Rolex
I got the night bus out of Victoria Falls town to Harare. This was the recommended option because of the state of the road. Solid recommendation because I slept through the entire journey and can’t tell you what the road was like. A big part of me wishes I’d moved during the day so I could see glimpses of the other places along the way. Especially Bulawayo which is a more laid-back city and a cultural and tourism hotspot. Another time.
It’s a 12-hour bus ride from Vic Falls to Harare. From the bus park, my host advised me to download the InDrive app and get a cab from there. There’s no Uber and Indrive has the biggest market share with Bolt coming in second. The Zimbabwe government is currently trying to popularise their new local currency, the zim gold, but I didn’t touch a single note the entire time I was there. The majority of people are still transacting in dollars. I visited too late to see the notes with several 0’s.
I settled in and started planning how I was going to make the most of the week there. The goal was to meet Zimbabwe creatives/storytellers and introduce Muwado and its mission to monetise African stories. Luckily for me, the annual International Images Film Festival for Women was happening in Harare the same week I was around. This meant there was already a gathering of storytellers I could take advantage of. The Film Festival that I made my base was happening from the National Gallery, Alliance Francàis and The Zimbabwe German Society/Goethe Zentrum – Harare. These were all $5 rides or less from my host’s home.
Because of Kampala’s many hills, flat cities feel small. I can’t explain the reason why but it is so. But Harare is not small. I probably only moved through a very small portion of it. I was very happy with the varied architecture on display. I find Kampala dull with the copy-and-paste building style.
Their public transport minibuses are called Kombis and they blast amapiano. Amapiano is the dominant music genre here. It’s taken over for real. No one in the transport sector has change/small notes so come with your own. Also, because of the pedestal we’ve put the dollar on, it felt odd paying the matatu guy and roadside food guys with them. Imagine buying roadside chips for $3…it just feels odd. The small cars we use for Uber are used as public transport vehicles. If you are familiar with how Ipsums and Carinas are squeezed with people on upcountry roads, now imagine that but with a Vitz, in the city centre. The SADC block is also clearly working because of the number of intercountry buses leaving the park every hour. EAC, let’s pull up our socks.
They have several large public parks with sitting spaces for folks to chill in. What happened to us, KCCA? The load shedding is very real here but my host lived in an area that probably had power lines to their State House because the power was constant. I did get a haircut under the lighting of a phone torch though at the nearby mall. Also, you can gauge the wealth of a neighbourhood by how green its grass is because, with the heat levels there, you need to water the grass constantly to keep it green. I also learnt that most neighbourhoods pump their water from underground because relying on the piped supply is not good for your health, both physical and mental.
Several people I talked to couldn’t place Uganda on the map. Are you close to Ghana? Maybe it’s because the names of the 2 countries rhyme. Some people had Ugandan in-laws though. A decent number had been. Kenya is more popular here. Even Kigali might be more known. I don’t know what that says about us. Bobi Wine and Museveni are common knowledge. Also, imagine my delight when a gentleman I told I was from Uganda played for me Tinda Tine by Lady Mariam from his phone storage.
I was also fortunate to visit the Museum of African Liberation, a collaborative project between the Zimbabwe Government and the Institute of African Knowledge (INSTAK). INSTAK was founded by Ambassador Kwame Muzawazi, a Pan-Africanist researcher and adventurer who is behind the Book of African Records, has a Guinness Book record for longest lecture, and is the first African to cross the African continent north-to-south by land on a research tour that clocked 24000 km across 17 African countries in six months.
The current setup is a a mini museum with mainly items from Zimbabwe and the majority from the late Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo, former Second Vice-President of Zimbabwe, whose family has been the most responsive to the call for items. Robert Mugabe’s refurbished vehicles are also on display. I look forward to what it’ll look like once complete. It will house the Liberation Museum as the main attraction and, include a 5-star hotel, an amusement park, a theme park, an animal park, various national monuments, a heritage village and recreational and amusement facilities
Harare is a lovely place but the cost of living is prohibitive. It could be so much more vibrant but the grind is intense here and leaving the house is a calculated endeavor. But they’d be ballers in other African countries because they earn in dollars. That’s a free tip if you are from Zim and want to vacation. I heard a lot of traders already get stuff from Zambia because it’s cheaper there.
After a week, it was time for me to head to Malawi. I booked the only direct bus there through Mozambique and was on my way Monday morning…until I wasn’t.
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