It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been to Mana Pools Game Reserve on the north-western border of Zimbabwe. It is perhaps one of the better known game parks in the country and is very popular “in season” which is usually taken to be June through to the end of September after which it gets too hot for most people. Situated in the Zambezi Valley it can easily get into the mid 40 degrees (Celcius). This time of year it gets into the mid 30s during the day and can be humid to boot and the bush is relatively lush after the rains. There is water everywhere so the game is more widely dispersed than in the dry season when it congregates at the pans and the Zambezi River. But it’s still worth a visit and is far from over-crowded as we discovered this last weekend.
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- Elephants, impala, mongooses and a monkey gather beneath one of the vast trees that cover the flood-plain
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- Not exactly pretty, there were lots of these crickets around and they ate just about anything; other insects, boiled potato and even each other!
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- These frogs could be found all over the lodge where we stayed. A bit like geckos, they could climb just about anywhere.
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- There was a resident pod of hippos in a pool in front of the lodge. They kept us entertained for hours.
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- The rains had been good, the bush was lush and the impala abounded. This young impala greeted us on arrival.
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- The view from the lodge looking over the hippo pool and a very small part of the Zambezi to Zambia in the background.
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- Looking over the aptly named Long Pool. It was stiff with crocodiles!
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- This colourful water monitor surprised us from beneath a water culvert
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- A dragonfly near a pond
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- A classic sunset over the Zambezi from the Mana River
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- A ground squirrel on a log.
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- The rest of the gang in the Mucheni campsite; Sybille, June, Sheldon and Gary.
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- On the road. Open plains such as this are not the norm in Mana Pools.
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- This tortoise was large and therefore very old. Unusual to see in the predatory environment of a game park
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- Zebra foal
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- Gary fishing on the small section of the Zambezi that flows past the lodge. Who cares if you don’t catch when you can look at a view like this?
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- Trees on the edge of a small plain catch the afternoon light
Zimbabwe Absurdity 
I have seen the future
7 11 2013Entertainment in Harare can be a bit lean – the West End we are not. So people get creative. Drinking is a popular pastime with the sports clubs and various bars, especially on a Friday night. Most middle-income families have satellite TV with all the usual channels that one could find in Europe or the UK. I have found the satellite TV with its endless repeats and bad films tedious so opt to get my entertainment from the internet and in the form of DVDs from Amazon UK. They take 10 days or less from the UK and if I’m lucky, which mostly I am, I don’t get charged duty provided I keep the orders small.
The internet is not bad in Harare. As I live just out-of-town I don’t have access to the genuine broadband from the newly laid fibre optic cables that have been going in for the last year or so. I rely on WiMax which is generally OK though occasionally it just loses the connection. I could get the ISP techs to come out and redirect the aerial but that would mean killing the bees in the chimney onto which the WiMax aerial is attached, so I just put up with it.
I collected a number of DVDs from the post office yesterday and, last night, being thoroughly unmotivated, sat down to watch the latest Star Trek film. I should explain I am not a “Trekkie” but I have seen one of two a few years ago so thought it would be quite fun to see how things have changed. Well, I have seen the future according to Star Trek and it is good. Some 200 years in the future we will still have a role in flying complex spacecraft which still have engine throttles à la current airliners. The aforesaid spacecraft will have beam weapons that still miss and humans will still fly them through impossibly small gaps that a computer just could not manage despite being able to beam crew members up to distant locations. Pretty girls will still be wearing impossibly short skirts (a pity I won’t be around for that) and medical staff will be wearing starched white safari suits. The baddies will still be speaking with a plummy English accent and over-acting the part and the goodies will be led by an arrogant American who learns humility through self-sacrifice. Quite familiar and not at all bad. The future that is, I definitely won’t be buying another Star Trek DVD.
It seems the Minister of Finance in Zimbabwe is struggling to see or imagine what the economy might be doing next year. He has postponed presenting a budget this year and has said it will come out early in the New Year. My guess is that he simply hasn’t got a solution for the lack of money in the economy. Employment is still falling and I know of at least two people made redundant from companies that have closed in the last 6 months. My company had an excellent September and dismal October. It’s not often that the deposit summary that I print out for the bookkeeper only runs to one page. In fact, I think this is the first time it has ever happened. The future I am seeing here is not great.
It is not all doom and gloom of course. The Acacia karoo outside my bedroom (that I planted 9 or so years ago) has been in splendid bloom and alive with insects, all living for the present. I caught this wasp, plundering nectar. Its future is now and I bet it doesn’t give a hoot for tomorrow.
A wasp feasts on Acacia nectar
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Tags: Acacia karoo, economy, future, Harare, satellite TV, wasp, Zimbabwe
Categories : Environment, News & Various, photography, Social commentary