Zimbabwe: Hwange NP – Visiting a Local Village
One of the highlights of Zimbabwe was visiting a local village near Hwange National Park – remote and isolated. Just driving from here to the nearest large town of Victoria Falls would take over one full day. I was actually positively surprised by the quality of life here – good housing, fertile land, livestock, schools, and generally happy people. I was welcomed into the village chief’s house to see the local food cooking, talk about the village, and walk around his house. Most houses are built from clay that has been excavated from termite mounds – when this stuff solidified it becomes harder then cement. The houses are circular huts with thatched roofs and are quite large. Cooking is done outside with staple foods like maize and sorghum bering prepared into stews, with plum wine to follow. And then more exploration followed with a drive around the village with local kids in school uniforms happily waiving at every corner.
