A particularly enticing aspect of this Nyanga trip was the birding opportunities afforded by a habitat so different from the rest of Zimbabwe. Consider the following distribution map for Bronzy Sunbirds in Southern Africa. That little patch where it’s found? The Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. Ditto for all sorts of exciting specimens

We kept a trip list, which by our final day was on ~80 species. Now, you can see more than that in a day around Harare, but of those 80, 25 were new additions to our year list (and thus Ellie’s life list!). Not bad!

Our first birding stop was Pine Tree Inn, now slightly run-down but historically one of the classic Nyanga destinations. The birds were not put off by the lower quality coffee – they were still present in abundance. One patch of road had Miombo Tits, Tree Pipits and a Golden-breasted Bunting within a few meters of each other!

Hunting further along the road, we located a call I had been drilling Ellie to identify: Robert’s Warblers! These noisy birds are endemic to the area (i.e. found nowhere else) and are nondescript and hard to see. They would be very rarely sighted if not for their raucous call, which led us straight to them and helped us keep track of their movements until we got some good views of these skulking birds. Later, this same strategy would help us locate another Nyanga special – Barrat’s Warbler.

The skies above were also full of excitement. Auger Buzzards and Long-crested Eagles abound, and various swallows and swifts soared above the mountains. We saw the rare and endangered Blue Swallows feeding at a viewpoint called “World’s View”. And every evening, European Hobbies swooped around the dam outside our cottage. A new bird for me, and extremely dapper in their streaky suits.

Without further ado, because guests are arriving, the list of new ones:

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Ahhh Nyanga. Of all the places I’ve told Ellie about over the years, Nyanga has cropped up most often as somewhere we should go. For me, and for my parents before me, Nyanga has been a place of happy family holidays, escapes from the hustle and bustle of life and retreats into glorious nature.

Nyanga lies in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands. The mountainous terrain (up to 2500m above sea level) is covered by a mixture of open grassland, pine plantations and montane forest full of endemic bird species and wonderful creatures. Crystal clear streams run down from the rocky peaks and feed into mirror-like lakes stocked with trout and surrounded by lush vegetation and secret walking paths.

It was on the shores of one such lake that out little cottage lay, up against the forest and a short walk from the best fishing spots. In addition to the daily group outings, we all took the opportunity to wander quietly in the woods, enjoying the early morning or late evening light through the trees and doing the kind of quiet contemplation that can only be accomplished in a forest with no cell reception and the sounds of nature around you.

Speaking of group outings… We packed a lot into this trip. More than usual for Nyanga, where the aim is generally to relax. This time, fueled by the knowledge that we might not make it back any time soon and that other Zim birders already had lists >200 species, we did multiple activities each day. Circling no less than four dams, swimming in rivers, fishing, birding, picnicking… much fun was had by all 🙂 Of course, this was Nyanga so we all also read several books, played scrabble by the fire and ate some fresh trout caught by my dad.

I love this place. Love the stillness, the giant skies, the sparkling lakes, the empty time. I hope that you all have somewhere like this to enjoy. If not, you’ll have to come and visit!

I’ll probably write one more post focusing on the birds and places we saw, and I know Ellie has tales to tell of a specific adventure, so I’ll end this post here.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. – Psalm 19:1-3

We’ve just returned home from our adventure to the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe – a wonderful 4-night stay in Nyanga. Our tales will likely take several blog posts to tell, but since Ellie is busy finishing off her book and it may be a few days before we get around to the serious story-telling, I figured I’d start with the content you’re all really interested in: cute amphibians. Here goes 🙂

We stayed on the shore of Mare dam, which was surrounded by frogs. Every step we took near the lake margins resulted in an explosion of frogs leaping out of the way!

Some of the frogs were tiny:

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In place of the other types not captured on camera, I share this final picture in honour of Ben:

Psalm 105: 1 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
    make known his deeds among the peoples!
² Sing to him, sing praises to him;
    tell of all his wondrous works!
³ Glory in his holy name;
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
⁴ Seek the Lord and his strength;
    seek his presence continually!
⁵ Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he uttered….

³⁰ Their land swarmed with frogs,
    even in the chambers of their kings. 🙂

We got to see some of the wondrous works the Lord has done, although in our case the frogs were nice 🙂 I look forward to sharing more of our trip soon! God bless.

Hello there! It’s been a little while since my last post. Possibly because I’ve been attempting to avoid sounding like a broken record: birds! birds! birds!

I’ve given up. We’ve been doing a lot of birding 🙂 Monovale vlei, Mukuvisi Woodlands, Ballantyne Park, Harare Botanical Gardens, ART Farm, Haka Park and the gardens of friends and family. And it’s paying off – my year-list is up to ~150 birds. Specials include a spotted crake (which has been a local celebrity for the last few weeks – see my incredible picture below), orange-breasted waxbills, common cuckoo (an uncommon vagrant here), miombo tit/rock thrush/blue-eared starling (the miombo hat-trick, all found on the same day) and white-backed duck.

A novel aspect of this year’s birding for me has been going on trips to find one specific bird. I went to ART farm a couple of times before I found the white-backed ducks (which I had never seen before), and we made three trips to the little puddle where the crake had been sighted. There are always extra treats on these trips (Painted snipe and a little bittern near the crake, for example) but the fact remains: we are doing a lot of work to see these specials. And it is so rewarding – such a joy to see something new and marvel once again at the variety of life in this world God has given us.

This week, we’re doing our first big trip, heading to the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe with family. Expect a report next month 🙂

Now onto something with fewer feathers! We’ve been feeling a lack of bookshelves, and I finally got around to doing something about it. I am very happy – carpentry has been a fantasy of mine and something which has remained out of reach thanks to small res rooms at university and a lack of time and resources. Now I am lucky enough to be able to get my hands working and start making real, physical objects.

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So there you go, birds and bookshelves as the title promised. I am so grateful to be able to live such a happy life.

Hi Ellie, I love you xx ❤

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Lord my God, you are very great;
    you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

² The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment;
    he stretches out the heavens like a tent
³     and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
    and rides on the wings of the wind.
⁴ He makes winds his messengers,^[a]
    flames of fire his servants.

⁵ He set the earth on its foundations;
    it can never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ But at your rebuke the waters fled,
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
⁸ they flowed over the mountains,
    they went down into the valleys,
    to the place you assigned for them.
⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross;
    never again will they cover the earth.

¹⁰ He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
    it flows between the mountains.
¹¹ They give water to all the beasts of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
    they sing among the branches.
– Psalm 104:1-12

This has been a fun-filled week. (Translation – I got nothing productive done.)

On Monday, we baked and cleaned and had our pastor and his wife over for tea and did no work.

On Tuesday we had a day of rainstorms, no electricity and book-reading.

On Wednesday we had two different tea parties and taught a six-year-old boy the art of making plastic whistles. (I also had Body and Soul on Wednesday.)

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But my favourite day of the whole week was Thursday. On Thursday we painted all morning, and cooked a potjie all afternoon.

Johno’s aunt Karen is an artist. She invited us over to try out oil painting at her home/studio. Both of us were very keen, and spent the whole morning painting in oil paints. It was also my first attempt at using a palette knife! It was invaluable to have Karen there to show us the ropes and give us suggestions as we painted.

She sent us home with our paintings, and some old tubes of paint so we could keep experimenting. Our little cottage reeks deliciously of oils.

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With a painting under our belts, and the day only half over, Johno and I headed home to start preparing for our regular Thursday dinner party.

At 3ish, a friend named Glyn brought us some impala meat, and the cooking began. Johno took responsibility for the potjie, slowly adding ingredient after ingredient to make the yummiest stew I’d ever smelled.

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Glyn chopped vegetables, then foraged in our backyard for mangos to make a smoothie drink for later. I fried up mounds of spinach in butter and garlic, and made an enormous pot of rice. Johno somehow found time to make butternut fritters with butternuts fresh from the garden.

It was a feast. Thirteen people showed up, and brought contributions of bread, salad, and banana bread. Everyone ate until they were full, and we even had some left over!

There are few things I like better than painting things and feeding people. To have gotten both in one day was great. Our life really does feel like a dream right now.

p.s. Of course there are less fun times, too, but I don’t particularly like to write about them. In the interest of a balanced account, I think I had better say a little something though. The two big worries for me this week were water and a sick dog. Because our power was out, the borehole pump didn’t work and we had a couple days with no running water. Also, the older of the two great danes we live with, Phoebe, hurt her foot last week and it got infected. She’s been limping around all week, and I got quite worried when she couldn’t even walk to her water bowl. Thankfully, we’ve since taken her to see a vet (transporting her was an adventure in itself) and she’s looking much better. We also have our water back. Hooray! (Me optimist.)

It’s a Monday, and for me that has gained an extra significance since I’ve moved to Zimbabwe. Yes, it’s still the day I sit down and try to get back to work. But I now also spend all day with another event looming ahead of me, signified by the portentous words, “Body and Soul”.

Shortly after I got here, I promised my dear mother in law, Jenny, that I’d go with her to a “Body and Soul” class one evening. It was described to me as a fitness class wherein ladies danced to Christian music. I was skeptical, but game. I may have scoffed slightly. Ah, ignorance!

The first class wrecked me. My smugness had not prepared me for an hour and a half of aerobic excercise, weight lifting, and every sort of bodyweight excercise. As promised, it was accompanied by upbeat Christian music, and led by an upbeat Christian woman who smiled as she led us through a whole song worth of squats. I staggered home afterward, looking at Jenny in a sort of awe. Would I ever get to her level? How did she keep up with the fast-flying instructions? Did I dare go again on Wednesday?

To cut a long story short, I’m still going. Twice a week. It’s been humbling being the youngest and least fit person in the class. It’s fun though. I’m more active than I’ve been in a long time. I still can’t always keep up. I love the chance for some quality time with Jenny twice a week. And getting a lift from her to the class means that I’m much more motivated to go. It’s good to have a buddy. At the end of each session, the woman leading us reads a short devotional, and we go away having strengthened our bodies and our souls.

p.s. Apparently Body and Soul is quite a big thing all over the place. It looks like it started in the States, but there are loads of classes here in Harare, and in all sorts of other countries. https://bodyandsoul.org/for-students/international-classes/

This is less of a post, more a collection of photos. All of these are from our Saturday outing – a trip to Ewanrigg Botanical Gardens just outside Harare. The goal was birds, but we ended up seeing all sorts of other interesting critters!

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The aloes were not in flower, so the sunbirds were harder to find, but we were still rewarded with several species among other flowers.

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Bugs everywhere!

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Frogs plopping into the streams

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Good birds, although I didn’t take pictures so you’ll have to settle for these shots of a red bishop taken the next day:

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I’ve been struggling to get writing again. After the last few long, slightly gloomy posts, it felt like I’d have to have a lot to say before it was worth writing.

However, I’ve since decided that there’s no reason these posts need to stick to one format. So here are a couple of process pictures of my recent sunbird painting. It’s of a variable sunbird, which frequently flits around right outside our dining-room window. A very small and cheerful bird, just like this post.

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It’s now hanging in our dining room, where it can be visited by its living inspiration right outside the window. I’ve already started work on the next bird painting, which is of a gorgeous bush-shrike (the ‘gorgeous’ is actually part of its name, believe it or not!).

This is the other half of ‘Happy Doomsday’.

Zim has had an eventful week. A three-day stay-away was planned beginning Monday the 14’th Jan 2018, as a ‘peaceful’ protest action against the government-mandated increase in the fuel price. It quickly stopped being fully peaceful. Roads were blocked with rocks to stop commuters going to work, and people were assaulted for trying to work. In retaliation, many who were staying at home or putting up the barricades were beaten up by army/police/thugs/X (possibly all the above, depending on who you listen to). As the days went by more and more stories tricked out about those brutalised, shot or forced from their homes.

You can find more details about the human rights violations, violence and government involvement by reading some of the news from the last week. Incredibly disheartening, and for those of us who know folks in the worst-affected areas the lack of communication has added an extra dimension of worry and uncertainty.

Please pray for Zimbabwe, specifically for those affected directly by the violence and those trying to help. There are calls for anyone with medical expertise to help treat the victims, and various churches are collecting blankets, medicines and food for those displaced. Pray for all the organisers (apolitical, concerned citizens) who are helping coordinate efforts and setting up collection points in their homes. I’m worried these attempts to help will get them in trouble, so pray as well for protection and an end to the violence.

How can you help? In addition to prayer, I know many who are working in one way or another towards helping, and would appreciate the assistance. If you’re in Zim, get hold of me and I’ll tell you where to drop blankets and food (or just bring it round to us). Ecocash can be sent to many churches (ask if yours is involved), but I know One Church has been leading some of the efforts. Follow the hashtag #hararehelps and see what’s being done and what is still needed.

If you’re in a different country, you can still contribute finances. There is a gofundme campaign running (https://www.gofundme.com/aid-for-zimbabwe) and I can try and find out how best to get forex into the country and to where it will be useful.

The internet block seems to have been removed for now, and for many life can go back to normal. That is the privilege we have, but it is not the same for all. This next week promises to be unstable, and we may see another outburst of violent action. But even if the suburbs stay quiet and the shops stay open, help is needed for those injured and away from home. I’m hoping we can keep this in mind, spurring one another towards love and good deeds (Heb 10:24) and encouraging one another.

I got to lead a bible study this weekend on Hebrews 12. Hard as it is we are called to endure hardship as discipline, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus. Consider him who endured… says Paul. Strengthen your feeble arms and stay on the path (see Prov 4:20-end). Make every effort to live in peace and be holy. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

“I remember what the Lord did;
    I remember the miracles you did long ago.
¹² I think about all the things you did
    and consider your deeds” – Psalm 77: 11

“Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.” – Psalm 42:11

“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” – Jeremiah 32:17

We look to what God has done. To how Jesus endured. To the Kingdom being built, that cannot be shaken. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33

I have decided to split my planned post in two. One post sharing a little about what’s been happening here in Zim, and one pretending that it’s all just been a pleasant holiday. This post is the latter.

So, to recap, there was a three-day ‘stay-away’ strike in Zimbabwe this last week. The first we heard of it was arriving back from a walk in Mukuvisi with Tim, when his mother informed us that it appeared the smelly stuff was once again violently colliding with the fan. We drank some tea speculatively and then drove home in convoy.

So began what we’ve been jokingly referring to as ‘doomsday’. For some reason, the first obvious reaction among our group of friends was to dive headfirst into preserves. Plum jam. Ginger ale. Apple cider. Red grape vinegar. Lemon curd. Chutney. You name it, one of us was pickling it. There was no internet some of the time, but deep within Clare’s pile of recipe books was the secret of sauerkraut. Some concoctions still “need maturation” (a euphemism we’ve adopted), but I’m sipping some lemon-grass ginger ale as I type and looking forward to trying to make some different flavours tomorrow.

Shops were closed for a few days, and busy when they re-opened (everyone is doomsday prepping) but we are fully stocked with provisions, and even scored some Mazoe Orange Cordial yesterday – a rare find. In times like these, I love sharing food. Which made Thursday dinner even more special; even with communication issues we still had a good 10 people around to sample my potjie. Even better, a good chunk of those folks were free the next morning (can’t work with no internet!) so we got some more birding in at the Botanical Gardens. I’m starting to feel a little proprietorial as I lead friends around – “And this tree here is where I often see the Pytillias…”.

Besides finding things to ferment and friends to feed, we’ve been having a nice, relaxed time. Making PVC whistles with Scott, drinking lot’s of tea, doing bits of art or writing, reading, spending time with family… With such hectic stuff going on, it’s been good to help each-other escape temporarily and find some peace.

Brother David is leaving earlier than planned to Cape Town. This weekend we went with the family to Mukuvisi and then on to breakfast. And after church today we had friends round at my parents for some tasty food and slightly-harder-to-stomach defeats at pool. What a blessing friends are! And I am so happy to have such a loving family, happy to open their home and spread love around.

All this to say, we are happy and safe even if the country is in turmoil. Get hold of me if you would like to help (see my other post for more details) and keep us in prayer, but don’t worry too much on our account. God is good, and we are so fortunate in our little community.

“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” – Heb 12:3