Trip Photographs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
           Click on each number to see.

June 13, 1998 - Plane flight was fine. 8 1/4 hours direct from London to Harare. No earpopping as Harare is at 1500 Meters, no jet lag either just some dehydration. My dearest friend Tshuma, who I met in Germany and had not seen for 15 years, met me at 8:30 in the morning. It is nice and cool here 16 degree Celsius but a strong sun that will give you welts in an hour if you do not cover up. It is lovely to renew my friendship with Tshuma, who drove 5 1/2 hours to see me. What a blessed soul! I open my heart to Africa. I am a little bit overwhelmed by the new experience and the differences. In town it looks like Europe in the city center but outside of town it is definitely 3rd world. It reminds me of Jahmaica but less developed. The water is good to drink and tastes better than Seattle as there is no Chlorine in it. I saw a great World Cup Game on the Tele between Nigeria and Spain and Nigerian won so Africa was happy and me too. (3 - 2) I retired early to catch some sleep to see Tshuma. We can't talk anymore till 3 or 4 in the morning the way we used to.

June 14 Sunday - Up at 7:30 am and had a nice breakfast. Met Tshuma at 10 AM and visited his friend Austin, a soil engineer, who runs a Taxi Company on the side and is building his house. He and his wife have four lovely children. They came in greeting us the Zimbabwe way on bent knees and saying thankyou with their hands. Children are so well behaved here. It was really touching. Their house has electricity and several rooms. His wife made lovely corn flour biscuits for us. Next we were off to meet Tshuma's niece and sister in law where I was yesterday evening. We went to the lion and cheetah park 24 km outside Harare. We also saw elephants, zebras, impala, and hyenas. Tshuma said he will try and make it so we can see each other soon again and no more than 5 years wait. Friends forever. I unpacked the bike out of the box and it was fine.

June 15 Monday - Said goodbye to Tshuma this morning. He gave me a beautiful warm African hug on both sides. Friends forever. Met one of the tour leaders and an apprentice tour leader. Both nice people. We took a long walk to a nice Italian restaurant, Guido's, where I will have eaten 3 times before the trip was over. Bought the most expensive postcards in Zimbabwe, of course at the Holiday Inn. Put my bike together. Our Second tour leader from South Africa still did not show up. Shinge, the Zimbabwean tour leader, who did this four years was already here. Hopefully the tour will start tomorrow.

June 16 Tuesday - Today was the first day. We did 37 kilometers. We left the hottest part of the day 11 AM. I got really hot, overheadted and dehydrated. Apparently I need to eat more salt and bigger meals. I started doing that at lunch and felt better. There would be days in the future when I ate 10 grams of salt. We stopped at a nice sculpture garden for lunch. The group is supportive and I am in good hands. I am trying to learn to trust them. I am absolutely exhausted in bed at 8:15 PM.

June 17 Wed. - Today was alot better than yesterday. We did 40 km in 3 1/2 hours in the morning. We then had a nice lunch at noon for 1 1/2 hours in a fancy restaurant quite upscale. The afternoon journey was only 1 1/2 hours to Mount View Training Centre. I got a stomach ache after lunch from eating a cheese potato. I do not normally eat cheese. However a ginger beer cured it. Ginger beer (non alcoholic) became a good friend of mine and I took to drinking as many as I could find. The training centre is now a big farm with pigs, chickens, and a very nice vegetable garden. We ate "rape" kind of like spinach but tastier and stonger for dinner. I ate 5 grams of salt for lunch today and it helped get me through the heat of the day. I am still getting used to all this. After 3 PM it is always nice and cool again.

June 18 Thursday - Got up real early today 5:15 AM. But unfortunately our kitchen facilities did not open till 7:45 AM so we could not start pedaling till 9 AM. We did 35 km in 3 hours but the last 3 km in the direct rays of the sun got to me. It's not that hot here maybe 70 degrees Farenheit, but the sun is so darn intense. The 2 leaders were very supportive and rode one in front and one on the side of me as they got me to " Halfway House" restaurant at Headlands. This is a big tourist place. After lunch I developed a new system of covering my ears and neck safari style with a white handkerchief under my helmet. This helped immensely. I was fine for 2 hours from 2 - 4 pm in the scorching direct rays with this new system. There is always a way around a problem. One needs to improvise the appropiate solution for ones needs. A word about Shinge, the Zimbabwean guide. He is fantastic. He was always there for me. He said " Don't worry Victor. I want you to have a good time and tell all your frieds about Bicycle Africa. " He was always right behind me , next to me or a 100 meters in front of me, checking back to make sure I was ok. He is my Schutzengel (Gaurdian Angel).

This evening we stayed near Rosape at a beautiful 5,000 Acre farm (tobacco, game) complex. The people running it, Robert and Jane Lucas are quite nice with a huge beautiful house. They brought us in to a lion cub cage outdoors. Twice the cubs wanted to playfully attack me from behind but I was saved by Jane yelling at them the last minute. I think this was because I was wearing orange or am the tallest male here. Jane nursed these abandoned cubs from the age of 2 weeks so she was their "mother" and they listened to her. Jane and Robert love animals and will take in any injured,abandoned, or rejected animal that somebody brings. They had quite an amazing collection of creatures including 2 servals that were the pet cats. But I did not pet them. They could playfully bite a finger off. We then went for a drive in their private game reserve and saw giraffes, sable, wildebeest, zebra, impala,eland, and 2 African elephants. The ride was in a flatbed pickup truck. We rode in the back african style and Robert drove like a mad man up to 80 km /hour and the brakes were a little faulty. He was using the emergency brake to stop. It scared the living shit out of me. Later his wife drove half the speed and I felt alot better. They have a beautiful daughter Amber who is so sweet. I have my own private room here. There are also monkeys on the premises. Tomorrow we will take a rest day and spend an extra night here.

The sense of safety here is different. The cars go really fast. It's up to the bicycle or pedestrian to get out of the way quick when something is coming. There is no concept of right of way here or pedestrians first. People think I am weird on my bike to stop for pedestrians.

At one point during our ride to this farm at about 2 pm school children barefoot ran for 5 km racing us on our bikes and keeping up. They were so adorable. Generally children here are very respectful and well behaved. Typically they say hello by going down to their knees and clapping their hands in a "thankyou" gesture.

This is the driest climate I have ever seen. I find I need to drink about 14/15 liters a day and take in 5 grams of salt to keep my self stable. Tomorrow I look forward to a rest day and writing 40 postcards.

A word about our bicycles. For most of the people, our bicycles represent 1 to 2 years income. All the bicycles we saw were one speed. They often had no brakes and the pedals were just the metal spindle part. A good bike may have wood blocks where the pedals are. We often saw in the rural areas people, almost exclusively women, carrying buckets of water or washing on their heads for long distances of several kilometers. Running water is not a given here. It seems only a quarter of the people here even know how to drive or have the ability to own a car. Alot is done with bicycles. All kinds of things are being transported. The Lyon's ice cream carriers are all freezers that are pedaled by bicycle. The sellers wear nice red uniforms. You will see soda vendors too pedaling carts.

June 19 Friday - Spent a restful day writing 22 postcards and relaxing in the sun and talking with Shinge, the Zimbabwean guide. Had an absolutely splendid tour this late afternoon again of the game reserve with a beautiful sunset. It looked like the Serengheti with all the animals out at the end. Tipped the cook and the maid. The hosts would not accept money. Robert was interested in biogas. I will try and send him a book about it.

June 20 Saturday - Robert Lucas, the white Zimbabwean farmer gave us a ride all the way to Punch Rock Cottage near Juliusdale. So the only cycling I did was to the store and back in Juliusdale. On my way back from the store I met Shinge, my gaurdian angel, who accompanied me back to where we were staying. I cooked a really nice vegetarian meal. Pasta and brown rice with vegetable sauce.

Robert Lucas is a many sided person. Apparently he carried around his youngest daughter against his breast the first 8 months while he worked on his farm, in an african cloth/blanket sash wrap. He does have a deep nurturant side. He could not accept money for all his efforts on our behalf, including driving me into town to get and post my postcards. I am well taken care of and safe here. We are staying in a very nice chalet. They even have the same cooking utensils I use at home.

June 21 Sunday - Walked today to a little rock Kopje (mountain). It was hot and steep but short and a pretty walk. There was a pine forest at the top. Then came down and had a buffet at the pine ridge hotel. Wrote more postcards and climed the Kopje in back of our chalet. I could see the Inyanga mountain which is on the Mozambiquean border. Had a nice chat with the chalet manager, an artist, who showed me his paintings. Tomorrow is a 90 km day. I will get an early start.

June 22 Monday - Today was a very long day. We did 98 km in 10 hours starting at 7 am and finishing 5 pm. The road was really beautiful from Juliusdale. It started off with 20 km downhill through beautiful pine forests in the mountains. It looks like the Cascades. I got hot after lunch from 1 - 3 pm, but did ok. I ate an incredible amount of salt and it seemed to help me get through the heat. In the evening we stayed with Shinge's sister and brother in law: Michelle and Abel Musabayana. They made lovely chicken, sadza (corn meal grits porridge), salad , and veggies. There house is huge surrounded by a locked gate. They have a 3m fire place and about 4 acres of land with lots of banana trees. They and their children are lovely people. Thats all for now.

June 23 Tuesday - Mutare to Vumba - 30 km. This was a steep climb but I did it in 3 hours 40 minutes. It had an elevation gain of 1 km. In Mutare, I got a tailor, a lady dressmaker to mend my pants that split at the crotch for 20 Zim Dollars. I bought a ginger beer at the store and the clerk opened the bottle with her teeth as I said "don't use those beautiful teeth". There was a sign for "Aggressive Funerals Ltd". Also a sign in the tourist office saying: "Use disinfectant after using the toilet". I of course did not. On the climb up to Vumba (Mist in Shona) we overlooked Mozambique and then stopped at a real nice hotel for a ginger beer. Then while doing the steep part of the trip we saw beautiful birds, a long haired trumpeter horn bill, I think it is called. So said Mike, the South African guide, who was quite a birder. It reminded me of the Lepaler dutch bird in Vlieland. Then we saw some embroidered fabric and batik for sale. I snatched up 5 pieces for 13 US dollars.

I am alot stronger now at cycling then I was a week ago. I eat more salt and drink less water and seem to be doing better. I am really enjoying Shinge, the Zimbabwean tour guide. We have many nice conversations and he has such a warm heart. He said how much he enjoys my company too. Off to bed now. Goodnight.

June 24, 1998 Wed. - Saw Vumba Botanical Gardens this morning. It was beautiful. Saw monkeys too. The ride coming down from Vumba was along a very beautiful dirt road, but very bumpy. A pannier jumped off the bike. We wound up in this beautiful field, some big old plantation with workers tilling the land wearing handkerchiefs scarves and mothers with their babies wrapped around their backs. It could have been a scene out of 400 years ago. We then took a bus to Nyika 172 km to make up for a day we lost when resting in Juliasdale. All the bikes were loaded on top of the bus and the packs were fed through the window as we left. Somebody has to actually climb a ladder to the roof of the bus and hand down the bikes. I call this a "chicken bus" because people are known to bring their chickens on under their arm and all kinds of belongings are on the roof.

We are staying tonight in Nyika, a rural town, with one run down motel. It looks auwful and is lacking many facilities but it is very safe. There is no money for upkeep such as toilets. There is one toilet /bath shared for all 20 rooms. Shinge organized a lovely vegetarian meal to be cooked for me. Off to bed now.

June 25 Thursday - Footnote to last night. I went to the bathroom. There was no toilet paper so I asked the lady at the bar and she handed me some newspaper. Well I used it, but I did not want to put it down the toilet because it would clog it. There was no garbage pail so I had to ball it up and wrap it in more newspaper and leave it in the corner. Shinge said when ever I said "Where is the garbage pail?", "Just put it in the corner Victor". I have gotten quite used to squat hole toilet by now and always bring my own toilet paper with me , after last nights' experience.

The next day Thursday we headed out to a small school. We had a beautiful tailwind which basically pushed us 50 km along with a lot of downhill. Then we did 40 km on a dirt road. The first 15 were real tough, because it was hot , sandy and quite rocky. At one point it looked like we were very far from any houses and I got a fright because I was on my last water bottle (5th liter) but all was ok. Mike, the South African guide, offered me some of his water too which calmed me. Within 5 km we saw houses again and there were stores to stop for a drink (ginger beer). The rural school we are staying at has no electricity except for a solar cell for , you guessed it, the television. All the refrigerators in Africa run on kerosene in the rural area. So one is constantly smelling kerosene fumes here. It took me 2 weeks to figure this out. Kerosene is also used in the cook stoves. I slept on a concrete floor at the school in one of the teachers houses on my thermarest pad. I had to get up in the middle of the night and could not find my flashlight. I felt my way to the toilet outside, squat pit toilet that is. Luckily there was a beautiful moon out and the stars shone beautifully. The water here has to be boiled before you drink it. They prepared a nice dinner for us. Shinge actually picked up a live chicken under his arm and pedaled back on his bike. It was then killed and served fresh. Luckily I did not see our hear it. I do not normally eat meat but on this trip I attempted to make some adjustments. This is one of 2 times I ate chicken. It sat in my stomach for hours so I gave up on meat, and will stick to brown rice and oatmeal. Unfortunately, there is no tofu around to be had. Beans are also not easy to come by here. I only found one kind, sugar beans, a brown spotted bean. After this incident of eating chicken I returned to my "fishetarian" ways. (Vegan with occasional fish and yogurt and butter).

The stars here are absolutely incredibly beautiful. One advantage of no electricity. I enjoy looking at the Southern Cross and Scorpio and the milky way. Mike, the South African tour guide, is also a good astronomer. He pointed the Cross out to me and the constellations. Today is the next to the last day of the first trip. Tomorrow we pedal throgh great Zimbabwe Ruins and Masvingo.

June 26, 1998 Friday - Today we pedaled to Great Zimbabwe Ruins where I had 2 nice meals at the hotel and wrote postcards. We rode by a dam which made electricity and ironically it was only 3 km from the school that had no electricity. I think getting electricity is as much a political problem as a technical problem. We then left our bikes on the side of the road and saw a cave painting. When we got back to the road our bikes were still there. I was a little worried but it was ok. We bought some beads from the school children. These were seed beads. The children used this money to pay their tuition. Zimbabwe is technically socialist but all schools cost money. The poorest state run school costs 250 Zim dollars a semester with some of the better ones like Cyrene Mission School ( Private) charging 3000 Zim Dollars a semester.

This evening we are staying at a nice chalet in Lake Kyle. Tomorrow we will see the ruins in detail. Today we just saw them from the outside. There are beautiful peacocks and monkeys at the chalet. I wanted to swim in the pool but it was NOT heated. I stuck my thighs in for a minute and as they started to numb, I said no way. There was not anybody else swimming either.

June 27 Saturday - Today was an amazing day. First, the beautiful Zimbabwe Ruins. It reminded me of Israel / Jerusalem dead sea temples. Of course it is only here from the 1200's , not as old. I met a nice sculpter, who I will try and see in Harare. He has a nephew Roland named for Rahsaan Roland Kirk, a great Amerikan Jazz musician. I had many "bright moments" today. I also met a dutch cyclist here Bettina at the Great Zimbabwe Ruins. She put a note on my bicycle. She lives in Den Haag. I hope we see each other again, if not in Zimbabwe maybe in Netherlands. She recognized my dutch panniers. She is actually as tall or taller than me and noticed all the small midget bikes in our group aside from my monster bike of course. The ruins were an incredible experience. To think of the Great Civilization that existed in Zimbabwe in the middle ages ( 1200 - 1400). They did metallurgy and traded with boats from Mozambique that brought pottery from China. We saw of course the sculpture piece of the great Zimbabwe bird that is on all the money coins. I saw some pottery being made by hand before my very eyes. It looked like it was spun on a wheel but it was all done by hand, perfectly round. Then it was fired and painted in a pit.

Now it was getting near dark 4:30 pm. The sun goes out prompltly at 6 pm. I wanted to get there before dark so we went the 24km to Masvingo in 1 hour and 10 minutes, my fastest time ever with a fully loaded bike. I am getting in shape. We are staying in a beautiful holday inn style motel called Flamboyant Motel, with remote control TV, and a huge tub. I took a bubble bath to soak my quads. I tried to watch a world cup final game in the evening. However I immediately fell asleep and woke up when France had already won. Now I am off to dinner. This is the last day of the first trip. Congradulations Victor on managing so well and meeting so many beautiful people.

June 28 Sunday - We took a luxury bus (not a chicken bus) with beautiful music to Bulawayo in 4 hours from Masvingo. We put our bikes in the bottom luggage compartment of the bus and did not have to take off our pedals. The hotel in Bulawayo is old but nice. I met Bob and Elisha the other trip members. They are nice people. I will get along with them fine. Gave my old tire to Shinge, the Zimbabwean tour guide, as a spare to carry for the group and put on my new Ritchy tire on the front.

June 29 Monday - Saw beautiful Bulawayo Natural History Museum today. It is very high quality as good as the one in New York City. Wrote more postcards. I also sent home all my winter rain gear which I will not need anymore. I saw Bettina and Janne today the 2 dutch female cyclists. We had tea together. They are cycling to Zambia and Malawi and will be back in Europe August 15. I have a rash on my body. I think it is from eating so many eggs. I will cut out eggs and hope it goes away. ( It did 2 days later)

June 30 Tuesday - Today is the first day biking of the second trip. We went 50 km. We saw the Khami ruins. They were nice but of course not as spectacular as the Great Zimbabwe ones. They are actually a little older but totally undeveloped. I.E. No fancy restaurants or hotels here. There was a flush toilet and that is as good as it gets. We saw a whole family of Baboons. They are so cute. The others in the tour are quite nice and very strong bikers. Its the second day for me of some kind of wierd rash or shingles, I do not know what it is. I stopped eating eggs. I hope that cures it. We had a splendid vegetarian dinner with brown rice. The others ate meat. I miss my healthy food and carrot juice. Tomorrow I will hopefully see my friend Tshuma and his wife.

Wed. July 1, 1998 - Today we saw the Quaker Rural Appropiate Technology Centre. It is nongovernmental and really well organized. I am impressed. It was started in 1967 with the help of some German, Danish, and Norwegian Quakers. They had arc welding machines that they built, fence wire making machines, pigs, biodynamic gardening, foundry workshop and a working biogas digestor done according to the Chinese model as classically illustrated in the Chinese Biogas Digestor book. They even lit a stove for me with the gas. It was a crystal blue, no yellow, meaning that it was 90 % methane. The day started with a beautiful quaker meeting consisting of an Afrikan Christian hymn sung in Ndebele language. It bought tears to my eyes. I vowed to personally donate to this centre from Amerika. Later we went to the Cyrene Mission School where we saw incredible Afrikan biblical painting with an Afrikan Jesus with dark skin and Afrikan features. It was so beautiful. I think as beautiful as Michaelangelo. There was one painting with John the baptist standing in the water and the fish swimming in front of his legs. It was definitely museum quality. We are staying in Figtree at a really nice hotel with a thatched roof room. The others in the trip are very agreeable. Looks like Tshuma is not here. Perhaps I will see him later this evening. Unfortunately I did not. It was probably too hard for him to drive here. I know he works several hours drive away. His wife and family are in Plumtree which is only 60 km away. I will have to see them next time.

July 2, 1998 Thursday - The Marimba Band yesterday at the Cyrene Mission School was practicing and we heard them. It was very nice. Today we pedaled on a very sandy tough road 24 km through Matopos National park. The park was beautiful. We saw a nice cave painting that we had to hike 6 km to get to but it was worth it. It was real hot, but the scenery was incredible. The cave painting made by the San people of 30,000 years ago showed girafe, kudu and other animals being hunted and some pictures of dwellings. Some of the San people are still alive today in Botswana and Namibia with a few in Zimbabwe. At one time they were the entire half of the African Continent extending up to Zaire. The people at the school we are staying at are quite nice. This was the most grueling day on the bicycle. We were sliding all over the sand and had to push the bike alot. At one point I fell and the bike was plastered on top of me. I asked Elisha who was behind me to pull it off me which she did. I did not get hurt, just was covered in sand from head to toe. Today was also one of our hotter days temperature wise. I never thought that dirt road would end, but it did. Tomorrow is another day.

Friday July 3, 1998 - This rural school is set in a beautiful place surrounded by little mountains. There is no electricity, and one tap with cold water for the entire school. The squat toilets are quite nice. Our only incident of theft happened while at this school. It was not one of the students, but 2 young boys from outside the school who went into the room where Shinge was staying and stole 120 Zim Dollars. Shinge caught them running away, but he was not quick enough to get them. He told the police. I do not know how they came without a telephone but somehow they were notified. As soon as Bob and I found out about this we immediately reimbursed Shinge for his loss. It's not much for us but alot for him. It would feel like 120 American dollars would to us or more. Apparently several hours later in this little rural town without electricity, the boys were found and the policeman dragged them back in handcuffs, handcuffed to one another for Shinge to identify. He identifed them as the ones. The boys had confessed because they saw the donkey cart driver who apparently saw them flee. They knew if they did not confess the donkey cart driver would tell the police about their suspicious behaviour. However the boys had buried the money and the police wanted them to give it back. The police were hitting the boys trying to find out where the money was. Then Shinge told the police to stop hitting the boys. He said,"Please stop, I can not bear to see you hit them. These boys know they have done wrong and will not do this again". They probably did not have any proper family members to look after them. Normally, this would never happen. I can attest that the Zimbabwean people are incredibly honest. We often left our bikes by the side of the road unattended while we looked at a cave painting cave. When we returned half an hour later, our bikes were untouched. This is amazing considering that our bikes represent easily a year of income for most people.

At the school today the students put on a fantastic show with singing, dancing and poetry, and story telling. There were some incredible gospel numbers with songs first sung in english and then African languages. Songs like " I want to thankyou lord, I want to thankyou lord, I want to thankyou lord for the rest of my life. " It bought tears to my eyes. I moved my feet to try and pick up some of the dance steps and the rhythms. We later went for a walk to more cave paintings. Unfortunately we could not find them. I got a splinter from one of the thistle bushes. When you try to pull it off, it gives you a splinter and stings quite alot. These guys are tougher than our thistles in the US. A teacher Lewis, who we were staying with, took it out for me and bandaged my finger. Nomsa (precious) the Headmaster's secretary was also with us on this Cave Painting search walk. I was amazed at how agily and quickly she stepped and bounced over all the rocks. However the thistle bushes got her too, and tore up her stockings. She had to take them off. Nomsa and Lewis were super hosts for us. Nomsa did alot of the cooking of the meals. We helped. I chopped up some "rape" (Spinach like vegetable). My pieces where a little big for her. She asked me if I used an ax or a knife. I guess I just have a big mouth and don't need such small pieces. For desert we had a Zimbabwean desert of corn and melon. It was good. I will never forget those gospel singers that moved me to tears. Among some of the others they did were: " Jesus is my Saviour" and "Going to Paradise". Bless these wonderful Afrikan Children !

Saturday July 4, 1998 - This morning we left the school and pedaled back up the 7 km long dirt road at 7:15 am. It was not at all as bad going back on it as it was coming. We arrived at 9am at Matopos National Park "View of the World", where Cecil Rhodes is buried. This is also a sacred native site where circumsicion ceremonies are performed among other things. The view was absolutely incredible ! Thousands of stones on surrounding mountains with all different shapes each telling a story. We saw beautiful Afrikan eagles soaring above. Opposite Cecil Rhodes grave was a huge mountain with a cross on it. It was awe inspiring. I want to say something about the feeling for Christianity and religion that I found here. It is very strong. People would often say to me: "You know I have to be an honest person, I can not steal, because if I steal and do something wrong, then when I die I have to face Jesus and I want to be able to tell him the right thing . " People would also often pray to Jesus before their meal. I never heard anybody swear. Maybe this is because I did not know Shona. The people here just seemed very mellow and uncomplicated. People were very patient with us getting on and off busses with our huge panniers knocking shoulders on the isles as we went. I said "sorry, sorry". They always said no problem and were very helpful. At one point they even held the bus for me a couple of minutes while I peed. The afrikan heart is very open and warm. You could befriend somebody in a day. Anyway know matter what your religious persuasion you would be awed by the "View of the World" as we all were. I sang my healing song there to the mountains. Later we arrived at 2pm in Bulawayo and took the overnight train to Victoria Falls. In Bulawayo we had a nice pizza dinner on the sidewalk. I ate a huge one with tons of garlic.

Sunday July 5, 1998 - Arrived in Victoria Falls at 7:30 am. Victoria Falls is one of the wonders of the world. It is 1.7 km long the biggest in the world. It is so loud you can not hear anything else. There is a mist and rain and fog created by the splash of the falls. You get quite wet walking opposite it. It is the only rain , if you can call it that, that I saw. We saw beautiful rainbows. At one point as you walk you are literally surrounded by a rainbow that moves with you. 20 meters away from the gorge the rainforest ends, and it is very dry and the vegetation changes. I.E. no ferns. It is illegal to go over this falls in a barrel and would be very stupid to do. The falls is very undeveloped, you see it in its natural state. I was really suprised by how undeveloped all the tourist sites in Zimbabwe are.

After an afternoon rest, we went canoeing with a guide called innocent on the Zambezi river and saw incredible animals. Among them: Iguana, baby crocodile, Green Kingfisher bird, Dart Bird, Egyptian Goose, and 3 elephants up really close. His head was 10 m away from us. It was absolutely astounding. We also saw quite a few hippos. In the evening there was nice traditional dancing and Marimba playing. We were able to see the elephants so close, because even though they are great swimmers and have such tough skin, their feet are very tender. So they will not go running into water. They will very carefully step to make sure the water does not have sharp objects in it. So we were safe. At one point the elephant trumpeted through its trunk and Bob who was right in the front of the canoe got real scared and so did I. We had dinner tonight of takeout Indian food and it was auwful. The worst I ever had in my life. It was so bad that nobody ate it. Everybody said it was too hot. The weird thing was the same thing happened last year. I don't know why they went back a second year. That night I dined on the rest of my Zimbabwean Macadamia nuts I picked up earlier in Bulawayo.

Monday July 6, 1998 - Today we rafted on the Zambezi River. It was really nice. I was scared but once I went through the first rapid I was fine. I saw there was nothing to it. We went through one rapid called terminator one and terminator two where my entire head was covered in a wall of water, but it only lasted 5 seconds. I opened my eyes and realized that we had not flipped. Our guide was Chris and he was master. Later I found out he was on the Zimbabwe Olympic White Water Rafting team and had trained all the guides for the last 6 years. Shinge made sure I had him, because Shinge new I was worried. Shinge said: "Victor, I am going to give you the best. Chris take care of these guys. " Shinge did such a great job looking out for me. As we went through each rapid we got soaking wet from the splashing and would begin to shiver. The guides would wait ten minutes to warm us up in the sun and then we would get wet again and shiver in the next rapid. The Zambezi gorge was really beautiful. At some points it was 20 meters wide with Zambia on one side and Zimbabwe on the other. I did not warm up again until about 6 hours later from all that cool water. Normally I would be sweating bullets in the sun. We did have tshirt wet suits which helped but full body ones would have been better. We saw other groups with no wetsuits. I pity them. Later that day I learned that somebody on our trip lost a buddy in the Rapid called Oblivion, which we went through, last year. I am glad they told me that after the rafting was done. The people in the front of the raft where I was did a move that I called "wedge". It was I , Elisha, and a lady Marina from South Afrika. We formed our butts in a triangle , squatted and pressed our arms against each other really hard while at the same time holding onto the raft rails. It was a really primal feeling. We were rock solid and never got thrown out of the boat. I miss the "wedge" move.

After the rafting was over, there was a nice walk up the gorge to lunch. Some thought it was steep but I enjoyed it and did not get hot. In the evening we met up again with the dutch cyclists making 3 times that I saw them. We had a nice dinner together. I hope to see them next year in Netherlands/Vlieland. Shinge was really nice and washed all our clothes while we were rafting. For the first time my pants and shirt were clean. I washed them before but never quite managed to get them so clean. I was very greatful.

I feel very secure now in my biking ability after 3 1/2 weeks on the road. We have 2 big days and 1 little day left followed by a journey by ferry 400 km on Lake Kariba from Mlibizi to Kariba.

Tuesday July 7, 1998 - Today was a long tough day of 110 km, our toughest yet. I hit the "wall" at 4pm and had to stop and replenish myself with food. Then I climbed the last 5 km in 15 minutes to the Hwange Hotel with a nice view overlooking the area. I got one flat today and Shinge fixed it for me without even taking it off the tire. Shinge pedaled along side of me and said "Ah, Victor, you have a flat." He heard it as it was just beginning. I stopped and then he got a piece of straw and stuck it in the tire where the hole was from a nasty thorn that looks like an old tooth with 2 pincers on it. Only 1 of them had penetrated the tire. In 15 minutes he had it sanded patched and glued with my patch kit. It was the first time I ever saw somebody do this. Bob is a swell guy to bike and room with. Tomorrow we are getting up at 5am. That's all for now. Saw some nice sculptures along the side of the road.

Wed. July 8, 1998 - Today we started cycling at 6:15 am without a proper breakfast. We then had a breakfast of white bread and butter at 8am followed by a lunch of brown rice and beans (cold can) at 10:30 am. The cycling was tough but very pretty going through alot of hills and little mountains. We were all very strong on our bikes that day. The nice scenery made it real easy to pedal through the tough terrain. We also saw alot of sculpture on the side of the road for sale. We got to our destination, Dete (Hwange National Park Entrance) at 12:15 PM. We then had an incredible 3 1/2 hour game drive where we saw: elephants, giraffe, kudu, cape buffalo, birds, and lions. We watched the elephants feeding for over an hour. There are 4 or 5 cute little baby elephants with 2 no more than 2 to 4 weeks old. We saw a male unattached to this elephant troupe try to make his way into the troupe. Typically a troupe will have just 2 males one dominant and an assistant, and the other males will all be very young. This lone single guy tried to mount a few females. They said no way. He went away with a sad rejected look on his face. He even soiled on himself a bit. I swore I could see him crying. Boy, It's tough being a single guy , no matter what species you are. I empathized with him. The drive ended at the watering hole where we saw all the animals gathered. There were literally a few hundred of them. It looked like the Serengheti with the sun setting too. The giraffes have to really bend their front legs in order to be able to get their neck down into that water. It must be tough on them. It reminded me of doing a downward facing dog in Yoga. We watched the animals drink for half an hour.

Then we picked up a dinner to go and ate it at the backpackers hotel we were staying at. It was quite good. I loved the backpacker hotels we stayed in. They were always full of such interesting travelers. At Vumba Mountain we also stayed in a backpacker hotel.

The trip is almost over. I enjoyed it alot but am looking forward to a return to my normal food and my own space.

Thursday July 9, 1998 - Today we took the bus to Sionsundu from Dete. We got at noon to a school here. At one point I got very upset because I got very hungry and only had white bread and peanut butter. Later I had 2 huge bowls of brown rice with tomato sauce and felt alot better. As a vegetarian I learned to survive on brown rice and oatmeal and brown bread. I had alot of trouble with white bread or white rice, because when I ate them, I was hungry 2 hours later. I would hate to ever be malnourished. Our entire extended family experienced this in World War II in the Netherlands and Germany. I see how frightening it is. I did see in this area only, the poorest part of Zimbabwe Shinge said, some people who looked malnourished. Mothers were breastfeeding their babys, but it looked like their was not enough milk there for them in their breasts. I also saw people with eye problems. I do not know if it was from lack of vitamin A. This area in the western part of the country is still suffering from the drought of 1992. Here there were no vendors selling bananas, avocados, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, like there were in the eastern part of the country. Also the rural stores here only had white bread, corned beef, peanut butter maybe, and maize meal, nothing more. This was the only time on trip I saw real poverty. The director of the Quaker appropiate technology centre that we stayed at said children would walk 10 km each way to get to their school of grades 1 through 4. Aside from the education, they came for the lunch that they provided.

Tomorrow we will pedal at 6am to the ferry at Mlibizi on Lake Kariba.

Friday July 10, 1998 - We left at 6:15 am for the ferry in Mlibizi. We arrived at 7:30 am at the ferry. The ferry left at 10am and was very beautiful. I gave my remaining white bread and peanut butter away to one of the sculpters at the ferry. I was glad not to see that anymore. We saw on the 24 hour ferry ride 400 km clear across Lake Kariba alot of amazing sites. We saw elephants, hippos, and nice fish eagles. The food on the ferry was great. Lots of vegetables all you can eat buffet style. They even cooked my oatmeal for me in the morning. At 5pm they stopped the ferry and we swam for 10 minutes in the middle literally of Lake Kariba. No crocodiles or Bhilarzia to worry about here. It's too deep. Some people dived off the boat deck, but I just walked off the ramp. I met a really nice Indian family from South Afrika. "Bumulunga" is the province they live in. They were a nice muslin family who also ate vegetarian like me because the meat was not blessed by the Islam sheik. She gave me some beautiful sacred prayer beads she got in Mecca last year on her pilgrimage. I will treasure them. Also that day Shinge told me that I was a very special person. He said he meets very few guys with a heart like mine. He said: " Wherever you go Mozambique, Afrika, carry that heart with you." I said I would and always do. I also told Shinge he was very special, my gaurdian angel, who I could not have done the trip without.

Saturday July 11, 1998 - We got a luxury bus to Harare and arrived at 2:30 PM. Shinge guided us to our hotel through the streets of Harare. The riding was intense, but we all made it ok. I have really enjoyed the trip and will miss my fellow riders.

A word about getting off the bus. This was the most hectic scene I ever experienced in my life. It was a mad scramble,as we pitch and passed in relay form out the window, 30 different pannier type pieces of luggage. We made a quick check under the seats for everything and in the overhead. We all felt like we were missing something, but it in the end, it turned out nobody was missing anything. We were all a little tense after that for a while. However by the time we got back to good old Selous Hotel we were quite calm and very happy. Bicycle Africa was welcomed back in royal style. And my bike box that was looking a bit like a swiss chese now with all the holes in it was still there.

We had a wonderful dinner tonight at a Safari Game restaurant. It also featured the cheapest postcards in Zimbabwe, only 1.75 Zim Dollars per card so I bought a stack. The others had game: kudu, ostrich, wildebeest, warthog. I ate fish (bream) and vegetables. Tomorrow is our last breakfast together.

Sunday July 12, 1998 - Today I helped Elisha and Bob disassemble their bikes and put my bike away. It's kind of sad to see every- body go.

Monday July 13, 1998 - I went to the sculpture cooperative and bought 25 kg of sculpture including one 16 kg musician playing the Mbira. In the afternoon I ate at the beautiful Bronte gardens. This has got to be the best restaurant and hotel in Zimbabwe. The grounds are incredible and the service impeccable. I was waited on by waiters all in white with a sash on their arm. They gave me an extra bowl of soup and did not even charge me. It was so good I returned the next day and also got a second bowl of soup again at no charge. The cuisine was like my great aunts in Berlin. Everything made from scratch, and if it was not a German cook it sure tasted like it. In the afternoon I went to Tshuma's work place and picked up my plane ticket that I had left there for safe keeping. Unfortunately Tshuma will not be able to see me off to the airport. But that is ok because I have hired for today and tomorrow the services of the "Welcome Taxi" outside of the Selous hotel. This gentleman was wonderful too me. I packed up all my stuff this afternoon so I was ready for the flight back to London tomorrow evening.

I met the people for the next Bicycle Afrika trip. They are quite nice Dave and Dale. Dave is a vegetarian, so I gave him all my tips including my remaining brown rice and oatmeal. Dave and Dale are quite nice. I went out to dinner with them twice.

All in all it was a great trip and I'd do it again! (both trips) Tomorrow I return to London.

Tuesday July 14, 1998 - I saw the Botanical Gardens today in Harare. You could walk for 10 km and get quite lost. I did make it back in time for the "Welcome Taxi" waiting for me to bring me to Bronte Gardens Hotel for my last proper meal in Zimbabwe. I took a stroll in the lovely gardens and even looked at a hotel room. They are beautiful. Designed like a hotel in the black forest in Germany. When I am back in Zimbabwe, I will stay here.

Wed. July 15, 1998 - Arrived in London, a little bleary eyed. Ahmut, the car service, who my aunt in London arranged picked me up. He also brought me to the airport going out to Zimbabwe. It was a nice to see a familiar face. He was now like one of the family.

Thursday July 16 - July 28 1998: I did the usual stuff of my European vacation. Went to Berlin where I saw my great aunt and her son and her grand children and new great grandchildren. Berlin was a little hot, but I had no trouble anymore with the heat. I went swimming in the Wansee. I also spent a few days in Freiburg where I climbed the Schauinsland Berg (Mountain) on a rented bicycle. It was a piece of cake after my Zimbabwe training. I went also to the Mineral Bad (Thermal baths) in Freiburg and got a good massage of all my muscles in that sulphur water. I saw my "Gruner Freund Familie" in Gundelfingen. He is now riding a recumbent bicycle and does not use his motor scooter anymore. He was so proud to show me this. I saw the Freiburg "Love Parade" a big Techno happening parade. It was fun to watch. It turned out one of the ladies dancing on the float was the daughter of my friend Michael in Gundelfingen. Back in London, I took my aunt out for her birthday to a Thai restaurant. I also saw the fantastic musiscal at the Shaftsbury Theatre called "Rent". It originated in New York City and reminded me of "Hair". It was like a "Hair" for the 90's. The day before I left, I went up to Cambridge, England to visit it. It was neat.

So that was my 2 month summer vacation 1998 this year. Thanx for reading this far. I hope your eyeballs are not to sore.

For more information concerning cycling in Africa check out Bicycle Africa Tours.

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