Who would have thought that a pig and an elephant would become best friends? ‘When we began looking after Kimba, an orphaned elephant, she took an instant liking to Whisky, our pig,’ says James Varden, my guide. ‘Elephants are social animals, so they slept together. Whisky was extremely protective of Kimba and panicked if she was not there.’
I last came to Zimbabwe in the 1990s when tourism was blooming — so I’m interested to see what Mugabe has done to his country. Some friends criticised me for coming here, asking why I was supporting a dictator. ‘Most Zimbabweans want peace and to get on with life,’ James says. ‘When tourists come it gives us hope. And although Mugabe gets the visa money, the ordinary people benefit far more.’ Few tourists are coming; yet it is safe and the national parks are thriving.
Whisky lives at Siya Lima farm. But Kimba is no longer here. ‘She had to be relocated when the war vets moved in because they would have eaten her,’ James says. The Vardens use Siya Lima as a bed and breakfast, but we just stop by en route to Kopje Tops, his safari lodge, nestled in Mavuradonha Wilderness. Here 600 sq km of total wilderness surrounds us — we don’t see another person for our whole stay. Mobile phones don’t work; you are completely immersed in untouched bush.
All around are kopjes and mountains, through which we set out next morning for a couple of days’ walking — sleeping each night in a bush camp. We walk among long copper grass, miombo woodlands and mountain acacia, their leaves blushing red and yellow. We pass hibiscus flowers, giant butterflies and lucky bean coral trees.
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