Cloud forests filled with unseeable birds, water dripping everywhere. Trout streams and waterfalls. Autumn-dry Brachystegia woodlands with late-blooming wild flowers. Cecil Rhode’s mountain home, now Nyanga National Park. The vast estate of La Rochelle with its 65-year-old botanical gardens. Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands boast a great variety of scenery, plants, animals, camping and weather. In one day we were drenched in the mist
y cloud forest then baked by the sun on a hike up to San paintings. The down comforter is out of storage and on the bed for the cold nights but we are still bathing in sunscreen during the day. The high mountain air reminds us of home. This 
is a different part of Zimbabwe than we visited last year.
But the people are still the same – the friendliest, most literate and likable people you’d ever want to meet. Yes, things have changed, they tell us, since November 14 when Robert Mugabe finally left office. At the tollgate on the highway the attendant said November 14 is the new Independence Day. There is much optimism; how we hope for the best for these people who
’ve been in limbo for years. Still, an instant change is impossible. Prices have skyrocketed since we were here a year ago. Deeply-rooted corruption will take years to dismantle. Fallow farms will need literally everything to be up and producing any time soon. If the new government can rise up for its people, there is a good possibility of success because regular Zimbabweans like Listen and his wife Shubi, with daughter 
Paisley, are willing to work so hard to make something happen. We will leave Zim tomorrow for Mozambique; with multi-entry visas we can return to see how it is going in a month or so. Good things come to those that wait, it is said. These people have waited long enoug
h.
Did you know that, contrary to what you’ll read on the web, you cannot extend a 30-visa in Mozambique? Not at an immigration office, not at a border, not at all. Unlike every other African country we have visited, Moz immigration requires that a tourist leave the country then return and purchase a new visa. And not just leave for an afternoon, either. Two days at least. This is a stunning revelation. Go to Zimbabwe, they told us, it is only an hours drive to the border. As it was still fairly early in the day, to the Forbes/Manica border we went, only to be told the same thing. We would have to leave Moz. Now.
So why not just strike out for Vilankulos and the coast, you ask, spend a few days at the beach first? Yes, well, on another planet that might work. But even with over a week left on our current visa, there is nowhere in this mangled country we can drive to and still get back to the Forbes border within nine days. The roads, and I’m being kind, are barely paved. The potholes have potholes. Smaller holes they fill with sedans. Just getting back to Gorongosa National Park, where rain has effectively closed the game drives, is at least a two day drive, with no guarantee that we’d even see that park. We pull back to the last Mozambique campground before the Forbes border and take a breath – time to ready 
ourselves for Zimbabwe.
Casa Msika camp is so welcoming and friendly we stay for two days – lucky for us we have the time. Christopher, a young and dedicated Zimbabwean man, is the game warden of the small reserve and he leads us on a trek to find the resident giraffes, one of whom is about to give birth. She is very calm as we watch her but she isn’t about to birth her calf in front of us! There are zebra and wildebeest out and about; the reserve is hoping to boost their game animal numbers, perhaps even provide creatures to help replenish Gorongosa’s herds. Back at camp, a family from Zimbabwe arrive on their way home from the 
coast and we dine with them. Their enthusiasm is infectious, they love Zim’s Eastern Highlands and Vumba mountains. Off we go the next morning, to the bird-watching paradise and cloud forests of eastern Zimbabwe. We will be back to Moz soon enough. Gorongosa Park will be dry. The beaches will still be beautiful. It’s just a matter of time.
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