It has been quite a surreal experience for us both being here in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe, as the media reports back home of the political situation would have you think the place is uninhabitable. And certainly in some areas it is pretty bad. Shane, the manager of Dimbangombe, has just returned from a week in Harare getting his hunting license renewed, and reports that there isn’t any electricity for days at a time and some suburbs have not had running water for six months. Hard to believe in a city of millions, and a sad indictment of the countries current state of affairs…that the jewel of Africa can hardly feed itself & has an inflation rate at unimaginable levels.

The rest of our first day included a good look around the back roads of Vic Falls, mainly looking to buy a few beers for our host, as we had his to drink the night before and we thought it would be a good idea to replace them. A good idea maybe, but not so easy to do, as most food supplies (or any supplies) are in extremely short supply throughout the town & indeed ‘whole country’.

It really surprised me just how many people were getting around the streets & along the road on the way into town. There is obviously a terrible poverty gripping this great nation, and many problems for the population to be depressed about and yet nearly every person we could see was happy, well dressed & clean with an obvious pride in themselves.

A thought that springs to mind was ‘wouldn’t it be incredibly beneficial for many different groups of people in our society to be able to come over here and have their misconceived perception of “difficulty” turned on its head. Depression levels would drop way below the ridiculous levels currently in Australia, & maybe we would start to address causes of problems instead of new ‘medical conditions’ mostly treated with state of the art, latest breakthrough drugs.

I’ve often wondered why a certain situation that can make one person “depressed” can be just the impetus for another to drive their business & life forward to a much better place.

It seems to me that all society’s that have advanced to a higher level of comfort, security, wealth & leisure also seem to have a corresponding increase in many of the modern worlds major problems. Whether it be depression, drug addiction, crime or family breakdown etc etc. I’m not saying the situation is better here of course. But maybe there is something there to be learned about an improved middle ground somewhere, & maybe the decisions being made by both systems are inadequate to deal with the complexity of the situation.

Governments of all persuasions don’t operate under a “holistic goal’ & that is the biggest problem.

I nearly had a problem of my own coming back from town. On the highway about 8 klms out the lads on the back of our truck yelled out that there was some elephants beside the road. We had noticed that the pedestrians had all stopped walking along, so we spun around and went back for look & sure enough a group of about eight big bulls (and I mean really big) came crashing out through the scrub and onto the road in quite a leisurely fashion. We couldn’t believe our eyes & I jumped straight out of the truck with my camera like I was a member of the paparazzi at some movie premier. That is, until the guys on the back all yelled at me to get back in before the elephants, who were only about thirty feet away would charge!! Right… no need to tell me twice as one huge fella was already shaking his mammoth head and flapping his ears at me.

Luckily they weren’t under the impression that the crazy white guy was any sort of threat & decided to keep on busting braches out of trees. You don’t have to go to a game park in Zimbabwe to see elephants in the wild, as apparently the latest estimation is that they have over one hundred thousand on the loose. Many more than all of South Africa has.

I mentioned that we have been looked after very well here on the ranch, as well as off it, being picked up at the airport & then also being chauffeured around town by the capable Mboso, who may well have been given a kickback from his friends at all the locations yesterday. I hope he does, as it was well worth it. Also the cook here Tembre & his assistant the ever smiling & happy Gladys, who would set the table in the huge Gazebo for just Pec & I. So far we have had Ostrich & Zebu, as well as beef & chicken and we’ve been made to feel like very special guests. Warranted or not, it sure is much appreciated, and the whole African experience so far has had a very relaxed & friendly atmosphere about it. (Not withstanding the elephant episode!)

The next day was quite a relaxed affair in the morning as well, with a stroll down to Allan & Jody Savory’s camp on the banks of the Dimbangombe River. A very picturesque arrangement of near new ‘adobe’ thatch roofed style buildings in a beautiful location with clear running water in the creek and huge shade trees. This is their home for almost half the year & it was another surreal experience to be able to sit there, drinking tea and discussing principles & philosophies with the man responsible for many of the beneficial changes in both our lives.

Even more so, after I’d been to see Bud Williams & the Lasater’s, and to hear Allan’s views on their various philosophy and how maybe Peca & I could incorporate this into our respective businesses. I think we both agreed on the walk back that he (Peca) has far to many pampered cows & he needs to finally get serious and cull a stack of unproductive old ‘favourites’ from his herd!!  

Went for a look at the Dimbangombe cattle late in the afternoon yesterday, just before they were due to be corralled for the night. This is for their own protection of course as they would be killed otherwise by an array of predators that roam the place. Wild dog (which kill lions!), lions (when they dodge the wild dogs), leopard, Hyena etc etc. They also have around 400 goats that have to be locked up as well & all of the livestock have stockmen with them 24 / 7.

Went down to Shane & Roses house last night for a drink before dinner, and what a fantastic spot. Sitting there talking and looking out over the valley was a real taste of Africa, with all sorts of wildlife to be heard and spotted in the distance & the sound of Baboons scolding their children in one large tree not far away from us.

Early start this morning, as Pec & I hitched a lift on the back of the farm truck to go into Kasane, Botswana. Shane, Jody and Allan were going in for business, shopping & to hopefully get a new fridge so we thought we would take the chance to spend a few days in another country & maybe go on a safari. So we jumped on the back with the old fridge for the hour and a half ride into one of Zimbabwe’s neighbours. On the way we noticed the lack of ‘road kill’ along the highway…..a sure sign of the number of predator/scavengers in the area, and we also pulled up for a break not far off the border & everywhere you could look there was elephants. Apparently one of the parks here in Botswana has about 90,000 in it alone so they are one wild animal not in any immediate danger of becoming extinct.

In Kasane now & may have just booked a 2 day trip into the Chobe National park as getting up to the Okavango Delta might be out of our reach in only a few days. So we’re out in a tent tonight among all the meat eaters of wildest Africa and hopefully I get to return & tell you all about it on Monday…..

Cheers,