Lake Malawi 

We drove north east to some scenic mountains.

 We crossed the Zambezi across a massive bridge.

 A view up river and one of the many islands.

 We crossed through Mozambique and camped for a few days on the shore on Lake Malawi.

We were at Kande Beach, part way up the west shore.

 Then we moved on to Chitimba and another beach front camp site. A view across the bay next to the camp site towards the nearby mountain. Here there are a lot of treks in the mountains on offer.

A view of the main buildings from the beach.

And then it was a drive to the north end of the lake to cross the border into Tanzania.

Chimanimani National Park

We drove east into the mountains and took the road to Chimanimani National Park. It was a long drive and a hot day and we crossed a major river...but only after we had been weighed on a weigh bridge to make sure we were not too heavy.

Our hostel was a charming little place just outside of the town of Chimanimani. It was pleasant but memorable for the brightly coloured bush in the garden.

 I walked into the local town and found a pleasant 1930's style hotel with a bar and other than the staff it was empty.

 The saloon area in typical 1930's style.

 The bar.

 The culprit that woke me up in the morning.

 And I went to the bar in the hotel as the alternative was behind the garage. It is =built on a slope and around the back is the entrance to the basement. The upper level is the garage and is level with the ground at the front of the building. The door is to the basement which is the local drinking establishment. It was dark, dirty but cheap and popular with the locals.

And then it was a stop en route to Harare at this pleasant restaurant.

 And a few more photos of the former farmhouse.

 Another view of the front.

 And they had several old steam engines in the grounds.

 Another steam engine.

 And another.

 Antelope Park and Great Zimbabwe.

I had a few days at Antelope Park. Despite the name it is a lion refuge with 120 lions in large enclosures. There used to be a quarter of a million lions in Africa but now there are just a tenth of that number. Antelope Park had a breeding programme and a controversial release programme to establish new prides and to release them into the wild. It is controversial in that it is uncertain whether the pride can hunt for itself and whether the planned release areas have enough game to sustain the prides. However the camp site and buildings that make up the park where a wonderful and calm location. The main restaurant and bar building.

One of the shelters in the grounds.

 Another cafe building.

 A pavilion.

 One of the chalets looking like something out of the Lord of the Rings.

 Another chalet.

 The river that flows through the site.

 A row of rooms that can be rented.

 Some of the wildlife sitting in a tree waiting to bit up scraps from the restaurant.

 A view of the Grand Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe from the Hill Complex. Great Zimbabwe was a large trading nation that developed from the 11th century that covered an area of present day Zimbabwe and parts of Botswana and South Africa. It traded with Arab merchants who sailed down the east coast of Africa. Great Zimbabwe had several major rivers with alluvial gold. It is estimated that it exported 4,000 tons of gold by the 13th century when the rest of the world gold production between 1000 and 1600 AD was just 2,000 tons.

 A view of the outside of the walls of the Hill Complex from where the king ruled his empire.

 Te entrance to the Hill Complex, just wide enough for one person.

 One of the buildings within the complex. Regrettably no written records survive so what happened in each of the buildings is guess work.

 All the stones are beautifully laid but without any cement or mortar.

 A detail of the pattern in the external wall of the Great Enclosure.

 Sone of the passages in the Great Enclosure.

 A conical tower built of solid stone that stands higher than the external wall perhaps for a lookout or just to show off their building skills.

 A closer view of the tower.

 One of the entrances to the Great Enclosure.

Bulawayo Railway Museum. 

This is a place that would have greasers (train enthusiasts) getting very exited about as it is the home to many of of the locomotives and carriages that are no longer needed or simply have out lived their usefulness.

 A hand worked casey car that visitors could try out.

 Just one of the many wagons that are on site.

 And then there were dozens of locomotives who stand idle in the sidings.

 The hand operated casey car being worked by a couple of girls.

 And then some of the top exhibits such as Cecil Rhodes own carriage.

 And some fun exhibits such a as this trolley to take ladies to the market.

 A side view of a hand operated wagon.

 And then just a few photos of carriages.

 And of course a few photos of some of the engines that made the long journeys to export the grain and maize that could be grown in the fertile soils of Zimbabwe to feed southern Africa if the government wasn't so incompetent and corrupt.

 And some work-a-day items such as  this crane.

 And a hospital carriage which was part of the excellent health system that Zimbabwe had before Robert Mugabe's  government so mismanaged the economy so as to bankrupt the country.        

                                      

 Inside Cecil Rhodes carriage.

 And more news of carriages and rolling stock.

 First class carriages.

 One f the many giant locomotives that pulled trains across the savannah bring exports to the ports on the South African coasts.