Planetb612

Rwanda – Return to Kigali

Laura Yung — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 09:00:48 +0000

We were last in Rwanda in November 2013. I am back for a few days to support a project which the family has sponsored through an NGO, SURF (the Survivors Fund): the Young Entrepreneurs Training Program (YETP). It is the “short rains” season. Soft, low clouds sit atop the hills of Kigali. Standing on the …

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South Africa: fast forward Africa

Laura Yung — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 05:43:19 +0000

In the last days of our African odyssey, traveling through the pretty countryside of the Free State, getting lost in a hostile downtown Johannesburg , visiting the capital Pretoria and finally a large diamond mine, I am struck by how South Africa encapsulates all that is working – and all that is wrong in Africa. …

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South Africa: welcome to the Village

Laura Yung — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 05:27:00 +0000

We return to South Africa, our decompression chamber before heading back to Asia. And what better place to clear our system of the excess hydrogen accumulated during our deep dive in the Dark Continent than the small town of Clarens, in the Eastern Free State. Clarens seems to live in an enchanted bubble, far from …

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Zimbabwe: Wild is Life

Laura Yung — Thu, 29 May 2014 05:13:31 +0000

On a farm in the outskirts of Harare, Roxy has opened an animal sanctuary where she offers a home to orphaned animals. Wild is Life is a magical place where animals (well, most of them…) roam freely and have created a real bond with their keepers.

Zimbabwe: Harare

Laura Yung — Wed, 28 May 2014 10:13:22 +0000

Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare (Salisbury before independence) used to be known as the garden city of Africa. With its broad jacaranda-lined avenues, many parks and temperate weather, it was (and might just still be) one of the most pleasant cities in world. It is possible today if one looks beyond the broken roads, garbage accumulating on …

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Zimbabwe: Scotland on the equator

Laura Yung — Mon, 26 May 2014 09:51:00 +0000

Our last stop in the Eastern Highlands is Nyanga. With its craggy mountains and green meadows full of wildflowers, trout filled streams and pine forests, more than anywhere else in Africa Nyanga feels like Scotland. And like Scotland, Nyanga distinguishes itself by its bone chillingly cold and damp evenings. A thick mist rests lazily in …

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Zimbabwe: the Bvumba

Laura Yung — Fri, 23 May 2014 08:16:18 +0000

In a hidden valley just near the Mozambique border, lies the Bvumba, a region of hills and valleys so pretty that the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret spent a night here in 1953. Nothing much has changed since…

Zimbabwe: Chimanimani

Laura Yung — Wed, 21 May 2014 07:50:00 +0000

Driving through the winding mountain roads of Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands, one could be forgiven for thinking that one has been magically transported from Africa to Scotland, or to Vermont. With their cool climate, lush vegetation, pretty inns and gardens and trout-filled streams, the highlands are a haven for the soul. But it is the Eastern …

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Zimbabwe: conservation with a twist

Laura Yung — Sun, 18 May 2014 07:36:00 +0000

Chilo Gorge Lodge, in the lowveld area of Zimbabwe do things differently. It is a place which tries to put the concept of social enterprise in practice. Chilo was founded when conservationist Clive Stockil was brought in to mediate a dispute in the 1970s between the then Rhodesian government and the Shangaan tribe who had …

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Zimbabwe: ruins of Great Zimbabwe

Laura Yung — Sat, 17 May 2014 04:53:48 +0000

300km south of Harare, lie the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, a great African city which for 400 years, between the 12th and 16th centuries CE ruled an empire which included most of present day Zimbabwe and parts of South Africa and Mozambique. Great Zimbabwe traded with the Arabs, the Chinese and the Indians, its great …

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