The drive back to Bulawayo was fairly un eventful. After. Quick trip to Eskys for a much deserved Pink Panther the afternoon was spent shopping in preparation for a braai (this seems to be a southern African thing, it's "like a barbecue only better") which was being held that evening for my birthday. Most of Deb and Amy's relatives were in there and I can report a very good good evening was had by all. Good food, drink and company making for a perfect evening. I finished the night in the company of one of Amy's cousins, Dylan, visiting a night club till around 2am. This was en experience in itself. It was $5 to get in and the drinks seemed to be around $2. Needless to say the $28 I had in my wallet lasted very well at those prices although we both found our wallets empty just as time was called - you can't plan better than that!
Saturday was spent mainly in the car. During the morning we took a drive round Matopos Game Park looking (definitely not hunting) for Rhino. Although we never managed to find any the drive round the park was fantastic. It has some beautiful scenery and we had lunch at Mpopoma Dam which is one of the most beautiful spots in the park. There were many guys fishing in the lake despite the no fishing signs and although the lake contains crocodiles and hippos some guys were even standing in the water to fish. One chap couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 meters away from 5 hippo who were cooling off in the shallows. Rather him than me!
The remainder of the afternoon was spent 4x4'ing around the narrow and sometimes challenging roads of the Matopos. Travis was driving at this point and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself. As a passenger it was also great fun and we timed it perfectly, getting back to tar roads just as dusk fell. I'm not sure I would have fancied some of those roads in the dark.
The Matopos itself is one of the most stunning areas I have seen in Africa so far. There will be pictures to follow but for now I'd recommend a quick google search yourself to check it out, it's an amazing place.
I have to be honest, by the time we got back and had supper we were all pretty pooped so it was early night all round. It's now Sunday morning and I'm sat on the veranda in shorts and t-shirt facing the prospect of what looks to be a lazy and relaxed last day in Bulawayo, although the way things work around here that could change at any point!
