Amazon.com: The Rough Guide to Zimbabwe 4 (Rough Guide Travel Guides): Barbara McCrea, Tony Pinchuck: Books

Book Description
Introduction

Easy-going, safe and infinitely hospitable, Zimbabwe is a perfect introduction to Africa – it's hard to imagine not having a good time here. With an extensive tourist infrastructure and good transport links, it remains a straightforward place for visitors to negotiate, despite economic troubles – the country suffered a currency crash in 1998 and inflation levels are high. Many people combine a trip to Zimbabwe with a visit to Botswana's Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta which are, for that reason, covered in this guide. Zimbabwe is best known for its excellent and accessible game reserves and the Victoria Falls – the adventure-sport capital of Africa, which draws backpackers and adrenaline junkies from across the globe. For unadulterated excitement, whitewater rafting below the Falls is a must, but there are numerous other ways to scare yourself witless, including bungee jumping off the Victoria Falls bridge, skydiving or riverboarding. Elsewhere in the country, you can track big game on foot with an armed guide, and there's some superb mountain hiking in the Eastern Highlands. In terms of game viewing, Zimbabwe, along with Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta, can hold their own alongside South Africa and Kenya and, if it's elephants you're after, the region can't be beaten. While elsewhere in Africa elephants are seriously threatened, in Chobe and Hwange parks they are present in a superabundance of tens of thousands. You'll also find the rest of the Big Five – lions, leopards, buffalo and rhinos – in respectable numbers (though black rhinos hang on only in intensively protected areas). Between them, Zimbabwe and Botswana possess virtually all of Southern Africa's 291 recorded mammal species, and birdwatchers will find six hundred species to get to grips with. The Okavango Delta in Botswana is unquestionably one of the world's greatest eco-tourism destinations, combining the unique setting of an inland delta with terrific game viewing.

Human culture in the region goes back tens of thousands of years. Zimbabwe has the greatest concentration of prehistoric rock art in the world; finely realized paintings of animals and people in everyday life, ritual and myth, are scattered about the granite rock formations that pepper the country, seen most easily at the Matopos Hills near Bulawayo. The fact that you can see in the wild the very animals that feature in murals from 10,000 years ago greatly enriches the experience. Also worthy of exploration are the stone ruins from the ancient states that once held domain on this great plateau – Great Zimbabwe is just the best known of several hundred complexes.

Physically, Zimbabwe is divided by the central highveld plateau, which is covered by massive granite outcrops called kopjes (pronounced like copies). Because of its malaria-free moderate climate and prime lands, the highveld became the white-dominated political and economic hub of what used to be Rhodesia. Rising from the plateau for 350km along the Mozambique border are the Eastern Highlands, peaking at 2400m in the narrow belt of the Nyanga and Chimanimani mountains. To the north and south, the plateau falls away through the intermediate middleveld plateaus, lying between 900m and 1200m, to the lowveld regions, which descend in the north to the Zambezi River Valley on the Zambian border and in the south to the Limpopo and Save River valleys on the South African border. These two lowveld regions share a similar climate and vegetation, quite distinct from that of the highveld; they have lower rainfall and are hotter. On Zimbabwe's dry western flank, the tree savannah of the Hwange area runs across the border to merge with the Kalahari sands of Botswana. It's in these low-lying areas that the major game parks are located, and where malaria is a problem. Across the border from Hwange is Botswana's Chobe Park, and west of here the country is watered by the vast Okavango Delta: 15,000 square kilometres of channels, oxbow lakes, flood plains and islands. Zimbabwe has well-maintained, lightly used roads which, combined with its relatively small size, make it a perfect country to tour by car. Otherwise, you'll find an inexpensive network of buses, trains and planes, with easy access from neighbouring South Africa or on to Botswana. Neither Zimbabwe nor Botswana is overrun by tourists, but in the last ten years Zimbabwe has developed a growing tourism infrastructure with good-quality accommodation for all budgets, ranging from well-run backpackers' lodges and self- catering cottages to bed and breakfasts and topnotch safari camps. There are also rewarding opportunities for staying with African families in villages. Good budget transport exists from South Africa and Victoria Falls to Maun, the launch pad for the spectacular Okavango Delta, as well as to Kasane, on the edge of Chobe Game Park.

Excerpted from The Rough Guide to Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe and ;Botswana (Rough Guides)) by Barbara McCrea, Tony Pinchuck. Copyright © 2000. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Where to go

Obviously, your own personal interests – and time – will dictate where you travel. The capital, Harare, is enjoyable simply to stroll about, taking in markets, parks, beer gardens, street life and local style; high-energy guitar sounds from bands such as Thomas Mapfumo's Blacks Unlimited and Oliver Mtukudzi burst out of the city's clubs. If this is your first visit to the country and you have only a few days, Zimbabwe's top attraction, Victoria Falls, is the obvious place to head. Not only does it have good regional connections, but Hwange and Chobe, among the best game reserves in the subcontinent, are within easy striking distance. With a week or more you could fly on to safari in Botswana's beautiful and game-rich Okavango Delta, or launch out from the Falls on a walking safari led by one of Zimbabwe's excellent licensed hunter-guides in the remote Chizarira National Park. Lake Kariba, with its prolific waterside game viewing and fishing, can be reached from Victoria Falls by air, or by car and ferry across the lake. Kariba Town is the launch pad for canoeing trips down the Zambezi to the thrillingly wild Mana Pools National Park. From Kariba, it's five hours by road back to Harare.

With more time, you could rent a car to circuit the country, taking in the marvellous Matopos Hills and their rock art near Bulawayo, the country's sepia-toned second city, then strike three hours east to Masvingo and the magnificent ruins at Great Zimbabwe. A further three hours' drive east takes you to the Eastern Highlands, the 350-kilometre mountainous rampart along the border with Mozambique. This is an area where you can see tea and coffee estates, take in waterfalls, wallow in mineral baths at Hot Springs, relax at mountain resorts or hike in Chimanimani's spectacular wilderness. From the Eastern Highlands' mountain-encircled capital, Mutare, it's four hours by road back to Harare.

When to go

Though technically a tropical country, Zimbabwe doesn't conform to hot, sticky stereotypes. The highveld climate (Harare and Bulawayo) is as close as possible to perfection, with dry-season temperatures similar to those of the Mediterranean, but without the humidity. Surprisingly, Harare's highest recorded temperature peak of 35°C (95°F) is below that of London. Altitude is the most important determinant: the low-lying areas off the plateau – Kariba, the Zambezi River Valley and Victoria Falls – get considerably hotter than the higher towns, and can be uncomfortably humid in the steaming rainy season. Botswana's weather follows a roughly similar pattern, although it can be very hot in the summer months in Maun and Kasane. Deciding when to come is really a question of what you're after.

• For game viewing, the dry season (roughly May–Oct) is recommended, as wildlife concentrates around scarce water; it's very cold at night and in the early morning, but warm enough for T-shirts in the middle of the day. Temperatures climb towards September – an optimum spring month, which combines good wildlife with vegetation coming into flower amidst the dust. October, the hottest month, is the prime time for wildlife, when animals are restricted to a few waterholes.

• The arrival of the rainy season in November does much to dampen temperatures. The rains, which last till March, are a time of new growth – a lush and beautiful period. Rain usually comes in the form of afternoon thunderstorms, leaving most of the day clear. There can be several days, or even weeks, between falls. The Eastern Highlands receive the highest rainfall, where you may experience a series of cool wet days.

• April and May, the autumn months, are perhaps ideal for general travels – warm and dry, with the land still fresh from the rains, though long grass may make game viewing more difficult.

• November to mid-March. Rainy summer season: thunderstorms; hot

• Mid-March to mid-May. Post-rainy autumn season: limited rainfall; cooling off

• Mid-May to mid-August. Cool, dry winter season: virtually no rainfall; cool to moderate, but very sunny and clear

• Mid-August to November. Warm dry spring season: virtually no rainfall; temperatures rise to peak

The Rough Guide to Zimbabwe 4 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) (Paperback)

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