13 July, Saturday: Denise's Kitchen, Chivhu -> Kerry and Graeme Nish, Masvingo

We waited for the sun to warm up a little before getting on the saddle again, heading for Masvingo. Now on the main road connecting Harare to Beitbridge, we were a bit nervous. The road is very narrow and busy with lots of trucks flying past, making it dangerous to cycle. Theres a narrow gravel path on the side of the tar that we managed to do 20 km on before the traffic got too hectic and we decided it's not worth the risk cycling on this road. The atlas shows a loop around Lake Mutirikwi (previously known as Lake Kyle) outside Masvingo, off the main road, so we headed there in hope of cycling.

We turned off the "highway" onto the loop, only to discover that the Great Zimbabwe Ruins were on this road. Mom and Dad visited the ruins over 25 years ago and had such fond memories, insisting that we go and see it. It was something I wanted to do but I did'nt realize how close we were to them, so now that we had this opportunity, we went to visit the ruins. For 10 USD pp we got in and walked to what is called the "enclosure" and it was magnificent. A huge part of the Zimbabwean history I never even knew existed. We arrived to this massive stone wall and within the wall are smaller stone buildings which people in the 13th century built. The wall is about 4 m thick and goes up to about +- 10 m, built from chisseled stone. We walked through what felt like a labaryth of these incredible stone walls and we saw the iconicle stone conical structure of which people to this day still dont know what it was used for. This Zimbabwean stone city was actually what the country was named after when it got its indepedence. It was such a special experience getting to walk through this incredible piece of history.

We then got back into our saddles and cycled towards Masvingo. Friends of mine from varsity grew up in Masvingo and their parents are still living there and offered us a bed for the night. We arrived to a very friendly Kerry and Graeme who immediately made us feel so at home. The Nish's are such a lovely family. We got along so well, as if we'd known them forever. Hearing and seeing how they have survived in this country and no matter what the state of the country, they just make a plan and manage to keep going. Kerry had prepared a lovely warm hearty stew which we shared around the table with a glass of wine.

Cycled: 45 km

Time: 2:23 hrs

Ave speed: 19 km/hr

Ascent: 180 m