. I refused to pay and after a 20 minute conversation reduced the fine to R200. We never got a slip for the fine, so I guess it’s my first bribe to a policeman….
The rest of the journey to the Great Zimbabwean Ruins went well we received some rain and had to decide if we want to camp or stay in a warm bed. It was raining hard and the people that decided to camp, camped underneath the campsites cooking area. The day ended, as we all now became accustom to, us all eating together and laughing about the events of the day, but also with a new phrase for when things are peculiar…. This is Africa…
stellenboschtrip 