I travelled from Johannesburg, South Africa to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe by Translux
coach, overnight. The coach left Jo'burg at 20:30 and arrived in Bulawayo
at 11:30. The portion of the journey which took us through Northern South
Africa was nothing special apart from the fact that I met two people on
my coach who knew Rob, the owner of the The
Green Elephant Backpackers in Cape
Town , small world! If you ever read this Nicki or Monica, very nice
to meet you. :-)
As we left South Africa via Beitbridge we crossed the Limpopo River, the
border between SA/Zimbabwe follows the path of the river. Due to the unusually
high amount of rain in the region the water level of the river was very
high, almost up to the border fence. To the average Joe Bloggs this wouldn't
seem odd but locals would tell you that it was, very. Zimbabwe has been
gripped by a severe drought in recent years and the rains were very welcome.
At about 07:00 the next morning, we were now well within Zimbabwe, we stopped
for breakfast at a small hotel by the side of the road. The only currency
I had on me at this time was American Dollars which I got by changing a
traveller's cheque in Jo'burg after I had been mugged the day before. At
the time of my visit it was impossible to buy Zimbabwean Dollars (Z$) outside
of the country, because of this state of affairs regarding currency exchange
no figures are available for Z$ to British Pounds (GBP) or any other currency.
South Africa is a major investor in the Zimbabwean economy so the South
African Rand (SAR) is a good indicator of the strength of the Z$. At the
time of my visit, the SAR stood at approximately SAR5.8 to the British Pound,
then Z$ were worth just under 15 to the Pound. At the time of writing this
passage (21.5.96) the Pound was worth over SAR7. For the latest news look
at The Universal
Currency Converter
My first impressions of Zimbabwe were how green it was, this I was told
by Nicki (see above) that this was very unusual. Normally the countryside
around the SA border would look like dry scrubland but because of the rains
everything was very green. The drive from Beitbridge to Bulawayo is made
up of long flat roads, we saw a few small animals in the morning by the
side of the road but none of the 'Big Five' (Lion, Cheetah, Giraffe, Rhinoceros
or Elephant).
Nicki and Monica had told me they worked in Port
Elizabeth as nurses and they were coming up to Zimbabwe for a couple
of weeks to visit Monica's Uncle (I think that's who he was :-) Seun who
lived on a farm near Shangani, 95 Km North East of BYO. When we arrived
in BYO Seun said he would take me to find the hostel I had booked into,
as he doesn't come into BYO very often this took some time to find. Eventually
we found it - Shaka's Spear, 237 Leopold Takawira Avenue. I said goodbye
to Nicki and Monica and thanked Seun for the lift.
Eventually, I was in Bulawayo, with very little money and my baggage a little
lighter! :-)