Linda Comes to Africa

jointly written by Mom & me

After months of anxious preparations for this longest and farthest trip of her life, Linda entered the Harare International Airport, struggling only slightly with the trolley piled high with bags full of U.S. goods. The trip itself had been uneventful. She slept quite a bit of the 40-hours from door to door, so it didn’t seem that long.

Eliza wanted to know if a second birthday cake meant that Miles was already 8.

Her first night was like a birthday and Christmas combined. There was a cake with candles to celebrate Miles’s 7th she'd just missed, and later suitcases were unpacked in front the fire. A few of the items received: the Incredible Hulk figure (from Sara!), a Miles World Map (from Grammy!), Power Miner lego set (from Nana), and a Sun-n-Surf ensemble for Eliza including matching bag, sandals, bikinis and hat (from Nana). Adults received a mini portable Bluetooth speaker, a tennis racket, and real maple syrup, among other things.

Another great James Stevenson book.

For a couple of days Linda enjoyed normal life for the Brigham family. She read to the first graders. She joined her daughter for the weekly meeting with Niel, the Learning Support Specialist. She watched her granddaughter swim. She went grocery shopping. She waited in line to buy tickets for the Harare International Festival of the Arts.

On the way to Nyanga

On Friday, she settled between her two grandchildren in the back of a Land Cruiser and headed for the bush. It was a fairly long ride (4 hours) that seemed longer after the sun set and the family was driving on secondary dirt tracks through the mountains. The final road on the journey was in fact grass 3-feet tall versus non-road which was grass 6-feet tall. Wouldn’t have been such a big deal if they’d actually known where they were going or had a GPS. Anywho. They got there.

hot water heater

In the dark. Since this rustic little house didn’t have power, or electrical hook-ups for that matter. And we forgot the matches. Luckily, the little house came with a housekeeper. Nyasha had matches. He lit the candles and gas lanterns and made a fire in the fireplace. There was also a gas-powered stove, gas-powered refrigerator, and fire-fueled hot water heater.

The whole wall of windows folded back. No civilization in sight.

Linda finding the bit about the leopard in the guestbook.

The morning brought a wonderful view of the mountains. The mists rolled in before she could catch a view of the Honde Valley from the viewpoint nearby, but it luckily cleared away in time for her first hike in Africa - to the spectacular Mturazi Falls, 3rd highest falls in Africa. A falls is a falls is a falls, according to Linda. She was more impressed with the view of the highland hills carpeted in green, the dramatic cliff and the beautiful valley. It was new to her to hike in the tall bush grass.

Mtarazi Falls in Nyanga National Park

View of Mozambique from the Mtarazi Falls 

Highlights: a fun night by the fire dancing with the grandkids, Nyasha saying not to worry about the leopard we'd read about in the guestbook - it's a friendly leopard, Miles's entire hand swelling from a bee sting on the tip of his middle finger, and seeing vervet monkeys and baboons in the trees and in the road.

The next day was Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Linda and company met up with several other families, all Zimbabwean or combinations of Zimbabweans and spouses from Denmark, England and Germany. And lots of children! The road to Pungwe Falls was too deeply rutted to risk driving all the vehicles, so half the group walked the last bit. They set up camp along the river at the top of the falls, stripped down to their bathing suits (or in the case of a lot of children: birthday suits) and some played, floated and swam in the cold water. It was mildly nerve-racking for Linda to see the children playing so close to the falls. In fact, she never got a proper look at the falls until she was leaving because really a falls is a falls is a falls, and she was more interested in talking with the locals, including a couple of other grandparents.

Afterwards, the group headed to the Japanese-inspired bath-house at Dietre and Heidi's place. By that time, it was getting dark, and the mist was rolling in. Just about everyone except the babies, Linda and the old Grandpa piled into the hot tub. The bravest ran from the sauna to dive into the freezing cold pool.  After that, with exhausted and moody kids in tow, we headed to the cabin where Caroline's family was staying. Once the children were sedated by nourishing, warm lasagna and a model of the Titanic to work on for hours, the adults settled around the fire with glasses of wine for pleasant conversation.

Next day, we stopped at the Inn on the Ruparara for lunch for a bit of a pampered feel before the drive back to Harare. For Linda, this had not been what she expected of Africa. This was not the savannah. There were no large animals. If not for the monkeys and baboons, it could have been Scotland.

For more photos, click the slideshow: