Olive’s back wheel shimmers in the morning light. Its brand new rim from an African bike manufacturer is designed to carry more than 100kg. We’ve seen it in action many times before when guys were hauling up to four sacks of coal on it. So it should hopefully last until the end of the trip. Sadly, there is no such easy fix for Ben’s camera. It continues its coma on a bed of rice and we take pictures on our phones.
Different people have warned us about the road from Harare to lake Kariba in the northwest. It’s the main truck road connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia and it’s in very bad condition. Accordingly everyone drives way too fast. The busses in particular seem to have a contest going on who can mow down the most cyclists. We spend a stressful few days on the almost cobblestone like asphalt dodging potholes and internally flipping people off.
To break up the ordeal we visit Tony, another Warmshowers host. He vividly remembers all our daily cycling struggles from his own trips and tries to feed us as many calories as possible. Ben is delighted and shovels in chicken and boerwurst. Even Lina is corrupted to try some billtong. Tony is convinced that once we stop cycling we will put on 10kg each from overeating. Lina just snorts “no way in hell”. The bet is on!
By now we’ve met enough Zimbabweans to notice a pattern. Everyone welcomes us with open arms, mothers us for the length of our stay and then “makes a plan” for the next few nights on our route. There is always a relative or acquaintance to phone and they will always be happy to help out the strangers. The roads are usually “hectic”, the views “epic” and politics is “a dog’s breakfast”.
For the grand finale of our time in Zim we’re hooking up with Robin and his son in law Arthur again. Since we were so successful in capsizing a supposedly uncapsizable catamaran last week, we decided to aim higher this time. We will be trying to sink a 31 foot yacht on lake Kariba. With Robin as captain (he is a magnet for adventure) and the added thrill of crocodiles, hippos and elephants patrolling the beaches, it will surely be an experience.
After escaping the busy traffic we make our way down to the lake through supposed lion territory. The weather is watching out for us though. 40+ degrees make lions sleepy and tsetse flies more active which in turn makes us pedal faster. We reach the lake without incident. We spend an afternoon on the lakeshore, playing around with a birding app and identifying such beauties as the Meves’s Starling and the Blackheaded Oriole. At 3am we quietly slip out the tent to avoid becoming hippo fodder.
The next day Robin and Arthur arrive from Harare. Together we board the ship, set the sails and then turn on the motor as there is no wind. We chug across the lake, hide behind the sails for shade, sip tea and go for the occasional dip. Arthur and Ben quickly start a feud with the fish. Instead of becoming our dinner they just eat the worms right off the hook. Increasingly desperate to provide for us Arthur and Ben try everything from orange peel to billtong as bait, all to no avail.
After a tasty dinner of pasta and veggies we settle down for the night, Arthur and Robin claiming the cabins while we set up camp on deck. Our slumber is only interrupted by some soft hippo honking and subsequent stargazing. The next day a light breeze takes us out into the lake and we’re finally sailing for real. Everyone gets their turn at the helm and we particularly love to steer the tiller with our feet while sipping coffee and munching on jaffles (a grilled egg sandwich).
The sunlight glitters on the water and everyone leaps for cover whenever Robin shouts “ready about”. We cruise along aimlessly just for the fun of it. Ben sets up his painting studio while Lina reenacts Titanic at the bow. In the afternoon we slowly maneuver the boat through a forest of petrified tree stumps and moor it right next to three grazing elephants. They feel somewhat obliged to show us whose island this is with a bit of exhibitionism and by marking their territory.
Arthur’s confidence is so shaken that he drops his toothbrush in the lake. Robin, wholly unimpressed by the display, jumps in to rescue the toothbrush. A nearby crocodile just rolls his eyes at all the wasted testosterone and slithers away. We watch the sunset with a beer, enjoy another tasty (yet conspicuously fishless) dinner and Robin dazzles us and the hippo audience with his guitar rendition of Empty Chairs by Don McLean. This is what it’s all about!
The next morning we’re woken up by the noise of the motor. Robin wants to use a favorable morning wind to get us back to Kariba town. One last cup of tea, a final swim and we’re back in the harbor hugging Arthur and Robin goodbye. Though we weren’t able to sink the yacht, it was still a worthy end to our time in Zimbabwe. By now we have taken Ben’s camera off life support and are planning the funeral. Zambian customs permitting we will get a new one from the UK in Lusaka.
That cave pic 😍😍😍 and the watercolors of course!