“Welcome to Zimbabwe” says the border guard at Pandamantengo. “What did you bring me from the United States? Some pounds?” We’ve been in Zim all of one minute. I ponder the question and answer with “We bring you greetings from President Trump!” “No cold drinks?”  Nope. Not today. Those we are saving for the traffic stops.

Other than that not-so-subtle ask for a favor, crossing the border is a pleasant experience. The immigration officer is efficient, explaining how to easily extend our 30-day visas. The customs officer quickly fills out the vehicle carnet. She is aghast that Botswana customs did not take their carnet departure copy. I cringe, thinking I should have mentioned it – gees, what a process all this is. Zimbabwean customs has a good African solution – just tear out that departure copy, she says, and throw it away so there will be no confusion.

Pandamantengo is the border crossing to use to avoid Victoria Falls, 100 kilometers north. We are the first vehicle that day. There was only one vehicle the day prior, and one the day before that, according to the register. Once we’ve departed Botswana, we drive through a chain-link gate and migrate to Zimbabwe. After immigration, customs, and the police inspection (he admires the truck and writes down the plate number), two guys go over and raise the boom gate, and wave us through into Zim – and we are shocked out of our senses.

“Is this right?” I ask Jim as we stare ahead of us. I grab the map. Jim is still staring. The road ahead – it is a dirt track, two wheels wide with bumper-high grass on both sides and some down the middle. This is the entrance to Zimbabwe.

All this time I’d been fretting over paperwork, the carnet, passports, vehicle registration, all that piddly little stuff that seems to disappear in the truck after each border crossing. Up until a few days ago in Kasane, I didn’t even have a map of Zimbabwe. For three years maps of African countries had been plastered to the walls at home, except for Zimbabwe. It was never a given that we would go there, yet here we are. The road is a dirt track, it is the correct and only road, and it is really beautiful. Welcome to Zimbabwe indeed.