The present situation of Zimbabwe which showed the difference in the case with African countries

Hello. Bicycle around the worldTakuya SAITO @ Chalidermanis. From MozambiqueZimbabweIt enters.

I've been looking forward to traveling to Zimbabwe where the news of economic collapse has flowed. The "African journey" may have ended in Zimbabwe. Despite the economic collapse, the case was different from the African countries so far. Even now it is surprising, so it must have been a terrible country in the past. Current,Zimbabwe DollarHas disappeared and the US dollar and South African land are circulating. Although the economy is rebuilding,President MugabeThe dilemma of dictatorship is held by him. I summarized the current state of 2012 of such Zimbabwe.

Here is Harare (Harare), the capital city of Zimbabwe.

View Larger Map

In Zimbabwe, the eastern Mutare (Mutare) and the capitalHarare (Harare)I stayed in.

Mutare, close to the border with Mozambique, is the central city of the surrounding mine area, with commercial districts spreading around the main street extending to the east and west. African cities tend to be stuffy as garbage bags and cluttered but Mutare is neat and neat and refreshing, the houses seen in the city are big houses with garden and pool surrounded by fences. Neither the city building nor the house making is past Africa. That landscape with plenty of land was like Australia.

Mutare's main street.


The blue sky was pleasant as well.


The city center of the capital city Harare (Harare) was also overwhelmed with skyscrapers forested. It was a big capital since Kaiya's Nairobi (Nairobi). In the center of town, the road was tied to a go board and it was easy to walk. Houses spread out in the suburbs and there were scattered shopping malls. There is plenty of supermarket assortment and there are many items of Made in Zimbabwe. What made you stand out was solid socks. This Harare was also not like Africa until now.

Go straight and you will enter the city center of Harare.


A church standing in a skyscraper.


At the intersection of the central streets where roads go and go.


main Street. What is the strange object on the roof of the building?


Shopping center and brand new building in the city center.


The road from the city center to the suburbs was like a green tunnel.


"Avondale Shopping Center" near the inn


Shopping mall "Arundel Village Center" which had cycle shop handling parts like those in Europe


In Zimbabwe I saw a fast food shop that is developing nationwide chain in a while. It has been since Morocco. I feel that Africa gradually will be over.

Signs of fast food shops line up.


"Fast food of" CHIKEN INN ".


"CREAM INN" soft ice cream melts smoothly in the mouth. What I ate in Cameroon and Gabon was a fake.


"Cascade" loved by Zimbabwe people is an orange flavored milk drink.


Downtown (commercial area) in the southwest of Harare's city center is crowded with Indian and Chinese shops. It is a district of the common people of Zimbabwe who also has different customer base with the shopping mall in the city center. Here I got a long pants (20 dollars) that had become tattered and a T - shirt (2 dollars) of synthetic fibers that could be used for cycling. Japanese price tags are attached to Chinese made clothes. Even if it was written in Japanese as 4900 yen, it was sold for 10 dollars here. I also got a bicycle tube made in India. To doubt that there was economic collapse, it was full of things here.

Harare's commercial district (downtown)


It is easy to shop because stores and price tags are affixed to shop front like this.


As shown in the above picture, the price tag is shown in US dollars ......

Yes, the Zimbabwe dollar had disappeared. The US Dollar and South African Rand are in place in circulation. Supermarket, gas station, road toll gate and all in US dollars. If you do international cash at bank ATM, US dollars will come out. Until now, when I heard the Internet fee, "An amount of money in one hour" was the answer, but in Zimbabwe it was strange with the answer "this time in 1 dollar". When buying vegetables in the market, I was told that "1 to 5 tomatoes and 1 doll 5 onions". So I was shopping "two tomatoes on 1 dollar, three onions". Coca Cola in the bottle was also 50 cents. It can not be as much as 40 cents nor 60 cents. Because fishing is annoying unless it costs two dollars.

It is good that the currency of Zimbabwe switched to U.S. dollars, but problems have arisen with the handling of small change. East Timor who visited once, although the currency was US dollars, St. had its own coins circulated. Coins in South African Rand are used in Zimbabwe. This is also strange, even if it is 1 US dollar (about 81.1 yen) and 10 lands is (about 106.6 yen), it is calculated at 1 US dollar = 10 lands. Fishing of 50 cents (about 40.5 yen) was returning at 5 lands (about 53.3 yen). However, in the capital Harare, fishing of 50 cents (about 40.5 yen) was close to the market with 4 lands (about 42.6 yen).

In this way, since the handling of fishing is complicated, I did shopping with as few fractions as possible. In the supermarket you will receive a receipt or ticket written as 10 cents in exchange for small change. When we issue this in the next account, it will be discounted. (The Japanese yen is converted at the rate at the beginning of March 2012.)

One US dollar of commonly used small paper money is like a cloth and it looks like a cloth. However, it is impossible to print new notes.


A coupon ticket of a receipt and small change that can be used for next liquidation at a supermarket.


Gasoline stand is also displayed in US dollars.


The US dollar indication of the toll booth on the road is "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" ... ... is it so rough?


Zimbabwe is a British colony, a white countryRhodesiaAfter independence in 1980, it passed. It was a tough time to grasp freedom for South Africa, apartheid, Angola, Mozambique in Portuguese colony and Blacks in southern Africa. In 1960 "Year of Africa"It is different from a country that is independent black people as a whole. Zimbabwe continued its steady economic growth both independently and in cooperation with white society. Large-scale agricultural production supported the Zimbabwe economy as an "African grain storehouse". Where did the gears go wrong?

Zimbabwe spreads enough land, the country is almost the same as Japan, while the population is one tenth.


Beyond barbed wire is private land.


It embodies "African grain storehouse".


A vast farm was spreading.


Large scale efficient irrigation system.


It is brought up tobacco that is responsible for acquiring foreign currency.


From the very beginning President Mugabe had taken an autocratic approach. Still it is Zimbabwe who was somehow established as a country, but it will collapse from the latter half of the 1990s. In 1997 it became necessary to embrace the former liberation guerrilla who fought for independence of Zimbabwe, which has an influence on the military, in order to suppress the military which could cause a coup d'etat from corruption within the administration. The pension benefits for the former liberation guerrilla that was done for that purpose were enough to break the national finances.

In 1998, we dispatched troops to support the government side of the Democratic Republic of Congo where the civil war has occurred. In the Second Congo War, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Uganda, Rwanda on the side of the government were on the side of the administration, just like the aggression war over the abundant resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This dispatch is also said to protect the diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was the name of Mrs. Grace who is the second wife of President Mugabe.

From 2000, we have promoted compulsory expropriation of Caucasian farms. Caucasian who deprived the land left the country, agricultural technology was lost. After suffering from misappropriation, it fell into hyper inflation and the Zimbabwe economy collapsed once. This economic collapse remained in Zimbabwe as frequent blackouts, street lamps that could not light up, unrepaired roads, and scratches everywhere.

Zimbabwe dollar has become a piece of paper.


Rare asphalt in Harare city not repaired.


A broken chair in the rest area next to the road.


Would President Mugabe take over the power of sovereignty Is Zimbabwe a dictatorship state? However, a tourist visa will be issued on the border on the same day. The officer kindly helped fill out the form. Wherever you go, you will not be interrogated at the police station like Nigeria, there are no accommodation restrictions like China. If it is a true dictatorship state, North KoreaTurkmenistanRestrictions on travel are added like this.

I saw a portrait of President Mugabe in a store, which is common in Africa. Even in Zambia there is a portrait of the incumbent President. Zimbabwe 's freedom was the top article of tabloid paper that I saw in the capital Harare. "President Mugabe, fall asleep during the parliament" ... Such headline was exciting. President Mugabe is autocratic, but he did not feel Zimbabwe as a dictatorship.

Zimbabwe'sThe 2008 presidential electionMr. Mugabe of the ruling party Zimbabwe / African national alliance patriotic front (ZANU-PF) and the opposition party's democratic change movement (MDC)Morgan Tsangillai ChairpersonIt was a finalist vote by. In the first vote, the Mugabe camp which was lower in the vote rate than Tsangirai chairman will go out to thoroughly obstructive work. Mr. Tsangirai, who felt his danger, had only to decide to withdraw from the final ballot. This called for criticism from the international community, and confusion continued in the country. ZANU-RF and MDC will form a coalition government in order to collect things. President Mu Gabe, form of Prime Minister Tsangirai. Even in Congress, opposition parties have seats that oppose the ruling party. This is not a true dictatorship state. Given that President Mugabe himself is 88 years old and older, he will not enter into expectations for the bright news after President Mugabe.

People in Zimbabwe also seemed different compared to Africa so far. There were few people wearing clothes of Boro, on the contrary, those who were walking with torn pants and T - shirts would have been floating. Children going to school are wearing proper uniforms and are reliable. It is also nice to speak with a shy feel. I enjoyed talking occasionally with the Zimbabwe people. It was pleasant to talk to people in Zimbabwe who are calm and understandable enough to make conversation tied.

Zimbabwe people:
Are you married?

Chariderman:
I can not do such a thing if I do it. For my wife and children, I have to work.

Zimbabwe people:
To travel by bicycle, that is amazing thing.

Chariderman:
No, no, this is a play. Your job is more important.

Zimbabwe people:
Lion and cheetah will be near Kariba.

Chariderman:
So you have to set up a tent at such a track station.

Kowame is an immigration officer. "Konnichiha, Zimbabwe to Mr. Yokoso Okoshi Kudasai Mashita" told me some Japanese words. No, please let me leave. But thanks to him, I was able to relax Zimbabwe comfortably.

People in Zimbabwe who talked a bit while taking a break.


I saw white Zimbabweans as well. "Oh, you are doing your injuries," said the old lady when you are playing a turban that you love from Morocco when you enter the country. I am sorry for making you worry. Mr. and Mrs. were making immigration procedures. The lightning passport was a thing of Zimbabwe. Also, at a place with many distance display arrows, it was also a white lady who also told us, "Shall I take a picture?" This is also the couple and the couple. When I asked him, "I am from South Africa," I asked "Where are you from?" And said "A city about 100 km from here" was a man of Zimbabwe. Even though there was compulsory expropriation of Caucasian farms, Zimbabwe's Caucasian who continues to live was surprising. It may be the same Zimbabwe people, whether white or black.

A picture taken by a white lady.


I asked local black people once only "Do you like President Mugabe?" His answer was "Jesus". I declined my opinion after refusing "It is your decision because it is your country," he declared the economy collapsed, "he said. "Vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes are big, others are smaller in Africa, but there is technology in Zimbabwe," "Three high-voltage lines were flowing but only one is normal," praising Zimbabwe I was making it happy. There really is power in Zimbabwe.

When asking the number of children concerned in Africa, he answered, "Children two people, I will not make it any more." I do not know if he supports President Mugabe or whether he is in good faith. However, whatever you want the next presidential election to be carried out fairly. If its fairness is guaranteed, Zimbabweans will not make mistakes in choosing.

Three high voltage lines that send electricity generated by Karibadam. The Zambian side was building with two high-voltage lines, usually one, and Republic of Congo 0.


Zimbabwe ran about 660 km with Mutare → Rusape → Maronder → Harare → Banket → Karoi → Makuti → Kariba. The real run is 7 days. I stayed in Zimbabwe for a total of 18 days.

The city of Mutare overlooking when crossing the pass.


Bush camp.


The capital Harare is US $ 7 in the tent in the hotel grounds.


There is a fine kitchen in the inn and you can cook yourself.


I made spaghetti.


From Zimbabwe to Zambia I used the Kariba border. We stopped damming the Zambezi River hereKalibadamthere is. I made it for thisLake KaribaIt is the world's foremost artificial lake with a length of 280 km and a width of 20 km. On the way to Kariba I passed a white car that tow a lot of boats. This Kariba area was designated as a national park and I saw a zebra and a monkey.

Forest spreading on the way to Kariba. There is no sign of people.


This is Lake Kariba


Zebra if you extend your hand.


I am wary of this.


Zebra stripes like Kabuki actor.


I also crossed the monkey.


Many monkeys will pass.


A monkey holding a small monkey on the stomach.


And this is Caribadam.


The dam embankment is a road and crosses to Zambia. It is an interesting border.


The Zambezi River downstream of the dam.


I will enter Zambia from Zimbabwe.

(Sentence / photo: Takuya S. Narou Charriderman
Cycling around the world for a bicyclehttp://shuutak.com)