africa blog: ZIMBABWE PART I - A DAY AT THE TRACK

ZIM BLOG I - HARARE

"A DAY AT THE TRACK"

Had never been to Zimbabwe, but it’s a great word to say! Turns out “ZIM” was formerly Rhodesia, and English colony from 1950 to 1980-ish, when the locals overthrew the mzungus and declared their independence, and reclaimed all the functioning farms as their own. Many whites left, some stayed. Today President Mugabe who led the revolt in the 80s is still in power. He’s in his 90s. the economy tanked in 2006 and runaway inflation hit so hard people had literally wheelbarrows full of currency to go to the store for groceries. Finally, the US Dollar was instated, and things calmed down. Incredibly, the economy has bounced back and the country is stable. And safer than Kenya. the vibe is friendly and chill. blacks and whites mixing well and upward mobility a possibility for most.

Yes Mugabe’s army runs the police and it is a police state as such, but the locals follow the law, the police aren’t corrupt nor are bought off, and people respect the law. If you break the law you’ll get a serious “hiding”! all in all, I’m observing a happy people and Mugabe has been in power long enough that he is putting money back into the country. The fear is a new regime will stuff their pockets first for years before they fix things like maintenance. In Kenya parlance, “it’s their turn to eat”. So Mugabe isn’t all bad. Like Singapore, sure they have canings and chewing gum is forbidden, and the West thinks it’s terrible. But Singapore is clean, it’s safe, it’s prosperous, and the people are happy.

I’ve lived in a country with no law and order for 1000 days and it sucks. People are unhappy, unsafe, the city is filthy, the leaders are corrupt, there is no justice, and it’s getting worse. I remember our van driver in Uganda saying “Africa is not built for democracy. It doesn’t work. We are a tribal people. We like a chief. Not a parliament. We prefer a chief.” And so it is. I’ve have yet to observe anything different. Mugabe appears a benevolent dictator. Kenya has a corrupt PM and all the MPs are corrupt as well. I like the chief model. Zim also works because it only has 2 tribes. 2 languages. Kenya has 42. Much harder to govern and manage and make work. What if every tribe in Africa had their own country? Why do countries have to be so big?? Look at all the civil wars. Just saying. Or give each tribe their own state. There has to be a simpler, better way to govern things.

So I flew to Zim to watch my jockey friend “Q” run in the OK Challenge, and biggest derby horse race in Harare for the whole year. (BTW, Harare was formerly “Salisbury”). Q had a good day, some nice finishes with 6 races total. But the horses he thought were sure things weren’t and the slacker horses ended up doing well. It made for terrible betting today! But I’ll survive.

Z lives with wife Judes and 2 daughters…Amy and Kelly. Judes was also a jockey at one time and has always been into jumping. She just bought a beautiful former race horse, Good Day, he’s 17 hands high, and he’s a great jumper now. She’s very happy about that. Pics for that in Zim Blog II.

I’m writing this Saturday night, June 7. In 3 weeks time I’ll be flying to cape town on a Saturday night. This COTW (citizen of the world) starting all over again in a new country, a new culture, a new language (trading Kiswahili for the much more difficult Afrikaans), a new climate, a new elevation…sea level, and a whole new world: the Western Cape.

Not all the pics this blog have captions. You’ll figure it out. But the track was very large and proper, with a huge grandstand in a nice complex. Not as intimate as the old Nairobi race course, nor as charming, but much more first world feeling. although not quite Santa Anita either. And after the races today OK Supermarket gave away 43 cars, so the crowd on hand was huge for the draw!

Well, all for now. Winter is starting here in June. October is the driest, hottest month, called the “sucide” month from all the heat and dust (hitting 38 Celcius in Harare). Then the much needed rains come in November. Zimbabwe touches Zambia to the north, Mozambique to the east, South Africa to the south and Botswana to the west. It’s 3 hours by jet from NBO. And the population is @ 10,000,000. The traffic flows, the streets are in decent shape, crime is low, economy is stable, and there is a chill vibe in the air. A warm feel here. People are nice and warm. I like Zim. One of my favorite Africa countries. I’ve been to 11 countries on this continent. I’d like to see another 11, or more!

Time for lala salama. Peaceful sleep!

too many pix for captions on every one...but you get the idea...it's a day at the races! enjoy!

breakfast - seat 12A - 3 hour flight south!

somewhere over africa

harare airport

gateway

harare terminal

Quinton with Abu, former race horse, now a jumper at Jude's school!

the duck laid her eggs in her nest in Breezy's paddock.

ducks eat the grain scraps from the horse feed.

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Pick N Pay. nice N clean. everything in USD!

Borrowdale Brooke Estates. very V-I-Pimpy.

Q on a job site. he's partners in WestQuin construction. busy busy.

5 guys transferring a barrel of sealant. heavy sledding!

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DTH - downtown harare

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isaac was on another job site

nice smile!

giant billboards popular

yes there are swimming pools

the track is 3000 meters...about 2 miles around.

racehorses circle here before and after each race

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the VIP stand

Q gets ready for the next race! he weighs 50 kgs...@ 100lbs

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horses race for the finish line

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post race cool down

Judes watches Q below

let the hunger games begin...er the food games!

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this guy is boiling more maize. like kenyan ugali.

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ice cream

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classic grandstands

symphony in red

Q from above

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our guard on the stairs

my hang for the day...very VIP

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this girl kept taking my money every race...and rarely gave it back! #bigloser!

watching the screen

scary monster munckins!

people love the ponies!

big hats and derbys go together round the world

Dr Evil???????? classic!

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"and they're off!"

$20 on the 12 horse to Place. go Q!

he came 4th

Q tells the owner what happened. "outside draw, horses on the rail were too slow, got caught in the pack, couldn't bust a move, find a groove, blah blah!"