Snapshots from the Zimbabwe roads...

While visiting Antelope Park near Gweru, Zimbabwe, this dog kept watch.

Leaving Antelope Park we managed to get stuck in this rainy season puddle.

See the paved road ahead?  Oh it was a tease..and quite embarrassing to fail so close to the road.

Kwekwe's welcome sign.  You may recognize Kwekwe if you are a watcher of The Colbert Report.

Stephen Colbert did a segment on Zimbabwe (Watch the spot here.)

The Air Zimbabwe museum...or if it's not a museum, it should be.  The airline's gone under way too many times. 

A mosque in Zimbabwe.  You don't see them remotely as much as you did in Senegal.

For some reason whenever I see the lights not working signs (and naturally they aren't working ever), 

I usually find it to be the funniest thing ever.

A street side market somewhere in Zimbabwe during the rainy season.

A storm's a coming!

The Hwange Smorgasbord

Possibly my favorite photograph of my trip: the sun rise over the pan at The Hide in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.

Out on safari, we stumbled on these awesome lion tracks.

It was impossible not to fall in love with the clouds in Hwange.

Out on a walking safari: how ridiculously large is this termite hill? It's insane.

The sunset over Hwange.

The Road Less Traveled

Embarking on another adventure across Zimbabwe, this time we headed west, attempting to find a specific safari lodge. 

 The hand-drawn map we had wasn't helpful and didn't include landmarks like this very old Shell gas station. 

 Which naturally was the first landmark we saw for many kilometers.

Thinking maybe we have the right road, we flew through across the beautiful landscape, 

hoping that after eight hours of driving from Harare, that we were on the right dirt road.

Apparently we aren't the first to wonder if we were remotely on the right path as we stumbled upon this sign, wishing us good luck. 

 It may have resulted in many minutes of hysterical laughter (and then a silent prayer that hopefully luck wasn't needed.)

And then! Voila! A landmark actually on our map: a water tower and train tracks. We had officially entered into Hwange National Park.

And immediately were relieved to see a sign marking our safari lodge: The Hide. 

 There was hope we weren't lost in the middle of---literally---no where Zimbabwe after nine hours of driving.

Even if we were lost (and yes our road was this flooded)

how can you not pause and think: Zimbabwe is breathtaking. 

And I was about to go on my first safari. Life is good.