Our arrival in Zimbabwe was characterized by extreme sleep deprivation, having taken a night bus from the Johannesburg bus station at 7pm, and arriving close to 10am in Masvingo, the city adjacent to the Great Zimbabwe.
Customs in Zimbabwe is a treat. After the smooth, well organized South African side, we were let off the bus to stand in a line at 4am until dawn, only to be told to get back in line when the agents found out we hadn't filled out the proper form (because they'd run out of forms), at which point we scribbled incoherently on the customs form and ducked back in line in front of the officials.
By some miracle we managed to make it back onto the bus, and through the customs chaos. The ride itself was very entertaining. Whenever I would try to move to stretch my legs, the women nearby would hiss at me. Yes, hiss. Like cats. And when a piece of luggage fell of the shelf and smacked me on the head, the owner quickly collected it and glared at me, as though I had willed it to nearly give me a concussion. From my observations, I would say say Zimbabwe women are some of the most dramatic people I have ever encountered.
The attitude of Zimbabweans towards white people is very interesting. President Mugabe's land reform program has chased out much of the white (by his logic, colonial) population. From my observations, Zimbabweans complain about racism from South Africans, yet they seem to overlook that many of their own citizens were forced to seek refuge in South Africa due to their president's policies. In any case, tourism is all but dead. David and I were treated very well though- beyond the hissers. While at the Great Zimbabwe, which is the second oldest archeological site in Africa, we saw only 2 other tourists.
As we traveled on to Harare, Bulawayo, and Victoria Falls, we saw a good number of Europeans, but still fairly low all things considered.
Mugabe's controversial actions towards "colonialists" aside, during his reign the value of the Zimbabwe dollar tanked, losing all value in 2008. So now they use American currency, which is hilarious because most of the bills are on the verge of falling apart. They even actively use $2 bills! Seriously these bills are so nasty that you don't want to touch them. They're always damp. Shudder.
Truth be told, I left feeling bad for Zimbabwe. It's a country that has a ton of potential, but has completely been screwed over by terrible leadership. Between Victoria Falls and the Great Zimbabwe, they could have a thriving tourism industry. But between the tooth-pulling of customs and negative international view given the land reform program, there needs to be some changes.
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