Day 303 / 68

Date: 9 February 2023
Sleeping location: Nyamoro Dairy Farm, nr Nyanga, Zimbabwe
Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 93 / 18759 / 3922

Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 1800 / 161800 / 43800
Highlands: high
Day in three words: A wonderful welcome

Rain in the night had firmed up the sand and the road became less rocky, so progress was a lot less difficult in the morning. The terrain gradually got more and more beautiful as big rocky hills started to pop up around me. I was cheered along (I think) by a big flat bed truck acting as "school bus", with kids in uniforms in the back all singing and waving. I got back to tarmac mid morning after about 100km of dirt which had been tough in places, but overall pretty nice. In a village I stopped for snacks and more cleat adjustment fun,* where a man asked me for money to cure his "dry mouth". He did not get any money but I sincerely expressed my wish that his dry mouth cleared up, perhaps via a visit to the doctor.

The money situation is weird and frequently confusing. Things are priced and paid for in US dollars, but there is no USD change under $1 available, so you have to purchase things that add up to a whole-number amount. All the sodas and snacks that I’ve bought so far cost $1 or less, and confusingly a full meal (of nsima/ugali and beef in sauce) is also $1. Perhaps the entire country is the equivalent of a pound shop. Maybe I should buy a car. 

Back on tarmac the road was undulating, very quiet and in good condition, and it was nice riding. The scenery was beautiful rolling sparse forest with big rounded "Africa style" rocks including some absolute whoppers, and few people about. When I went through villages I got the impression that Zim is** a richer country than any I've been through for a while, possibly since Egypt. Buildings are bigger and more elaborate, there's a wider selection of things for sale, nicer clothes and phones. I did a double take when I saw a fat child coming out of a school, it's been that long since I last saw one. 

Mid afternoon a large escarpment began to rise to my right and then stayed risen all the way through 180 degrees of view. Here were the Eastern Highlands. My red carpet was a tough old climb of 800m over 12km, which sounds bad enough but was much, much worse. The profile was like a series of traffic light cycles, green then orange then red repeated, with some long red sections of real effort. Just as I got stuck into it the sun came out again and it was hot, sweaty and draining work - it took more than two hours to get up to the top. Thankfully the views away to the right were delightful as I climbed slowly up to the level of the escarpment.

Up above 1800m it felt like a UK national park, cows and evergreen trees and rushing streams under dark grey skies. I was in desperate need of a bathe and a comfortable night but too far short of Nyanga to make it to a hotel, so I decided to head to a dairy listed as an “informal campsite” on ioverlander. I arrived in drizzle, knackered and soaked with a mixture of sweat and rain, with no idea what to expect. Initially it seemed empty but a guy appeared and showed me to Angie, who seemed to be in charge and had been about to head home. She then phoned the owner, Debbie, who was in Harare but via a phone call said that I was absolutely welcome to stay in her house overnight and she’d be back in the morning. I was already in a daze after the efforts of the last few days, and followed Angie around (metaphorically) open-mouthed as she made me up a bed, showed me where I could take a bath, made me a cup of tea with some home-made biscuits, all this for a person who neither of them had ever met before and knew nothing about. I was taken aback by this level of trust and generosity, and I still am, and it was so profoundly welcome after the last few days of dirt and toil.

Angie then went off home, leaving me in this big old farmhouse with just Chenna the cat for company. The hot bath I had was wonderful, palpable grime coming off me and off my clothes when I rinsed them out. I cooked some of my own remaining food, went to bed and slept like a log.

*The screw thread in the base plate into which the cleat screws has worn away, so it won’t screw in properly any more. This is terminal and might require a radical approach until I can get my hands on a replacement, if this is even possible.

**Or perhaps, was. On recent GDP terms it is less wealthy than the likes of Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.