Some more days in Bratislava, also with jaunts to Vienna. Lots of food.. donuts from La Donuteria (now mostly vegan!), a Beyond Meat burger at Urban House, re:fresh and Made with Laf again, Balans Bistro. Walk up to Slavin monument, and departure.
My first weekend in Harare, Zimbabwe was pretty chill. We visited some markets and hung out in cafes. Ate great Ethiopian food at Queen Makeda, reasonable pizza at St Elmo's, amazing noodles at the market.
Went with a Fin and two Russians to Lake Chivero nature reserve. We drove around in a totally in appropriate car for a while, and saw zebra, wildebeests, impala and other similar things, monkeys, tons of interesting birds and a giraffe (rare there). Then we stopped at the park headquarters and chatted to the rangers. They agreed to take us on foot to see rhinos and other things for a small fee.
We stumbled upon a snoozing rhino almost immediately, which Gladys, our guide, didn't see until we were way closer than we should've been. We snuck away, and the rhino stayed put.
Minutes later, one of the Russians behind me said "oh my god" (she saw a snake? I wondered), and then Gladys in front of me turned her head and said "Run." with the fear of god in her eyes. I didn't look back, and took off with the group. The rhino had decided he didn't like us after all. Gladys wove us through the trees as you're supposed to, and for some reason the Fin took off in a straight line, away from the group.
I tripped and fell. I had no idea how far behind me the rhino was, and my legs were lead, I couldn't get up. Figured even if I could I can't outrun a rhino anyway, so maybe I should just curl up in a ball and hope for the best? This is probably as cool a way to die as I could really hope for. Then Gladys was back, hauling me out of the undergrowth.
Simultaneously, the rhino had paused to decide who to chase; I had a second to look back and saw him standing there debating his options, still far too close. Lucky for stumbling me, he decided to go for the Fin. Gladys and the Russians and I put enough distance between ourselves and the rhino to slow down, and when the adrenaline had stopped I almost passed out, probably from a combination of heat, shock, and the fact my knee was bleeding everywhere. We lurked around, calling for the Fin and waiting for me to recover. Eventually Gladys got a call from HQ - he had run all the way there (having been followed a pretty long way by the rhino, who had then given up and gone to the lake).
I lost Elizabeth's sunglasses during the charge, and later after the immediate danger had passed I realised my phone was gone as well. Gladys went back for a couple of minutes and found it! She's a hero. Mostly for probably saving my life, not the phone.
We regrouped at HQ, then went to see some more chill rhinos by the lake. They had birds standing on their heads and everything. We also saw ostriches.
So that was a pretty good day.
Today I sustained minor injuries whilst escaping a charging rhino.
It's day 4 in Zimbabwe, I think things are going pretty well.
The power went out. Fortunately the Fin and the Russians were still sightseeing (Elizabeth was at work) so I had ample opportunity to get out of the house. We drove through the CBD of Harare, and then to the balancing rocks. We tried to negotiate, but they would only accept USD (at a vastly higher price than the local price) and we didn't have any on us. So we took photos from the road, and went to the Botanical Gardens instead. They're not very well kept but there's lots of interesting trees.
The only vegan place in Harare listed on Happycow is V-Delights, which was in walking distance. Only it's closed. Obviously. We ate Ethopian food at Queen Makeda again.
Still no power. Went to some markets with the Fin and the Russians where I bought tasty snacks and tea, and in the evening we climbed up a hill in the south of the city in time to see the sun set. From the distance, Harare looks almost like a modern and functional city.
I spent a morning with the tutors from Sprout Coding in the suburbu of Dzivaresekwa, learning about the programme, listening to them prepare as a group for the start of term the following week (when they go into schools to teach young children Scratch and Woof) and chatting to a few of them about web development and git.
Ate lunch at Gava's, finally getting a taste of delicious Zimbabwean food. The veggie option is just what comes on the side of all the meat dishes - sadza (or peanut rice), greens (canola/rape) and beans. But it's enormously filling in itself. And a whole french press of local coffee, plus chilli to top it went down really well.
Got home to find the power finally restorted, so I could make dinner for Elizabeth, Sarah and Andrew.
The next day I met the Sprout Coding folks again, this time for a braai (bbq) in Kuwadzana. The tutors came out of their shells more and we had good discussions about hacking, encryption, privacy and surveillence. And the food was great (sadza and greens).
We ate dinner at Little Eataly, the only option for me being pasta with tomato. It was really good though. Then we made a half-assed attempt to socialise at Tristen's bar, where there was supposed to be a gig of some kind, but it was just full of drunk dudes who wanted to chat and I was too tired, so we went home.
Some Saturday morning market touring, followed by an extravagant lunch at Pistachio Cafe, probably the place with the most explicit vegan options in Harare.
In the late afternoon Andrew drove Elizabeth and I to Domboshava, a breathtakingly beautiful granite hill and national monument about a 45 minute drive north of Harare. We climbed about and watched the sun set. There are cave paintings there too, but we didn't find them before it was dark.
Chill Sunday. Adventure cancelled due to lack of fuel (in the whole country) so I joined Elizabeth and co at church again, and then we had a long, drawn out bbq at Andrew's house, including a jump in the pool. We ate and chatted and played board games into the evening. The power went out due to load shedding (coordinated turning-off of parts of the city, semi-accurate information about when this happens is on the electricity provider's website).
Last couple of chill days in Harare. Random cafe stops, cooking for Elizabeth, excellent Indian food at Spice Lounge (including really spicy chai), and sorghum sadza at Gava's. Then, depart.
Cooking for Elizabeth & co in Harare, Zimbabwe. Much room for mushrooms.
A flying visit to Aila and Beny on my way from Vienna airport to the Croatian coast..
Such a good dog. SUCH a good dog.
It remains a mystery why to this day it still hasn't occurred to anybody to put up a big board with departure platforms anywhere in Zagreb bus station.
It's a huge station, and every time I have to go ask at the information window where my bus is leaving from. Pro tip: if it's a busy time, do not leave this to the last minute.
(happy to be back in the land of krompirusa though, eh. Even mediocre Croatian bus station 'burek krompir')
Took a bus from Zagreb to the small town of Sibenik on the Adriatic coast. It's a super cute old town with a sheltered bay, and there weren't many tourists.
Hiked around the bay to an abandoned fort that is 'only accessible by sea' but there's a small walkway and some rocks to hop from land. Climbled over a wall to get inside, and it was enormous and epic. There were a few other people there, some of whom came the same way as me, some who came by boat. We all hitched a ride back on the boat, saving 3 or more hours of walking back.
Also ate at SHE a lot, and discovered the amazing veggie burger and chips at Bounty. Visited the forts in the old town; sat on the beach under the Blue Moon; swam in the sea.
6.5 hour bus down the Crotatian coast is a Very Good Idea.
Bus down the Croatian coast from Sibenik to Dubrovnik. Accidentally a day early. Hostel let me check in anyway. Dubrovnik is as touristy as expected, but much more impressive than expected, so I guess the hype is somewhat justified. I didn't feel a need to stay there long though. Walked around the old town, went on a boat right, climbed the hill overlooking the town and hiked back to the hostel. Ate two meals at Nishta.
Moved to Bijela in the Bay of Kotor. It's beautiful, peaceful but not dull. Plenty of places to swim and hike, or bus to for day trips.
An afternoon wandering around Herceg Novi.
Boat ride from Herceg Novi, around Mamula island (abandoned prison being turned into a hotel), to the blue cave, a stop at Zanjice beach and a visit to Fort Arza, and some old torpedo tunnels. Rained a bit.
Kamenari is about a 30 minute walk around the bay from Bijela, and from there there's a free (for foot passengers) ferry to Lepetane. It takes about 15 minutes to cross, and they run 24/7. Once one is filled up with vehicles it leaves, and the next one starts loading. Pretty neat!
I went across to check out the small town of Lepetane, following the coast around in both directions. I would definitely consider staying here if I return to this area. If you head east (away from the direction that would take you to Tivat) the road leads around to the head of the bit of land, where you can climb down to the Church of the Gospel of the Angels, sit by the ocean, and have a view of Perast.
I decided not to return by road, instead climbing up a switchback trail in the carpark across the road from the steps to the church. From there, it appeared that a trail ran parallel with the road back to the town. It should have taken about 45 minutes. It took several hours. It deterioated quickly into definitely not actually a trail, and I found my self suspended in giant ferns, battling spider webs, worrying about snakes in the undergrowth, and not really able to see the ground or the drop down the side of the verge. It wasn't too bad just far enough and just often enough that I made it too far to turn back. It would get more accessible for a few meters so I'd press on, thinking the real trail must emerge eventually. It did not. My legs got completely scratched up by the spikey bushes that hide in the ferns. It was too hot. This was not a fun adventure. The view was really good though when I had brief windows to enjoy it, and I saw a tortoise.
Eventually I emerged at an unfinished house on the edge of the top of Lepetane. I had to climb a tree, through a ditch and over a fence to make it to solid concrete ground. Then I had to climb another fence to get out of the house grounds and to the road. I limped back to the ferry and home.
My travel plans and no-fly rule took an unexpected turn this month when I decided to visit Elizabeth in Zimbabwe. Having spent the last two years begging friends and family to take advantage of my various temporary residences in Europe, I was sympathetic to her plight of struggling to persuade people to visit in Southern Africa. I try to put into the world the energy I'd like out, so I tracked down return flights from Vienna for less than $500 with Ethiopian Airlines. I also really wanted to hug Elizabeth.
In Zimbabwe, it is sunny every day. I was there at the start of winter. The sky was consistently brilliant blue, and the temperature was mostly in the late 20s Celsius. The climate is basically vacation-perfect. Never raining does not bode well for the crops though, and even though the temperature was good on paper the sun felt hotter and closer and more vicious than I've ever felt it anywhere before.
Harare is a super green city, with lots of trees, bushes and maize or millet fields filling the wide open spaces between roads and blocks of buildings. Often the maize was looking dead and dried up, while decorative plants in public spaces or peoples' gardens are alive and well. Roads are concrete or dirt, scattered with enormous potholes in both cases. I was frequently a passenger in cars that needed to steer all the way around a hole rather than dipping into it or going over. The CBD is fairly built up, with some tall office buildings and malls, although I only passed through in the car a couple of times. Most of my time was spent taxiing between little pockets of reasonably well maintained commercial areas in the various suburbs. The self-enclosed bubbles of shops and cafes, supermarkets and cinemas, which depend on cars to travel between reminded me a lot of the US.
It seemed like the other form restaurants and bars took were as stand alone properties in what felt like residential buildings in the more upscale residential areas. Many have lots of outside seating, surrounded by trees and statues and generally pleasant environs. In the northern half of the city houses are pretty big, with gardens, balconies, sometimes pools; massive driveways and huge security gates, often with guardhouses. I dropped by the homes of a few of Elizabeth's friends while I was there, and whether local or expat they were all preeeetty fancy.
On the other hand, there's an ongoing energy crisis which affects all areas of the city. Whole neighbourhoods have scheduled power outages for load-shedding, which is documented on a website but not always reliably. While I was there, Elizabeth's power went out for three days straight, unscheduled. When visiting a friend's to charge my laptop, their power went out too one day. Fortunately they had a generator. The lack of electricity is, I believe, due to a combination of fuel imports being from Mozambique (recently hit by a devastating cyclone), lack of money and corruption and inefficiencies in the government.
Everyone is similarly affected by the fuel crisis. Fuel queues were pointed out to me often; people line up in their cars for hours at a petrol station when they hear it has fuel. One friend queued for 3 hours only to find they'd ran out by the time she got to the front of the line. There are some stations which only accept payment in USD (not Ecocash) so if you have enough of that you have a better chance of filling up, with less of a wait. Obviously this benefits foreigners, people who work for embassies, and those recently arrived with a fresh batch of cash. One day on the radio I heard that the country had petrol for a month and diesel for 23 days.
Groceries and household goods are not cheap. Things like cosmetics and furnishings are particularly expensive.
There's relatively little light pollution at night - especially if you're in a neighbourhood with a power outage. So there were plenty of stars and an often brilliant moon to gaze at.
On both Sundays I joined Elizabeth, Sarah and Andrew at church. It was a totally different church experience to the cold, formal, boring CofE affairs that had been imposed upon me by my schools as a child. There was lots of singing and dancing, but also a slightly unnerving occasion of laying of hands, and the messages conveyed by the sermons were definitely at odds with things that make sense to me from Buddhist philosophy. The theme of the month had been fathers, and some members of the congregation across a range of ages gave very moving, funny, and heartfelt stories of the ups and downs of their paternal relationships.
Zimbabwean food mostly consists of sadza, an enormously filling cereal (maize) mush that definitely expands in your stomach after you've already eaten too much, with greens (rape/canola) and beans, usually accompanied with a meat stew, chicken or fish.
You can read about all the vegan food I found here.
Harare is not particularly solo-non-driving-traveler friendly. For the first few days I felt pretty trapped by my inability to move around independently. The city is very spread out in itself, and natural sights and hiking trails are really far away. Places are linked by wide, poorly maintained dusty roads that mostly don't seem very pedestrian friendly even if it was safe to walk around alone. I was told repeatedly that public transport is not safe for different reasons (dangerous drivers, dangerous passengers, ..) and even if it wasn't I don't know how I'd have figured out how to navigate the fustercluck of marshrutka-style packed private minibuses with no signs or numbers. Fortunately E already had some trusted taxi drivers on hand, plus a few very hospitable friends with cars. Still, not even feeling comfortable to walk to a shop or a cafe by myself from the house is not my favourite. Advice I got about which neighbourhoods and distances were safe to walk varied drastically between people I talked to.
Another thing I don't love a ton is dependence on a mobile phone. Fortunately I have a moderately functional HTC One to use while my Fairphone is still out of action, otherwise I'd be pretty helpless. ATMs and credit cards basically don't work here, and it's illegal to change money. The official currency was changed to USD a few years ago, but also in circulation are Bond notes, aka RTGs, at a variable rate from 3.5 to 4.7. Most places accept USD, but with poor conversion so the price is higher than paying with Bond. The best option, used universally, is to set up an EcoCash account and find someone who will send you EcoCash in exchange for a fistful of USD (also illegal). Setting up EcoCash required purchasing a SIM (2 bond) and filling in a form with a local address (I used E's) and providing ID. They photocopied my passport, didn't need most of my info in the form, and misspelled my name when setting up the account (henceforth, Amy Huy). I topped up 100 USD, and bought some mobile data too (350mb for 1 week for 10 bond).
After that I could pay anywhere, from streetside fruit vendors to the farmers market to chain supermarkets and restaurants with EcoCash using USSD codes. Market stalls have their numbers scrawled on pieces of paper on their tables. That is, typing *151*1*1*{mobile number or merchant code}*{amount}#, followed by a prompt for a confirmation PIN which I set when I made the account (in plaintext). It displays the name of the recipient so you can increase your chance of not sending it to the wrong number before you commit. The recipient's phone goes bloop, and I immediately receive an SMS confirmation of the transaction, plus my new balance. This is horrifyingly insecure, but also a bit cool. There are small fees for each transaction depending on the amount you send. It's not a percentage, there are brackets of fees.
Another thing that was kind of cool while I was there was that Ecocash were running a promotion; for every 20 bond I spent I earned a point, and every 5 points gets me entered into a monthly prizedraw. The top prizes were a house and a river cruise in South Africa; but the better ones were goats, cows, generators, and school fees. I was checking the t&c to find out when the prize draws happened, but made the even better discovery that goats and cows may be requested live or dead; if dead, you have to pick them up from an abattoir of your choosing. If alive, you must pay the necessary transport fees. I'll find out if I was a lucky winner in the first week of June and I'm psyched to make Elizabeth take care of a goat in her yard for me.
If you're gonna be here a while, you can also hook your mobile EcoCash up to a bank account, and get a swipe card to pay with too. At one point, the network glitched out and Elizabeth was a victim; her EcoCash stopped working for sending money, claiming she had reached her daily or monthly limit when she clearly had not. This was a mahoosive inconvenience; we went to the Econet store to try to troubleshoot, and they did not solve the problem at all and there were a ton of other people in line experiencing similar issues. Centralisation at at its finest.
By the end of my visit, the exchange rate had fluctuated so much that it was now cheaper to pay for things in USD. I naturally had just topped up my Ecocash right before the surge; the digital currency I held lost significant value overnight in terms of what I could trade it for. What a nightmare to live like this every day. Many (most?) local people are paid in bond, hold their savings in bond, and as the exchange rate changes their salaries do not.
I was fortunate to meet Peter and Alana from the Sprout Coding project at a party one night. Their organisation, based in 'high density suburbs' of Harare, teaches locals to code and to teach, and then the locals go into schools to teach kids to code in turn. They invited me to visit and talk with their tutors. I spent one morning at their premises in Dzivarasekwa, sitting in on an informal meeting where the tutors had some forms to sign and got their final pep talk before classes with kids began the following week. I heard amazing stories of how each of them had got into code, including from some who learned with paper and solar panels, without access to electricity or internet for the most part. I spent some time with one of their earliest recruits, de-mystifying git. I asked as many as I could whether they were in it for the teaching or the coding, and everyone I asked said they just loved teaching.
The next day I joined them in Kuwadzana for a braai. This was super fun, and I spent time with the group talking about privacy, surveillance, encryption, and hacking, while we ate sadza and greens.
Dzivarasekwa and Kuwadzana are a far cry from the residential parts of Harare in the north. The roads are still wide and dusty, but there are no more security fences, gardens or driveways. The houses are single storey unpainted brick and breezeblock, often with small vegetable patches in whatever area around them is available. There are many makeshift food stalls, 'tuck shops' and the like, with hand painted signs, or just a table at the side of the road staffed by an entire family. The braai in Kuwadzana was under a tattered awning beside what appeared to be a large shed or market-type building that contained a bar (and pool tables). Besides the bar, the building also hosted meat and vegetable stalls, as well as the people who would prepare the produce you just bought for immediate consumption, and a sink with soap that we could all use to wash our hands before we ate.
My first grand adventure was with E's Finnish friend and his Russian guests. We drove to Lake Chivero nature reserve, less than an hour west of the city. In a totally inappropriate small car, we crawled through the trails spotting zebra, impala, wildebeest and even a giraffe. Periodically we had to get out of the car so it was light enough to take a particularly jagged bump or canyon in the road. We took one trail that dwindled into nothing, and got out and walked to the lake where we saw lots of monkeys and interesting birds.
Later we found our way to the park headquarters and talked with the rangers. They offered to take us on a little walk to see some more animals. The ranger Gladys guided us, and after five minutes we practically tripped over a rhino. He stayed snoozing in the undergrowth, and we moved on. A few minutes later he changed his mind, and charged us. I fell over, thought I was going to die, and Gladys rescued me. I posted more detail about the rhino story closer to the time. Later we saw more chill rhinos, and ostriches by the lake.
One evening I joined the Fin and the Russians in climbing a small hill in the south of the city. I'm not sure what it was called. It was a reasonably well maintained public space, with trees and walls and a small sculpture like thing at the peak. From there we watched the sun set. In the distance, Harare looks like any other city, with high rises in the center flattening out to residential suburbs around the edges.
The Harare Botanical Gardens are somewhat in a state of disrepair, but they contain many interesting trees and not much signage about them. Still, nice to wander through for a couple of hours for the low entry fee of 3 bond. We considered taking a nap, but the ground-level insect life deterred us.
Just outside the city are balancing rocks. We got there and they wouldn't accept our ecocash, and we didn't have enough USD between us. Not to mention the USD price was more than 10x that day's bond price, according to that day's exchange rate. Harumph. So we took some pictures of the ones we could see from the carpark and the road, and left.
I spent an absolutely beautiful evening with Elizabeth and Andrew at Domboshava, a granite hill formation about a 45 minute drive north of Harare. The perfect time to go is in the hour or so before sunset. There are incredible views in every direction of the surrounding countryside, as well as balancing rocks and other geographical phenomena, and cave paintings. It is an incredibly peaceful place, even despite all the other tourists who were around.
Longer trips I considered but failed to arrange were Great Zimbabwe, Paradise Pools, and Victoria Falls. Great Zim is an ancient abandoned city that looks way cool. I was pretty disappointed not to be able to make it happen, but the fuel crisis meant none of E's friends were up for driving that distance (about 4 hours) and I couldn't put together enough people at the last minute to make a guided tour good value. Paradise Pools was also a victim of the fuel crisis, after a friend sat in line for hours and wasn't even able to refill. Vic Falls would have been great but required some planning ahead on my part. It's at least a four day trip - one full day on trains and buses to get there, two days to appreciate the city, and a full day back. I could have done it when E was at work (might have been a good use of those days without power at home) but visiting Elizabeth was really the point of the trip and our time hanging out in the evenings was way more important.
Photos and more notes are as follows:
There was only one vegan place listed on happycow (V Delights), and I went there and it did not exist. The sign was up, and their website says "Restaurant is currently closed however you can still enjoy these meals by enroling to our Vegan or Gluten free Cooking classes as an individual or group!". Maybe it'll be back in the summer, who knows.
The next best place for intentional vegan food (with a well-labelled menu) is Avocado Cafe in Sam Levy's Village. They have several dishes that are or can be made vegan, and plant milks for their variety of fancy coffees and latte drinks. They have energy balls which are vegan too.
Maasdorp farmer's market is every Wednesday and Saturday, and I ended up going three times. It's a great place for handmade souvenirs and local produce. A nice lady sells homemade cashew cheese in blocks for 14 bond under the name BConscious. I bought one with jalapenos and one with olives and it was so good. Some of the best I've had. She told me about her imminent store opening (Vegan Vibes), the day after I was due to leave of course.
Across the road from the Maasdorp farmer's market is another market and a Chinese grocery store. At the grocery store I found all kinds of tofu, fresh in big blocks as well as dried and flavoured. It's super cheap. At the market outside are freshly fried noodles and vegetables. You can choose your fillings, and there's even a bowl of seitan, and watch it get mixed up in front of you, then eat it on one of the benches in the market. They had vegetable bao, too.
Ethiopian food is always a safe bet for vegans; I ate at Queen Makeda twice and it was delicious. The vegetarian menu is distinct and varied. The Ethopian coffee pot seems to be bottomless.
Thai and Indian food are usually good options too; I ate Thai food at Chang Thai, which has many obviously-vegan vegetarian dishes, and was pretty good. On my last night, really amazing Indian food at Spice Lounge. Especially the milkless masala chai, which was properly spicy.
And towards scraping the bottom of the barrel.. I got a pizza without cheese no trouble at Elmo's (a chain that can be found all over) and the toppings for the vegetarian one were pretty good and dense. At Little Eataly the only option was pasta with tomato; to be fair, it was really good. Amanzi is a restaurant and bar with a really nice outdoor area; we went to the Wednesday quiz, which has a constrained menu (the only vegan option being tomato soup, requested without cream). We did convince them to let us look at the regular menu, and there is one vegan option on there - a very expensive broccoli steak, which sounds good but I wasn't 16 USD hungry. The fries there are great too. At Cafe Veldemeer near the UN offices there were a couple of vegan-isable salads, but I went for butternut and leak soup. It was pretty expensive.
Best of all is always local food thought. Zimbabwean cuisine is heavy on the meat stews, fish and chicken. But they always come with a side of greens (canola/rape), beans, and sadza. This can be ordered on its own for a mere 10 bond (depending on the day's exchange rate, 2-4USD) at Gava's, and is enormously filling by itself. Sadza is made from ground maize, and is a mushy ball that you grab a piece of between your fingers and use to scoop up the beans and greens to shovel into your mouth. At Gava's you can substitute regular sadza for sourghum (which is grey and gritty, super delicious and more nutritious) or peanut rice (which is obviously epic).
Sadza is a staple food, so at the very least if you go to any local restaurant or a communal food gathering like a braai (bbq) in Zimbabwe you'll be able to get sadza and greens or other veggies. Just be careful at a braai where someone else is preparing the food that you can get the green separate before any meat gets mixed in and cooked together with them.
