Final days in Zim

A few highlights from our final two weeks in Harare. Dad and Anne stayed until Jan. 1 and we had fun going to Imire, Domboshawa and the Lion and Cheetah park. David and Katy went to Cape Town for a few days, while I stayed with the kiddos in Harare. It went really well and we all had a good time :) 

IMIRE - an animal sanctuary about 2 hours from Harare. We enjoyed a game drive (cut short by a thunderstorm,) lunch, feeding of various animals, a walking safari, amazing star gazing (I love the southern hemisphere sky) and a great overnight at the volunteers' cabin. Dad and Anne also enjoyed an elephant ride - a first for both of them. Some highlights:

Playin' some soccer while waiting for the game drive

Yes, there in a cage... but still impressive and even slightly unnerving.

hyena

beauties

The rhinos are especially protected here - due to increased poaching activities in the area. At Imire, the rhinos have armed protection 24/7 and their horns are trimmed so they don't attract the poachers. (Rhino horns bring in a LOT of money as they are believed (falsely) to have medicinal properties in Chinese medicine.)

What are YOU lookin' at?

Storm is brewing...

Eliza and Zavion waiting out the rainstorm

This elephant thinks she is a buffalo and is the leader of the herd.  She has even killed buffalos that have tried to fight her dominance.

She loves being fed, though!

This is where we stayed the night. Charming and rustic. Perfect for our group.

And a chance to feed the rhinos, too!

What better way for a couple of little boys to while away the hours than playing a game of darts. Safe, yes?

Off on a walking safari

Yes, the baby elephant has ahold of my arm and is pulling me towards her. Not surprisingly, she is exceedingly strong!

Cheeky

Dad and Anne travelling in style!

DOMBOSHAWA - We visited this place back in September, but went again with Dad and Anne. It's such a lovely (and picturesque) place!

picnic time!

Bat cave!

Alas, it appears that my pictures from the lion and cheetah park haven't been uploaded yet, so I won't include them here.

We have been away from Zim for three weeks now. We miss everyone there, but are having an excellent journey. So far, we've touristed around Cape Town, escaped deadly floods in Kruger and had a couple of relaxing days with my friend in Nairobi. Tomorrow, we head for the villages of northern Kenya for a month of volunteering - should be awesome. Then.... maybe a beach break before heading to Ethiopia. But, we'll see....  Stay tuned...  (probably won't be able to do regular updates from the villages as we won't have internet access - or even electricity - but I'll try to make it to an internet cafe every week or so...)

Take care everybody!



Christmas morn...

Ok, that last post didn't take TOO long, so I'll attempt a Christmas post before this internet cafe closes (or before Zavion drags me outside for another round of mini-golf.)

Christmas was great. We had great, sunny weather and family to celebrate with. In addition to David, Katy, Miles, Eliza (and Mambo,) Dad and Anne came to town (and with them came two suitcases of Christmas presents - thanks again!) The kids were suitably giddy the night before - wondering if they've been good enough for Santa to visit. They put out fruit and milk for the jolly fat man and carrots and apples for his flying steeds. They anxiously and excitedly went to bed at a decent hour. The adults, of course, stayed up much later doing last minute wrapping and Santa-ing.

Surprisingly, we did NOT get awakened by kiddos at 5:30 am. As a matter of fact, they slept in later than usual and we lined up in the hallway at the very civilized hour of 8:00. Because of Zavion's towering frame, we lined them up by height rather than by age. They paraded into the living room and were ecstatic to see that Santa had visited- Eliza screaming, 'We've been good, we've been good - he came!!' They were all in good spirits all morning and were gracious at every present- be it a snack bar, a purse or a lego-guy.  It really was a great day!!!  Some highlights:

Bed-headed kids waiting patiently for Daddy Jack to finish shaving so they can go see their loot!

He came, he came!!!

 

Reading Santa's note

 Yay! A new Lego toy!!

 Sharing the love.

 We gave this painting to David for his office - Eliza and Zavion made it in art class!

Enjoying the morning :)

Eliza modeling her new dress and matching cell phone; Zavion enjoying his head-sized Christmas morning chocolate-chip pancake. (Yes, he ate the whole thing AND had more!)

For New Year's Eve, we had a dance party and stayed up until 10:00 (party animals that we are.) The kids boogied to The Beatles, Adele, Ce Lo Green, Franti, REM and The Ramones (among others.) We played Limbo, shook our booties and sang at the top of our lungs. I explained New Year's resolutions to them (kind of) and asked what good changes they wanted to make for the year. Zavion said, 'I want to make a lot of money so I can travel to every country and give everybody some money. Oh, and I want to give toys to all the children.'  He has a way of saying the right things - we'll see if he can put this to practice while we're volunteering in small Kenyan villages next month :):)

Anyway, I know I'm still behind on this blog-thing and I'll try to catch up in the next couple of weeks (does anyone really ever catch up on these things?)  But right now, I have a smiley 4 5/6 year old that has been patiently waiting for a trip to putt-putt, followed by a frolic on the beach. I can't really say no to that, now can I? 

Meanwhile, back in Harare...

OK, so I'm not in Harare anymore. I had these grand illusions that I would catch up on all my blogs before leaving there. But it was not to be...  We are in Cape Town now in a guest house with no internet and this cafe is excrutiatingly slow. So, I'm afraid Christmas posts and our trips to Imire, Domboshawa and the Lion and Cheetah park will have to wait (maybe from Nairobi in a couple of weeks?)  Sorry, grandparents!!

But, I will quickly post a few pictures from before we left Harare.

While I went to Vic Falls with Dad and Anne, Zavion got to stay with David's family.  It was the longest we've been apart from each other and, as you can see from the photos below, he had a terrible time and just sat around crying and bemoaning my absence.  Yea, right!

 
Several times since we left Zim, Zavion has said that he misses it - he misses Miles, Eliza, David, Katy and Mambo. (But not Cindy the tortoise- apparently, according to him, 'Cindy is no big deal.') Just yesterday, he had a faraway look in his eyes and when I asked him about it, he said, 'I'm just really missing Mambo right now.'  He also talks in his sleep and early this morning, he was going on about David protecting Mambo from him, Eliza and Miles.

In honor of his cousins (human and cat,) here are a few more pix from our last few days in Harare! Thanks so much for everything David, Katy and family- we miss you and we really appreciate all that you did for us!!!!!

 

 What four straight days of rain does to the yard...

But we don't mind the rain at all!!

Our last day in town - enjoying the sunshine and two of my favorite little people :)