Harare to Mutare

We’ve decided to change our trip.  Admittedly, our original plans were a bit ambitious – 3 countries in 5 weeks.  So, instead of going to Zimbabwe, Malawi (with a stop in Tete in Mozambique, so I guess that makes it 4 countries), and Zambia, we’re going to stay in Zimbabwe for about 3.5 weeks and go through Botswana on the way back to South Africa.  We’re also hoping to stop through Ladybrand (on the SA side of Lesotho) to visit Leen’s dad on the way back to Cape Town.

Our plans have changed mostly for two reasons – 1. time constraints (we realized that our trip was too ambitious and we wouldn’t get to see and learn all that we wanted to in such a short time) and 2. Visa fees – we found out that to get into Mozambique (a necessity to pass through to Malawi) is 85 USD for a single entry and the borders aren’t giving out multiple entries anymore and the visa fee for Zambia is 50 USD for a single entry.  We just couldn’t justify those expenses (times 2) for such short visits in each country.  I really want to write a journal article about the social costs of visa fees… but I digress.

The cool thing about our change of plans is that it will give us more time to explore Zimbabwe and learn a bit more clearly about what’s going here.  As Leen and I have said time and again, we’re very interested in learning about education systems and this will give us a better understanding of the education system in Zimbabwe.