Mazhanje, For Reals

For the last two months a special little fruit known Zimbabwe over has appeared on every roadside and fruit stand.  These little brownish treats, pictured above, are called mazhanje (mah-shawn-jay).  Mazhanje is one of the most popular wild fruits in southern Africa.  You could not avoid it in Zim from November to January if you tried.  The fruit tree is strong, doing well with attack from pests and growing well in poor agricultural soils that are sandy or gravelly.  Like mango trees, the mazhanje tree is typically left when other trees are cut down to clear land. Hence these wild fruit trees cover many rural landscapes, despite rarely being cultivated by formal farming methods. 

You may remember a blog I wrote at this time last year about something referred to here as "White Man's Mazhanje,"  which actually turned out to be an originally imported botanical gem called sapote.  Above, three brownish golf-ball sized African mazhanje sit next to a typical apple-sized sapote for comparison. The two fruits are often compared to each other, though both have unique qualities unlike the other.

 

Both fruits have an obnoxiously waxy peel that can add the texture of thin, cracked wax if they are not cleaned properly. But that is where the similarities stop.

Inside, mazhanje has a unique texture that is half custard-like and half citrus-like.

The interior typically holds 3-5 seeds.  Pictured above is one seed- crazy shape!

 One only eats the flesh of the fruit, not the seeds.  The taste has been likened to pear or plum, though neither quite describes this crazy fruit!  

The Cradle of Humankind

Widely recognized as "the place where all humankind originated," the Cradle of Humankind is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located about 50 kilometers north-west of Johannesburg.  As a huge site of over 180 square miles, the Cradle of Humankind's world renowned Sterkfontein Caves stand as the longest continuously running fossil excavation in the world.  Many of the oldest hominid fossils ever found come from this web of limestone caves, including --for those of you (unlike me) science buffs who understand paleontological-speak-- "Mrs. Ples," "Little Foot," and the "Taung Child."

We visited two pieces of the Cradle of Humankind on a sunny day in October. (Yes. I am entirely ignoring the fact that it took me three months to blog this.) Traveling an hour outside of Johannesburg, we found ourselves surrounded by large skies and yellow and purple farm fields until we suddenly arrived at a strangely out-of-place collection of stone columns marking an entrance to the Maropeng Visitor's Center.  

This pieced-together museum of human history holds an ecclectic mix of dinaosaur and hominid fossils, the complexities of DNA, a boatride through the destructive forces of the earth, meteorological exhibits, and commentary on the movement of the human species past, present, and future. In layman's terms, it was just weird.

Here we are on the eerie  boat ride...

after which we had our pictures taken like amusement park goers after a ride on the roller coaster.  I have never purchased one of these cheesy photos before, I swear.  But here it cost approximately one dollar... so here we are!  

 

 

More weirdness.

 

After exiting the museum into a world of normalcy again, views of the surrounding South African hills are nothing but bright and gorgeous.

 

We then moved onto our second location, the Sterkfontein Caves.  These dolomitic caves are made up of a mixture of limestone and breccia sediments.  Though hominids probably lived all over Africa, this site had ideal conditions that allowed for the preservation of fossils.

Another museum space is then followed by guided hikes through an accessible portion of the caves.

Here Jonas gets ready to enter...

   

Pretty much all of my cave pictures look the same...  darkness, Jonas looking up, dirty things.

Some spaces in the caves are small enough they must be stooped or crawled through. 

Upon exiting the cave, hikers come across a bronze bust of Dr. Robert Broom, discoverer of "Mrs Ples."  Visitors are encouraged to rub his hands for wisdom, or his nose for good luck.

Heading out of the cave and onto a small nature hike back to the museum...

 

 

 

Rape in the Kitchen

I probably don’t have to tell you how surprised I was to find out that one of the most common vegetables in Zimbabwe is a leafy green called “rape.” Leaving aside all forms of tacky inappropriate jokes, the word is a common word in Shona dinner-speak. 

When I asked our first housekeeper, Beauty, to teach me how to make this popular green last year, she said, “Uggh.  You want to eat more expensive vegetables. That one is terrible.”  Of course, at the time we were eating all of our meals with Beauty –usually doing the cooking for her- so her passion for introducing us to run-of-the-mill Shona food was less than enthusiastic compared to her enthusiasm for learning our American cuisine.

It is hard to find recipes for Shona food, or even a lot about it online.  That is because it is often as simple as a green vegetable cooked or boiled with salt and pepper, then eaten with hot sadza.  Add in margarine, bread, sugar, tea, and a small amount of fruit, and you have the makings of a very typical Shona diet. Quite bluntly, no matter which other cuisines it is compared to, Shona food is notorious for being the less desirable.  It is common for those of Shona culture lifted out of poverty to add other habits of eating to their repertoire when given the opportunity.  These new habits are often influenced by the surrounding English cuisine and include adding more cheese, milk, butter, and meat to the diet.  (As I often say, I am speaking in very general terms here, so please note that there are for sure people who will not fall under this description.)

Last month I asked our housekeeper, Ziwone, about Shona food traditions at Christmas time.  She smiled shyly and said “We always have apple. Very special.”

“Oh,” I’d said.  Is that a cooked dish?  Do you use some spices?”  I am always shamelessly open to trying new recipes.

“No…” she had said. “We just cut the apple and eat it.”

Oh, baby.  Am I ever spoiled.

Back to rape.  When I saw a beautiful, bright green bunch of rape yesterday at the market, I decided it was finally time to embrace a new vegetable.  I brought home the bunch and showed our housekeeper, Ziwone, asking how to cook this emerald-colored Shona treasure.

“We cook the same way as pumpkin leaves…and spinach… and cabbage.”

“Oh,” I’d said.  “…Isn’t that the same way you cook beet greens?”

“Yes… and squash leaves… and collard greens.”

You get my drift.  Wash.  Cut into small pieces. Cook with water.  Then add a tomato and salt.  A bit of onion if you are lucky. No creativity necessary.  Boom.  Done.

Meet rape, which, coincidentally, tastes a lot like pumpkin leaves… or spinach… or cabbage… or beet greens… or squash leaves…or collard greens….

Toys, African Style

The dolls Jonas, Lilly, and Sean make in the garden.... sticks shoved into plant stalk

Dish Drying Rack

African ingenuity!

Leopard Rock, the Vumba

A giant pink hotel?!  It's actually not so rare in Africa. What makes Leopard Rock unique is its world famous golf course.  In addition to golf, visitors can do game drives, nature hikes, bird watching, ample drinking, tennis, swimming, and horseback riding or sneak down to the mini-casino in the basement...

(above) we visit the on-sight castle to finish our -wet!- nature hike

We found the hotel a little dated, and way, way over priced.  But we've never seen so much furniture built-in to a hotel before and that made for some gorgeous rooms and upscale restaurant areas.  The staff was also very accommodating for us travels with a four-year-old during a rainy week.  But by far, the golf course was the place to be.  

Leopard Rock remains famous for its views of neighboring Mozambique and the incredible Vumba mountains surrounding it.  If views and golf are what you're looking for, Leopard Rock is a must see -but maybe stay at the cheaper inns down the road- while in Zim!

Mtarazi Falls, the Eastern Highlands

Welcome to the mountains of Nyanga, an area of the Eastern Highlands of Zim bordering the civil-war torn country of Mozambique.  The area is heavily logged for pine and non-native eucalyptus poles, yet known for spectacular views.  It was unfortunate, then, that we drove in on a saturated day of wind, rain, and mud meets fog.

 

 

The region is not known for large game or the stereotypical African animals.  However, it is home to hundreds of species of birds and insects, two kinds of indigenous monkeys, and a number of antelope.

 

The roads were a muddy mess and trees were downed everywhere, but we made our way to the goal: Mtarazi Falls.

Hiking to the second longest waterfall on the continent of Africa was an iffy thing.  That's because the fog was thick and we knew we could get all the way there only to look into a valley of cloud cover.  God must have been listening, though, because the weather parted specifically for our viewing pleasure then closed quickly back up again as we hiked back to our car... Success.

The paths were lined with my favorite, South Africa's crazy national flower: the King Protea.

So strange to be in an area in which pine trees and palm trees grow next to each other in nature.

The trail allows hikers to see (and hear!) the roaring river below on their way to the falls.

Two falls occur at the point in which the Mtarazi River flows over the Eastern Escarpment of Zimbabwe. They fall a daunting 2,499 feet.

There are no safety railings or fences- just free fall cliffs at the end of the trails.  (Hence we are carrying our little guy.)

Our views were stunning.  Still, because of the weather, I don't have the prettiest pictures.  If you look up images of these beauties, you will see that the views on a clear day are nothing but gorgeous.

The water flows into the Honde Valley below.  Half belongs to Zim and the other half begins the beautiful mountainous border of Mozambique. This gorgeous valley is known for its tea and coffee plantations, which provide a huge chunk of region's economy.