Days 27 and 28: Victoria Falls to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

After Nick and Anastancia returned from their flight,  we refueled and joined the group departure for Bulawayo lifting off at 8:57am.  The flight was bumby much of the way.  At one point, the small storage door on the outer fuselage behind Nick's cockpit popped open during light turbulence and Nick had to reach back with his left hand to hold door closed while right hand kept a good grip on the control stick.  One of the characteristics of this airplane is that in turbulence, it has a tendency to want to roll a bit too much.

At our arrival in Bulawayo, many people including a vintage car club had come to greet and welcome us.  The car club members  happily provided our transportation into town. Along with Colleen, Lino, and Max I drove to our hotel in a 1930 Chevy convertible. Nick rode just behind us in an old 1930-ish Ford pick-up with a wooden cover.  It was a very warm afternoon, and after driving for a bit, our Chevy started coughing some.  The driver, John, kept coaxing her along and as the "coughing" got worse and the car started lurching and chugging, John laughingly assured us, "Oh, she does this all the time when it gets pretty hot.  Don't worry!  We'll get you to your hotel."  I remember sitting there thinking that it was a beautiful day, happy to have "lurching and chugging" problems on the ground and not up in the air, and feeling John's infectious enthusiasm and optimism.  A block or so from our hotel, the Chevy seemed like it was on its last breath, but with all of us cheering her on, we managed to make it into the parking lot and pull up to the hotel entrance.

We stayed at the Bulawayo Holiday Inn -- a far cry in age and style of the Victoria  Falls Hotel, but was very comfortable, clean, with a nice pool and patios, and an iron and ironing board in our room; the Victoria Falls Hotel didn't have that!  The staff were very happy to have us there and the hotel food was very good.  A shopping mall was walking distance and so for our two night stay we looked forward to kicking back and resting up.

Our first evening, we were taken to the Bulawayo Club for "libations" and a bit of history.  The club is a fascinating relic of a bygone, colonial era:  an exclusive men's club (until 2014 when women could join but must enter from the back door!!), very Victorian and macho, big game trophy heads hanging on the walls, display cases of winning Rugby teams, coats of arms, oil portraits of VIPs, dark wooden floors, hunter green leather and brass decor accents, a huge barroom, adjacent snooker (billiard) room with a billiard table that will never leave the premises as it would require an entire wall being taken down to get it out.  The place was immaculate, a reading room was like a museum with old books leaning wearily in oak book shelves along side sport trophies.  Any document of note from the past was framed and mounted with reverence on the walls.

After cocktails and beer at the Club, we were taken to the Castle Hotel for dinner.  The night time grounds were lit up with hidden small flood lights and we enjoyed being taken on a tour of the hotel as it has a history the locals enjoy. An aura of mystery hangs over the place with its round turret.

The next morning while Nick worked on his computer, I joined Colleen and a few others for a swim in the pool. After lunch, Joel and Olivier who were the videographers on the trip set up a room for interviewing and taping us.  Each team was interviewed and the video would be edited into a larger video of the whole rally.  I really enjoyed these two guys.  They  were serious about what they were doing but had great senses of humor.   After a late lunch, Nick and me, Collen and Mike, Ingo and Bob, Jeff --a pilot from South Africa who joined us in Nairobi in his Cessna 182-- drove to Matapos Mountain with our guide Bruno of Zimbabwe Tourism and his assistant Veronique.  Zimbabwe has quite a complicated and colorful history. It's current status as the Republic of Zimbabwe is punctuated by the strong hold President Robert Mugabe has had on the reins of government for 30 years, and 7 years before that as Prime Minister.  From a British colony to its independence and self-rule many changes have impacted the lives of descendants of earlier European (mostly British) settlers and descendants of age old tribal communities.  At one time Zimbabwe was called Rhodesia in tribute to Cecil Rhodes a 19th century British business tycoon, South African politician, and mining magnate. One of his more famous exploits was getting mineral rich land from the Ndebele people whose chief, Lobengula, conceded to Rhodes in exchange for some money and weapons.  History clearly points to the fact that these kind of concessions usually end in disaster for the native population and this case was no different.  Rhodes is buried within rock at the top of Mt. Malindidzimu in Matapo National Park where we were headed this day. Because the park area is an interesting geological mural of large granite formations with smooth, rounded, protuberances and spherical boulders, the name given it by a member of the Ndebele nation means "bald heads".  The land throughout the park was an earlier bequest from Cecil Rhodes. The Matopa (also written as Matobo) Hills was given the distinction of being a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.  Many pre - middle Stone Age cave paintings are in caves among the hills.  We were in for a treat.  For our friend Ingo, this was a special outing as it was his birthday. "Happy birthday, Ingo!" we all chanted as we literally headed for the hills.

We drove through areas of such diverse flora and vegetation with interesting rock formations cropping out from colorfully soiled hills.  Dark Fish Eagles flew overhead.  We drove to the Maleme Dam and saw in a large mud puddle near the base of the dam a tremendous conference of cat fish in full squirm and swish. How they picked that place as a venue I will never know.

We hiked a trail  up to some hill tops and stopped by a cave to see some ancient cave paintings.  At another trail, we hiked up to the top of Malindidzimu to the burial site and plaque for Cecil Rhodes.  Our guides set up a nice bar for drinks and hors d'oeuvres.  Sam, Beatrice, Jeremy, Max, and Natalie soon joined us and our outing turned into a party. We raised our glasses to Ingo and as the sun started to set behind a cloudy overcast, we made our way down the mountain and back to Bulawayo.  Another early wake-up call for morning so "crashed" into bed early.  Sorry.  Didn't "crash" -- gently landed in the Kingdom of Nod.

Beautiful Zimbabwe beneath our wings.   Enroute to Bulawayo from Victoria Falls.

Circling a small farm enroute to Bulawayo.

In front of the Bulawayo Airport terminal.  Behind us are cars from a vintage car rally lined up to take us to our hotel.

One of our official greeters who was thrilled to see us and was full of questions -  mostly for me wondering how I managed flying around in "an airplane like this".  She was really cute and funny.

Our "taxis" await.  It took a while getting planes settled for the next two nights, so the wait was long. 

Non-vintage Keith and Colin with vintage auto and vintage airplane.  Many times during this rally, it felt like we had stepped through a time warp. 

Bulawayo Boy Scouts were also part of the welcoming brigade at the airport.

 The vintage airplanes were hangared for the night.  From top: Ingo's German Bucker, Cedric's   Belgian Stampe, our American Travel Air -  wonderful "Smuggler" gal.  Lots of TLC for these senior  citizens.

No hangar space for the big Antonov.  Colleen doesn't seem to mind.

Nick in his 'cab' ready to head to the hotel.

Max up front with driver, John, in little Chevy heading to the Holiday Inn, Bulawayo.

                                   Colleen, Lino, and I in back seat.  Nick close behind us.

 Winners of the Bulawayo 2016 Father/Son Look Alike Contest.

(At least, I thought so!)

Our Chevy catching its breath at the Holiday Inn.  It managed to make it into the parking lot before "fainting".  Something was amiss with the carburetor and the heat was not helping.  Poor thing chugged and coughed the last eighth of a mile.

 Our friendly, 'Life Is Good' driver, John.

Arriving at the Bulawayo Club for cocktails and touring a part of Bulwayo's colonial social history.  The club was founded in 1895.

 Some interior shots of the club.  Everything was polished and perfect, but as you can see not many people hang out here.  In its glory day it was a 'gentleman's club' and people of a certain color and national  origin populated it amply.  It is still a club today, though a few changes have come about:  women now may join, BUT they have to enter the club through the back door.

 

Two  men prominent in the history of Zimbabwe.  The chief Lobengula of the Ndebele and Cecil Rhodes of the British Empire crossed paths and the event was great for the ambitions of an empire builder and man of business, but not so good for the Ndebele.  These beautiful portraits hang prominently in one of the main porticoes of the club.

  Above is a fancy version of balance scales for the gentlemen who came to the club and after a few drinks needed to sit down as they weighed their precious treasure.

The framed document at left says shows a diagram of Lobengula's kraal.  A kraal is a broad term meaning a stockade of sorts for livestock but can be very large in size and besides livestock can encircle a village.  The area surrounding the kraal, by  default, can be considered the property  of  the owner of the kraal.   The document says:  "Where Lobengula signed the concession giving his mineral rights to Rhodes on October 30th, 1888."

This document refers to events in 1893.  It reads:  "Burnt down by his orders just prior to the occupation of Metabeleland November 1893."     Metabeleland was the name then for the area around Bulawayo.

Portraits of military men and big game hunters took up much of the wall space in the club.  This picture made me want to try and guess this man's background and his values.  If he came to the club, what did he like to talk about? Did he live out his life in the kind of surety and contentment displayed in the portrait?  Typically, transitions from one century into  a new one are not easy for those steeped in conservatism.  Was he a throwback at his time to solid 19th century sentiments, or was he a bit of a rebel? How did he fare?

A room in the club is named for philanthropist Jairos Jiri who was born in 1921 and died in 1982. In the 1940s he built several facilities in then Rhodesia for disabled and disadvantaged people and leaned heavily on Christian values of tolerance and charity.  In 1950 the Jairos Jiri Association was founded in Bulawayo.  He was the first Black African granted membership in the Bulawayo Club.

I don't know anything about this man, but his portrait is fairly large and prominent among the gallery  of distinguished men of yore.  To me he is so Victorian -  a man who would defend Queen and Empire to the death against all attacks on either's prestige and honor.  My sense was that he didn't suffer fools lightly. (And never slouched at the dinner table.)

Rugby is a big sport in Zimbabwe and part of the club is a museum showcasing the sport and its heroes. 

 

 

The club hosts dinner events and this table in one of the many wood paneled rooms is set for a private Christmas party.

 In the main barroom, brothers and Bush Cat pilots David and Paul, Cessna pilot Robert who lives in Namibia, Jeff of South Africa who flew the C-206, and Caravan pilot Steve of Colorado.

 

Dinner awaits us at the Nesbitt Castle in a lovely outdoor garden area. 

The Castle caught in the floodlights.  All we needed for atmosphere was a hound of the Baskervilles howling at the moon.

In the castle is this room which is clearly a throwback to an era that is where it should be, in my view --in the past.

Not my favorite room.

In Matapo National Park

 

Nick taking a breather.

Stone Age cave paintings

Fish Eagle checking us out.

Ingo making long climb up trail to the top of Mt. Malindidzimu

At the top of the mountain.  Bob, our Zimbabwe guide Bruno, and Ingo enjoying his birthday.

Amazing lizards gathered on the rock all around us.  Have no clue why. They have such beautiful iridescent colors.

Nick and Colin by Rhodes gravesite.  The smooth boulders behind them are the type seen all around the hills of the park.

Cocktails, cheeses and meats for our Matapo Happy Hour. Bruno set this up right next to the big boulders.  Maybe the smell of all this brought the lizards out?

Jeremy working at rock climbing.

Natalie managed to make the climb and the two hoped for a beautiful sunset but cloudy overcast got in the way.

Dark is coming. Time to head down the mountain and get back to the hotel.

                                                

Days 25 and 26. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

The day's flight from Lusaka to Victoria Falls was one of the most beautiful flights of the rally.  We did only one leg -  no refueling stop - starting our engines at the reasonable old hour of 9:15 am though this got us off the ground much later than we had hoped due to the usual delays caused by fueling, immigration, getting receipts etc.

Instead of flying a direct course to Victoria Falls, we flew direct to  Lake Kariba which Mark in the Tiger Moth had recommended we do and right he was.  The lake is beautiful and the shoreline spectacular.  Kariba is the world's largest man-made lake/reservoir running along the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe flowing into the Zambezi River.  Keith, Pedro, Cedric, Mark, and Ingo flew near us and it was fun hearing all the enthusiastic chatter on the radio about the scenery.  I took as many photos as I could while also not wanting to miss the scenery through my own eyes' lens. A bit of bumpy air always affected the quality of some of my photos which frustrated the struggling photography novice in me.  But my memories of this fight will stay strong for sure.

We flew low over fishermen and herds of wildlife that meandered through the verdant meadows stretching down to the lake.  We followed the Zambezi River towards our destination and had fun watching Keith diving and climbing at our 1 o'clock position.  The impressive gorges that frame the river would deepen then shallow out abruptly in places which made the terrain so  interesting.  Soon we saw the veils of mist rising from the gorge that is home to Victoria Falls.  The falls were in what they call the low season which means a slightly diminished water volume than during the high season, but they were still impressive in the way they follow for some distance the twists and bends in the steep walls of the gorge.   We landed after 2 hours and 56 minutes of flight at Victoria Falls Airport - a very modern and well-equipped facility.  A bus took us to the Victoria Falls Hotel -- a beautiful, well-maintained, 112 year old, functioning "museum" of old British colonial charm.  We rally members in our wrinkled, mostly baggy flight outfits with the odd av-gas fuel stains here and there and dusty shoes and boots entered the lobby of this magnificent throwback to late 19th century chic and propriety; we were awed by the gentle refinement of our lodging for the next two nights.  Stepping down into the large lounge area towards the back where big doors were open leading to a grand veranda, we were welcomed by uniformed staff approaching us with silver trays of iced beverages in shapely wine glasses.  We were ushered out to a lawn area where some appetizers awaited us.  The grounds were beautiful and what a surprise to see uniformed hotel staff -- some with white pith helmets and white gloves-- circling the landscape with pellet guns to keep the baboons from crashing our reception.  At one moment, a family of warthogs, youngsters bringing up the rear, trotted purposefully across the lawn not interested in us but definitely on some sort of mission.  Their tails like erect antennas were pointed towards the sky and the creatures' busy bums cavorted side to side as their feet picked up speed.  What a sight!  They disappeared as quickly as they had entered the area.

Our room with its high ceiling, ceiling fans, and large furniture including a floral settee and wicker chairs was beautiful.  Again, we had to be careful about the baboons.  These nosy primates liked to hang out on the tiled roofs that slope down towards the porches and walkways that framed the entrances to our rooms.  Leaving a door or window open was never a good idea. 

Nick and some of the other pilots went back to the airplanes to do some minor maintenance such as cleaning up spark plugs and such. I stayed at the hotel and enjoyed wandering the long hallways and large sitting rooms enjoying the old photographs and beautiful, painted portraits that decorated the walls.  Two full length oil portraits of King George V and Queen Mary each took up the entirety of their walls on both sides of a main entrance to the largest  sitting room. The history buff in me imagined the visit the then king and queen made here with an impressive retinue of servants and caretakers.  High tea must have been a spectacle to see.  In the mid afternoon, Cedric, Alexandra, Yasser, Timur and I walked the trail from the hotel to the falls with a knowledgeable guide.  I had no  idea that the falls here are sprawled out over the long winding path of the deep gorge.  Lookout points are situated at many places and we all had fun taking photos and reading the many plaques and signs about what we were seeing.

Our "high" evening tea was a delicious barbecue outside at a neighboring estate where long tables were placed end to end dressed out in white table cloths.  A live band played for us and Nick, who had been a professional drummer with a country rock band back in the late '60s, got invited to sit in on the drums for awhile. I yelled, "Throw the drummer a fish!", but no one took me seriously.

The next day most of the pilots flew to  nearby Kazungula Airstrip to take part in an airshow which took up most of the afternoon. I opted to stay back at the hotel to get some writing done, take a rest and to simply enjoy the ambience of the hotel and its beautiful grounds.  That night we were all up late for a delicious banquet at the hotel where we met many officials in Zimbabwe's ministries of transportation and tourism.  At our table was the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Anastancia (do not recall her last name), who is an amazing woman.  Her enthusiasm for what we all were doing was very evident.  She also loved having her picture taken - but with eyeglasses removed.  People from Puma Energy were also at the banquet and they sponsored a great slide show of the rally so far.  Some great speakers entertained us and the food was very good.  Before the evening ended, Anastancia made it clear she wanted a ride in our Travel Air.  Nick happily obliged her with an invitation to be at the airport at a certain time in the morning and he would fly her over the falls.

The morning saw us sleepily climbing aboard the bus back to the airport.  Late nights and early mornings were catching up with us.  But, par for the course, was the fact that once at the airport everyone's adrenaline got fired up and enthusiasm once again claimed the day.  Anastancia and her bodyguard showed up just a few minutes late.  Nick was ready for her, but the question he and I both pondered was "Is she ready to fly?"  It hadn't occurred to us to tell her how to dress for the occasion.  She arrived wearing a tight dress and high heeled shoes.  I looked at the stiletto heels and could only envision holes being poked in the wing if she stepped just one inch off the narrow black step strip for getting in and out of the cockpit.  She's a very large woman as well -  that is to say, she stands about six feet tall and has a large bone structure.  I was about to suggest she remove her shoes before being helped onto the wing, but before I knew it, she reached into her large sequined shoulder purse and pulled out a pair of flat heeled shoes.  She was prepared!  What a relief.  We still had to help her onto the plane and get her into the cockpit without her dress riding up to her thighs.  A delicate operation indeed.  Once she was in, I put my cap and goggles on her and made sure she was strapped in and knew how to release her seat belt/shoulder harness in case of an emergency.  Off they went with her guard flying in one of the Bushcats behind the Travel Air.  Thirty minutes later, they returned and she was beaming with delight.  We had made a very favorable impression on Zimbabwe's Deputy Minister of Tourism and she had made a delightful impression on us.

Enroute to Victoria Falls from Lusaka. Passing over large farming area.

From farmlands to wild rolling hills across Zambia.

 Our loose formation of from left to right, Pedro, Ingo, Cedric, and Mark in his red Tiger Moth.

Keith and Colin off our right side. 

Approaching Lake Kariba

 

      Flying low over some fishing barges in an inlet off of the lake.

Following the Zambezi river towards Victoiria Falls. 

Nick and 'Smuggler' getting settled in for the day at Victoria Falls Airport.

Nick and Cedric with official greeter  at our hotel. 

At our welcoming reception in the area off the main veranda with the hotel in the background. Tables with food and drink are off screen to the right.  Yasser in white shirt, and Timur in green tee shirt are our flying friends from Egypt. The two flew in a Cessna 172.

On hotel grounds looking in direction of the falls.

Colorized photos of King George V and Queen Mary -- grandparents of the current Queen Elizabeth II -- in one of the tea rooms. 

 Painting on a wall in one of the reading rooms of this large late 19th century hotel. From where I stood, the leopard was definitely  purring.  Now if I could have just jumped into the painting, I think his regard for me would have gone to the next level!!  Love those cat eyes! 

 One of the lovely lounge/tearooms in our hotel.  I wondered if the staff ever had to chase baboons out of here!  I forgot to ask.

 Out on the veranda was this marker which gave us an idea of how far we had come so far and what lay ahead.

 Warthogs on a mission from God.

Wise guy baboon on one of the roofs outside our hotel  room.  He was probably the lookout whose job was to catch some unsuspecting guest leaving a window open.

Our first view of the falls from the ground after a 25 minute walk from the hotel.

On our walk to and from the falls, we saw a few of these signs. 

Statue of David Livingston which was unveiled in 1955 to mark the centenary of his discovery of the falls in November 1855.

Nick sitting in on drums with the band at our hosted outdoor dinner our first night at Victoria Falls.

Natalie, Bush Cat pilot Adam, and Colin reliving the day at our dinner banquet our second night.

Nick enjoying conversation with guests at our dinner table.  The gentleman is with the state transportation department.  He and his wife had lots of questions for Nick.

Biplane party favors at our tables.

Deputy Minister of Tourism for Zimbabwe and a staffer at our banquet table.

The next morning at the airiport,  Anastancia almost ready to go flying.

Anastancia in the cockpit.

       

           Nick and Anastancia taxiing out with her bodyguard riding in the 

Bush Cat with Adam.