Zimbabwe Absurdity

What is wrong in this picture

6 06 2012

The view from my house

This is the view from my house some 4km north of Harare, Zimbabwe. Lucy asked me some time ago if I ever get tired of it. I didn’t hesitate; it was a unequivical “No!” But all is not what it seems.

The enlargement at 1 (you will need to click on the main picture to see it clearly) shows the Great Dyke, a geological feature that runs down the centre of Zimbabwe and is the source of major mineral wealth. It is also where we paraglide, or used to in the days when there were more than 5 pilots left in a country larger than the UK! The actual launch site is not quite visible in this photo. What IS remarkable is that this feature is 60km away and reasonably clearly visible. On a clear day it is much more visible than this.I took this photo on the 5th May and as you can see there is a certain amount of smoke around already as we head into our dry winter season. A large proportion of the country WILL burn and the view will disappear (click on this AFIS link for the latest satellite imagery of fires in Southern Africa – it is quite sobering). Of course not only does the view disappear but a substantial amount of the biomass does too and soil fertility plummets. While the world faces iminent food supply issues and much is being discussed on how to solve it, a lot could be done by just implementing good farming practices in this part of the world.

The hillside pictured at 2 is all of 600m away and this too will become nearly invisible at the height of the fire season in October. When I first moved into this house some 7 years ago this hillside was considerably more forested – about as much as one can see at 4. As you can see there are few trees left. The deforestation in this area and elsewhere accelerated considerably with the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar and the decline of the electricity generating system. At about the same time paraffin (kerosene to the Americans) was subsidised and a lot of poorer people used it for lighting and cooking. That no longer being the case they resort to cutting down trees for fuel. It is illegal but the law is not enforced and of course the wood is free. There are moves afoot by various NGOs and tobacco companies (tobacco takes considerably heating to get cured) to address this deforestation problem but there will be quite a few years before the effect becomes noticeable.

The enlarged area at 4 shows what the bush looked like at 2 when I moved into this house.

It is disappearing very fast.

The enlargement at 3 shows what the bush must have been like before the land grab started in 2000 when the area was well maintained. The particular farmer who owned this land had game running on it – it has long all been “removed”. Paradoxically the more remote parts of the country where the commercial farms are now derelict are showing considerable bush regeneration.

5 is my lawn – or what remains of it. By the time the rains start in mid November (hopefully, nothing is certain in this part of the world, the weather included) there will be just dust and a few very desiccated grass blades. I just don’t have access to enough water to keep it going. Driving through some of the Harare suburbs you wouldn’t think that there is a water crisis! Sprinklers abound for those who can afford to get boreholes drilled. There is plenty of water in the municipal reservoirs but little of it actually gets into town. It requires pumping you see and of course that requires electricity which is erratic to say the least and is not going to improve any time soon. There’s no money for that because we as a nation just don’t produce much of anything these days. A lot of households rely on water to be delivered which they then store in large plastic tanks.

There has to be some good news visible in this picture and there is; a bird at 6. I have no idea what it is and I didn’t even see it until I downloaded the picture from my camera. Birds still abound in Zimbabwe and chances are if you take a photo of some scenery there will be at least one in the picture!

Yes there are many problems in our everyday lives in Zimbabwe but that goes for just about anywhere else too. At least the currency we use is reasonably stable now. It should be – it is the US dollar! And whenever I get down about the future I sit on the verandah and take in the view and no, I don’t think I ever will get tired of it!

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Tags: climate, deforestation, fire, Harare, nature, reservoirs, science, water crisis, Zimbabwe
Categories : Environment

Life can be cruel sometimes – and short

29 05 2012

The blue waxbill fledgling. One eye and no grasping reflex in the claws. Not a bright future…

Friday was Africa Day. One can only wonder what we were supposed to be celebrating, it’s not a holiday in South Africa. Coming back home at around noon I noticed Kharma interested in something at the gate. It was a blue waxbill fledgling. “Oh well, that’s nature’s way” I thought. But after lunch curiosity got the better of me and I went out and picked it up. It was tiny; the body about the size of the last joint of my thumb. It had only one eye and the legs weren’t working too well either. I can identify with the latter problem and thought I really should give it a chance. Finding food was an issue and at first I tried ground-up sesame seeds off some biscuits but I guess they smelt a bit strong and it wouldn’t eat it. I made a nest of shredded newspaper in a cardboard box and put a lamp against the box and left it for the night.

Saturday it was still alive so I went into town on the shopping run and stocked up on bird seed which I ground with a pestle and mortar and added a touch of water to make a paste. It still wasn’t interested. This was not looking good. Then at around 4 p.m. it started to take the paste off the end of a matchstick with gusto. This was actually looking hopeful! I put it to bed again but on Sunday morning it was dead. I don’t know what went wrong but it got full burial honours by the rose on Jenni’s grave.

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: bird, blue waxbill, fledgling, nature
Categories : nature, photography

Negotiating the fine

22 05 2012

“You stopped but were over the line” the traffic policeman said having pulled me over.

“What line?”, I retorted knowing full well where the line was. “If there is a line it is very badly marked” which was also true.

“Get out of the car and we will walk back and I will show you” he answered.

“I don’t walk” I said, holding up my walking stick. “But if you get in we can drive back and have a look”.

He pondered this new approach for a moment and then saw the biltong on the seat of the Landcruiser. “Ah, I am going to enjoy some chimkuyu” he commented using the Shona word for the biltong. Biltong for those who don’t live in southern Africa is a spicy dried meat cut into sticks. Gary’s son Stuart had given me some that they’d cured from a wildebees that he’d shot the previous week in the Humani Ranch area of the Save Conservancy in the Save Valley of Zimbabwe. From the policeman’s comments I now knew that the whole “fine” was open to negotiation.

“Have you got change for my $50?” he asked holding up the note. Now I knew I could likely get away with the not stopping behind the white line at the stop street on The Chase and College Road. I scratched through my stash of small notes and found the requisite amount.

“You’d better count it” I said handing it over and taking the proffered $50 note. He counted it slowly and getting to the end said “How much do you want to pay for the fine?”.

“Nothing” I replied. “Your line is very badly marked”. The line marking probably wouldn’t have stood up in court but we both knew that neither of us wanted to take it that far.

“How about some chimkuyu?” he hinted.

I reached over to the bag and extracted the smallest stick I could find.

“But there are three of us” he said, trying another angle.

“Well, cut it up then” I said as he surreptitiously pocketed it. Then he waved me on.

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: biltong, Humani Ranch, Save Conservancy, Save Valley, traffic fine, wildebees, Zimbabwe
Categories : News & Various

Memory lane

21 05 2012

I grew up on a forest estate in the Eastern Highlands of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and it was an idyllic childhood. I have not seen much reason to go back to the area but this weekend I was in Mutare, a town close by, and with little to do on Saturday as June and Gary were at a wedding I decided a visit was in order.

: Smallbridge reservoir from the wall. Sheba Estate is on the right, the Wattle Company on the left.

: Self, Kharma and Landcruiser on the Smallbridge dam wall. The house where I spent the first 18 years of my life is just above my right shoulder. This dam was planned in the early 70s but built in the 80s. My father was hoping it would be built in his lifetime so that he could go fishing in the evenings but he was murdered in 1978. Stewart and I tried fishing but with not even a bite.

: Tea plantations on Aberfoyle Estate in the Honde Valley.

: Northern Honde Valley overlooking tea plantations with the Mozambique border in the background.

: Looking out the south end of the Honde Valley. The Aberfoyle tea factory in the middle distance.

: Stuart, Gary, self and Kharma’s backside outside the Aberfoyle Lodge in the northern end of the Honde Valley. We are ontop of a war era (circa 70s) bunker overlooking the golf course.

: The Honde River from the main bridge. Very little of the dense riverine forest that I remember from my childhood remains in the valley though there are still good examples on the tea estates where it is protected.

: Kharma well into her comfort zone on June in the back of my Landcruiser.

The next day we all piled into the Landcruiser for a visit to the Honde Valley some 45mins north of Mutare and the most densely populated rural area in Zimbabwe. At the north end, in the shadow of Mt Nyangani, a lot of tea is grown. Our goal was the Aberfoyle Lodge which is now privately run though rather expensive.

Comments : 6 Comments »
Tags: Aberfoyle tea estate, eastern highlands, Honde Valley, Mt Nyangani, Mutare, Smallbridge Dam, tea estates, Zimbabwe
Categories : photography, Travel

A darker side of HIFA

7 05 2012

On Saturday night I left the recital hall at about 19h30 having watched The Armed Man and taken photos. Driving past the main gate to HIFA was chaos; people parked all over the place and a seething crowd. I made an easy decision to just keep going. Turning left onto 2nd Street it was a lot quieter and I stopped at the traffic lights on Herbert Chitepo. There was a small car parked to the left of me. Then there was a load pop and a hissing noise and someone walked fast between us and away to the opposite corner of the intersection. I thought, “You bastard, you’ve slashed my tyre” as the lights changed and I moved off.

The rear back tyre went flat in a matter of metres but I saw a minibus parked at a pickup point some 50m up the street with a number of people milling round and it was quite brightly lit so I pulled in there. I was immediately surrounded by people all telling me I had a puncture! I got out warily after checking that my camera bag was out of sight and expecting the worst but they were being genuinely helpful and some 20 minutes later the spare was on and I gave them $20 (Shelton, my French teacher said a dollar would have done) which was received with much delight and I was out of there.

I found out on Sunday that another of the HIFA photographers was accosted in the same manner except his tyre went down gradually and when he stopped to change the wheel on Josiah Tongagara Ave an unmarked (no licence plate) car pulled up and two men accosted him. He and his wife fought them off with a wheel spanner and fire extinguisher and luckily nothing was lost.

Was this a coincidence? I don’t think so. There are all sorts of people around at HIFA and a fair proportion of those employed to assist with parking are street kids/adults who very likely have unsavoury contacts. It would not take a lot of surveillance to see who was arriving every day with cameras and keep tabs on them. I drive a very distinctive white and maroon Landcruiser at night (it has attitude to keep ‘Benzs from cutting me up) and I have a distinct limping gait too. I have no idea if I was followed from the recital room. I was just lucky that the person who slashed the tyre misjudged the cut and it went down fast. Yesterday I used a different vehicle which is very nondescript.

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: crime, criminals, HIFA
Categories : News & Various

HIFA 2012 – Day 6

7 05 2012

Well, HIFA has come to an end for another year and yes, it’s a bit sad in a way. I really enjoy the excitement, the activity, the BUZZ of the place! In my opinion it was one of the best HIFAs I have seen. There were some really great acts, some very imaginative ones and one that was truly original; Leo. I only saw one show that was amateurish and that was the hip hop dance; Live Vibe. For sheer virtuosity my award goes to Jazz Tap Ensemble but then it’s difficult to compare with say, Derek Gripper. I did not see much theatre so I cannot make any comments there except to say that what I did see was good though not exactly uplifting!

My last day was pretty relaxed. Ary Morais was another Cape Verdian and by the end of it everyone was clapping along to the infectious beat. Local boy Blessing stole the show a bit on the drums but the music belonged to the band.

Dr. K-Sextet played some decidedly contemporary classical music then ended with a crowd pleasing Ravel’s Bolero that had the audience asking for more but the show had started late due to a previous church service.

Haari Kuusijarvi gave a very relaxed show of Finnish contemporary music on the accordion thanks to the Finnish Embassy in Lusaka. The final act of the day for me was the Dutch pop band Adlicious who got the crowd on their feet at the 7 Arts theatre. They don’t normally play in theatres but clubs and their music reflected it. They also normally have a backing group but it didn’t affect their singing and they entertained in style.

: Cape Verdian, Ary Morais. I think I want to visit the place – they were just so relaxed and if the music is anything to go by it will be great fun too!

: Local boy Blessing gets going.

: And going..

: Then does the rock star drummer thing.

: And finishes with a smile. He is really young, I remember photographing him as part of the Prince Edward School Jazz band only a few years ago.

: 4 of the sextet of Dr K. Finally they get the lighting right at this venue. Maybe it had something to do with a snarky comment I left in the comments book about the dismal quality of it or maybe they thought the audience would like to see the performers!

: A study in concentration from the percussionist of Dr. K-Sextet. Moving all that equipment around the world must be tedious. And there was a lot not in the photo! Also in the group is a pianist, violinist, ‘cellist, flautist and clarinet player.

: The crowd was well pleased witha great performance. They said they’d come back if they got the nod. See them next year if they do!

: Haari Kuusijarvi takes Finnish contemporary music to a new level. I’d always thought it a bit of a folk instrument but his rendition of Sibelius’ Finlandia was exquisite.

: Dutch group Adlicious get going. The girl with the “million dollar legs” (as my mother would have said) could also sing and look good!

: They enjoyed the show too. I believe the first performance was not well attended so I’m glad it was better here.

: Adlicious give it their all.

Notes on the equipment I used:

Nikon D90 with 18-105 F4-5.6 zoom
Velbon monopod – flash was mostly prohibited and I don’t like using it anyway.
Kingston 16GB class 4 SDD card
I use GIMP 2 for post processing but that was limited to the occasional cropping – I did not have time for the fancy stuff.

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: Adlicious, Ary Morais, Dr. K-Sextet, Finlandia, Finnish Embassy, Harare International Festival of the Arts, Harri Kuusijarvi, monopod, Nikon D90, Sibelius
Categories : Arts Festival, HIFA 2012, photography

HIFA 2012 – Day 5

6 05 2012

A busy day it started with the National Ballet show which despite its name included a huge variety of styles; ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop and probably some others that I’ve forgotten. Visually very appealing and the capacity crowd loved it.

Then some very different contemporary dance works by Shi Pratt and Tawanda Chabikwa which I frankly didn’t get followed by local theatre When Angels Weep about child trafficking in Zimbabwe. At the end of the show the British director, whom I know a little, asked me what I thought. “Good theatre but very depressing” I replied and then added; “and for all one knows probably true”. “Well” he replied, “it probably is as I know the writer did his research well”. I was quite taken aback at the time but now I realise that I was being very naive. This sort of thing is prevalent elsewhere in the 3rd world, did I honestly expect it not to be happening here?

Lorna Kelly and Friends was well, not exactly a rock show. For some reason the soprano chose a lot of lullaby songs which not too surprisingly were soporific. The last composition was quite fun but I must have slept through the air-guitar number (if indeed there was one)!

24583 Little Creepy Wonders was children’s theatre by Italian Scarletine Teatro who brought us Manolibera a couple of years ago. Featuring balloons as ugly children. It was mostly in Italian but the kids in the audience loved it as did a few adults.

The final show of the day was The Armed Man – a Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins which was performed by a local choral group with guest artistes. A great way to end the day – well done guys!

: The National Ballet – classical dance

: The National Ballet – hip hop

: Hip hop and tap

: Hip hop and classical dance!

: Contemporary stuff by Shi Pratt.

: Tawanda Chabikwa gets very different. Actually I could actually understand this bit but it was only a bit!

: There are not so many ways to photograph this sort of show!

: When Angels Weep – local theatre about child trafficking in Zimbabwe

: Creepy Little Wonders – no these are the actors. The REAL creepy little wonders had not appeared yet!

: The balloon is a creepy little wonder – with big teeth. In the end he found companionship with another creepy wonder – a balloon with huge eyes!

: The Armed Man. Not very expressive our classical musicians!

: The Armed Man. Finally smiles all round at a job well done!

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: child trafficking, Harare International Festival of the Arts, hip-hop, jazz, National Ballet, The Armed Man, theatre, When Angels Weep
Categories : Dance, HIFA 2012, music, photography

HIFA – Day 4

5 05 2012

A very interesting day. A Handful of Keys with Ian von Memerty and Roelof Colyn was sheer entertainment; two pianos expertly played and homage paid and satired to the greats of piano from Fats Domino to Elton John. Very funny and quite risqué. A near capacity audience at the 7 Arts theatre loved it!

Maria de Barros and her band then entertained at the Global Stage in the main HIFA gardens complex. A Cape Verdian with a good band behind her she had the audience on its feet with a mixture of soul and a touch of reggae and well, all sorts! Not really my style of music but certainly fun.

My prize so far for sheer creativity goes to Leo put on by the German physical theatre company Circle of Eleven. Featuring just one actor in a 3 sided box which was then projected onto another screen rotate 90 degrees – just about anything becomes possible. It’s a bit difficult to see what’s going on in my photos as I was sitting on the right of the stage when it would have been better to sit in the middle. The show starts off funny, becomes a bit sad but in the end descends into a nightmare.

The next prize for shear difference goes to Dream Streets & Labyrinth performed by New York based Cornelius Dufallo. Even he failed to describe the music he plays. Mostly violin with his own backing instrumentals recorded on computer the music is played with some very different visuals projected onto a big screen behind him. I liked it enough to buy a CD but I suspect it will take some getting used to and am not sure how well it will work without the video. As one spectator said behind me at the end; “Not your average HIFA performance”. No, but it was great all the same! Bravo, it took some courage to put that on. See the next performance if you like exploring different music.

: A Handful of Keys. None of the icons of piano were spared and yes, they ridiculed each other too!

: Ian von Memerty pays homage to Stevie Wonder in A Handful of Keys. Funny, clever and quite risque.

: Cape Verde based Maria de Barros and her base player. I had to crop this photo to get rid of the awful “Emergency Exit” sign behind them. Most photos I don’t adjust.

: Maria de Barros performing with her band and guest artistes from Publish the Quest (the dudes with the long hair on the left). Collaborations like these are common at HIFA.

: Leo. Lying on his side becomes standing on his finger. Just about anything was possible!

: Leo, drawing on the wall or the floor. The actor in the box on the right was filmed and then projected onto a screen on the left rotated through 90 degrees. Strange, funny and then eventually a nightmare. In this picture he is trying to escape by drawing a door in the floor. The creatures he’d drawn behind him came alive on the screen on the left and then the nightmare started.

: Cornelius Dufallo performs his own composition. I bought a CD but not so sure how well it will work without the video.

: Cornelius Dufallo performs Labyrinth. VERY unusual music.

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Tags: A Handful of Keys, Cape Verde, Circle of Eleven, Cornelius Dufallo, Dream Streets, Harare International Festival of the Arts, HIFA, Ian von Memerty, Labyrinth, Leo, Maria de Barros, physical theatre, piano, violin
Categories : HIFA 2012, music, photography

HIFA 2012 – Day 3

3 05 2012

A good day! I started with dance and music, then some more music and finally a play and they were all quality performances. If I had to chose a top show it would be the Jazz Tap Ensemble. Just awesome!!!

: Jazz Tap Ensemble – the band.

: Just tap!

: The dancers of Jazz Tap Ensemble. Brought to HIFA from Los Angeles by the United States Embassy in Harare. Thanks guys, this has to be one of the highlights of this year’s HIFA.

: A solo piece from Jazz Tap Ensemble.

: The Accused.

: The Accused – things go badly for the newly arrived immigrant in London.

: Patrice Naiambana takes the lead role in The Accused

: The Accused. Brought to Zimbabwe by Sierra Leonian Patrice Naiambana and supported by a cast of Zimbabwean actors. At times hilarious and at times sobering, this was quality theatre about an African immigrant to London. All performances sold out so far as I know.

: Gerard Rundell (percussion) and Alex Wilson (piano) play “Ragtime”

: Gerard Rundell lets rip on the percussion instruments. He called it Beethoven for percussionists. No, it was not Beethoven but is was seriously impressive!

: Maia von Lekow pounds the calabash – it seems you can make an instrument out of just about anything. A mixture of soul, blues and her own Kenyan style. If she’d had a CD I’d have bought one.

: Maia von Lekow and her backing guitarist. She also played her own guitar.

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: jazz, Maia von Lekow, Patrice Naiambana, Rundell, tap, The Accused, United States Embassy in Harare, Wilson
Categories : HIFA 2012, photography

HIFA 2012 – Day 2

2 05 2012

Day two of HIFA 2012 kicked off warm and clear with lots of action, music and drama. Today I did not take in any dance although the Gri Eshe! ensemble was billed under the dance section there was not much of it.

: Kingswood College Band.

: Kingswood College Band from Grahamstown South Africa. A very talented group of youngsters played all sorts of band music; jazz, Michael Jackson, Mango Groove, Grease and much more. Here they applaud on of the older members of the audience who decied to get up and dance a little!

: Gri Eshe! Nope, I have no idea how that is pronounced either!

: Gri Eshe! This 33 strong ensemble from Bulawayo sang and danced as only the Matabele can. They mostly sang a capella and the harmonizing was georgeous.

: The Dogs Must be Crazy. The Jacob Zuma dog does his thing. The shower head was lost on the foreigners!

: The Dogs Must be Crazy. Hanging around looking for work.

: The Dogs Must be Crazy. Here they are just being dogs.

: The Dogs must be Crazy. A satirical history of South Africa through the eyes and experiences of a pack of dogs! The animated dog-thing represents the country. I think!

: Cape based guitarist, Derek Gripper.

: Derek Gripper is a South Afrcian guitarist of extraordinary talent. He played a lot of Malian music as well as Indian adaptations and Brasilian guitar. Very cool!

: Third Person:(Bonnie and Clyde redux). I think this what is called “art theartre”. It was certainly understandable but the presentation was well, different. Two actors imagine the life of Bonnie and Clyde but give a lecture almost. Except sometimes they just seem to chat amongst themselves. And sometimes they WERE Bonnie & Clyde, or just Clyde.Odd but arty!

: The Third Person: Bonnie & Clyde redux. Overhead projectors and video cameras were used in the play. Performed by Manchester based Proto-type Theatre.

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Derek Gripper, Grahamstown, Gri Eshe!, guitar, Harare International Festival of the Arts, HIFA, Kingswood College, Kingswood College Band, Proto-type Theatre, The Dogs Must Be Crazy, The Third Person: (Bonnie & Clyde Redux)
Categories : Drama, HIFA 2012, music, photography