In light of the events  of the last two days in Zimbabwe, I felt now would be an appropriate time to post my photos from this leg of my African adventure. When in Zimbabwe, our guides joked nervously that the country was basically waiting for Mugabe's death, but that there was uncertainty over who would take over with the president lining up his wife, Grace Mugabe to inherit his monopoly on power. It's crazy to think that less than 8 weeks after my visit to the country, things have reached a breaking point with a military staged coup against Mugabe's power.

Out of the 4 countries I would get to visit on my trip, Zimbabwe was the one I was most intrigued about. I think it would be fair to say that Zimbabwe doesn't exactly have the best reputation in the West, and despite knowing little about the country, the one word that springs to mind is 'corruption'. President, Robert Mugabe, has been in power since 1987; that's a staggering 30 years and his dominant hegemony over Zimbabwean politics has rendered him a heavily criticised figure, accused of human rights abuses amongst other claims of offices being riddled with corruption and racial discrimination against whites.

With these heavy pre-conceptions I stepped foot into Zimbabwe, unsure what would await me. A big hug is the answer.. sure enough .after paying our visas, the head of border security gave us all a huge embrace and welcomed us with overwhelming warmness and a great smile to his country, wishing us a happy stay! This was not what I had expected but people did genuinely seem pleased and eager to make us feel welcome.

We headed, like most tourists to the major pull in Zimbabwe, and indeed Southern Africa's greatest natural wonder, Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world. When we arrived in the Victoria Falls town, we were straight away approached by men trying to sell us trillion dollar bank notes, as a novelty souvenir. In 2009, the Zimbabwean dollar crashed, and to put this in perspective a 100 trillion $ note is now worth just a mere 40 U.S. cents!! The country's economy is now reliant on the U.S. dollar and there is a major cash crisis in the country- when we went we were strongly advised by our tour guides to take out all the dollars we would need prior to crossing the border as all the ATMS were supposedly empty, and money would be hard to come by once in the country.

Victoria Falls was magnificent. We visited in dry season, when the falls were reaching their lowest in terms of water volume, yet we could still feel the spray on our face from the viewing points. I can only imagine how impressive the falls must be in the height of the rainy season! Worryingly, the Victoria Falls park was surprisingly empty, perhaps it was because it wasn't the wet season, but we had most of the viewpoints to ourselves and saw hardly any other tourists. Although this was great from our perspective as we could enjoy the falls without having to fight through crowds, it did make me wonder whether Zimbabwe's tourism was suffering in light of the uncertain political climate. Perhaps there was a reason people were so eager to make us feel extra welcome.

Leaving Victoria Falls, and heading South East to Hwange and then Matobo, we had to repeatedly stop at road blocks, where officers would check over our bus and our tour leaders had to hand over a 'road toll'. Speaking to Gift, and Gibson, our tour leaders later that night about their views on Zimbabwe, they confirmed the standard narrative as they suggested that corruption was rife. It's fair to say the roads were quite bad despite the multiple road taxes we had to to cough up, to supposedly pay for their upkeep. Clearly the money was going elsewhere. Gibson's opinion of  Zimbabwe's state of affairs suggests there is a lot of frustration as the country's great potential is not being exploited in a positive and beneficial way.

Both our tour guides sung high praises for the country's great natural wealth as they maintained that the country has abundant natural resources and fertile ground but lacks proper management, and they lamented that the Zimbabwean people have suffered much as a consequence.

This was very disheartening to hear especially as I could see with my own eyes Zimbabwe's potential. It took me by surprise and swept me off my feet- the people were friendly and the landscape was captivating, from the immensity of Victoria Falls to Hwange National Park and the Matobo Hills National Park, a landscape infused with history and a peacefulness which I did not experience anywhere else on my African travels ( more to come on these last two). Zimbabwe became my favourite country by far, and I hope I will return some day.