Mike's Blog

HI All When you attend weddings or 21sts birthdays, it is quite common, in these parts of the world, for the MC to propose a toast to the hosts with words to the effect of “Wishing you both live a fit and healthy life to a ripe old age”. One could add phrases like “with a […]

HI All Swimming is one sport that most of us were introduced to at a very early age. Some have parents that encourage their young kids to strive be able to swim against the best athletes; others like me, just attended school swimming a few times a week, being chosen for the relay team when […]

HI All Every year for over 50 years, Bowls Zimbabwe has held a National Bowls tournament at alternating venues throughout the country. Back in the 60s, when my folks first started playing Bowls, it was held in places like Mutare that had 4 or 5 venues around the city. Bowls died off quite a lot […]

HI All When you own your own company, you rarely take a true vacation; it is normally just a Working Holiday. I have, however, often been referred to as a fitness fanatic: I don’t spend my holidays lazing on the beach; I prefer to challenge my physical limits by entering an energetic sporting event Over […]

HI All The flight back from Sydney to Johannesburg on Qantas is a long but very comfortable journey flying into strong winds for up to 14 hours. On occasions in the past, we have gone as far south as the Antarctic to help the pilot reduce the effect of the Westerly winds. NB the Eastward […]

HI All To have the most benefit out of a game of golf requires a good 7 hours of the day – driving to and from the golf club; playing 18 holes; a shower afterwards; followed by a few drinks with your playing 4 ball. I, therefore, try to ensure that I do not have […]

Hi All I flew over to Brisbane on Qantas last weekend for my annual visit to see my daughters and granddaughters. The young ladies and I were going to compete in a Sprint Triathlon for the first time together in the Sunshine Coast tomorrow Lo and behold, though, I was informed on arrival that the […]

Hi All Every now and then one needs to just stop for a moment and state to yourself “Time Out”. I’ve been training hard over the past few weeks, and we’ve been so busy over the last month advising our many Softrite Customers on the best way to summarise their 2024 payroll payments for all […]

Hi All Long-distance running has always done it for me – I’ve probably run about 70,000 km in the last 50 + years of ultra marathons. It takes determination and true dedication to reach that stage where you are “talking” fit – that place where you can have an intellectual chat with similarly fit running mates […]

Hi All Farming, here in Zimbabwe, is generally labour intensive with eager workers requiring skilful management backed up with an organised administration setup. Generally, when a farmer starts out, he just takes on a few locally based labourers to plough and plant the fields. He then sits down by his computer, at the end of […]

Hi All I’ve just returned from competing in the annual Small Bridge Triathlon. Small Bridge is a large lake situated at the start of the Eastern Highlands some 40km north of Mutare. This short drive takes one along steep, winding roads with good tar to an elevation of 1551 m – 330m above that of […]

Hi All  Please bring your Company Gazebo along with a community-inspiring mindset to Pomona Art Wall next Tuesday at 9 am. A sponsor for drinking water and Pizza Snacks would be appreciated. Contact Sharon at +263 772 240 442. Set up before 8 am. We are very fortunate to have people in our community who go out of […]

Hi All Last Saturday evening I, along with about 100 others, was invited to a well-organised book launch at The Beach House in Harare. Well-known wildlife enthusiast, Jan Teede, had arranged for three very different books to be published by his printers in Cape Town. The three authors, Jan Teede, Kirsty Jean and Natalie de […]

Summer RainsThe Rainy season here in Zimbabwe has just about always started in the first or second week of November. This year the weather has been true to form with a couple of heavy showers already having us check our rain gauges. No sign of any climate change in these parts! It’s a time, like […]

Hi All A good Zimbabwean friend of mine, Helen, who lives in Perth, came back to Zimbabwe a couple of years ago where we met up for coffee. Helen is one of those kind people who spend lots of time selflessly motivating their immediate communities. She told me about a very successful project that works […]

Hi All We have a very large Elephant population in Zimbabwe with some folks claiming there are too many.  I’m told that there is something like 65,000 in Hwange National Park with Gonarezhou “housing” some 15,000 in their 5,000 square kilometres. Just 3 per square Kilometre is surely not a lot. Should we be concerned? […]

Hi All This weekend I drove down to Chilo Lodge on the edge of Gonarezhou and spent 3 nights in their self-catering lodges. Our outward journey took us through Mutare returning via the alternate Gutu route. They have patched up all the potholes on the 260km stretch between Chiredzi and Chivhu, so the long return […]

Hi All It is debatable whether one should be buried or cremated when your earthly days are done and dusted. My late brother, Roy, chose cremation and it was his expressed desire to have his immediate family to have a memorial for him somewhere near the Hwange National Park. So, last weekend three of us […]

Hi All Way back in the day, a band called the Mamas and Papas brought out a very popular song –click on Monday Monday to put yourself in a good mood for the day. I try to make a habit of waking up early on a Monday morning, joining the 5 AM club and sitting for a […]

Hi All I’m quite sure most of you folks have told a few White Lies in your lifetime. Did I hear you think “Not Me?” They are mostly told about inconsequential matters to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. Real lies, on the other hand, are intended to deceive and most times cause major problems. The storyline in […]

Hi All It was so rewarding to see so many entries to our August Short story competition – 182 in total! Split evenly amongst the 3 age groups. It has taken us a long time to sift through them all working out which ones had merit or showed a latent talent for writing.  I can […]

Hi All Croco Motors does a lot of advertising with us in both the Nzira Travel Magazine and the daily Bambazonke Nhasi emails. We have also produced a 48-page hard copy Croco Magazine that was placed in their showrooms. Croco Motors are the Ford dealers in Zimbabwe, and they asked me to represent Zimbabwe at the […]

Hi All School term starts again on Tuesday and that means it’s time for the next Social Bowls league that Scotty Fraser has set up at Highlands Sports Club. The whole idea is to introduce people (of all ages) to the sport in a fun way with participants able to smoke or drink whilst playing […]

Hi All There’s a well-known adage that some folks are just “Born Story Tellers”. I’m not sure, though, that this statement is completely true. After all, everyone has a story to tell: Exhibitionists like to stand on a soapbox in places like London’s Hyde Park shouting out “hear ye, hear ye”; big drinkers relate their narrative down […]

Hi All, I drove down to Mutare last Friday to join 32 other players in the annual Goldberg Bowls tournament – it’s been a long time since they’ve had so many competitors. The standard of play was high and very competitive – lots of fun and comradery. Eleven teams played a Round-Robin of 2 wood trips all day Saturday […]

Hi All My late father was captain of his local Deeside Cycling club in Aberdeen way back in the late 1940s so we spent many a Saturday morning sitting beside him as he tried to explain to us four youngsters, the best way to fix a cycle chain or repair a puncture.  When we first moved back […]

HI All The flight back from Brisbane via Dubai is a long one taking over 30 hours from door to door. However, Emirates has some of the more modern planes around with comfortable seating and excellent staff to cater for all your basic flying needs. Very little jetlag this time around.  It doesn’t take long for returnees […]

Hi All I’ve written often, in the past, about how I like to plan my holidays around a major participatory sporting event. My youngest granddaughter, Hailey, is being christened here, in Brisbane, at the end of the month so I ended up competing in the Cairns Ironman 70.3 half ironman for a second time last […]

Hi All I flew down to Sydney this morning to spend time with my younger daughter and was duly picked up from the airport wondering what she and her partner had in store for us to do today.  Well, Dad, she responded, we are going to spend the morning touring all the leading bookstores in […]

Hi All My 3 kids spent most of their formative years in Brisbane, so I have travelled over here 32 times – I know the city fairly well! This time around I am visiting Australia to walk around the local park with my lovely, innocent, young granddaughters taking turns to sit on Grampa’s shoulders. Then at 5 pm […]

HI All Retd. Colonel Lionel Dyke was a die-hard soldier who had a very successful military career. He knew his own mind and didn’t take fools gladly. Lionel joined the Rhodesian army when he was just 17, spending time in the RLI and RAR ending up commanding The Zimbabwe Parachute Battalion. He was awarded a […]

Hi All The annual ADMA Exhibition is being held this week at ART farm starting Thursday Morning at 8 am. A couple of us from Bindu Media went along yesterday for media accreditation and to check out the preparations. ADMA was started about 8 years ago giving an opportunity for high-end providers of Agricultural equipment to […]

Hi All Phil Scott Riddell was, until recently, a highly qualified commercial pilot with 30 years of airline and business corporate flying experience. He visited many different countries worldwide during his flying career, resulting in him overnighting in hotel accommodations boasting a large variance in standards. In 2016 Phil and his wife, Mornette relocated to […]

Hi All I’ve always believed that a good manager does not spend the whole workday sitting behind a desk with in-baskets that never seem to empty. One needs to regularly “Break the Pattern” of hard slog. Sometimes all it takes is a coffee date with a long-forgotten friend or business colleague.  Another way to do […]

Hi All With us at Softrite having so many farmers using our Adaski payroll software, we are constantly being informed of new developments and presentations being made in the Zimbabwean Farming community. A few weeks ago, we were invited out to a farm in Northern Marondera to listen to Rob Stokes talk about the “Chongi” tobacco curing system […]

Hi All Early last month I was invited out to the Swales Farm in Darwendale to witness the first public display of the 7 young progeny of their Arabian Horses.  “The Arabian Horse has historic roots in the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily […]

HI All My sporting career could best be described as “A Jack of all trades; Master of None!” I’ve tried my luck at all sorts of sports but only ever truly succeeded where skills are not top of the requirements list – Persevering at Comrades was more my style. I do believe, however, that one […]

Hi All Thoughts of a trip to Nyanga have always brought back images of cooler weather and of sitting around a blazing fireplace with the sound of pine cones crackling in the background. Those of you that have travelled to our wonderful Eastern Highlands will know, all too well, how many cottages are located up […]

HI All As an avid reader I’m always on the lookout for ways to improve the reading opportunities in our communities. When I was over in Brisbane last year my daughter drove me down to the local library with my 2 little granddaughters. They have a special section at the back of the library where […]

HI All Our Garden family has been involved in the gentlemanly sport of (Lawn) Bowls for almost 60 years. My parents both represented Zimbabwe at Bowls and my late brother, Roy, was effectively a world champion when he won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur way back in 1998. Growing up […]

HI All Christmas means so many different things to each and every one of us and we all have our own special way of celebrating the occasion. This time around I decided to leave all of the glitz and glamour of the big city and head south to Gonarezhou. There are 2 sets of tented […]

HI AllIt’s always about this time of December that the Christmas season kicks in – general attitudes relax and folks start planning theirfestive season. This morning I played golf at Borrowdale Brooke with 3 fun gentlemen. Today’s game was, very aptly, called “TheGreenkeepers Revenge” – undoubtedly the best one of its kind I have ever […]

Disclaimer – Below is a follow-up to the recent article Fish Netting in Namibia, to read this article please click here.Please note that whilst Bambazonke aims to be a community-based platform where we discuss ideas and experiences, we remainimpartial to all views shared below.   Ripple Africa, making a difference. I’m delighted to introduce you to […]

HI All We stayed a couple of nights, last week, at a lovely lodge on the banks of the Chobe river separating Botswana from the Caprivi Strip(now Zambezi Region) in Namibia. It is standard practice, when residing in this sort of environment, to go out for a sunset cruise atabout 4pm drifting slowly along the […]

HI All It is common practice worldwide for those in the travel industry to be invited, by the hospitality sector, to go on a joint “Familiarisation”trip (“Famil”) staying over in a variety of destinations during the green / off season. Bayete Lodge in Vic Falls organised one such tripthis week starting immediately after the completion […]

HI All Being the author and moderator of our Softrite Adaski Payroll software, I have to ensure that the PAYE calculations therein work as intended. This involves the odd trip into town to speak to the relevant technical staff at Zimra.  Last Thursday I parked at Meikles and walked across the road to one of […]

Hi All I went out to Marondera on Saturday to compete in the Ryan Collett Memorial Triathlon at Springvale House  yesterday morning. I took the opportunity to camp out in the beautiful Miombo Woodland under the shade of glorious Msasa trees  in Gosho Park next door to Springvale – what a treat that was – […]

Hi All For those of you who are looking for a special weekend combining a night out in the bush with a bit of exercise the  following morning might want to drive out to Gosho Park just past Marondera this coming Saturday.  The Ryan Collett Memorial Triathlon and Run is taking place at Springvale House […]

Hi All We are truly blessed in this country to have so many opportunities to play sports – This week, for me, it’s ranged from Swimming to Running, Golf and Solo Latin Dancing. My preference on a Saturday morning, however, is to  spend a few hours out in the bush riding my mountain bike (MTB). […]

Hi All I first met Tom Benjamin several years ago when he started advertising his business through our Bambazonke Nhasi mailing list. Since then we have met on several occasions and he has been writing  a weekly newsletter that we have been posting on our Bambazonke Website. I have also had to personally  call him out twice to […]

Hi All I’m sure most of you would have, at some time or another, heard someone say words to the effect of “I believe James(?)  was completely Hoovered last night”. I believe many youngsters these days want to have this said about them so that they can earn that “Badge of Honour”. In most Western societies, there […]

Hi All I have light-coloured curtains in my bedroom and I generally keep the windows all open at night – it’s been that way since an old cook of mine told me he did not need an alarm clock – he was woken up every day by the melodious tunes sung by some of the […]

Hi All Most of us mere mortals go through life believing we are immortal. Major medical issues only happen to others – not me! Medical science has, however, made enormous leaps and bounds in recent years making it possible to spot potential ailments in one’s body almost from day 1 potentially giving us a chance […]

Hi All   I have, over the past few months, read a few excellent thrillers written by female authors – Just last night I stayed up late finishing  off Ann Cleeves’ “Rising Tide”   Ladies have a completely different flare in their writings adding their feminine touch and thoughts to most scenarios; leading female scribes […]

This year the Automobile Association of Zimbabwe is proudly celebrating 100 years since its founding in 1923 – a significant milestone – making the Association the second oldest motoring organization in the ACTA region. The Association was founded  in 1923 by the Resident Commissioner for Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to serve, promote and protect the […]

Hi All There’s something special about attending a well-organized, company cocktail party. It’s a chance to relax over a couple of drinks after work and meet interesting new people that you would not normally bump into in your busy life. First Capital Bank (Formerly Barclays) invited me, last week, to such an occasion being held […]

Hi All It has long been our “culture” to meet up with a few of our mates at the end of the week to share a few beers or a glass of wine. The resultant banter, as you gradually relax at these social gatherings, is generally good fun. With time most people learn how to  self-discipline and knowing […]

Hi All The month of August is renowned in this part of the world for windy conditions bringing with it the change in season. The 1st September is, thus, traditionally known as the start of Spring. The sunny weather has folks lapsing out of their slothy winter habits to let others know of their intention […]

Hi All, It’s a given thing for dads with sons living in Zimbabwe for the latter to be introduced to the fascinating sport of fishing at an early age. When they’ve grown up not much beats a boys only weekend –sans ladies; sans mates – patiently casting out lines on the Zambezi River hoping to […]

Peterhouse Astroturf Hockey Pitch Hi All Traditionally school boys entering high school in this country have had to choose a winter sport from either Rugby or Hockey – This nerd chose Chess ending up as school chess champion at the end of Form 1. I then enrolled into boarding school the following year and was […]

Hi All,    I’ve just returned from a month-long trip to Australia – my first real holiday in many years. I spent good quality time with  both my daughters and young granddaughters in Brisbane and Sydney. I also used the opportunity to have catch-up  coffees with quite a few ex-Zimbos living “Down Under” – most […]

HI All I’m currently “Down Under” for a short stint of those rare Grampa privileges that are preferred on me from time to time. This is my 31st trip to Australia over a period of 20 years. Being a divorced father with kids growing up in the other side of the world has been quite […]

Hi All,   I was brought up as a city slicker and, thus, me and horses have never been one! Back in the day when we guys were out on Patrol we came across, what seemed like, a few old Nags grazing idly in someone’s fields. There was nothing much happening that day so, being […]

HI All, If you were to be honest about it, we, in Zimbabwe, have a “Cushy life” – all we really have to worry about these days are the pot holes, bad driving and the rapidly falling dollar rate. Most of our kids attend quality schools and we are able to whisk them away for […]

Hi All, I love dancing and, if I’m accompanied by the right partner, am always the first on the dance floor – I particularly like my own version of Rock & Roll and tend to take up more space on the dance floor than others. Some might call me an exhibitionist but I jive according […]

HI All,   There is always something special about donning one’s glad rags and heading out for an evening meal in a fancy restaurant. For those of us that have lived most of our lives here, one of the most sought-after dishes at such an establishment is a premium quality fillet steak served Medium Rare […]

HI All, The Morton Jaffray waterworks were built many years ago to cleanse water from Lake Chivero and pump it to Greater Harare for distribution to both housing and industrial stands. Over the past few years, however, this delivery has had all sorts off issues. The net result is the drilling of thousands of boreholes […]

Hi All,   To live a full life one should, I believe, incorporate some sort of appreciation for culture – for instance, listening to the classical music of famous composers like Bach, Beethoven or Chopin. With my diary being noticeably short of such outings, I drove across to Arundel School Chapel on Saturday afternoon to […]

HI All,   Being a busy, but wily, old bachelor it is moi that has to go out and do the weekly shopping. I have a tendency to find a bright and breezy, local supermarket where I can find what I’m looking for without too much effort. I don’t have time to compare prices with […]

Hi All,   When I was in my 30s, and early 40s, life was all about running the Ultra Comrades Marathon between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. We had a large, fun loving club with the whole spectrum of running abilities. Training for such an event requires plenty of self-discipline with lots of time allocated for training […]

HI All,   Softrite has quite a few payroll customers in the Mutare area so I went down there a couple of weeks ago to sponsor the Wednesday afternoon golf competition at Hillside Golf course.   My long-time friend, Kevin Woodward, has finally retired from caddying for leading professional golfers around the world and taken […]

HI All, A few groups of us playing golf, at the Brooke yesterday, were caught stranded by an extremely heavy downpour as we were putting out on the 12th green – it always happens when you are at the furthest point from the clubhouse! So we had to all huddle together in the little cabin […]

Hi All,  My young brother, Roy Garden (61), passed away late Friday night after surviving for over two years with Stage 4 Cancer. Roy was a determined guy who never gave up and tried every trick in the book in an effort to delay the inevitable progress of that dreaded affliction. He spent his last […]

HI All, It is that time of the year once more when most of us take a break and celebrate the Christmas holidays in our ownspecial way. We at Bindu Media are closing today and will be back in the office next Wednesday. I thought it appropriate to list a few ideas for you to […]

HI All, One of the great things about Zimbabweans that have spent time in the diaspora is that, when they return to live here,many of them bring back many new creative ideas that they introduce to their communities. It is also a sad fact of life that in larger cities like Harare, shopping centres have […]

HI All, Those of you that are involved in paying Salaries will know that the financial landscape, here in Zimbabwe, is in a constantstate of flux. Over the past couple of years an ever increasing number of companies are changing over from justpaying RTGS (ZWL) salaries to paying staff in both US$ and ZWL using […]

HI All, The Meikles Hotel has always been one of those icons that travellers from all over the world have come to know as “The 5Star Place to Stay” in the capital city of Zimbabwe. This popular destination, situated across the road from Africa Square,has been mentioned in many lauded fictional books as the central […]

Hi All, Troutbeck Hotel was opened way back in 1951 as a fine country hotel set high up in the mountains overlooking a beautiful lakefull to the brim with large Trout fish. The initial thinking, by founder Major MacIlwaine, was to emulate similar establishmentsthat he had stayed in, back in his Scottish homelands. There was […]