After a few days of getting up-close and personal with some of the typical delights of Africa and easing to victory in a one-day match against Zimbabwe's second-string team in the central town of Kwekwe, the West Indies get back to serious business today.
The team returned yesterday afternoon to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city with a population of nearly 500,000, to prepare for the first two of the five one-day internationals at the Queen's Sports Club tomorrow and Sunday.
They broke their 110-mile coach drive from Bulawayo to Kwekwe on Monday with stopovers at Antelope Park, one of Zimbabwe's famous game reserves, and for speed boat rides on a river just outside Kwekwe.
"Some of us who were here on the last tour made a similar trip then but it was a great outing for the younger guys who are here for the first time," manager Ricky Skerritt said.
"This was an opportunity to see elephants, lions and other animals in their natural habitat and it was an experience," he said.
The team invited along their most travelled fan, intrepid Trinidadian Les Arm-ogam, `Uncle Les', who has followed them all over the world for the past decade.
"I think Uncle Les knows how much we've appreciated his support over the years and it was another chance for us to show it," Skerritt said. "He seemed to have as good a time as any of us."
England's boycott of their scheduled World Cup match in Zimbabwe last March on security grounds and reports that, even now, their tour here in a year's time is in doubt, have prompted questions from administrators and the media to Skerritt on the issue.
"Of course I can't speak for anyone else, but as far as the West Indies team is concerned, we have been well taken care of.
We've had no problems whatsoever and feel completely comfortable, just as we did two years ago," he said. "We have come to play cricket and the environment for doing so has been ideal."
The political situation remains unstable.
The Zimbabwe Trades Union Congress called yesterday for a two-day strike to protest the arrest and detention of several of their leaders and members during antigovernments demonstrations on Monday.
But the cricketers have been unaffected by, and are unaware of, such developments.