DATE: November 13, 2007
New Photos:
Malawi
Our two main climbing destinations in Zimbabwe, after Matopos and some hills near Harare, were rock outcroppings called Shamu and Dema, both in the middle of nowhere. They offered both stupendous climbing and an intimate view into Zimbabwean country life.
At Shamu, we camped in an elder's farm near a large tree and on very bumpy ground. The farmer is 80 and his wife is 24, and between her and his other wife he has 16 children. We spent a few days exploring the area; I found it quite relaxing after all the adventurous bushwhacking we had been doing up to that point, as it was an easy walk from camp to the crags.
Steve and Remi climbing at Shamu
A bit of trivia: Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates of lighting striking humans in the world. Therefore, when you're climbing on a cliff and see clouds appear on the horizon, with occasional flashes, you get down ASAP. We had a pretty wild lightning storm pass through right on top of us while at Shamu. It all started off innocently enough, with hard driving rain under which many of us took a full shower and I even shaved my legs - desperation removes all shame. However, when the lightning appeared we all huddled in the truck and hoped the old wive's tale of vehicles being safe is true. I tried to push aside recurrent thoughts of how we were all actually in a giant METAL box which was also one of the tallest things in the field. Luckily, the lightning was more attracted to the cliffs we had just been climbing...
Group shower in the rain - move over, that's my drip!
Photo taken by Remi
The tents were another concern. The rain was coming down hard onto the soft spongy earth on which we were camped, which was a problem both for puddles and stakes not holding in the ground. Several people ran out into the downpour to dig trenches around their tents and discovered their tents had gone completely flat! One even FLEW AWAY completely. Duane went out in the night to check on his tent and came back, looking utterly bewildered, exclaiming "My tent has disappeared. It's just... GONE!" It was not the time to go looking, so he spent the night in the truck. In the morning, I woke up before everyone else (probably because I was one of the only people to have a dry night's sleep - so proud of my trusty little tent) and saw a couple of locals in a neighbouring field standing around something orange and bright - Duane's tent! I hurried over and said "Ah! There it is! Ha ha!" and they looked at me and asked "Is this your house?" I laughed. House? Well, I guess so! "No, but it is my friend's house... Last night he went looking for it and came back and said 'My house is gone!'" The guys thought this was the most hilarious thing EVER, if only you could have heard their hoots of laughter... "heeee heee heee! The house flew away!" :) I added "Obviously it is not a very good house" to chuckles all around. The thing could not have looked more modern and high-tech - it is a "bomber" four-season tent. We each grabbed a corner and walked it right back to its takeoff point, still perfectly intact.
Our next climbing stop was at an impressive rock named Dema. When we rolled in to the area with our loud diesel engine, we cut out the music and a little elder appeared wearing a nametag stating he was the village chief, along with his entourage of about 8 others. He informed us that we needed to get special permission from a local "king" (warlord?) who managed the area to camp and climb their special mountain. He and a lucky selected few went for a ride with us in BiRT (they will probably be telling their grandchildren of the experience for years to come) to meet said king at his heavily guarded compound. Even after scolding our leader, Emma, for shaking his hand (apparently, quite an offense - no one gets the privilege of touching the man's hand) he seemed quite reasonable and fair, and allowed us to camp on the land after explaining to us how he manages the area and having us stop by the local police station to alert them of our presence. Amazingly, no bribe passed hands throughout the ordeal. It seemed more a show of authority and pride than anything else. Definitely an interesting experience.
Dema
At Dema, we were an intense curiousity. Everyone, especially children, popped by for a visit at some point or another. Once again, we had instant rock star status. I was feeling a bit introverted - not in the mood to entertain crowds, but luckily some on the truck were quite up for it and there was a continual rather festive mood around the truck. Everything from spoon-egg races to painting to football games was going on at any one time. They were especially curious when they saw us gear up and walk toward the mountain - I'm sure it must have seemed like such a bizarre thing to do.
Emma entertaining some kids with a fish-face
Matt playing footie with the locals
Curious local woman with a beautiful farm-house behind
Local kids
The climbing was definitely interesting. David and I teamed up once again to attempt a lovely 2-pitch crack called "Flash," which we did anything but flash. Somehow, it took us three tries to finish the thing. The first day we were rained off, and had to leave gear in the route and come down. The second day we were joined by a third, Drew, and we ended up taking longer than expected and I found myself 2/3 up the second pitch at sunset, with both David and Drew waiting below. It was they who had noticed - "Aw, what a pretty sunset. ... Uh oh. @#*$!... Sunset!!" We had no headlamps (oops, when will I ever learn??) and were clueless as to the descent once we reached the top. Nightfall comes FAST when the sun hits the horizon and we knew it would be pitch dark by the time I finished the lead, let alone getting the other two to the top. Thus, we came to a hard-pressed decision to retreat once again, myself being lowered on a rather hastily prepared, sketchy setup. I met the two boys in the dark at their hanging and very uncomfortable position and we set up an abseil in utter darkness using a camera LCD as our light for checking knots etc. Luckily, we had managed to catch another couple on their descent of a neighboring climb and yelled for them to go back and fetch us some lights for the hike out. We safely made it back to the truck. While the retreat was definitely the right decision - we would have certainly spent the night on top of the mountain had we kept going - it meant that we left gear stuck in the route at two anchor points, amounting to a good portion of our gear which was therefore not available for the start of the route when we returned, on the third day, to finally nail it. This resulted in a bit hairier of a first pitch for David with some fairly run-out bits. The day was baking hot; the boys roasted in their hanging belay while I sweated up both pitches. I finally finished, after taking quite a big fall when a huge jug split apart in my hands... it never felt so good to finally finish a route!
Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera up the routes so I don't have any climbing pics to share... if I get some from David I'll see if I can post some up. For now, a few more pictures of the zoo that was our camp. ;)
Bouldering on BiRT, Dema in the background
I love the expression on the girl's face at left
A local home
Mother and child
The mother here was stunningly beautiful and the little boy was terrified of me
Finally, we said goodbye to Zimbabwe and climbing for a good while, and crossed Mozambique into Malawi.