Zimbabweans know – you must make a plan. It is the Zimbabwean way. The water is out? No electricity? The road is washed away? You will make a plan. Now “a plan” could be plan A or B, or W or X, but you will need to make one. Everyone says it.  And yes, the road skirting Harare to the south is not useable. It is time to make a plan. I am driving so Jim directs us and we wing it through narrow dirt roads crowded with school children, past street markets and places that smell really awful, through the suburbs and townships until we manage our way on to a four-lane divided highway, without a scratch and still speaking to each other. That probably wouldn’t have happened three months ago, we’ve some kilometers on us now. We have a plan.

The destination is a bird sanctuary on Lake Chivero. That’s all it says on the paper map, bird sanctuary. It deserves more attention than that. Gary Stafford, his wife Elcine, and his son Josh operate Kuimba Shiri Bird Sanctuary where they rehabilitate injured wild birds, raise orphan birds, provide a home for surrendered pet birds such as macaws and cockatoos, and breed birds to return to  the wild. When a bird needs rescuing and it is lucky enough to arrive here, it will have a good chance of returning to its proper place. As well, they train birds for stunts in documentary productions and Gary and Josh are both falconers. Gary has been operating Kuimba Shiri for 27 years and he is funny as all get-out.

A big white native Zimbabwean, he shares candid views on the state of the country (“it’s bad”), on travelers driving Land Rovers (“go home and get yourself a proper vehicle!”) and on vegans (“you’re a WHAT??”). While only planning to stay one night, we end up staying three.  As usual, we are the only ones in the campsite.

Unmarked on our maps and unmentioned in travel guides, is Lake Chivero Game Park, just across the lake from Kuimba Shiri. A small affair but they have a good population of White rhino. These are managed rhinos; they have been dehorned and have identifying cut-outs on their ears. Still they are not easy to find, we finally spot three of them and they entertain us for a couple hours. Back at the bird sanctuary, Gary puts on a demonstration for the public, flying a flashy Black Eagle used in a David Attenborough documentary and a personable Fish Eagle that he has had for 18 years. Then he brings out the two little Marsh Owls and they steal the show. Marsh Owls don’t fly, they hop-walk on the ground behind their caregiver and they are adorable. A couple of Shona boys found them and brought them to Gary; he makes it a point to tell the crowd not to be “stupid-sticious” about owls and birds of prey – let’s hope his pleas get through. Dinner that night is at the Admirals Restaurant, run by Micheal Mawema who has returned to Zim from the States to make a go of it with his wife. We all share a quick boat ride out to see the crocodile taking in the sun right in front of the restaurant and enjoy the sunset on the lake.
A donation to the bird food fund is made and we take our leave having had a wonderful time and some good laughs at Lake Chivero.