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.
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.
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.
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| In Matapo National Park |
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| Nick taking a breather. |
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| Stone Age cave paintings |
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| Fish Eagle checking us out. |
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| Ingo making long climb up trail to the top of Mt. Malindidzimu |
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| At the top of the mountain. Bob, our Zimbabwe guide Bruno, and Ingo enjoying his birthday. |
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| Amazing lizards gathered on the rock all around us. Have no clue why. They have such beautiful iridescent colors. |
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| Nick and Colin by Rhodes gravesite. The smooth boulders behind them are the type seen all around the hills of the park. |
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| 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? |
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| Jeremy working at rock climbing. |
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| Natalie managed to make the climb and the two hoped for a beautiful sunset but cloudy overcast got in the way. |
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| Dark is coming. Time to head down the mountain and get back to the hotel. |
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