I loved, loved, loved Zimbabwe.  I spent nearly a month there in August 1998. I finished one overland tour, then did part of another before heading back to the UK. The countryside is varied, the sights and history are wonderful and it saddens me greatly to see what has happened in the last decade.  Here I saw more fantastic rock carvings and paintings, did a bungee jump, went rafting and ate a lot of the animals I had seen on safari…

When: August 1998

Where: Victoria Falls, Bulawayo, Harare, the eastern hills

How: went in by overland truck, internal flight from Victoria Falls to Harare. I flew out of Harare.

Weather: warm and sunny,  the nights got cool, especially in the hills.

Food: meat.  You can eat the safari (kudu, ostrich, crocodile, zebra, etc) at specialist restaurants

Sights & Activities: the archaeological sight of Great Zimbabwe (former power centre i 13th century), Eastern hills, Victoria Falls: the falls themselves and a plethora of activities that include sky-diving, bungee jumping, white water rafting, kayaking on the Zambesi, bush walking, helicopter and plane rides over the falls.  My favourites were the small plane ride over the falls and the kayaking.  Kayaking not as scary as white water rafting, but there’s a higher chance of being eaten by a crocodile if you fall in!  Rhino walking safari (got within in metres of one!) I also arranged a private day tour to see rock art sights which was spectacular (for me).

Tips: Harare is not the safest, so you need to be careful when walking around.  Not a great place for a single woman (that was my experience).  Strangely of all the activities in Victoria Falls the safest one is probably bungee jumping – with rafting and bush walking being the most dangerous (drowning and being trampled by elephants causing deaths respectively)