Mussina - South Africa

It's hot! 40+C, and humid. After just over 2 weeks, much further into The Tropics, but at a height of around 1,500 metres we are back to earth with a bang, or more of a whimper. The Highveld in Zim was so comfortable, hot in the sun, but rarely over 30C in the shade, lower humidity and cool nights.
It is unbelievable to us that we came through the Beitbridge Border in 50 mins this morning. We had been told to expect long delays as the Xmas holidays started last weekend and people would be moving across the border in both directions. In fact, the traffic seemed to be one-way, from S.A. into Zim. As we left Bulawayo, on the Beitbridge road there was a continuous stream of S.A. plated vehicles coming towards us, most of them had large trailers stacked impossibly high, way above the car roof-line. There were lots of 'Chinese' bags, black dust-bin bags, packed with goodness knows what. We even saw one which had a wheel barrow and ladders atop of everything else.
We were held up at the first Toll station because one lane was blocked by a broken down lorry, absolutely next to the barrier, so nothing could pass. The other lane was being used alternately for cars from both directions, hence very slow progress. The obvious thing, to us, would have been to make use of a dirt road which looped very close to the main road and collected toll money from one direction of traffic there. It didn't seem that was an option.
The road from Beitbridge to Bulawayo is much nicer than the road from Beitbridge to Masvingo. I know that in a previous entry I have commented on the road side litter, the broken down and burnt out vehicles and the flat and featureless mopane scrub scenery on the Masvingo road. In contrast the road from Bulawayo had much less litter, far fewer derelict vehicles, was undulating and interesting, with some lovely Baobob trees. We weren't very far down the road before we came across the first casualty and there were many more to follow. Dangerously overloaded trailers had overturned beside the road, spilling their contents onto the gravel verge. The possessions of people who must have worked for long hours and small pay, saving their money in order to purchase vital requirements and gifts for Xmas, were scattered everywhere. There were  countless others where the vehicle had managed to pull off the road before the incident happened. Groups of people sat beside the road as others anxiously peered underneath both the trailer and the vehicle to try and identify the problem. Sometimes the vehicle had gone, leaving a few people guarding the trailer, presumably to try and get help. It was the most heart-breaking part of our trip. We must have gone through close to a dozen police road blocks between Bulawayo and Beitbridge, we wonder why these overloaded vehicles were allowed to continue, causing a potential hazard to other road users. On the other hand, who would make the decision to say that things saved for, so needed and so carefully packed had to be unloaded and left behind? I suppose there was a 50/50 chance that they might make it. I do so hope that most of the things reached their destination in time for Xmas.
I am trying to put together a few thoughts about our time in Zimbabwe, such a short time, but we spoke to many people, black and white, but are aware that often what you are told is what people think you want to hear. Any conclusions we draw will be very subjective, the situation is far too complicated to be summed up in a few paragraphs, but I'll try anyway.