More Mis/Adventures in Zimbabwe

Nov 8 was a driving day to the city of Bulawayo. The only significant situation was that about half our group got lost in Bulawayo while trying to find a grocery store. This really annoyed the not-lost-and-therefore-on-time members of the group and resulted in some snarky comments and tense moments. NO ONE asked if we were ok or what happened that we became lost in the second largest city in Zimbabwe. Nor did anyone say, “Gosh, sorry guys. Next time I will make sure you have X instructions or understand that we are in Y position which is right next to Z landmark.” 😡 Anyway, after that debacle we made it to a lovely campsite just out of town and for the rest of the evening people were a bit distant and crisp with each other but we coped. This worried me given we were on day 2 of a 28 day trip but after a good sleep (almost) everyone had recovered their cheerful (mostly, there is always one holdout who turned out to be grumpy at baseline), flexible dispositions.

On Nov 9 we went on the most fantastic safari/game drive in Matopos National Park to look for rhinos and see cave paintings from thousands of years ago! Our guides were two local people who are incredibly passionate about rhino conservation.

We drove into the park to an area where a small group of rhinos were known to hang out, got out of the trucks and were immediately reminded to disable the location data on our phones b/c poachers use social media too! 😡😔😡 We were given a safety briefing and then set off with armed guards (they have instructions to shoot suspected poachers on sight) to find the prehistoric looking animals. I thought we'd be out there for an hour before we saw them and was worried I hadn't brought enough water but no, about ten minutes later, there they were!!

These guys have had their horns removed to make them less appealing to poachers. Unfortunately, rhino horn is SO valuable that even the portion left in their face is worth about $170, 000 USD and can still get a rhino killed. 😔

After spending about half an hour hanging out, watching the rhinos and taking pictures we went back to the truck and drove to a shaded spot for lunch. After lunch it was off to scramble up a gorgeous chunk of granite to Nswatugi Caves to look at rock painting from thousands of years ago! THOUSANDS OF YEARS! 🤯

Incredible. It definitely felt like a sacred place.

Then it was off for some exploring around the park, shopping (!, they have a little market in the middle of the park and only allow local craftspeople to attend, Mom, I definitely saw more “guided shopping” on this trip than ever before and every time I thought, “Mom would hate this!” Although, there were folks who were not interested and that was fine.) and looking for animals. I don't have any animal pics (I think we saw cattle, eagles and also, the afternoon was a bit hazy, see below for details) but I DO have a dung beetle clip expertly narrated by our guide Ian,

https://youtu.be/CUhqCj_SvmQ

Kind of creepy but also very cool. They are very hard working little critters!

A couple of pretty views,

And then we ended up at the grave of Cecil John Rhodes for sunset. We learned alot about CJR on this trip and all in all, the general vibe was one of respect which is not what I was expecting. Our main guide for this day, being a white guy whose family had been in southern Africa for several generations, was particularly enthusiastic but even our Black, Kenyan and Botswanan guides had positive things to say. They mostly focused on his legacy of protecting and funding education in terms of his legacy. It is very possible they weren't sharing ALL their opinions (and our main guide def didn't agree with everything our Matopos guide said) as we were a group of white, westerners but it was interesting to note the tone they struck. I will need to read more about CJR when I am home for a more fulsome understanding.

Setting aside that we were at the grave site of a controversial, colonial figure, the area was gorgeous and the view was spectacular.

Australian Lisa and I,

"Pinkies up!” (Read on for the story of the bandaged finger!)

Looking at this pic now it kind of looks like I was flipping everyone the bird!

Some “sun downer” drinks,

And the most amazing lizards!!

They are called Agama lizards and they were loving the heat of the rocks and the puddles. The colorful ones are males and the rock coloured ones are females. There were more on the rock above and behind me. My lovely Australian friend Hannah was NOT a fan and was standing some feet away to keep a close eye on them. I was a bit obsessed with them b/c they are so pretty. As Hannah was a supervising, she was able to take this one of me getting some of my many pics. Obviously my next stop will be Nat Geo! 😆

And then, inspired by this little guys, I decided that lying on a warm rock *was* an excellent way to round out the day.

(Thanks Hannah for the pic!)

And then the sun set in the ernest way it does closer to the equator. Sinking, sinking, gone, dark. All in about 20 minutes.

As we left a thunder storm rolled in and we headed home in the rain, laughing, joking and revelling in an amazing day!!

♥️
….

And, for those who are wondering about the MIS-adventure part of the story. Here it is. Turns out there is a thing called “Cut Grass”, at least that’s what the Australians call it, and it is as sharp as a scalpel and it grows in Matopos National Park. I learned this the hard way after playing with some on the side of the trail. I grabbed a piece to fiddle with as I was walking along and suddenly felt a sharp sting and a feeling like the grass was IN my finger. But then it was gone but a strange stinging and buzzing feeling was left. I thought, “Tha t feels like a cut. That can't be right.” But when I looked at it I realized that I was *quite* right and had given myself a good slash on my right pinkie. Apparently I said, “OH. That doesn't look good.” and veteran nurse Lisa turned around, worried that the rhinos had shifted position, and saw me holding my hand up over my head trying to put pressure on a bleeding wound. I thi k she said something along the lines of, “Did you touch the Cut Grass?” and I said something like, “WHAT IS CUT GRASS?!” While trying not to panic/cry. Because, who survives being 30 meters from rhinos only to be slashed by grass?! 😭

Happily, Lisa lept into action, got the guides to grab a first aid kit, helped with pressure and did an assesment. Less happily, we had an over-confident and under-experienced paramedic in the other truck who also decided he needed to leap I to action. He ASSURED me it just needed to wrapped and cleaned and it would be fine. Seriously?? It was all I could do not to tell him to fuck off. Even as a social worker who obviously isn't a nurse or paramedic I have seen enough cuts to know this needed stitches. #mansplaining 😡 ANYWAY, it was a really deep cut and it bled fairly well even with good pressure so I trusted the nurse with 40 (Lisa, is it 40?) years experience and plans were made to go get stitches. Gah!

By this point I was moving towards a lovely combinationof nausea and embarrassment with tears still looming on the horizon. I had only known these people for about three days at this point and here I was holding up our truck and another truck because of a GRASS INJURY. WTF?! OH, and now I was starting to feel faint. What could be worse than a grass injury? FAINTING because of a grass injury. 😭

Again, nurse Lisa calmly and firmly took charge and informed me that I was going to lie down on the ground with my feet up on the bumper of the truck. I recall saying something along the lines of, “WHAAAAT? Nooooooo. This is so embarrassing!” and thinking, “OMG, DO NOT cry in front of all these strangers!” A co-traveller stood over me and provided some shade while someone else documented the event. Initially I wanted to kill the documentarian but in the end it adds up to a pretty funny set of pics,

Ok, maybe I didn't stay quite as cool and calm as I would have liked here but all in all I was told I handled the situation quite well.

Lillian is the woman on the right who looks really annoyed. I don't *think* she was actually as annoyed as she looks here although…. possibly.

Our guide is the woman facing the camera who is in between Lisa and me. She apologized *profusely* for not telling me about Cut Grass and said she will tell all trips going forward. She said she was really focused on the rhinos. Fair!!

(I will not share the photo of the cut (and resulting stiches but it’s is available if anyone wants to see it.

My biggest fear at this point would be that I would have to leave the tour to get the finger stitched but Lisa said I had 24 hours so we wrapped the heck out of it and carried on. I made it through the day quite well and was able to go to a small, private hospital that night to have it cleaned and have stitches put in. It was fast, friendly and affordable by Western (ok, American) standards and I was happy to pay cash. (I will f/u with my insurance company when I am home though.)

This part was an adventure too. The nursing assistant who took my vitals was a very funny, soft-spoken woman. She said they work something like 14 hour shifts and that by the end of a stretch she feels like a zombie. (I didn't ask where she was in her stretch that night!) She took my vitals and all was well other than a slightly higher than average BP (which seemed reasonable under the circumstances) then she asked me get on the scale in the middle of the (almost empty) waiting room. "Nooooo.” I said, “It's my least favourite vital. Can I at least take my shoes off?!" She looked perplexed and said, "No!" So, as I stepped up in the scale I said jokingly, "OH, noooo. You are breaking my heart!" And she looked at me and said quietly, and with a deadly straight face, "Well, you are breaking my scale!" I just about fell off the scale. 🔥😆🔥😆🔥

Now, when I arrived I was told that I would pay 40USD at the front desk for a Dr's consultation and then once the Dr's assessment was done and a plan was made I would paid again. Sure. No problem. Makes sense. I assumed that meant I would pay at the end on my way out but no, while I was sitting in a treatment chair with a messed up finger on the right hand and and IV antibiotics inserted into the left, the lady at the front desk came and asked me to pay 60USD before they would continue. 🤯 I thought, "Are you effing kidding me?!" But, I kept my snark to myself (mostly) and asked, "Now?!" She looked at me placidly and said a kind but firm, "yes." So, I fumbled around and with some help pulled out some USD, handed it over and the treatment continued. I mean, I guess they want to make sure you pay so you don't pull a runner after the stiches and leave them with the cost of supplies and their time but wow. That moment really boggled my Canadian brain!

I regularly reflect on how amazing it is that the Canadian healthcare system works as well as it does but this was another great reminder. I know our sytem isn't perfect but no one of going to stop mid-treatment to ask for money!

Once I paid they carried on with freezing my finger, cleaned it well, put in three sutures (which I was told were dissolving but def weren't), wrapped the heck out of it, wrote me a Rx for a brief course of antibiotics and I was out the door!

My smart-ass nurse on the left and my very patient doctor on the left! (I think she thought I was making things up when I said I cut myself on grass and probably needed stiches. Then I unwrapped it and she was like, “Oh, ya. Stitches.”)

A quick stop at the pharmacy for wound care supplies and the antibiotics for 10 USD and I was on my way.

It was fast, easy and affordable for me but as the average monthly income in Zim is about 140USD it would have been an enormous cost to a local. 😔