24 THE STANDARD STYLE / FAMILY /GETAWAY August 24 to 30 2014 Festive Kariba Half Marathon’s Rosie Mitchell DO you need an excuse to visit Lake Kariba? Not really! The largest man-made water body in the world, Kariba becomes a veritable playground for families and friends who want to enjoy some relaxation and quality time over long weekends and school holidays. In Zimbabwe’s tourism heyday of the 90s, Kariba rocked. Let’s hope we’re on our way back again, to those days. Meantime, this holiday haven still attracts the crowds on high days and holidays and the Kariba Half Marathon and 10km Fun Run/Walk is just one of its regular draw cards. This fun running event over Heroes Holiday weekend this year celebrated its 10th anniversary, assisted by various generous sponsors. The weather was perfect – windless and sunny without being excessively hot, and the turnout of over 500 runners and walkers across the board of age groups guaranteed a festive event and lots of welcome business for Kariba’s hotels, lodges, rest camps and houseboats. Comedian and chef Carl Joshua Ncube played his part with shows aboard the Zambezi Trader houseboat and a cooking demo at Gache Gache Lodge. Hospitality providers were pleased with this injection of business -- one of the reasons this running event was launched. Kariba’s hospitality, boating and game viewing opportunities await you any time of year, so how about a family getaway? There are several affordable accommodation options, including long established hotels Caribbea Bay and Cutty Sark Hotel, and budget options with chalets and camping at Lomagundi Lakeside, Warthogs Bush Camp and Moth Cottages. Across the Lake, if you prefer more up-market try Gache Gache Lodge, or even more so, Bumi Hills Safari Lodge, both reached by a short boat ride from Kariba. Houseboat cruises, all the rage in the 1990s, like all Kariba businesses have suffered from the drop-off in tourism post 2000, but are still very much an option so let’s hope business continues to pick up this year. The drive from Harare to Kariba is very scenic, and you can start to game spot as soon as you enter the safari area, with its rolling hills and wild scenery, still around an hour and a half ’s drive from Kariba itself. We spotted a group of elephants in this area and stopped to enjoy them. During our day’s hired boat trip on the lake, we saw a surprising number of houseboats out there which was encouraging, and a fair number of those who came for the running events combined the trip with a leisurely houseboat cruise. Few holidays can Experience the unique difference Low Deposit Holidays December 2014-2015!! Here at ALM Travel and Tours, we believe that booking your next getaway should be just as much fun as the getaway itself! That’s why we offer our customers the option to book now, pay from just a $50/person low deposit today and then the remaining balance in installment, which makes paying and budgeting for your holiday as stress free as possible. Take advantage of our low deposit holidays for 2014 & 2015 and you’ll be amazed at how little your monthly payments could be! Call now or email for further information. 1 st floor Travel Plaza complex 29 Mazowe Street, Harare Zimbabwe Tel: +263-4-798 630, -4- 250 819 Cell: 0734 925 023, 0712 910 155 Website: www.almtravel.co.zw info@almtravel.co.zw be more relaxing than this – floating about the lake, game viewing or fishing, enjoying the sunshine and social time with friends and family. Provided you can drum up enough people to fill the places on the boat of your choice, price per head is relatively modest and most boats come with crew and cook – just bring your ingredients and drinks. See gokaribahouseboats.com run by Kiara Cordy, Half Marathon coordinator, for more. We decided to repeat our great 2012 experience of this Fun Run, then chill out and enjoy Kariba’s relaxing attractions. Once again, we chose Cutty Sark which has made quite a comeback in the last few years, and offers special rates for the runners. It has the most spectacular view over the lake and is comfortable and friendly, with good service and beautiful grounds. The rolling green lawns have been adopted since our last visit as a safe haven by three wild zebras who have taken up residence and become so accustomed to humans, you can virtually walk right up to them, remembering of course, they are wild animals, and as such should be approached with caution! They are an enjoyable sight and spend their days and nights wandering about the grounds, grazing on the lawns, and even lying down in relaxed fashion in the heat of the day. Near Cutty Sark, they have calculated they are safe from carnivores. Kariba is, after all, a wildlife area and lions, elephants, hippos and more, roam its shores. The elephants near Kariba town have grown well accustomed to people and vehicles, and we enjoyed seeing some in close proximity when we went to register for our races at Lomagundi Lakeside. The running events were again very enjoyable. I shaved ten minutes off my 2012 Half Marathon time, managing to run up all the steep hills this time, and thoroughly enjoyed the run over the famous dam wall to the Zambian border and back again. The baboons along the route were very comical and I enjoyed an adrenaline moment when an elephant decided to cross the dirt road just as I was running past. Kariba residents who patrol the route in vehicles for reasons such as this, anxiously urged me on and I pushed my pace. The elephant seemed entirely unconcerned and added to my enjoyment of this race through wonderful scenery, complete with big game such as this! The Kariba Half is a tough race, taking you from up on the hill at AMC fuel station all the way down to the dam wall, then all the way back up, and on beyond AMC to Lomagundi Lakeside, with the last 2+km on dirt to add to the challenge. The standing record was beaten this year by Elijah Mabhuno in a staggering 1.04.29 and first lady in 1.18.25 was Constance Nyasango. There were lots of prizes given out to First and Second finishers in each age category, as well as for Kariba winners by category, a nice touch to recognise locals. After the Half Marathon and 10km event, a series of running events for children from toddlers to 12 were held, and prizes distributed for these races too – a great way to get the kids interested in the fun and healthy pursuit of running. How about diarising this event for next year’s family getaway over Heroes Weekend? tenth edition
THE STANDARD STYLE ARTS & CULTURE In this issue of Arts & Culture (1) Josephine Takundwa (2) Pee Kay (3) Dambudzo (4) Bill Gates 2 3 4
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