Adventures of a Wandering Thirtysomething

Though we technically spent the first night of our trip in South Africa, we don't exactly count an airport hotel as having been somewhere, so Africa didn't truly begin until we touched down the next day in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Despite planning the trip with our agent a year ago, we didn't know what to expect. Aside from seeing animals, we weren't sure if we were walking into a National Geographic-style third world experience or a totally westernized experience. But as we took the first of many car rides down the highway through Bulawayo and on toward camp, we saw shades of both. For every person dressed in regular business or street clothes, there was another in more ragged items or traditional garb carrying items on her head. For every beautifully manicured home, there was a mud hut with thatched roof. Cars are an extreme luxury - most people walk several miles each day along the road. Roads were rarely paved, and pavement is a relative term as it simply means there's a car-width strip down the middle of dirt road that requires you to pull off into the dirt ditch when passing another vehicle.

But as the city faded and we headed out into the bush, the terrain began to look more familiar. Desert sands, rock formations and cactus and scrub brush looked eerily like the American southwest and we immediately felt right at home.

Our first camp, Amalinda, was located in the heart of the Motobo Hills, one of the most beautiful and sacred places in all of Zimbabwe. The rooms were all built around the massive boulders and rocks that make up the hills, with some rooms even featuring some of the cave paintings created by the ancient tribes that inhabited the land. Ours featured a bridge to a private seating area with stunning views of the rocky hillsides. We were immediately in love.

Inspired to immediately get moving and enjoy the incredible scenery, we kicked off our stay with a sunset hike up to an area viewpoint for a sundowner cocktail, breathing in the desert air and watching the lizards scurry over the red rocks as the sun slowly dropped down over the hillside.

The next day we set out for the national park, intent on seeing some of the last of the country's rhinos. Once abundant in Zimbabwe and throughout Southern Africa, the rhino is now one of the most endangered species due to extensive poaching caused by demand for rhino horn in Asia, largely in China, where they use it for perceived medicinal purposes (the horn is made of keratin, the same thing as our hair and fingernails, so don't get me started on how stupid this is).

Within mere minutes of arriving, we got a tip about a large bull drinking at the water hole and immediately headed that way. He was still there, so we piled out of the jeep and crunched through the grass to get closer. Just 20 yards or so away, the rhino's massive hulk looks prehistoric and dangerous, but it's a surprisingly social beast that is rarely aggressive with humans. While a benefit to safari-goers like us, it also makes it very easy for poachers to approach and kill them.

We ducked down behind a hill and watched him as he drank. Finished, he began heading back into the bush and started coming straight for us. As he got closer and closer, Matt popped up from behind the hill to get a better shot with the camera. "Matthew! Matthew!" I whispered in my most panicked voice, certain the bull was going to come charging straight for us. Instead, with its bad eyesight, it finally spotted us and darted away to carry on with his day.

Thrilled by spotting the bull, we moved on to another area where we came upon a female rhino and her calf munching away on grass. Once again, we got shockingly close to them and watched from just 8-10 yards away as they ate their morning meal, eying us every so often.

With our rhino mission accomplished, we spent our final day on a cultural and historical tour with our private guide, Howard. Our morning began with a brief but strenuous hike straight up a massive hill to capture the incredible views before ducking into a cave, once used by local tribespeople for ceremonial purposes, where we looked at ancient rock drawings that dated back up to 13,000 years. By far the most ancient artifacts we have ever seen in a natural setting, we were amazed at the beautiful depictions of animals and tribespeople that still covered the walls millenniums later. In the afternoon, we headed up to the highest point in Motobo Hills to see the grave of Cecil John Rhodes, a key but controversial figure in Zimbabwe's checkered history, and to enjoy the spectacular sunset over miles and miles of rock formation-topped hillsides.

Motobo Hills was the perfect entre to Zimbabwe. A little bit of animal viewing and a lot of history and culture to set the scene for what was to come in the two weeks ahead, all against a stunning backdrop that made it incredibly hard to want to leave.