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Pictures by Andile Tshuma and Obey Sibanda

 BULAWAYO residents for the past two days have been jostling to catch a glimpse of the African Dream, a houseboat believed to be one of the biggest to have been built in Zimbabwe which is destined for Namibia.

The boat will be launched onto the Zambezi River.

The houseboat, with a carrying capacity of 16 people, was built at GDI Engineering in Msasa, Harare, is on its way to Victoria Falls en route to Namibia.

It will operate as a floating luxury hotel.

According to the boat’s handlers, they chose to use the longer route to Victoria Falls to avoid traffic congestion that is associated with the Harare-Bulawayo Highway, as that could have resulted in a major disruption of traffic flow.

On Sunday afternoon, social media was ablaze with Bulawayo residents taking pictures while posing next to the houseboat which arrived in the city on its journey to Victoria Falls.

By Monday afternoon the crew transporting the houseboat had to resort to cutting down trees within the Central Business District so as to ensure that the “abnormal load” fits on the road as it slowly made its way to join the Bulawayo – Victoria Falls highway.

The boat is being accompanied by a police escort, and a plethora of technicians.

On Monday morning some schools in the city even organised field trips for their students to just see the huge spectacle as it passed through the city.

One resident, Mrs Nomsa Ndiweni, said with the way her children were excited on seeing the houseboat, she had decided that during this year’s festive season she was either going to follow the African Dream to Namibia or go for a boat cruise at the Victoria Falls.

“I am going to follow the African Dream’s journey online and if I am lucky we might be able to book for a stay when it launches in Namibia,” she said.