Chilling out of town

 On the way to the border we passed two toll gates and seven police road blocks – checking variously for radio licences, fire extinguishers and rear reflectors.   Plus a variety of worm sellers – bream supream worms, common red anacondas and puffadders. My favourite were the worms that fitted the hooks! Very obliging of them.
Also about a hundred heavy trucks moving gear – containers, cars, fuel, scrap metal, earth moving equipment, drilling rigs, refrigerated perishables. Heavy duty work and sometimes dangerous.  The steep Zambezi escarpment is littered with wrecks of twisted     containers and remains of 18 wheelers failing to engage a low enough gear in spite of myriad warnings . Years ago a mining engineer friend equipping a mine in the DRC told me a terrible story about wreckers operating the other side of Lusaka.  Reminiscent of the old ship wreckers on the Cornish coast who would lure ships to their deaths on the sharp rocks with false light in order to raid the cargo, these truck wreckers also waged war at night – spreading oil slickly in the darkness on a bend in the road and waiting in the dense bush for their heavy lorries to swerve out of control and crash – spilling their cargo across the road. Easy looting.
Most of that heavy traffic is destined for the mines in the Northern Zambia and the DRC. We were not crossing the border but heading for a few days chilling out in Chirundu a contrasting mixture of industrial, bustling border town – full of dirt, drunkards and tough truck drivers  – and a tourist paradise with    lushly watered jungle gardens, populated by rugged tour guides, ultra cool in dark glasses and   broad brimmed hats – cruising the river.
Hanging out in dry Harare you forget what a glorious, huge river is the Zambezi. We were taken on a fast motor boat downstream and a slow evening drift upstream – both beautiful. The pace of life is warmer, slower, wilder and life       in the town certainly different. Satellite dishes are clad in barbed wire to prevent baboons from disrupting the signal. An elephant strolls daily through the shopping centre to check out the pickings from the rubbish dump and the drinkers at the bar barely look up –  though a pedestrian might cross to the other side to the road to get out of his way.
The fancy modern two-in-one border post is impressive – but only open twelve hours a day so the road is lined with juggernauts waiting their turn to clear through. Many billboards advertising a ‘reloaded meal’ from the Chicken Inn totally puzzled us as to what reloaded meant in this context.  Refried? Renewed? We hadn’t a clue so decided to try one.
“We don’t offer that any more”  said my server “that promotion is finished.” A two piecer and chips was US$4,50 but with no-one to share, tried the US$2 snack box. On the upside it took two minutes tops to arrive, was packed in      cardboard rather than polystyrene but otherwise not much to recommend it. The harvest from the resettled farmers around Nyabira was much more appetising. US$4 bought a pile of sweet potatoes, mapudzi and fresh nyimo beans.  Much more nutritious even though it required cooking!
Lovely to leave the city for a couple of days. Just wish there was less garbage around. Where do we think it all goes when we toss it out a window? The elephant foraging amongst the tin cans kind of summed up the carelessness with which we treat our beautiful environment.
– g.jeke@yahoo.com