Cham Don Baddewithana
Thirty-four countries in four years, yet Zimbabwe stands apart. Luka, Abhinav, Vaishali, Shanzae, and I set off, Still Into You by Paramore on repeat. What we did not know was how this trip would test all of us like no other NYU Abu Dhabi final exam would.
On day two, Shanzae received an urgent call, and with 20 minutes to spare, we fought airline staff to get her on a flight home. Hours later, Luka and I realized our passports and local cash were missing, left under a hotel mattress from the night before. A frantic drive back ended with us running out of gas, leaving Abhinav as collateral at a station that only took cash. By 2am, we found him waiting, unfazed. Zimbabwe started testing us, but NYUAD had trained us well — think fast, adapt, and rely on your people.
Why pay for a driver, safari jeep, and tour guide when we could drive our own X-Trail 2014 through Zimbabwe’s largest safari park? Four very independent seniors took on the challenge.
“Do not get out of the car at any cost,” the guards warned.
But when elephants crossed our path, we decided that rules are meant to be broken — polaroids were taken, and consequences ignored.
As the hours dragged on, we ran out of water, snacks, and patience. My hands bled from steering through the bumps. But we had seen this before — wandering through alleyways in Tokyo, sprinting to class in New York, and chasing the last tube in London. NYUAD’s global experiences have taught us how to survive anywhere. When we finally reached a guard post, a woman handed us water and Coca-Cola. It was the best Coke I’ve ever had, I swear.
Once wasn’t enough - we did it all again in two more parks. We stood before Victoria Falls, the world’s largest sheet of falling water.
We woke at 5am to watch the sunrise over Matobo Hills. We found vegetarian food for Abhi and Vaishali in places we didn’t think possible. We sang our lungs out on a karaoke night, jumped into a freezing pool, took roads locals told us to avoid, handed out snacks at a local school, and parked by a random lake just to breathe.
We ran out of gas (again), with no station nearby, and had to buy fuel from a random man on the side of the road.
This trip wasn’t just a road trip, it was everything NYUAD had prepared us for. The independence, the problem-solving, the trust in each other. Zimbabwe threw challenges our way, but the real lesson was knowing, deep down, that we would always find our way back - together.
