South Africa to Zimbabwe: Travel Day - May 23rd
My alarm goes off at 3:45am and I hop up, shower and get ready to head to Zimbabwe. Marius is supposed to take me to the airport at 4:30am for the first flight to Bulawayo. I am already packed and ready to go by the time he comes in for the 4am wakeup call. I take a few pictures of the Afton house lobby, realizing that I didn’t take a photo of my new friends from Virginia last night. If only I had somebody who I could rely on to take pictures for me, I wouldn’t have to worry about missing things like this.
[Excellent trophies in the lobby of the Afton Safari Lodge]
[The lobby of the lodge is a great place for conversation]
[Breakfast area - I left far too early for breakfast]
While in the game room, I meet Itza, a nutritionist from Chihuahua, Mexico. She is an amateur photographer and is headed out to some other part of South Africa for a photo safari. All I can recollect is that it is near East London. I have no clue where this is, but suspect it is in fact nowhere near London.
Marius drops us off at O.R. Tambo and Mr. X meets us and escorts us both to the terminal and through the check in. Both Marius and Mr. X are a pleasure to deal with. I expect to see them many more times in the future, although I do not know how many more years Marius will be driving for Afton House as he seems to be getting up there in years.
Mr. X informs me that due to many combination hunters keeping their ammunition in their bow cases, I am going to need to take my bow through the firearm clearance area. We do not need paperwork and it is a breeze. I head through the rest of the process while Mr. X helps Itza, who was having problems getting her boarding pass. Hopefully she is as fortunate as I was in Chennai.
Once through passport control, and security, I head to the gate and meet Henco du Toit, my videographer for the safari. He is young and full of energy and has been filming safaris for two years now.
The South African Airlink flight to Bulawayo is uneventful, aside from what appears as the entire plane being reassigned seats to balance the plane. I am seated across from a white native of Zimbabwe, although she prefers to say she is from Rhodesia if that is an option. As I continue to run into the few whites from Zim, I see a common thread – they all love their country and long for the old government that existed before Mugabe took power.
Clearing customs in Zimbabwe is a bit of an ordeal. They have no problem with my luggage, but I am required to declare exactly how much currency I am bringing with me – to the point that I must count it out in the presence of the customs officers. Given my travel plans on this trip, I am carrying currency from four different countries and it is enough that I cannot comfortably carry it in my pockets. I have over $700 in US currency in $1 and $5 bills alone, as Zimbabwe doesn’t have its own currency, although they are now trying to change that with their own two and five dollar notes, known as zollars. I need to have exact change as I cannot expect to receive change. Even when I purchased my visa to enter Zim at the airport, they did not have any change for me and if I did not pay the exact amount I would have gotten the zollars whose future value is guaranteed to be zero. I have over 187 billion Zimbabwe dollars in my safe at home from a time they used to have their own currency. I cannot buy a stick of gum with it now.
[A very old flight board still on display but unused at the airport in Bulawayo]
Once we get through the airport, we give a call to Wayne, who comes to meet us in about 30 minutes, dropping off a gentleman from the UK who just finished his elephant hunt. We head to the Zim Parks department, get our permits and are assigned a scout, who we will have to come back and pick him up when we head to camp. The next stop is Wayne’s house, where they have a trailer loaded with supplies for the camp. Wayne introduces us to the two trackers. We shake hands and introduce ourselves. Sam speaks English very well. The next one says Cowboy when we shake hands. I think he is referring to my hat, but I later learn that Cowboy was the name his mother gave him. They are both very nice people. We switch vehicles and head out, with Wayne Van Den Bergh, myself, Henco, Sam and Cowboy and pick up the Zim Parks scout, whose name is Brian.
[Wayne's house - I hope he doesn't mind me posting this but it is very nice]
It is a three-hour drive to the camp area, but before we get there, Wayne has to meet the head of one of the communal lands that we are supposed to hunt. Now that Wayne has sold the hunts, the land owner wants to raise the prices. He also wants us to use his camp (and obviously collect the camp fees). This is Wayne’s business and I do not interfere at all. The camp the local wants us to use is a nice dump. Wayne goes and renegotiates, while I walk through the camp. It isn’t stocked at all or even set up to be used – no linens on the beds and looks like it has been unused for some time now. Wayne comes back and says we will hunt here. Our camp is an hour away, forcing us to drive two hours per day and says it will be worth it. Being from California, I have no problem with the idea of an hour commute.
We drive for an hour down a dirt road – and calling it is dirt road is rather generous as it is more like a mountain trail in some places, before we arrive at Malindi Station. While it is not a luxury resort, for a hunting camp it would be as good as it gets in this part of the world. It has a lot of character. There are three old rail cars from Rhodesian Railways that have been converted into private suites. The cars were built in 1950 and are sitting on sections of train track. There is a thatch roof over the entire “station” and a platform to get to the rooms.
[The entrance to Malindi Station - WOW!]
[Pullman railcars are converted into the rooms]
[Cameraman Henco du Toit and PH/Outfitter Wayne Ven Den Bergh ready to go!]
[My room in one of the rail cars]
[Bathroom with a full size tub]
Looking out from the dining area, there is a broad view of an open plain with the bushveld perhaps 150-200 yards away. The camp chef, Cornelius comes out and introduces himself, as well as Claude, who I am guessing is in charge of the camp. Cornelius fixes us some wonderful steak (although not as good as Jose’s). I am told it is zebra meat. It is good, but not as delicious as I have been led to believe it would be. I had the same opinion of my first kudu steak, so it may just be prepared differently than I like to make it, as it seems to have the same crust of seasoning that the kudu steak had. This time, I made sure to come prepared and I have a bottle of season all in my suitcase. I don’t want to insult Cornelius’ cooking, so I will probably just hold on to it until it comes time to cook up my elephant.
After dinner, we sit around the fire and watch the baboons cross the plain and later see a jackal come in close to camp. At this time, it is very dark. I try to range it and shoot an arrow towards him, but miss him. It is so dark I cannot tell if I was high or low or if he just jumped the string. I make my way to find the arrow, but cannot see the lighted nock in the tall grass. Taking my flashlight and scanning the horizon, I can see several sets of eyes looking back at me. A Sharp’s grysbok that was off to my right suddenly darts away at a full sprint and I remember that I do not even have my hunting knives. The PH has gone to bed and the only one awake is my cameraman who would be able to film my demise should I become a meal for a hidden predator. I reconsider the value of the arrow and decide that arrows are far cheaper than medical care. Maybe I will find it during daylight hours and maybe I just need to be reminded that there is a cost for EVERY shot I take in Africa.
I head to my railcar for some sleep. I expect it will be a long day tomorrow and we will be getting a very early start. We have to pay for this wonderful camp by waking up an hour earlier. I am happy to be here. My only complaint is that the Wi-Fi does not work, so we have no Internet access. Although I do not want to surf the web and like the chance to disconnect, with the lack of cell service here as well, I am a bit concerned that I cannot be reached even in an emergency at home.
