Zambian Justice
When we last left our heroes, Katy and I had just been robbed by an
unknown assailant in the woods of Zambia. The next day, we had been told
to report back to the police stations just across the border. Well we had
firmly established the previous evening (in an attempt to partake in a
boat cruise across the river) that the Zimbabwe border guards were not
letting Keith out of Zimbabwe without a passport. Katy still had her
passport, so she went in the morning to see what news there was.
Double rainbow at Vic Falls.
I spent the day exploring the park by Victoria Falls with Neil and Sara.
The falls are quiet magnificent, it is not like Niagara Falls where you
have just a few main falls dumping huge amounts of water. Vic Falls is
very spread out, hundreds of small waterfalls dot the cliff for maybe a
kilometer. It was now officially hot, the spray from the falls was a
refreshing way to cool down. It was a new experience, I was camera-less
for the first time ever. Just had to appreciate the falls with my own two
eyes. There were no rainbows to be found that day, the sun must have been
too high in the sky.
We took a walk upstream of the falls along a small path, stopping to see
this ginormous tree. I have to say I was a little paranoid, walking along
the river bank, there could be another bandit ready to jump out at us at
any moment. No bandit ever appeared, even he had a was carrying scant
little that he could want (except for maybe my prized green pants, now
that would have really upset me, I would have karate-chopped the guy, no
way you're getting my only pair of pants/shorts/swim trunks).
Katie returned from the border, looking a bit distraught. She had been at
the border all day, they had arrested the bandit along with 3 or 4 of his
accomplices. She also got to listen to the police beating the boys in the
back room. Our gear had been recovered, though the police weren't keen on
giving it back to us yet. I had to organize reward money for the
villagers who had informed on the thieves, as well as buy beer for the
police officers (I had promised them this the day before). I picked up a
support team consisting of our Truck Africa courier and driver, hopefully
to help organize the return of our stuff.
At the police station I was shown my recovered items, mostly there except
for my favorite driz-a-bone hat from Australia, my nalgene bottle, and
most of my first-aid kit. The police were all smiles, especially the
officer that got to shot one of the kids that was trying to run away from
them. They lined up the boys on the other side of the police counter, but
I drew a blank, couldn't pick the guy we saw out. Katie apparently could,
the police knew by now anyway.
Large cactus plant.
The police commissioner talked to be on the phone, he really wanted us to
attend the trial. He said they "had to waive certain rights", but in
order to expedite the return of our stuff, they were going to try the boys
the next day. We were due to leave the next day, but fortunately there
was a night train we could take to catch back up with our truck.
The trial was an interesting experience. Everything was translated into
English, so we could understand quite well what was going on. We watched
several other cases go before the court, the defendants had to represent
themselves as best they could, I guess lawyers are only available to those
that can pay.
Katie and I only had to testify if the man we saw decided
to plead not guilty. I reminded the police officer that I couldn't
identify the guy, "oh no problem, he'll be the one on the right." He
choose to plead guilty, his sentence we were told would be around 3-5
years. The sentence had been reduced in order to try him at this lower
court, otherwise he would have had a minimum of 15 years. The boy was 17
years old, just a kid. I'm glad he got a reduced charge, maybe he can
still turn his life around.
With our backpacks in hand, we returned to Vic Falls. We spent the rest
of the day shopping for curios (I found patches for all the countries
along my trip) and at the park looking at the waterfalls. Happily there
were rainbows and double rainbows all over the place that afternoon. A
nice ending to a very stressful few days.
Can you find the face in the rocks?
The next morning we arrived in Bullawayo and rejoined our Truck. It was
time for a day safari out to Rhodes national park. This was great, no
sooner had we gotten inside the park gate then we saw two rhinos. In this
park, you are allowed to approach the white rhinos only if you are
accompanied by a trained guide. We got within 100 feet of these giants.
They were pretty mellow, I'd hate to be around if they were in an ornery
mood. Black rhinos are suppose to be much more aggressive, you can't get
that close to them.
We saw some of the other "typical" wildlife: giraffes, zebras, and
antelope. The coolest thing we saw during our lunch stop, small lizards
with all the colors of the rainbow. They were hungry little guys,
grabbing things off your plate if you weren't careful. We saw some
hungry-hungry hippos in the afternoon and some very odd balancing rocks,
but no sign of the elusive cheetah.
Out for a little afternoon snack.
Our truck tour was winding down. One of our last stops was the Mopani
horse camp in Zimbabwe. Honestly, I don't think I've ever ridden a horse
before. The camp instructor said that playing 'polocross' was the perfect
way to learn. You divide into two teams, everybody has things long sticks
with baskets. There is a goal on each side of the field, you try to throw
the ball into the goal. There are other rules like only the offensive
player is allowed beyond a certain points, etc. My steed was Chief, he
was big, but he wasn't so fast. One of the instructors kept telling me to
kick him harder, but I was afraid I was going to hurt the poor guy. The
whole game would grind to a halt while I tried to get Chief to take me to
the offensive front-line.
The next day, it was another riding adventure. We took our horses down a
dirt road, usually at a walk, but occasionally trotting. I always thought
horseback riding was a bit of a no-brainer, but man it takes some skill.
You get out of rhythm and you just keep whacking the saddle, man that
hurts! We arrived at a river were we took the saddles off the horses. We
then were led into the river riding bareback. The horses made this loud
wheezing noise as they struggled through the deep water. At one point
they even took the horses in a spot that was over their heads, you just
had to hold on tight around the horses mane and hope you didn't both sink
too deep.
Richard putting on some new brakes. Now that is one bad truck!
From the horse camp, it was on to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe and the
terminus for our Truck Africa adventure. We had a couple farewell
dinners, the final one involving a delicious game platter of ostrich,
kudu, zebra and wildebeest, oh baby! No more of the simple carefree life
of an organized tour, Neil, Sara and I were now responsible for figuring
things out ourselves.
We bid farewell to our truck travelling companions and hopped another
Truck Africa truck that was transiting up to Nairobi. It was going through
Arusha Tanzania, and just happened to be leaving the next day. This was
quite lucky, the train we had planned to take up to Tanzania was rumored
to no longer exist. TAB (that's Africa baby).
Return to home page
Return to Trip Reports