Trip to Ghana

   My flight left at 15:25. I flew with Air Zimbabwe to Congo, and then I drove to Ghana. It took a very long time! My hotel was in Accra. My hotel was called Golden Tulip Accra, it is a 4 star hotel. My plane ticket cost 372€, and I rented a sporty red Mercedes to get me around.

Day 3: Zimbabwe

   I woke up at 8:00 and went to eat breakfast. I was going to leave for Ghana after going to visit the Traditional Craft Village near Victoria Falls.

   11:00 Traditional Craft Village
   15:25 Bye-bye Zimbabwe

   When I arrived at the Traditional Craft Village I saw an old village. There were some tribal tents and traditional tribal outfits. It was a interesting place. You could listen to stories and see what life is like in African tribes. It was a tour, and was included in the Victoria Falls tour, but I skipped the Victoria Falls part. I learned lots of things when I was there! I learned lots of basic information about Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe´s main languages are English, Shona and Northern Ndebele. Zimbabwe´s life expectancy is about 51 years, which is actually really short. Female population is larger than mens. The population of Zimbabwe is about 14,244,744. Zimbabwe´s government is republic presidential system, and their president is Robert Mugabe.

  
   I also learned about the vegetation and land use in Zimbabwe. Savannah covers most of Zimbabwe´s land. There are many national parks in Zimbabwe. There are some patches of sub-tropical forests in Eastern Zimbabwe. Land in Zimbabwe is used for mixed farming, grazing and stock rearing, and rough grazing. Crops that are grown in Zimbabwe is tabacco. Minerals found in Zimbabwe are iron ore, gold and copper. Energy found in Zimbabwe is hydro and coal.

   My trip in Zimbabwe was wonderful! I think the highlight of the trip was definately Victoria Falls. Out of many places to visit in Zimbabwe, I advise to visit the following; Victoria Falls, Hwange National Park,  Balancing Rocks, Harare, Bulawayo and the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe.

   I will still give some pictures and maps of Zimbabwe.

                                                         Zimbabwe´s flag

                                                           Zimbabwe´s coat of arms

Day 2: Zimbabwe

   I woke up at 8:00 and went to breakfast in the hotels dining room. The breakfast was delicious! This was my day:

   10:00 Hwange National Park
   14:00 Victoria Falls
   18:00 Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe
   21:00 Hotel

   The Hwange National Park was full of dangerous animals. There were elephants, buffaloes, lions, hyenas, cheetahs, jackles, monkeys, giraffes, antelopes, zebras and other smaller animals. We were driven around the park in a Jeep. The animals actually got really close to the car! It was very interesting!

 I learned that Zimbabwe is one of the last rhino ranges. There are white and black rhinos there, but there aren´t alot of them. I also learned that the largest lizard in Zimbabwe is the leguaan. It is a creature that can reach over 2m. It spends most of it´s time laying around watering holes.

                

   After my visit at the Hwange National Park, I visited Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls was the coolest place ever! It was so beutiful! The air there was refreshing because it was quite humid, but it was humid in the good way. Victoria Falls is known around the world for it´s beauty. When I was there I learned that the geographical features of Zimbabwe are mostly rivers, but there are others too. Here are some that they told us about; Victoria Falls, Zambezi, Limpopo River, Balancing Rocks and Mount Nyangani.

                                                                  Victoria Falls

                                                                         Zambezi

                                                                       Limpopo River

                                                             Balancing Rocks

                                                              Mount Nyangani

   After the beutiful Victoria Falls I visited the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe. It was very interesting there. It was quite a big place, and I covered what I could. I learned that Zimbabwe was colonised by Cecil John Rhodes in the late 1800s. He named the land Rhodesia after himself. Zimbabwe became an independent country on the 18th of April 1980. I also learned lots about ancient animals there. After the long day of sight seeing I was ready to go back to the hotel and sleep.

   
  

Day 1: Zimbabwe

   Zimbabwe is in southern Africa, that is why it took such me such a  long time to get there. When I got out of the airport it was about 13:00. I was tired after the long journey but I was also excited because I was in a different country. The climate outside seemed to be semi-arid, very dry. I also saw on the news that Central Zimbabwe's climate was temperate, mild, and that East Zimbabwe's climate was tropical, hot and wet. The vegetation seemed to be low trees and shrubs with spines or thorns (thorn forest). I also saw on the news that the majority of Zimbabwes land was savannah, tall grass parkland with scattered trees. Zimbabwe´s largest and capital city is Harare but the 2nd largest city is Bulawayo. After I looked around I went to go pick up my rental car. It was a black 5-seater Audi.  I decided that I would first go to my hotel and take a shower. I was staying at a 5 star hotel in Victoria Falls called The Victoria Falls Hotel. It was very fancy! By the time I checked-in, got cleaned up and got settled in it was already 15:30. I wanted to go grab something to eat. I went to a casual restaurant right outside of my hotel. There I found out that Africans eat bugs as a source of protein and they are said to be tasty! But don't worry, I didn't try any...  Some of the bugs they eat include; ants, grasshoppers, stink bugs, mopane worms and locusts.

 
     After I had eaten I wanted to see the sunset. The sun set at 17:38.

    The sunset was amazing! It was gorgeous! After the sun had set I went to my hotel and went straight to bed because I knew the next day would be busy.

My Flights

      I took Lufthansa to Frankfurt and Johannesburg, and then I took South African Airways to Victoria Falls. The total cost of my trip to Zimbabwe costed 2,200.27€.

To Africa

   I´m so excited! I´m leaving to Africa today! I will be going to Zimbabwe, Ghana, and Libya. I will drive to Helsinki, leave my car in long term parking and then get ready to catch my flight. I will be flying from Helsinki the 30th of April. The rest of my itenerary looks as follows:


Helsinki- Frankfurt:   Departure- 30.4.2014, 07:30.  Arrival- 09:10.
Frankfurt- Johannesburg:    Departure- 30.4.2014,  22:05.  Arrival- 08:40.
Johannesburg- Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe:  Departure- 1.5.2014, 10:50.  Arrival- 12:35.