I saw this broken down truck in the Mazowe valley this morning. The cans are there to warn approaching motorists that there is a hazard ahead. Now about a year ago we all had to purchase red triangles (x2) and a fire extinguisher to be carried in all vehicles at all times. Yet I still see branches and various other unique warning signs used for this purpose.
A Zimbabwean answer to the red warning triangle.
It was quite a “culture” shock getting back from Cape Town on Friday. Back to the dirty streets, potholes, melies growing on the verge and plastic bags and polystyrene lunch boxes EVERYWHERE! Cape Town is still clean and well run. To be sure the crime is a serious problem but after 2 weeks of unwinding I was thoroughly relaxed. The weather was good as one would expect at this time of year though the wind got a bit tedious it lived up to it’s more pleasant moniker (Cape of Storms being the other one).
All photos taken with Panasonic Lumix TZ8 compact camera.
I carry my point-and-shoot Lumix around with me most of the time as it’s pretty small and unobtrusive. It’s surprisingly good for a small camera (it has a Leica lens apparently). On Tuesday I was down in the industrial sites getting some reinforcing rods bent to make a small shadecloth tunnel to protect my veg garden from the birds and snails. The factory that did the work was distinctly appropriate technology; “dark satanic mills” almost except there was not a lot going on.
This afternoon I spotted this moth on doorway at work. I didn’t think it would come out that well but I am quite impressed!
They are actually flying termites but everyone calls them ants. When I arrived home this afternoon I parked the pickup and as I got out I noticed a lot of birds feeding off termites that were flying off the drive and grass. They paid little attention to me; obviously the risk was worth it! I noticed a spectacled weaver, bronze sunbird, double collared sunbird, blue waxbill, yellow bellied sunbird, red eyed bulbul,masked weaver and a couple of others I didn’t know. It did not matter what their normal food was – this was definitley a bonus! I decided it was worth getting a camera. Of course when I got back the clouds were obscuring the sun and the flying “ants” had stopped! Murphy’s Law enacted…
The flamboyant trees this year have been, well, flamboyant! They are not indigenous but I will tolerate that because just about any tree is better than none. No, I have not fiddled the colours!
Photos taken on some everlasting flowers (Helichrysum) by my drive. The bee in the first photo was not welcomed by the beetle!
Jacarandas are not indigenous to Zimbabwe but one does find them in the most unlilkely of places. They put on quite a show when in season and this year they have been particularly vivid though their season is coming to an end now. The first rains and storms play havoc with the flowers and now the foliage is taking over.
Summer is insect season in Zimbabwe. This leaf mantid or Phyllocrania paradoxa was waiting on the verandah door to be photographed when I got home this afternoon. I will see if it is still around tomorrow and try for a better background but they don’t usually hang around when relocated.
The Tsetsera mountains are between the Burma Valley and Cashel on the eastern border of Zimbabwe. One of two places registered to grow seed potatoes they rise up to 2200m so can be pretty cold in winter. Tuesday, however, was a perfect day to visit them and worth braving the appalling road. A complete abscence of anyone else remotely resembling tourists of course helped!
The valley was essentially unsettled from 1980 to 1992, there having been a Renamo perpetrated massacre of some 40 inhabitants in the the early 80s. Now there appears to be a thriving if small community. The lower reaches of the valley are well watered with gravity fed irrigation and there were some very reasonable wheat crops around. Potatoes are still grown on the top of the mountain but I have difficulty believing that they are viable given the 45km of tortuous road out to the main Mutare road.
I was last in the area in 1990 when I got a lift up with an amateur botanist. In those days there certainly was no-one living on the mountain and I recall the valley being very sparsely populated. There was talk of land mines around so we didn’t wander around too much but it seemed to be fine this time!
I am told this is a type of sawfly. It is tiny, about 2.5mm long and it was on the Helichrysum flowers at the front of my house. Other than that I have no idea which sawfly it is!
Sawfly
Zimbabwe Absurdity 