Boxing Day Safari

OK, so we went back to Imire. We've been 5 times now. The reasons why we end up taking so many guests there:

• proximity to Harare - it's around a 1.5 hour drive from home

• variety of animals: lions and hyena (in safe enclosures), both black and white rhino, elephants, giraffe, kudu, zebra, ostrich, bushbuck, eland, hartebeest, antelope, tsessebe, sable, cape buffalo, wart hog, monitor lizard, crocodile, baoons, vervet monkeys and a hippo. 

• proximity to animals - because this is a private game park and rhino sanctuary, the animals there are semi-wild. The elephants and rhinos come close to us. We can touch them, feed them - it's cool. 

Because of the rains, we came back to the main lodge to fee the elephant - thus, the fence.

• information about animals - the guides know a lot about the animals who have lived on the sanctuary for years

• picturesque - the area is hilly and lovely with the typical Zimbabwean kopje rock formations. They have a couple of great picnic spots, and the farm house and thatch-roof cabins are a nice camp base.  

• family/service - the owners of the ranch/sanctuary are such interesting people who love what they do and host college kids to work on the land and with the animals throughout the year

• affordability - safari's can be expensive, as you can imagine. Imire is so close we have the option of going up for the day for less than $70 per person or overnight for not much more. In fact, the house we stayed in this time easily accommodated 7 adults and 6 children, came with housekeeping, a cook and a guide for afternoon and morning walks, canoes and lake access, swimming pool, etc, and cost $150 total.

All to ourselves.

• activities - ride on the largest elephants I have ever seen, horseback riding, fishing, and of course, game drives and walks.

Stables where the big animals are kept at night to keep them (and others) safe.

• safety - because we're not in the wild parks, there is a degree of predictability and control - staff monitor and know the animals well, and I feel safer and more comfortable with our little kids there.

BTW, if you're interested in volunteering, check out the work schedule we saw! My favorite: dip the lions at 2 on Thursday.

That Special Christmas Magic

Christmas in Zimbabwe is good for us. It's a funny combination of home and traditions past and Southern Hemisphere Africa.

The kids and I were eager to get a tree up, but the evergreens were looking dreary the week I was ready, so we went with a tropical plant. Don't even know what it's called, but it grows straight out of the center of a green and yellow plant that looks like a giant alien, cactus octopus. We felt vaguely that it was more environmentally friendly.

The hoopla around Christmas in Zim is significant compared to other places we've lived, but it's just a drop in the bucket compared to what we'd experience back home. We were invited to an ugly xmas sweater party, and people were literally having to make something to wear: ornament jewelry, reindeer antlers out of tinfoil (David went as a kind of cross between Santa and Jesus with his Sudanese jalabiya and a red hat) because not only were we without unwanted items but it was hard to even find tacky Christmas things to buy. Imagine.

Sheryl and Vaughn invited us over to make Christmas cookies.

we sent the majority of the goodies to school with the kids

the adults had even more fun than the kids

We were playing Christmas music around the house, teaching the kids the songs and watching the old movies. But of course, it's all about cold, awful weather and snowmen, whereas in Zimbabwe the weather was great! We donated toys to the AIDS orphans and participated in other charitable events. We made Christmas cards for friends and family, and got together with people to enjoy great food and drink and happy times.

After seeing the movie Elf and knowing about the fakes, the kids were excited to see the REAL Santa at the grocery store. He came to hear from a few children whose emails he hadn't received since the internet's been down.

Most special was having family here: Tracy, Zavion, Jack and Anne. We were so lucky that Jack and Anne came here for two weeks and everything went so well! Their luggage (including Santa's sack) all made it. Their flights to Vic Falls weren't cancelled. No one got sick. There was plenty to do and plenty time to relax, as well. We were able to celebrate Jack's birthday, and we got to know Anne better, and she's a doll! (as my Grandmom Helen would say).

For his birthday, we framed photos of him with baby David ('73) and baby Miles ('05).

The children were VERY EXCITED Christmas morning. Whether it was a new pencil, a piece of candy, legos, a doll or a sketchpad - all were happy to tear off the paper and look at the new things. For the first time, the kids were old enough for there to be a semblance of order. The kids read the names on the gifts and handed them out, and we took turns opening them. (Just writing about it makes me want a cup of coffee.)

David's big gift from all of us: Zavion and Eliza's art framed for the office.

More photos from Christmas:

The Sound of Zimbabwe

When we went to Cape Town last weekend, there were two bands playing on the water front, one of which were a group of marimba players. After listening, I told the guy selling CDs that my son was taking marimba lessons. Another listener then introduced himself - he's Zimbabwean, living in South Africa and just listening and missing home. The marimba is a Zimbabwean instrument. There's something about Zimbabweans - even with the craziness of what comes with elections and such, the people are just typically laid back and friendly. I had a wave of homesickness for my home in Harare.

At a fundraiser for an orphanage before Christmas, we were happy to find that Miles's teacher's marimba band was performing. They even let Miles join them for a couple of songs. It was really cool.