We already visited western Zimbabwe last year, and now we're exploring two more highlights in the east.

First, however, we head east of Nyanga on the border between Mozambique and Zimbabwe, where the warning signs (landmines) remind us that there were many years of armed conflict here as well.

Great Zimbabwe: A national monument. A World Heritage Site. And one of the few historical sites we find on our Africa trip, as we didn't travel very far into the Sahel region.

The ruins cover an area of ​​approximately 27 square kilometers. Absolutely fascinating. It's not really known what motivated people to move such a mass of stones. The complex was neither large enough to accommodate many people nor strategically important as a fortress or defense system. It may have originally been more of a ritual site and later the main seat of the king (11th-15th centuries).

Gonarezhou National Park. Magnificent landscapes. Fantastically located bush camps that you can book for yourself. Wildlife sightings are more of a casual occurrence.

And what else? Nothing has changed compared to last year. You pay in US dollars and wonder who, apart from tourists and a tiny upper class, can afford these prices.

We meet well-educated people and know from last year that many are looking for work in South Africa.

We see a lot of poverty and the cultivation of vegetables on small plots for subsistence. But also prosperous farms and some agricultural machinery.

We hear of white farmers returning to the country. But also of farmers who have always stayed and somehow have no real prospects for their old age.