The car rumbled down the rough roads of Cape Town, South Africa, with Nate, Mandy, Shaun and Nate’s girlfriend, Brynna Deluzio, jostling around inside. They had just arrived at the airport and picked up their rental, ready to embark on Nate’s first trip back to Africa since he was a child.
To his parents’ surprise, Nate knew how to drive a stick shift. Shaun handed over the keys upon that discovery, encouraging Nate to navigate the foreign streets himself.
“It was a couple of jolts here and there,” Mandy said. “But we just kept quiet.”
Shaun and Mandy wanted Nate to have the full African experience. That included the little things, such as traffic flowing in the opposite direction than the United States.
The crew of four began the two-week April adventure in Cape Town, where Shaun attended college. They ventured to Victoria Falls, which is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World as the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. They fished nearby on the Zambezi River and also in Lake Kariba.
“These are great fishing spots for game fishing, so Nate got to experience that,” Shaun said. “He just loved it all. I think he felt a real connection, connecting with the country and with some of the culture that he’s grown up to but not really experienced firsthand.”
Fishing would always trigger the few memories Nate held from his early years in Zimbabwe. The action itself, not just pictures. Because there is an album’s worth of young Nate – normally barefoot – near the water at his grandparents’ lake house out in the African bush.
So, for Nate to be able to fish while in Zimbabwe again, his two worlds finally merged into one. Especially when staying in the Landman’s hometown of Harare, because his cousins were able to join, picking up where they left off 20-plus years ago.
“Even though they hadn’t seen each other since Nate was 3, the love, the bond and the affection was instantly there,” Mandy said. “It made us emotional to see. It was hard to leave.”
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