12 July, Friday: Imire -> Denise's Kitchen, Chivhu

We were up before sunrise to go for a walk with the rhino and it was SO cold! There was actually frost on the trees and the grass. We got to the boma and had the opportunity to see the guards release the black rhino and as the sun was rising up over Zimbabwe, we walked behind the rhino with the guards as they headed into the bushveld. During the day there are 2 permanent armed guards that follow the rhino on foot from 06:00 to 17:00, not letting them out of their site. It was so interesting as we followed the rhino we were able to speak to the 2 guards who are incredibly passionate and have dedicited their lives to protecting these magnificent animals. Not at any stage are the rhinos left unseen. Being able to be with these beautiful creatures at such close proximity in their natural habitat, browsing on the trees, was the most amazing peaceful and almosmt spiritual experience. It's so hard to understand how people would want to kill these harmless, pre-historical magnificent animals. It was an emotional experience as this is not how rhinos should be living their lives but its devastating that this is what it has come to and seeing how Imire has used all its resources to conserve them is very admirable.

Once the cold crept into our shoes and feeling like we getting frost bite, we headed back to the lodge and warmed up with a delicious breakfast. Imire is invovled with two schools within the area and had very kindly organized for us to do a RhinoArt lesson at Numwa Primary School. We said our final goodbyes to the friendly staff at Imire and cycled to the school where the grade 5 class were waiting for us. The head mistress and the teacher warmly welcomed us as well as the class who all stood up to greet us. This was the first school we had been to where the children had been taught about rhinos before and most of them had actually seen a rhino which was amazing, and their messages that they wrote on their rhino picture was incredible. We got the feeling that the students are very aware about the importance of conserving rhinos and their knowledge was amazing and thats all thanks to the wonderful work Imire does. We left the school feeling very proud to be African and knowing how significant the lesson was.

The frost this morning

The kids at Numwa Primary busy doing RhinoArt

We continued our journey on our bikes feeling very positive and having learned so much from our experience at Imire. Having studied Environmental Science at Rhodes we learn how interdependent people and the environment are and Imire has just proven how this is so true. Coming from a background where conserving wildlife is the number one priority, it was incredible to have seen and experienced and learned the importance of collaborating the local communities with nature conservation. The work Imire does has incorporated community development alongside wildlife management in such a way, indicating that this is the only way forward. What a phenomenal learning experience having broadened our outlook on rhino conservation.

We got onto a gravel road, cycling through very remote, beautiful areas, allowing us to experience rural Zim. The countryside is gorgeous. There are all these koptjies with massive rock boulders in incredible formations. The landscape is covered in tall dry grass, what I have always known to be bushveld and beautiful indigenous trees. We rode up and down the rolling hills, crossing untouched rivers, waving very friendly Zimbabweans by. Zim has been the only country so far where the children are'nt running after us asking for something. The locals are so friendly and they all wave at us with a big smile saying "hello how are you?". After everything these people have gone through, they are still so happy and friendly.

As we went into the late afternoon, we hit an extremely bad part of the dirt road. It was so corregated that no matter what side you try cycle on, you bounce over the corregation, vibrating our entire bodies. After 15 km of being uncomfortable, our arms sore from holding on the handle bars and bums sore from the bumps, we finished cycling 75 km and called it a day. We drove the next 60 km to a town called Chivhu where we found accommodation along the road and stayed at Denise's Kitchen, trying not to freeze!!

Our chalet we booked into because it was just too cold to camp (7 degrees)

Cycled: 75 km

Time: 4:06 hrs

Ave speed: 18 km/hr

Ascent: 587 m