Mana and More

Ryo is growing so quickly!  It's been fun to see all of her development milestones.  The latest news is that she is on the verge of crawling (time for home baby-proofing!).  She's still got just two teeth, but is well on her way with solid foods, including lentils, squash, carrots, cauliflower, peas, bananas, pears, and apples… she hasn't refused anything yet (just like daddy).  We'll wait a while until we introduce Mopani worms and Quela birds, of course.  She hasn't mastered any actual words yet, but from the sound of it, she's going to be a big talker.

We've continued our exploration of Zim's natural wonders, visiting sites both close to town and farther afield.  One sunny Saturday, we drove about forty-five minutes from our house to Lake Chivero with our friend Greg for some game viewing and a picnic lunch.  We mostly had the place to ourselves, and had a blast driving around the park to see ostrich, various plains game, and even five white rhinos!  In true Zim style, we grilled up some meat on the lakeside, not far from some incredible rock paintings.

Our best recent trip was to Mana Pools, several hours north of Harare on the border with Zambia.  We stayed in a beautiful lodge located on the shores of the Zambezi River, which was filled with hippos and crocodiles.  After a hearty meal in the al fresco dining area and bathing under the stars, we went to bed to the sound of grunting hippos, and woke to a scene of grazing elephants and warthogs outside the huge windows of our room in the morning.  We saw plenty of animals in fact – by boat (I caught my first tigerfish!), on walking safaris, and driving around during the day and at night.  One evening, our fantastic guide, Caz, knocked on our door with an urgent message – a leopard had been spotted in a nearby tree with an adult impala that she had killed – great photo opportunity!  Equally amazing was our rare sighting of an African pangolin, which is critically endangered and very cute.  

Work has been busy these days, especially with the upcoming elections, but Nikki and I are both getting some interesting opportunities.  Nikki was recently featured on TV, speaking about the representation of women in tertiary education on Good Morning Zimbabwe.  I've been traveling a fair amount, and just returned from a site visit to rural Zimbabwe where we landed on a dirt runway in the middle of nowhere.  A few weeks ago, Nikki and I hosted a group of government officials, NGOs, and tourism operators at our house for tea to discuss issues surrounding wildlife conservation.  It's all been a lot of work, but rewarding and unique too.  The next few weeks are sure to prove exciting, as everyone is curious to see how the July 31 elections go.

Road Trips! And Some Fun In Town

It's been two more months of fun and excitement in Zimbabwe.  With the addition of a 2001 Toyota Prado to the Fox fleet, we've been afforded the ability to explore more of what the country has to offer.  At 12 years old, the car still has plenty of steam (metaphor only – it runs on petrol) and a plethora of random gadgets which have earned her the name "robo-car."  

Robo-car's maiden voyage (with us) was to Great Zimbabwe.  We explored the stunning ancient ruins with our friend Greg, where we took in scenic views and were mobbed by students from a local college who wanted to get pictures with the foreigners (Ryo was a major draw).  We retired to our over-the-top kitsch (but awesome) hotel, where he had sundowners overlooking the countryside. The next day, we stopped off at a drive-your-self game reserve (what a concept!) on the way home. So cool!

We've also hit up the Eastern Highlands again (Bvumba and Nyanga) and have taken advantage of robo-car's high clearance/4-wheel drive to get off the beaten path. The area has some amazing waterfalls, including the second highest in Africa – Mtarazi Falls. Ryo enjoyed the scenery from the comfort of a baby backpack that we got on craigslist in DC for $35. Well worth the money and I have a feeling it's going to get plenty of use.  While taking a break from hiking and checking out the botanical gardens, we enjoyed tea and incredible desserts from an artist named Tony in Bvumba while sitting in a lovely English-style cottage overlooking an orchard.  In the evenings, we got cozy next to roaring fires (it's cold in the winter here!) and had fun candlelit dinners in two lodges where we were the only guests.

There's also been some fun travel for work.  I made my way to the Save Valley, where I was able to see some of the incredible scenery and wildlife at Hammond Ranch.  One evening while standing on the top of a rock pile (kopje), I snapped the above shot of a baobab while the sun was going down. Nikki and I also took a trip to Victoria Falls to support the Ambassador on his visit to the area.  Although we were running around working, we did get a chance to enjoy some of the local sites, including an event at the Victoria Falls Hotel and a river cruise.  We got to stay at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, which is one of the best hotels I've ever been to, and had dinner at their Boma Restaurant, where I joined in the entertainment.

It's been busy around town too.  Our friends Thando and Truthness were married and we were fortunate to be able to attend (our first wedding in Africa!).  There was also the Harare International Festival of the Arts – which was amazing.  We went to as much of the multi-day event as we could, checking out spoken word, music, and dance performances.  The Embassy supported the performance of a New York gospel group, which was fantastic, and we also loved the opportunity to see Mokoomba again.

In other news, Ryo is growing fast!  She now has two teeth (bottom incisors) and has started eating solid foods.  She eats anything (must be my child!) and so far has tried carrots, pears, bananas, squash, and rice cereal.  She's not crawling yet, but can sit up on her own and rolls from front to back and vice versa (an ambi-roller!).

So things are great and we've very much settled in.  Looking forward to the next few months and hopefully a trip to some of the neighboring countries.

Two months in and trip to Nyanga

Things are coming together in Zim. We've got all of our belongings and put some pictures up on the wall. We're doing a fair amount of cooking and enjoying the opportunity to introduce Ryo to the water in our pool. We've got a car finally – the Toyota Funcargo – so have been doing some more exploring (our bigger car is still in South Africa, awaiting shipment to Harare). We've been enjoying our friends and getting out to the odd barbeque ("braai") and social event occasionally. We're even getting used to our limited teleconnectivity, with our internet at home functioning an average of three days at a time – good thing we brought a ton of books!

I've finally started work and am loving it. I get to cover a huge range of environmental and development issues – from wildlife poaching to corporate social responsibility to developing a technology hub in Harare – which perfectly matches my generalist tendencies and broad interests. Nikki and I have even been able to collaborate on a number of projects, merging the public diplomacy and economic perspectives. What a fantastic opportunity! Nikki is working hard and is generally very busy. Although her office building is not the best (i.e. sporadic elevator functionality, frequent blackouts, limited workspace, and a HVAC system literally based on a termite mound – no, seriously), she has enjoyed meeting some incredibly bright and motivated Zimbabweans.

Ryo is growing like a weed and is in the 90^th percentile for height (and 20^th percentile for head size – ahem, suppose that's my fault). She is babbling all the time (mamama, baba, and "wet razzes"), drooling a lot, and just starting to develop fine motor skills. She's sleeping 6 or 7 hours in a row, so we're able to get a decent night's sleep (although the 3AM feeding/diaper change can be quire painful). It's only a matter of time before she goes mobile, so it's a good thing that she and Hina are getting along!

Last weekend, we took our first overnight trip out of town. We visited the Nyanga area, in Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands, which reminds me a lot of Yosemite. Our inn was nestled into a hillside, overlooking a huge granite mountain rising from the high plain in stunning form. We did an afternoon drive around a private game reserve, an early morning hike to the top of a local peak, and a visit to ancient cave paintings. We even got some local culture at a weekend fair/barbeque where we enjoyed Castle beer and boerewors. Mostly, we did a lot of relaxing. Our little, low-clearance car performed great, despite the prevalence of rutted, dirt roads in the area, and next time we'll be able to delve deeper into the countryside with the assistance of a 4x4. I'm sure this is just the first of many great weekend adventures!!

Settling in to Zimbabwe

It's now been three weeks since we arrived in Harare and we're starting to feel more comfortable in our new home. Nikki has been working hard and is already taking trips outside of the city for her job. Jacqui and I have been busy taking care of Ryo and getting the house in order. Ryo is totally comfortable in her new home, and has been focused on eating, sleeping, growing, holding her head up, and avoiding slobber from Hina (who is also loving her new home). We have been lucky enough to have help from Chipo, who will be taking care of the house and looking after Ryo when I am at work and Jacqui is back in the States. Chipo has also been teaching us about the local culture, helping me with Shona (the local language) and introducing us to sadza (a corn-based thick porridge) and rugare (a leafy green veggie – one of many things you can each with sadza). I've also been soaking up local customs from the "Obama Boys" (one of two soccer teams I'm playing on).

We have already received two shipments of things from the US – one of consumables (paper towels, juice, flour, etc.) and one of household items (clothes, baby toys, my bike, etc). We are still waiting on the bulk of our household items, but things are slowly tricking in. We are still without a car, which makes running errands somewhat problematic. I walked several miles through downtown Harare in a quest to bring Internet to our home (after a few bureaucratic hurdles, I was successful – now we can skype!). We have purchased one car from Japan, which is now sitting in Durban, awaiting shipment to Zimbabwe. We have a second car (a Toyota "Funcargo") in Harare already, which is on hold until we are cleared by the local government. Luckily, several of our friends have been kind enough to let us borrow their wheels in the interim, which has allowed us to take a few trips out of town.

Last weekend, we visited a game park outside of town called "Imire," which has been focused on rhino conservation. Jacqui, Ryo, Nikki, and I all piled into a Disneyland-style trailer and fully enjoyed cruising through grassy plains dotted with acacia trees, checking out their semi-wild populations of elephants, giraffes, impala, warthogs, baboons, zebra, lions and of course, black and white rhinoceros. Lunch was an additional highlight, where we enjoyed curry, sadza, and homemade brownies while perched on granite boulders overlooking a waterhole complete with elephants.

On president's day, we hit the road again for a slightly different wildlife experience. At "Wild is Life" just outside of Harare, a friendly woman named Roxy has been accumulating various incredible animals for some time. In the past couple years, she has opened up her home to private tours, where one can meet and interact with cheetahs, lions, and a variety of other animals. Many of the animals were hand-raised in her home. My personal favorites were the African pangolins, which are apparently rare in captivity. The tour has a certain elegance to it, where your wanderings with wild animals are punctuated with breaks for tea and scones and later champagne and brandy. As the day came to a close, we enjoyed our sundowners from the comfort of a lavish outdoor patio, looking out over the kudu, sable antelope, and giraffes, and thought – wow, so this is Africa.