Harare and out of Zimbabwe
Leaving Zimbabwe we had two choices to get to Malawi: north through Zambia with bad roads and a $50 visa fee or east through Mozambique with slightly better roads, a shorter distance, and a $30 visa fee. We opted for the cheaper, faster, easier route and headed to Harare for one last hurrah in Zimbabwe.
Coming from a great couch-surf in Bulawayo we opted to try for a second with Harare. We had some time to spare before meeting our host nd enjoyed a quick taste of the posh life at the fancy hotel (the bus’ drop-off point) before hailing a cab to head into town. Our taxi-driver, Forbes, took us not only to our final destination, …

One of the things we most wanted to do while in Zimbabwe was go to Great Zimbabwe National Monument. The site was home to a great medieval city serving as a link between the Swahili traders in East Africa to the Bantu speaking peoples of Southern Africa. This city is proof of civilization in Africa long before the colonists arrived.
Formerly known as Rhodesia, one might wonder where the name Zimbabwe came from (or the name Rhodesia for that matter!). Zimbabwe actually means house of the large stones. Scattered across Zimbabwe are the ruins from a great Shona kingdom that ruled the area in the middle ages, but most of these ruins are small scale. All of course, but one- the …

Maybe it seems we’ve lingered here too long, but we didn’t seem to mind. In the two months we spent in South Africa before heading north for Zimbabwe we visited 5 countries: SA, Mozambique, Namibia Swaziland and Lesotho. We drove 12,000 kilometers, ensured our annual park pass paid for itself twice over, and saw all of the big 5 and then some. We entered a swim race, saw our first rugby match, celebrated a birthday and the new year, and even managed to make new, life-long friendships. In short, we got to know this place pretty darn well.

South Africa really is an interesting country but it is a country which defies easy classification. Many people back home think of South …

In December the world’s nations got together in Copenhagen to discuss climate change and overwhelmingly the summit seems to be seen as a failure on the part of the developed nations to make significant strides forward in combating climate change. Unfortunately it’s not the wealthy nations of the world that fare the worst in dealing with the effects of climate change- sure maybe winter in Washington, DC is a little worse this year, but compared to the desertification of land around the equator, a few extra inches of snow isn’t such a big deal.
One day the effects of global climate change will effect wealthy countries, one day our natural resources may become so scare that they aren’t available. …