Antelope Park

Again, this was a weekend trip we didn’t plan. At the last minute, we joined friends who had a house with a lot of space. Antelope Park is just outside of Gweru, a 3-4 hour drive southwest of Harare. There’s a dam at the center of the park and thatched main buildings, including an open air dining hall that overlooks the lawn sloping down to the water. There were always a few people fishing or sitting in the shade enjoying the view. The house where we stayed originally belonged to the developer of the park. It was hidden from view, across the bridge and down a long path. It has 11 beds (4 rooms), and a couple of big covered verandas where we spent most of our time. The kids were able to roam freely in the big yard that was protected (from animals!)with high wire fences like we’ve seen at other game parks.














Apparently there were a couple crocodiles in the water, but we never saw them. Still, that made me more careful with the kids, and especially Eliza, the non-swimmer. The other accommodations were along the water, which made for a great view but meant limited outdoor play space. At the house, we were able to totally relax with plenty of indoor and outdoor protected space. The house also had a kitchen, a bbq area, and big dining table so we could cook for ourselves which was easier with the kids, and we could save a little money. (I think meals were $10/adult, $5/child.) Accommodations were $33/adult/night and $15/kid which I thought was pretty reasonable, but with activities priced separately, it did start to add up fast.













David had to get back to work so only stayed one night. He and Mike left Monday, and Nevena and I came back with the kids on Tuesday. (Their boys are Martin-6 and Isaac-9.) The guys did a “bush walk” in the morning where they got an introduction on tracking animals. There are also bird watching walks, fishing, horseback riding, walks with lion cubs and other activities linked to the lion breeding program. They have 93 lions in a fenced area nearby that I never saw, but you could hear them roaring at night and in the early morning. There were probably 30 volunteers of all ages from around the world who lived and worked there. Lions (even cubs!) have eyes for the littlies (we saw other people walking with them), so we did other things less nerve-racking like taking a mule drawn wagon out for wildlife viewing. We saw waterbuck, tsessebe, zebra, wildebeest, elephants and most interestingly a herd of 8 giraffe that we were able to get very close to.

In the evening, we went out on a pontoon for sundowners. We were lucky to get one of those quintessential African sunsets: huge dark clouds were threatening rain, and when the sun dropped below the horizon, the sky went purple and the clouds red. The colors were reflected on the rippling water, and the trees and birds were silhouetted. If I hadn’t been preoccupied by the 2 young children without life-vests jacked up on sleep deprivation and Easter chocolate in crocodile-inhabited waters, I probably could have managed more than one beer and maybe a deep thought about this world and our place in it. But as things were, I snapped some photos and oooed and aahhed between reprimanding my kids to sit down, take turns on the pilot chair, and not lean over the rail, yes, like that, don’t do THAT.

The next morning, we went on an elephant ride which was really cool. There wasn’t exactly a seatbelt, so again, I was more nervous than anyone – my, that’s a far fall…and if the elephant even stepped on you once…Yikes! Hold on, Miles! There were four elephants each with a trainer. I rode on one with Eliza sandwiched between me and the trainer, which did feel like the safest option. Miles rode behind another trainer, and the other elephants were ridden by trainers beside us. These were female elephants so not the biggest, but they were still enormous, strong animals. They kept reaching their long trunks back to sneak a snack while we walked. I could feel the breath of ours on my hands and the spiky hairs on her trunk, strong enough to rip a tree out of the ground. My heart was beating fast half an hour after we got off, but the kids were totally cool and not scared at all.