Zimbabwe

Greetings, at last, to the first visitor from Afghanistan!

A break from Georgia today, as I post some unused photos from my archives while working on new Ushguli ones from the last few days.

Buffalo in early morning dust

Elephant hide up close

Trees drowned at the flooding of Lake Kariba decades ago - don't know what the wood is, but it's at least like ironwood, heavier than water and surviving all this time without rotting

BIG MONEY

You might be forgiven for thinking that this $5 billion "special agro-cheque" from Zimbabwe is the largest denomination banknote ever issued. (It's valid from 15/5/2008 until 31/12/2008, worth roughly UK 7p as of 27/7/2008 I'm told, and available on EBay for considerably more in Uncirculated condition.) Far from it: the same country currently has a $50 billion note. Surely that must be the largest, then? No, though things may be heading in that direction, and "agro" may be the biggest thing that these banknotes generate. (Latest news as of 30/7/2008: Zimbabwe is about to slash 10 zeroes from its money...)

The largest denomination banknote WITH zeroes to date was issued in Yugoslavia in 1993, 500 billion dinar (5x10^11):
http://www.3833.com/largest_denomination_wbn_with_zero

The largest without zeroes (they had to leave some space on the paper for description and illustration, I suppose) was issued in Hungary in 1946, a 100-quintillion pengo (10^20) monster:
http://www.3833.com/node/1125

However, things are certainly bad enough in Zimbabwe now. For updates, see:
www.zimbabwesituation.com
where, among other things, you can learn of the latest exchange rate -US$1 Fri 25 July 2008 = Z$700 billion. This is "A 3400% increase in 5 weeks or 139900% since 23 May (2 months)".

the w()rd: New Zimbabwe Link

http://zimbabwesituation.com/
If you don't know why I'm posting this link at this time, get yer head out of the sand and look into the world a bit. Start at the above link.

Church, rural Harare

We'll start once everyone is here. YOU (the west) have watches but so little time; WE (Africa) have few watches but all the time in the world.

Jacarandas, Harare

I love and miss these trees, and will forever associate them with Zimbabwe, although I recently learned that they are actually an import from South America from the beginning of the 20th century.

Victoria Falls

Our visit to the Falls was at their low season, which perhaps was a good thing, as it meant that the wet "smoke that thunders" wasn't enough to drown my camera in spray! It was still awesome enough to leave us speechless. A further cause for jaws hitting the ground was the small group of tourists (see below) on the far side of the falls, bathing in a tiny pool RIGHT on the edge of... how many tens of meters' drop straight down into destruction? They were calm enough about it to make this seem a common occurrence.

Elephant, Antelope Park

The elephants are being rehabilitated as well. More great opportunities to get close and personal.

For those who are interested in knowing more, the park's webpage is

www.antelopepark.co.zw/

Lions, Anetlope Park

These teenage lions are being rehabilitated to return to the wild. So they are "temporarily captive", and "half-tame"... enough so for small groups of people to walk with them. Which my sister and I did, and which led to some delightful portraits. Especially of the young lioness, still light enough to put herself up a tree and seemingly young enough not to know what to do with herself once she was there. I was laughing all the way through the film, thrilled.

Baby mantis, Harare

This infant on a eucalyptus tree is only a few mm long, but was steady and fearless enough for me to creep up with my closeup equipment.

Crocodile farm near Victoria Falls

Although the USA considers crocodiles threatend, they are being farmed in Zimbabwe, their meat, skeletons and fabulous leather all used.

Sikumi: Wild dog

Quite rare, numbering a few thousand in Africa. We were already becoming quite blase about elephants (which were ahead on the road), on this our third safari, especially when this mother and her family appeared. We were seeing them for the first time, and they were happy to stay where they were, letting us get quite close.

Sikumi: Dawn buffalo herd

This was a magic moment, a gift. I could see in the early morning light of the safari that the sunlight would stream through the dust and turn these buffalo into something mysterious, identifiable only by their silhouettes, especially the horns. Once we got past them and looked back into the sun, I got what my inner vision was telling me would come - one of those happy occasions when vision and actuality line up and agree.

Sikumi: Giraffe pair

Quick, what noises do giraffes make? Apparently they cannot make a sound with their vocal cords - maybe they don't have any?

Sikumi: Monkey

A common sight, but with manual focus equipment they gave me enough challenges in their antics. This one, however, was resting in the sun.

It's critter time on the blog!

Sikumi Park: Buffalo

Four safaris, dawn and dusk, in open vehicles, showed us most of what Zimbabwe has to offer in wildlife. I was seeing this country for the first time as an adult and a photographer, and didn't waste the opportunity. Welcome to the buffalo, Africa's meanest, most dangerous vertebrate (probably the mosquito, carrying malaria, should be called its deadliest animal overall).

Anglican church, Nyanga

Here are buried not only my mother but also quite a number of other relatives from various generations. The two shots are basically the same thing looking outside and inside, with the addition that I carefully composed the latter shot to line up the details - cross, windows, &c - squarely, also allowing my reflected presence to be part of the scene.

Baobab, on the way from Kariba to Harare

I needed my sister in the picture to give a true sense of the scale of these amazing giants. And this is far from the largest in the country.

Teak trees and cormorants, Kariba

Four days' houseboating on Kariba gave a good start to the trip, with first looks at wildlife. From the houseboat, a speedboat or the shore many visitors presented themselves.
The lake was artifically created some decades ago along with a dam at one end which provides much elecrtricity to Zimbabwe. In the process, many animals had to be rescued from the flood - in Operation Naoh's Ark, as it was called - and many trees, such as these teaks, were drowned. Their wood is so hard that they remain standing after all this time, and it is still useable to make beautiful furniture or other items.

Zimbabwe, October 2006:

Elephants and heron, Lake Kariba

In October 2006 my sister and I had the chance to return to a country we had left as children 29 years earlier: Zimbabwe. Our father was born there, and there our mother died in a car accident. We were shielded from the funeral, and never actually taken to her grave, so we missed saying a final goodbye to her. This journey was that goodbye, which we accomplished near the beginning, leaving us the rest - nearly three weeks - to reacquaint ourselves with this country where we spent six years of our childhood. We were hosted throughout in grand style first by our older stepbrother, then by our younger stepsister.

(More photos to follow: I was seeing the country for the first time as both an adult and a photographer, so I made the most of it!)