A friend sent me this short description of her trip to Zimbabwe in December:-

Well we had a very loooong wait at the boarder (3 and a half hours……….as you know they all live by African time there), so we only got to the Lion and Elephant Motel at 11:30pm but the next morning we were very surprised, to see the countryside looking green and lush, they have had some good rain and its shows. Along the road there are these “war vets” in their wheel-chairs in the middle of the bloody road with long sticks sticking strait up from the back of the wheelchair and a little red flag at the top……. I could not believe these people……. you are travelling at 100km an hour past them and they are literally in the middle of the road sticking their hands out for money!!

You will not believe it but I didn’t take one photo in Zim…….we had such a quick rushed trip. Generally, it seems that life is hard for the people living there, although you can get basically anything, decent stuff is expensive (A tin of tab cold drink costs the equivalent of R11!!).

Queuing for petrol is a way of life for them…some nights we saw people sleeping in their cars just not to lose their place in the fuel queue, but petrol is still cheaper there than here in S.A. (My husband filled his bakkie [truck] with diesel for Z$300 000 when converted about R80 less than he would pay in S.A.)

He also paid $300 000 paid for a case of Zambezi Lager (contents only because there you get a deposit back on empty bottles)! The money is a joke, they use bearer cheques at the moment until new money can be printed it looks like monopoly money!

We were told that the minimum wage for cook boys and house girls etc is the equivalent of R250!! Scary stuff……. The locals that sell their carvings etc on the side of the road are really hungry, they will exchange anything from pens and clothes to a packet of crisps for their carvings.

We still had a very good time up there, the people are still very hospitable and even though the country has taken a beating, when you drive through the rural areas it is still a beautiful place.