Zimbabwe in 2009

Zimbabwe I'm accompanying a group of Italians, and while I drive the Defender I throw out the idea of doing a loop inside Zimbabwe, since we're in Botswana, telling them the pros and cons of this change of itinerary. Since I've already been to Zimbabwe several times, they trust what I tell them and agree to go in. So we cross the border post at Pandamatenga - very pretty and isolated, by the way - where they tell us they've run out of single-entry visas, but they have double-entry ones, which obviously cost twice as much, and what are we to do? Of course we pay up and give in. With hindsight this was the only hitch, if you can call it that. As soon as we cross over, the vegetation wraps around us in every sense; the tarmac disappears and the road leading to Robins Camp inside Hwange National Park is 4x4 only. But everything is magical and everyone loves it enormously.

The customs officer told us that two days earlier, beyond the fence, there was a lion. Very good - just the way we like it. Hwange Park is entirely at our disposal; no tourist in the Mugabe era ventures into these parts, believing it to be dangerous, but it isn't; the Zimbabweans are as warm and kind as they ever were. We sleep after a full day's safari in which we saw many animals, including wild dogs, at Sinamatella, a splendid equipped camp set on a hill where with binoculars you can spot game down in the valley. The next day we drive to Victoria Falls and here we take a canoe trip with guides on the Zambezi. It's April 2009. Final verdict: we all loved Zimbabwe very much.