We spent most of the next day driving to Bulawayo, the second largest town in Zimbabwe.

We also encountered the start of seven or eight road blocks that we were unlucky enough to pass through in the subsequent days. Every time we were pulled over, we were asked to open our bags. When we asked the police what they were looking for, they said they were looking for “any potential issues.”

What was frustrating and annoying was that they never really checked our bags properly. We would open the top part of our cases, but they wouldn’t look any deeper. We all agreed that if they were going to stop people, then the police should do their jobs properly and inspect our bags comprehensively. Most of the time it seemed pointless.

As a tourist, be prepared for lots of roadblocks. It doesn’t make driving in Zimbabwe very fun.

Bulawayo is a pretty town. It has a more laid back atmosphere than Harare. We stayed at the Bulawayo Club, an old colonial haunt frequented by generations of English expats. It’s under new management, and is busy being refurbished. The potential for success is obvious. It’s a grand old building, and should become a landmark in Zimbabwe.

Wilderness of granite ... A tour truck at the Amalinda Lodge near the Matopos

Friday was spent driving to Gweru, and we stayed at Antelope Park, a private game reserve, with impressive attractions. It hosts a lion breeding project, with 79 lions being bred for reintroduction into those wildlife areas that require them.

According to the project guides, there are only 30,000 left in Africa, a pitiful number considering there used to be hundreds of thousands in the 1970s.

The real highlight was walking with the lion cubs early in the morning. We got to see them up close, and the opportunity to do so was special. I imagine there are comparatively few people in the world that have seen a lion in the wild, and even fewer that have walked with them.

Antelope Park also has a number of tame elephants who were orphaned, and now are “teenagers”. They are trained to put on a display for visitors (with one of their back legs chained – not a pleasant sight), but most of the time they are able to wander free near the lodge, leading an easy life, something that would have been impossible had they not been rescued as orphans.

The accommodation at Antelope Park is both varied and excellent. I stayed in a river bungalow, looking out over the river. Buffet meals are taken in a communal area.

Tidy ... A roadside advert outside Amakhosi Theatre in Bulawayo

Our last day was spent driving back to Harare. In the evening, we were invited to the Minister of Tourism’s house for dinner, along with his family. Walter Mzembi is a Zanu PF member, and was appointed as Tourism Minister in February of this year.
We had a braai with him and some other guests. I got chatting to him while he turned the wors and steak on the braai. When he realised I was South African, he handed the tongs to me and he put me in charge of the braai (Mazvita Mr Mzembi!).

I pressed him on what Zimbabwe was doing to attract tourists. Again and again he spoke of the importance of conservation of wildlife areas. For the rest, he was quite happy to talk about my home town of Cape Town in South Africa and my previous holiday in Zimbabwe.

Our travelling party of about 10 foreign journalists each had a chance to air our opinions about Zimbabwe with him, and he seemed open to both the positive and negative.

On our plane trip back to London on the Sunday, I made the following notes of my final impressions of my ten days in Zimbabwe.

• Zimbabwe is an amazing country. The people are among the friendliest I have encountered during twenty years of travelling around Southern Africa, since I was a teenager. The wildlife and landscape are among the best in the region.

• Zimbabwe is poor, but it is rich in potential. The country needs help. But to attract foreign travel dollars, the ZTA is going to have to convince international tourists that it is safe to travel (it seemed like it to me); it is easy to travel in (no roadblocks please!); the political situation is stable (it isn’t); what people read in the foreign press is genuinely not true (unlikely) and prices are reasonable (most things aren’t good value for money). All in all, the ZTA has a hugely difficult task.

• The “situation” in Zimbabwe is improving – according to the locals I chatted to. For sure, my trip was definitely not a comprehensive look at the whole country; in fact, it was all too brief – and we visited too few places – to make a sound judgement.

But most of the local people I met all said things were better this year than in the last few years. They had more hope now than previously, even if there were still hardly any jobs available. I guess the locals are the ultimate judge of the state of the nation.

• Based on my trip, I would recommend tourists travel to Victoria Falls, Hwange and Matopos. There is no need to visit Harare, except to fly in and move on elsewhere.

• Learn some Shona or Ndebele. I did, and it made my trip twice as rewarding. When you make an effort to greet people in the morning (Mangwanani!), ask them how they’re doing (Makadini?), and wish them good night (Morara Zvakanaka), and say thank you (Mazvita) their eyes light up, their smiles grow even bigger and they shake your hand for longer. (I want to say thank you to Munyira at the hotel door of the Meikles Hotel for teaching me most my Shona).

• Visit the country to form your own opinions of Zimbabwe. My impressions are that it should be safe to go and visit. For some of our trip I travelled with an Italian travel agent, a lady of about 60 years old. She has been conducting travel tours to Zimbabwe every year for the last 40 years. And she has never been involved in a dangerous situation.

(You can e-mail Scott at: scottnramsay@googlemail.com)


Tidy ... A Barclays Bank in Bulawayo