I Shouted My Joy: Guess This One

- This country was once called the bread basket of Africa.

- This country has has the highest population of the rare white rhino

- This country was the only to have a trillion dollar note

- This country holds 90% of the gorgeous Victoria Falls

- This country is the only one to be suspended from the Kimberly Process

- This country almost completely survives on an informal economy

Could you guess it? If you were thinking Zimbabwe you’re a champ. We knew we weren’t in Kansas anymore when they botched our visas and our British friend had to pay significantly more for being, well, British. Right when we crossed the border we were greeted by a nice looking younger man who offered us a taxi to Vic Falls from the border. As we walked with him we were approached by others who wanted to give us a ride. Others quickly out bid him and we asked the gentleman we originally met if we could trust him to give us a ride. In all seriousness he said quite easily, why yes you can trust me, I’m a police officer. At this point we weren’t sure what to think. We ended up riding with this very very old man who out bid the “cop” by $10. The “cop” didn’t seemed too pleased but the rest of the taxi drivers approved of our choice. (sidenote- he did have to start his car the way they do it in the movies when someone is stealing a car. Pop open the part under the steering wheel and connect the red and black wire till the car starts) As we were riding with this older man he explained to us that he was previously a lieutenant police officer. So the cop taxi service seems relatively common. As we were coasting along the torn road, a car whizzes by us and I hear our driver mutter, “oh shit” under his breath. This isn’t so comforting when you’ve just entered a country that botched your visas, has a genuinely crazy president in power (seriously, 2 months ago Mugabe made a deal with Ahmadinajad to trade uranium for oil) and you just turned down a taxi ride from the cops. It turns out the last part was the problem. I asked what was up and our taxi driver told us that the car that sped by us was one of the cops friends and was going to tell other cops in Vic Falls to arrest our driver for taking his customers. Great. I was just hoping it was within walking distance to our hostel. So we arrive to our relatively rundown hostel right as the cops pull up. I try to tell the cops that this man has done nothing and to not upset the heard of folks watching these new cops disappear.

Vic Falls is a quite nice bizarre town. It’s interesting that the people on the streets try to sell you trinkets are quite educated. Their English is good and they seem to know a little bit about what’s going on in the world. Unfortunately many of them have taken to drinking and later on in the day can become somewhat aggressive. It’s also not uncommon to see elephants, zebras or even lions cruising the streets at night. One evening we heard a loud rustling outside our hostel gate and looked up to see an elephant just walking by himself down the street.

Sorry this sounds kind of like a bummer but really Zimbabwe and Vic Falls were great. I cannot describe in words the sheer beauty and strength of the falls. It was amazing, a little slice of heaven. I felt like God was saying see, see how much beauty and power I can create. It’s a gift from me, please witness the awe and grander and know that I made that, experience me through it. Know that there is something even greater than these falls out there and that I want you to experience that too. Come say hello some time. Let’s work together to blend our places together.

I ended fully enjoying the gift of the falls by doing the bridge bungee jump, where when you reach 3/4s of the way down you can see this absolutely stunning upside down triple rainbow as you just peacefully bounce through the air.

We ended our time at Vic Falls with an overnight train to Bulawayo. I just want to tell you how magical this train is. It’s an old 1953 classic British high class train that literally has not been touched since then. It used to have a restaurant, electricity and toilet but those things are long gone. So for $10 they gave our own sleeper equipped with awesome blankets and pillows. We were even fortunate to have the date in which our blanket or pillow was either made or last washed, I’m not sure which one. Mine was dated October 1998. Not even joking, that was the best night sleep I had in at least 3 days.

Although the country is currently very rundown, I think the country is filled with promise. Its visible everywhere you go, of time when Zimbabwe was on top of the world and development flourished. The people of Zimbabwe are very kind as well as very resilient. Their creativity in very tough times is astounding. Overall, I really enjoyed my time in Zimbabwe. I hope and pray for wisdom to come to their leadership and a blessing of prosperity to reach those trying so hard to make ends meet. They really deserve it.