Hi. Remember me? Back online…
Hi there. So, it’s been a while, huh? Yeah. Sorry about that. Internet access was less and less accessible in northern Mozambique (let alone electricity and running water), but I think that’ll change now. I’m currently in Tanzania, about to head into Rwanda (no worries…genocide ended over 10 years ago!), and it seems that internet is much more widely available in these parts. Anyway, let’s get back to it…
I spent a few days in Chimoio, mostly relaxing. I did go horseback riding one day, which fell after a night of free beers from the local white Zimbabwean ex-farmers (and a heated debate on the subject of race relations that was, in the end, all chocked up to “cultural differences”. That usually just settles everything…) The horseback riding session started with a lesson, which was great; normally they just throw me on the horse and I end up with a sore ass at the end. This time, I actually learned something, which is always good. We started out by saddling the horse, and then doing some riding tricks. At the end of the hour lesson, I had flipped myself around a moving horse a few times and even stood up on the thing! Even more amazing considering my bleary vision and compromised balance.
The horses are owned by a Zimbabwean family who rescued the horses from abandoned farms in Zimbabwe. There aren’t too many horses in Mozambique, so these were the first horses that many of the locals had ever seen. We had a decent size audience for our lesson, and even more people watching and following during our ride. That was definitely the highlight of the ride – all the of the children running and following us, screaming “bom dia” – good morning – and waving at us.
During my stay at the Pink Papaya, Helen (the lovely English owner), who, despite living in Mozambique for quite a few years already had managed to learn as little Portuguese as possible, “bribed” me (with beer) to help her translate a meeting between her and the provincial Minister of Labor. We had a good night, and it was an amazing testament to how much my Portuguese has improved during my time in Mozambique. I find the Mozambicans the easiest to understand amongst all the Portuguese speakers I’ve met so far. The Portuguese, albeit it is their language, are very heavily accented, and, despite the fact that I actually learned Portuguese in Brazil, I still find it impossible to understand a word of the popular soap operas on television.
During my stay of lethargy in Chimoio, a bunch of people had been encouraging me to go to Gorongosa National Park, simply to look at the amazing diversity in landscape that the park has to offer. Helen, bless her, called all of her contacts to secure me a free ride into the park. Gorongosa, back before the war(s) in Mozambique, was known to be one of the best parks for game (big animal) viewing in all of Southern Africa. Unfortunately, during the war, most of the animals were poached to provide food for the locals. Today, there is a major restoration effort taking place, led by Stephen Carr and the Carr Foundation. Stephen Carr is the man responsible for creating SMS, or Short Message Service, which is basically text messaging on your cell phones. He’s now using his royalties to upgrade the park.
I arrived right after they brought 50-some buffalo up from Kruger National Park (the park I went to in South Africa), although I never did see any of them. I didn’t see many animals at all, really, although I was surprised by all the baboons running the campground as I opened my tent door the first morning. Most of the animals are smaller – lots of antelope types and warthogs, which are always fun. The ranger who drove us around one afternoon had a wealth of information about birds in the park, including their calls, and he was keen to point them out. My favorite was the Yellow Fever Tree forest. Yellow Fever Trees have bright yellow bark and leaves, produced by a fine powder on the bark, and are stunning to look at, particularly in the late afternoon sun, when we happened to drive through this forest. We were on a search for a pride of lions, which was the big excitement amongst the rangers, although we never did find them.
The landscape of the park itself, was impressively diverse; the entryway to the park was full of reds, yellows, oranges – I felt like it was autumn. From there we entered a more humid, tropical-like area, with lush greenery. Then we moved into more savannah-type land, and finally, where we went for our game drive, we skirted a huge wetland area. And we barely even touched a small area of the park.
The main camp of Gorongosa, looking back at what it used to be, was pretty impressive. There was lots of work going on to restore the admin buildings, although they still sat amongst other buildings still ridden with rocket holes. My favorite feature was the big swimming pool, equipped with diving board – this was the true indication of the classy type of place Gorongosa must have been in its heyday. I was sure this would be lower on the priority list, but I was told that the pool equipment was actually sitting at the Zimbabwe border and should arrive within a few days. The pool would be up and running soon!
I managed to get a free ride out of the park to the local town of Gorongosa, a pretty shabby, unfriendly village, from what I experienced of it. Mostly, I just sat in the chapa (van-type thing), waiting for it to fill up (the rule of most public transport in Africa – you don’t leave until the vehicle is full), getting a kick out of watching the local goats tangle themselves up, climbing over each other, screaming their bleah! like little children. We finally left, and within a few hours I was back in Chimoio for round two of the Pink Papaya.
Tags: Chimoio, Mozambique, Mozambique, Tag Index
Tania