Bulawayo Blog 23 Dec 2010 to 2 Jan 2011

General Impressions
Bulawayo has deteriorated further since my last visit 6 years ago. But apparently its not as bad as some cities in Africa, such as Dar-Es-Salam. So, propably it could sink even further. But you also get the feeling that if there was a regime change, and all the educated Zimbabweans in South Africa and Europe came home, it could be transformed very quickly. Some things never change – everyone is an entrepreneur. Many people have short and long term contracts in other countries but retain a base in Zim, and there are rumours that people are coming back in doves.

Xmas at the Matopos
We had sandwiches for Xmas lunch at Maleme Dam. So many people had the same idea that we battled to find a spot. A yellow billed kite circled at a very low altitude with an eye on braai meat. We went to the Matopos game park but only saw hippo and klip springer, no rhino. A former mayor of Byo is calling for Rhodes’s remains to be sent back to England, however at present the grave is still intact and enjoying many black visitors. One of these parties asked Nicky and I to pose for a photo (???)… Driving home we saw a huge giraffe on the road side just outside Byo.

Vic Falls

Vic Falls appears very run down at first but this impression is reversed after you have visited the Elephant Hills Hotel, the Safari Lodge, and the Victoria Falls Hotel - all of which retain their previous standard ,except perhaps the Elephant Hills where we had to compete with yobbos at the buffet. The new display at the entrance to the Falls is informative and interesting.

We went on a sunset cruise down the Zambezi – on a small boat owned by Dambula Safaris with one other couple. They were from Adelaide. They thought we were strange girls but by the end of the all-you-can-drink cruise, we were best of friends.

Our skipper went to ground on sand banks with crocodiles and took us to within about 5m of elephants in the water. These are the advantages of a small boat. There were many big boats on the river, full of rowdy drunken passengers - especially the gin palaces from Zambia. These nuisances should be banned from disturbing the wild life.

The Sprayview Hotel was basic but OK. You get what you pay for and we only paid US$40 per person per night, so we got a room without air con, without screens, without TV, but with a squeaky fan. But the room was clean, the pool was great, and food and drink were half the price of anywhere else.

New Year
We had a braai at home with the folks and their friends, then joined Coll, Denis and Gail at Hornung Park. I said we couldn’t leave until we had seen at least 3 people we knew. Surprisingly, it took a long time to reach this target, even though many of the punters were in our age group or older. Most of the youngsters were in Vic Falls for a concert.

Infrastructure
Many roads in Byo are full of potholes, some enormous. During a downpour it’s impossible to know how deep the puddles are. Many of the robots are not working, or so faint that you tell which colour is lit. Many of the lines on the roads have disappeared, providing a challenge to remember where they used to be.


Airport arrivals and departures are still in the hangar, or “Joshua Nkomo Temporary Terminal”. The new airport building has shown little sign of progress since I last saw it at the end of 2004.

Buildings are generally in decay and unmaintained for the past 10 years. Crumbling, often half completed walls, surround many of the properties in the outlying suburbs. The vlei is full of half completed shells of houses.

Economy
In 2009 Zim vied with the DRC at the bottom of the IMF’s list of GDP income per capita – with a level of about $360 pa, last achieved in 1970. I notice in 2010 that it leapt up about 14 places, to an average income of $475 pa. This doesn’t take into account the money being sent back by the millions in SA and the UK, but generally people are poor. It’s even hard to sell quality items. I don’t know what we are going to do with my parents furniture when they downsize.

Things have been more stable over the past 2 years since the Zim$ has been abandoned in favour of the US$. Most goods are now freely available but expensive, and hard currency sent back home doesn’t go as far as it used to. Petrol is slightly more expensive than in Aus, at about $135 per litre.

Some local businesses are still going, albeit in the face of enormous adversity – mainly the continual shifts in government policies. For example cutting 3 zeros off the currency in 2006. The surreal madness of the last 10 years of these events are documented in a book called ‘Warm Heart, Ugly Face by Jerome Gardner, who moved from Cape Town to Byo in 1999 to expand the Power Sales business for its South African owners.