Chimanimani, Part IV

On our way out of the Reserve, we stopped for two short hikes.

The first was to see amazing "cave paintings" that likely date back more than 1,000 years to the bushmen who used to live in this area. The paintings were all carefully done under rock overhangs which protected them from the elements. The detail was incredible - the animals were easily recognizable, as was the gender of the humans in the paintings. And the anonymity was also captivating - there was barely a trail leading to the paintings (only a few cairns marking the way), and no signage or protective barriers. We felt privileged to be seeing them.

The second was to peer down into a deep, narrow gorge cut by the stream that wasn't even visible from where we were at the top.

Throughout the trip, Ian and Sebastian were inseparable, fast friends who entertained us all.

Chimanimani, Part III

I really am not qualified to describe this next part of our visit to Chimanimani, as I spent the time snoozing in our chalet and not actually going on the hike. But since I went on the hike seven years ago, and since I have the photos, and since nobody else in my family has the time to post to the blog, I will go ahead without qualifications and post anyway!

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After a late lunch during which all manner of tasty surprises emerged (a benefit of non-coordinated group camping), the more adventurous of our group (those not desperately in need of a nap, or at least too stubborn to succumb) headed off to the waterfall - an amazing long drop of surrounded by verdant forests.


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The bold swam in the icy waters of the pool at the base of the waterfall. For others, scampering around the rocks surrounding the pools naked nudie was more fun.

Chimanimani, Part II

Ian had his best day of hiking yet, climbing the full four hours to the top of the ridge and back down all by himself with no help and no complaining - and it wasn't an easy trail!

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The scenery was terrific; we ambled through homesteads with fish ponds, turkeys, beautiful fields fill of a variety of vegetables and grains, lovely rural huts painted beautifully, even a grape arbor.


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This seemed like a good place to live: less oppressive heat than in the lowlands, abundant water, lower prevelance of malaria.



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The contrast from one side to the other along the frontier ridge was stark: on the Zimbabwe side, plantations of pine eucalyptus trees, a large, neatly laid out and built village, a general sense of order and development, whereas on the Mozambique side, rough mountains, simple scattered housing, and "bush." (You can see a little bit of Zimbabwe in the right side of the group photo - the dark green swath is a pine plantation; Mozambique is to the left.)

Theo loved the hike, making barely a noise the whole time. I carried him a sling, and he slept peacefully all the way up and all the way down, just waking to take in the view at the top of the ridge.

Chimanimani, revisited

Before I continue with describing our recent Chimanimani adventure, I really must pause for a better description of the road. I found digital photos of this road from when Rich and I visited Chimanimani 7 years ago. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are three photos of the most challenging parts of the road:

The slope of this road makes you feel like your car just might roll over head first going down. Rich was driving in 4Low with the accelerator fully depressed, and we just made it up. yikes!

Chimanimani, Part I

In late May, we were treated to a visit by some friends, Ryan and Karen, who came to Mozambique on a delayed honeymoon adventure. Rich and I had worked with Ryan at the Crane Foundation many years ago (we were shocked how many, we are getting old), and had had the chance to meet Karen on several occasions as well. We spent two great days with them in the Park: Ryan and Rich tried to reach Hippo House and spent the afternoon digging their car out of the mud that blocked them from reaching their destination, a not-uncommon event around here; Karen, Katie, and Ian jetted across to Vinho to see the recently opened health clinic and school there.

But the real fun began with our trip to Chimanimani, a beautiful mountainous reserve along Mozambique's western border with Zimbabwe.


We packed into our Nissan double cab (people, like myself, who are fans of carseat and seatbelt laws should avoid counting how many people we were in the car, but at least none of us rode in the truck bed) and headed two hours down the road to Chimoio, the first stop on our journey, where we loaded up on groceries for the trip and tried (unsuccessfully) to purchase the 2008 stickers for our car (which had already been bought by the project for the car but had never materialized). (I should be correct here and say RICH tried for hours to buy these stickers while the rest of us had pastries and cappuccinos. poor rich.)

Then we were off, accompanied by a professional colleague of Rich's, Stefaan Dondeyne, the Reserve's as-yet-unofficial ecologist, and (bonus!) his five year old son Sebastian.

The first two hours from Chimoio towards the mountains were uneventful - beautiful scenery, good conversation, much amusement listening to the boys (who had only just met) chatting away in the car and inventing all manner of stories and games.

Then we reached the entry gate for the Reserve (one notch down from National Park, but still with reasonable protections), and from here the trip got more adventurous. The road was traverses a rocky, stream-crossed landscape, and nothing but a strong 4wd will be able to make the trip, crossing loose-rock-bottomed-streams and climbing steep, rocky hills. We had several moments of sweaty palms (especially after the sun went down and we were in the dark), but we arrived safely at Chikukwa camp, nestled near the Zimbabwe border high in the mountains.

Chikukwa camp was built about 8 years ago, and Rich and I had stayed here once before in 2001. We "camped" in little chalet we had stayed in during those visit - the perfect accommodation for people who want to go camping but don't have a tent big enough for everyone! The thatch roof kepts us dry and our Thermarest mattresses and sleeping bags kept us warm on the cement floor. The very simple bathroom (a toilet with a bucket of water for flushing and the base of a shower with another bucket of water for washing) was also a nice amenity.



But the real show-stealer were the views. We awoke to the calls of birds and the light of the sun rising on the highest peaks of the jagged mountains. The morning mountain air was cold, as you can tell from the fact that Theo is barely visible underneath his fleecy snowsuit (a gift from good friends here that we weren't sure when we use - but it was essential here!), and the hot coffee in our little camp warmed us down into our toes.

And the sun soon warmed us as we headed further up the mountain on foot to the ridge that forms the border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe... (continued in Part II)

The Mr. Puffy Story, by Ian Beilfuss

[note: any violent acts in this story can be attributed to recent viewings of The Incredibles, and are against the advice and guidance of the author's mother]

Day 1. One day, a Puffy was walking along. He noticed a person with a gun. He came up to him. He was about to shoot the banker because he wanted more money when Mr. Puffy stepped out in front of the bad guy.

He shot Mr. Puffy but the bullet just shot right back at the bad guy. The bad guy died.

Day 2. Puffy was walking along. He noticed that, far away, a huge battle of soldiers and four robots was happening.

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Day 3. Mr. Puffy was stressed out by fighting all those robots. He had another mission to go on: to find one of the world's best fighting bad guys. He was coming especially to attack the family of the Puffys. Puffy was getting ready.

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He was going outside to fight the mean bad buy, who doesn't really have a name. Now he has arrived at the bad guy. Now he is busy fighting.

Puffy comes home.

Day 4. Day four is a weekend so Mr. Puffy doesn't have to work because all the other superheroes are working. He is enjoying the fine day. He decides that he wants to join the scuba diving group. He goes out on a boat to scuba dive. He is almost out in the middle of the ocean when the other guys call him to go scuba diving. He is scared at first but then he noticed the real joy of scuba diving.

What is Ian up to?

Here is what Ian was up to just the other day (and every day) - running around and being crazy!

This particular day, he was out observing a fire that was burning a fire break around Chitengo as part of the Park's fire management plan and also as part of a training program for local communities in conducting controlled burns.



Thanks to Monica for the photos!

Fun with Monica!

The pictures tell it all - we love playing with Monica!

Monica is a colleague of ours here in Chitengo, working on community environmental education.

She works hard, but she is also a ton of fun!!

Boa Maria

In late May, we took a great "sundowner" trip to the nearby Boa Maria, the former "headquarters" for a plantation in this area many years ago, located high on a rocky ridge above the Pungue river. The old buildings are nearly gone, but the view is marvelous, as are the sights and sounds of the nearby communities.

The view was great, but the photo-op of Theo was not to be missed!

Ian's Aloe Coral Tree

Regular readers of our blog may remember that Ian was an avid seed collector and germinator last year in Chitengo. We gathered many of a seed from mostly trees and shrubs, and germinated them in yogurt pots on our front porch.

One seed, in particular, was very productive. It grew and grew. We had to be careful, as even as a tiny seedling this plat has sharp thorns on the leaves and stems! We had to repot the seedling into a larger container in September or October 2007, and then we had to leave it in the good hands of our friend Cheryl to care for while we returned to the US to have Theo.

Cheryl soon reported that Ian's seedling of the aloe coral tree had grown SO BIG in the heat and rains of the Mozambican summer that she'd had to transplant it into the ground!

This little tree, just one year old, continues to grow now, just ouside the window of Ian's bedroom.

Imagine Ian coming back to Chitengo someday to visit this tree. What a legacy.

Ian and Gram Keep Busy

Gram was with us here in Africa for more than 2 1/2 months. During that time, she and Ian were busy around the clock with projects and studies of all kinds. Here is a short list of the projects they did:

House for Lizard, a small plastic toy lizard that, sadly, disapeared from our lives even before his house was completed. We plan on getting a new lizard, but Ian says he is only available at Zuzu's cafe near the zoo in Madison. (This is where Lizard the First came from.)

Carnivores of Kruger, a hand-drawn and -colored book of some of the carnivores of Kruger National Park. This was a many-week project that resulted in a high quality product.

Lemur's book. Gram and Ian took Lemur, an important new addition to Ian's stuffed animal collection that Dad brought from Madagascar, all around Chitengo Camp, taking his photo in many places and with many people in Chitengo. Then, they cropped and edited the photos on Gram's computer, organized them into the right order, and wrote text to accompany each photo and tell the story of Lemur. Katie is still working to turn the photos and text into a Powerpoint presentation or maybe even a book.

Paperdolls. Lemur was lonely, so Gram and Ian made paperdolls of Lemora and Semur, Lemur's brother and sister. These paperdolls also have a collection of very interesting and lovely clothing, including ice skating outfits and bathing suits.

Cuisinaire Rods. These are wooden rods of different lengths that help kids learn basic arithmatic skills in a visual way.

Tangrams. These are plastic geometric shapes that you can use to make almost any other shape with!

Phonics. Almost every day, Gram and Ian worked on their phonics book, and Ian learned to recognize many different words, including "and," "the," "he," "she," and "said". They also made up lists of rhyming words that have the same root spelling, like hat, cat, bat, pat, and mat and book, look, hook, and nook. Rhyming words are very fun.

They did MANY more projects than this, but that gives you some flavor of their activities. What fun!