House in Chirundu

The house we stayed at was a really cool thatched roof house which had vaulted thatched ceilings. There was a patio, and a pool which overlooked the edge of the bluff and 65 Km upstream. It was a fantastic place to stay. To give you an idea of how rugged this place is, if you notice the pictures, the trees (and the edge of the thatched roof) all have barbed wire on them. That’s to keep the baboons and leopards out of the trees. Kirsti Bell, the Bell’s daughter who lives in Chirundu, lives up the road and said that one morning she woke up to three elephants in her garden. At night sitting under the clear starry skies (I can now find the southern cross. . .) it was eerie because we heard the Hyenas in the hills nearby. At first they don’t “laugh”, but slowly whoop back and forth. And then more and more join in until that’s all you hear. We knew it was time to go to bed when the hyenas started! Despite the great perks, the location meant a threat from thieves, because it bordered the bush.

Since the city is right across the river from Zambia, the locals say that Zambian thieves cross over each night and raid the houses where people are renting. Thing is, if Zimbabweans cross over and are caught, they are arrested by the functioning Zambian law enforcement (Chris Shepherd said- “If I had money to invest somewhere in Africa, the country I would invest in would be Zambia. It’s a great country that works”). Even when we were on the boat, we could not touch the Zambian side, and always landed on the Zimbabwean side.

The first day when we unloaded the boat in the water, a black guy dressed in what we assumed was a uniform from the local safari company came and helped us. He told us his name was Walter. When Chris Shepherd drove the truck and the boat trailer up to the parking area, the Safari company guys told him off for letting Walter in with us, when he just came down and started helping.

We didn’t pay him, and later that day when we landed he was waiting for us. We still didn’t pay him and told him to stay away from us and the boat. However, the next day, he showed up at the gates of our house (several miles from the dock) and begged for money. Keith Bell told him to go away and not come near us again, but it was strange that he found where we were staying. That night, the house next door was robbed.

“Walter is a spy for the Zambians” Chris told us. The cook that worked for us tipped Chris off. “He sees who is where, and what they have down at the docks, and then he lets the Zambians know.” That night we locked everything up because we thought we were next, and there wasn’t any incident that night. As we left Chirundu, Chris told me that he thought that our cook worked for Walter as well. Chris said that the cook would tell Walter how well things were secured each night, " I'm sure of it"