Deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe - should I still go?
Jul 16th, 2007, 09:06 AM
#21
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi Cybor. Congratulations on planning a trip to Zimbabwe! I'm sure you will have an amazing time in this beautiful country. In answer to your questions, Matetsi Water Lodge remains open and also very difficult to book as it is always so busy. I believe that the Safari Camp is however closed for refurbishment. Chikwenya closed after Wilderness Safaris unfortunately lost the concession but as Suzi pointed out Ruckomechi is open and there are various options for the canoe trail including Wilderness Safaris, Natureways and Vundu Camp. Other options include Classic Africa mobile safaris and Goliath Safaris.
In Matusadona, Rhino Island Safari Camp and Musango Safari Camp offer two great options.
You might be interested in a trip report posted on Fodors by a couple of our guests, Sam & Judi, who did a similar trip to the one you are obviously considering in April this year. It is included in the discussion "OK to Travel to Zim" at http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34985687
I hope this helps.
In Matusadona, Rhino Island Safari Camp and Musango Safari Camp offer two great options.
You might be interested in a trip report posted on Fodors by a couple of our guests, Sam & Judi, who did a similar trip to the one you are obviously considering in April this year. It is included in the discussion "OK to Travel to Zim" at http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34985687
I hope this helps.
Jul 16th, 2007, 03:34 PM
#22
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thank you, everyone, for your very thoughtful responses.
I have decided to proceed with my plans. While I could change hotels, all of my scheduled activities (elephant back safari, microliting over falls, guided tour of falls and lion encounter) will take place on the Zimbabwean side of the Falls, and I think most of those activities are non-refundable. Traveling back forth between the Zimbabwean and Zambian borders on a multiple-entry visa also did not sound appealing to me.
I understand I am taking a calculated risk in traveling to Zimbabwe, but I guess I knew I was taking that risk when I first made the reservations. I have several friends who work for the State Department who advised me not to travel to Zimbabwe in the first place.
If I were to book this whole trip again, I'm not sure I would have made the same decision to stay on the Zimbabwe side. Searches for "Zimbabwe" in this forum have yielded several threads similar to this one, even spanning back to 2000. In a country with an unstable government, you just never know when the situation could get bad enough to dissuade you from traveling there.
That said, I still think everything will be fine in the Victoria Falls area. After talking to my friends in the State Department (the same people who warned me initially), I feel we'll be ok. We're going to stick to our scheduled activites (which will keep us quite busy), avoid public gathering places, and have dinners at the local hotels. I think that's a compromise I am comfortable with.
I'll certainly let everyone know what I think when I return.
Thanks again for all your help.
--Heather
I have decided to proceed with my plans. While I could change hotels, all of my scheduled activities (elephant back safari, microliting over falls, guided tour of falls and lion encounter) will take place on the Zimbabwean side of the Falls, and I think most of those activities are non-refundable. Traveling back forth between the Zimbabwean and Zambian borders on a multiple-entry visa also did not sound appealing to me.
I understand I am taking a calculated risk in traveling to Zimbabwe, but I guess I knew I was taking that risk when I first made the reservations. I have several friends who work for the State Department who advised me not to travel to Zimbabwe in the first place.
If I were to book this whole trip again, I'm not sure I would have made the same decision to stay on the Zimbabwe side. Searches for "Zimbabwe" in this forum have yielded several threads similar to this one, even spanning back to 2000. In a country with an unstable government, you just never know when the situation could get bad enough to dissuade you from traveling there.
That said, I still think everything will be fine in the Victoria Falls area. After talking to my friends in the State Department (the same people who warned me initially), I feel we'll be ok. We're going to stick to our scheduled activites (which will keep us quite busy), avoid public gathering places, and have dinners at the local hotels. I think that's a compromise I am comfortable with.
I'll certainly let everyone know what I think when I return.
Thanks again for all your help.
--Heather
Jul 17th, 2007, 08:02 AM
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
News Update on Zimbabwe: Having emptied the shelves by forcing below cost pricing in the face of inflation that is now estimated at 10,000% and rising, the government of Zimbabwe has now issued a list of goods and quantities that you may not be able to take into Zim unless you follow the procedures prescribed in the attachment below. This is effective 1 August 2007.
Granted, this probably won't affect most tourists travling to Zim, because who really needs to bring food into a country, but still, I thought people might be interested to know...
Statutory Instrument 137 of 2007
[CAP. 23:02
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture) Regulations, 2007
WHEREAS it appears to His Excellency the President necessary and expedient to control the imports and the exports from Zimbabwe of certain goods;
NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby notified that His Excellency the President has been pleased, in terms of section 4 of the Control of Goods Act [Chapter 14:05], make the following regulations:—
1.(1) These regulations may be cited as the Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture) Regulations, 2007
(2) These regulations shall come into operation on the 1st August, 2007.
2. In this regulations unless inconsistent with the context—
“Controlled goods” means any goods specified in the First Schedule of any class of such goods, the import into or the export from Zimbabwe of which is prohibited, restricted or otherwise controlled by an order made under section 3.
3.(1) The Minister of Industry and International Trade may make orders prohibiting, restricting or otherwise controlling the import into or export from Zimbabwe of any goods specified in the First Schedule of any class of such goods
(2) Without derogation from the generality of the powers conferred by subsection (1) an order made under this section may—
(a) prescribe the terms and conditions subject to which controlled goods or any class of such goods may be imported into or exported from Zimbabwe;
(b) provide for empowering such person as may be prescribed by the order—
(i) to issue permits authorising, to such extent as may be prescribed by the order, the import into or export from Zimbabwe of any class of such controlled goods or any class of such goods;
(ii) when issuing a permit in terms of sub – paragraph (i), to impose any terms and conditions, not inconsistent with the provisions of the order, subject to which any controlled goods specified in the permit may be imported or exported, as the case may be;
(iii) to revoke any such permit issued by him or her in such circumstances and in such manner as may be prescribed by the order.
4. The regulations listed in the Second Schedule are repealed.
FIRST SCHEDULE (Section 2 and 3)
SPECIFIED GOODS
Animal oil and fats (lard, tallow and dripping)
Bananas
Barley, barley meal, barley malt
Beans, dried bean meal
Beef, veal
Butter, cream and ghee
Canned meat products
Cashew nut oil
Cattle,whether live or dead
Cement
Cheese
Citrus fruit
Coconut oil
Coffee
Compound products containing flour, meal, residues and other preparations of a kind suitable only as animal feedstuff.
Cotton, bleached cotton, cotton lint, cotton seed, cotton yarn, ginned cotton seed and raw cotton or unginned cotton
Eggs of poultry, whether in shell, pulp or dried form
Fish, whether fresh or dried
Fertiliser
Full cream milk powder and skimmed milk powder
Hides and skins
Ice-cream and ice-cream mix
Industrial equipment
Maize meal
Margarine
Meat meal, blood meal and carcass meal
Mealie-meal
Millet in the grain, millet meal and millet malt
Milk, pasteurised, sterilised
Oilseeds, oil cake and oil cake meal
Palm oil
Pigs whether live or dead
Potatoes
Poultry, whether live or dead
Raw sugar
Refined sugar
Seeds for planting
Sorghum in the grain, sorghum meal and sorghum malt
Soya beans
Stock feeds
Sunflower
Tea
Timber and timber products
Tyres
Vegetable acid oil
Vegetable fats
Vegetable oils
Wheat flour
Wheat in the grain, wheat bran and wheat pollard
SECOND SCHEDULE (Section 4)
REPEALS
TITLE STATUTORY
INSTRUMENT
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, 1965……………………………………………656 of 1965
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, 1965(No.1)……………………………………..737A of 1965
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, 1969(No. 2)……………………………………..537 of 1969
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, 1977 (No. 3).……………………………………885 of 1977
Published in the Government Gazette of 6th July 2007.
Granted, this probably won't affect most tourists travling to Zim, because who really needs to bring food into a country, but still, I thought people might be interested to know...
Statutory Instrument 137 of 2007
[CAP. 23:02
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture) Regulations, 2007
WHEREAS it appears to His Excellency the President necessary and expedient to control the imports and the exports from Zimbabwe of certain goods;
NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby notified that His Excellency the President has been pleased, in terms of section 4 of the Control of Goods Act [Chapter 14:05], make the following regulations:—
1.(1) These regulations may be cited as the Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture) Regulations, 2007
(2) These regulations shall come into operation on the 1st August, 2007.
2. In this regulations unless inconsistent with the context—
“Controlled goods” means any goods specified in the First Schedule of any class of such goods, the import into or the export from Zimbabwe of which is prohibited, restricted or otherwise controlled by an order made under section 3.
3.(1) The Minister of Industry and International Trade may make orders prohibiting, restricting or otherwise controlling the import into or export from Zimbabwe of any goods specified in the First Schedule of any class of such goods
(2) Without derogation from the generality of the powers conferred by subsection (1) an order made under this section may—
(a) prescribe the terms and conditions subject to which controlled goods or any class of such goods may be imported into or exported from Zimbabwe;
(b) provide for empowering such person as may be prescribed by the order—
(i) to issue permits authorising, to such extent as may be prescribed by the order, the import into or export from Zimbabwe of any class of such controlled goods or any class of such goods;
(ii) when issuing a permit in terms of sub – paragraph (i), to impose any terms and conditions, not inconsistent with the provisions of the order, subject to which any controlled goods specified in the permit may be imported or exported, as the case may be;
(iii) to revoke any such permit issued by him or her in such circumstances and in such manner as may be prescribed by the order.
4. The regulations listed in the Second Schedule are repealed.
FIRST SCHEDULE (Section 2 and 3)
SPECIFIED GOODS
Animal oil and fats (lard, tallow and dripping)
Bananas
Barley, barley meal, barley malt
Beans, dried bean meal
Beef, veal
Butter, cream and ghee
Canned meat products
Cashew nut oil
Cattle,whether live or dead
Cement
Cheese
Citrus fruit
Coconut oil
Coffee
Compound products containing flour, meal, residues and other preparations of a kind suitable only as animal feedstuff.
Cotton, bleached cotton, cotton lint, cotton seed, cotton yarn, ginned cotton seed and raw cotton or unginned cotton
Eggs of poultry, whether in shell, pulp or dried form
Fish, whether fresh or dried
Fertiliser
Full cream milk powder and skimmed milk powder
Hides and skins
Ice-cream and ice-cream mix
Industrial equipment
Maize meal
Margarine
Meat meal, blood meal and carcass meal
Mealie-meal
Millet in the grain, millet meal and millet malt
Milk, pasteurised, sterilised
Oilseeds, oil cake and oil cake meal
Palm oil
Pigs whether live or dead
Potatoes
Poultry, whether live or dead
Raw sugar
Refined sugar
Seeds for planting
Sorghum in the grain, sorghum meal and sorghum malt
Soya beans
Stock feeds
Sunflower
Tea
Timber and timber products
Tyres
Vegetable acid oil
Vegetable fats
Vegetable oils
Wheat flour
Wheat in the grain, wheat bran and wheat pollard
SECOND SCHEDULE (Section 4)
REPEALS
TITLE STATUTORY
INSTRUMENT
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, 1965……………………………………………656 of 1965
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, 1965(No.1)……………………………………..737A of 1965
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, 1969(No. 2)……………………………………..537 of 1969
Control of Goods (Import and Export)(Agriculture)
Regulations, 1977 (No. 3).……………………………………885 of 1977
Published in the Government Gazette of 6th July 2007.
Jul 17th, 2007, 08:32 AM
#29
Guest
Posts: n/a
Jul 18th, 2007, 07:23 AM
#31
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,367
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Business Report
Even Mugabe cannot sink profit at 'smoking thunder'
July 18, 2007
By Fiona Forde
Victoria Falls - Despite the economic mayhem unfolding in most quarters of
Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls is every bit the magnet it has always been, with
visitors appearing not to think twice about their choice of destination.
Reliable data are hard come by, with the Zimbabwean Tourism Authority
boasting a record number of travellers to the country last year - 2.2
million, up from 1.5 million in 2005 - while Standard Bank records a 31
percent drop in tourism receipts for the first quarter of the same year. But
those who carve out a good living from the industry say this is far from a
boycott.
"To be honest, I feel safer here than I did in Cape Town," was the view of
one British tourist who stopped off this week to witness the world's wonder
en route to Namibia on an overland tour.
"We just figured that Victoria Falls is not really part of Zimbabwe any
more," commented an American visitor, idling away his three-day stay at the
world-renowned Victoria Falls Hotel.
They are but two of the tens of thousands of tourists who are choosing to
include this corner of Zimbabwe in their African itineraries, despite the
global media focus on President Robert Mugabe's despotic style of rule.
For the most part, those flocking to establishments at the top end of the
market hail from the US, Britain and Japan, while the lower end is
attracting guests mainly from South Africa, Britain and Germany, according
to last weekend's bookings.
With wads of foreign cash, the travellers do not have to suffer the
shortages that are becoming commonplace now all over the country, brought on
by the government-enforced price cuts initiated last month.
They do not have to endure hours-long power and water shortages. Nor do they
fear a lack of fuel, with a guaranteed supply for top-end guests, albeit at
US$5 (R35) a litre.
Indeed, there's little the greenback cannot buy in Victoria Falls, where the
Zimbabwean dollar is all but non-existent, so much so that visitors at the
top end of the market do not exchange their money at all.
For the shoestring traveller, of whom there are still many, US$1 is fetching
Z$130 000 on the black market, up from just Z$15 000 12 weeks ago.
Be they high-end US dollar paying tourists or low-end backpackers,
foreigners' views remains the same: the 800-plus kilometres separating the
haven from Harare are enough to put their minds at rest.
All three of the town's five-star hotels - The Victoria Falls Hotel, The
Kingdom and The Elephant Hills - are boasting occupancy upwards of 60
percent, with no rooms at all to be had in the two four-star lodges, the
Ilala and the Safari Lodge.
The five venues have more than 850 rooms in total, each charging, on
average, US$275 a person. Even with only half occupancy, the earnings
potential is not to be scoffed at.
Add to that the money spent each day on lunch and dinner, the helicopter
rides over the so-called smoking thunder, the rapid rides down the Zambezi,
and it is easy to see why the "old man" has decided to leave well enough
alone in the US dollar zone.
"They may as well put up a border post here," suggested one tourist guide,
who asked not to be named. "Because life in Victoria Falls is just not as it
is elsewhere."
Sadly, this view could not be further from the truth for the 20 000-plus
locals who live here. The only adventure in their lives is making tomorrow's
ends meet.
Even Mugabe cannot sink profit at 'smoking thunder'
July 18, 2007
By Fiona Forde
Victoria Falls - Despite the economic mayhem unfolding in most quarters of
Zimbabwe, Victoria Falls is every bit the magnet it has always been, with
visitors appearing not to think twice about their choice of destination.
Reliable data are hard come by, with the Zimbabwean Tourism Authority
boasting a record number of travellers to the country last year - 2.2
million, up from 1.5 million in 2005 - while Standard Bank records a 31
percent drop in tourism receipts for the first quarter of the same year. But
those who carve out a good living from the industry say this is far from a
boycott.
"To be honest, I feel safer here than I did in Cape Town," was the view of
one British tourist who stopped off this week to witness the world's wonder
en route to Namibia on an overland tour.
"We just figured that Victoria Falls is not really part of Zimbabwe any
more," commented an American visitor, idling away his three-day stay at the
world-renowned Victoria Falls Hotel.
They are but two of the tens of thousands of tourists who are choosing to
include this corner of Zimbabwe in their African itineraries, despite the
global media focus on President Robert Mugabe's despotic style of rule.
For the most part, those flocking to establishments at the top end of the
market hail from the US, Britain and Japan, while the lower end is
attracting guests mainly from South Africa, Britain and Germany, according
to last weekend's bookings.
With wads of foreign cash, the travellers do not have to suffer the
shortages that are becoming commonplace now all over the country, brought on
by the government-enforced price cuts initiated last month.
They do not have to endure hours-long power and water shortages. Nor do they
fear a lack of fuel, with a guaranteed supply for top-end guests, albeit at
US$5 (R35) a litre.
Indeed, there's little the greenback cannot buy in Victoria Falls, where the
Zimbabwean dollar is all but non-existent, so much so that visitors at the
top end of the market do not exchange their money at all.
For the shoestring traveller, of whom there are still many, US$1 is fetching
Z$130 000 on the black market, up from just Z$15 000 12 weeks ago.
Be they high-end US dollar paying tourists or low-end backpackers,
foreigners' views remains the same: the 800-plus kilometres separating the
haven from Harare are enough to put their minds at rest.
All three of the town's five-star hotels - The Victoria Falls Hotel, The
Kingdom and The Elephant Hills - are boasting occupancy upwards of 60
percent, with no rooms at all to be had in the two four-star lodges, the
Ilala and the Safari Lodge.
The five venues have more than 850 rooms in total, each charging, on
average, US$275 a person. Even with only half occupancy, the earnings
potential is not to be scoffed at.
Add to that the money spent each day on lunch and dinner, the helicopter
rides over the so-called smoking thunder, the rapid rides down the Zambezi,
and it is easy to see why the "old man" has decided to leave well enough
alone in the US dollar zone.
"They may as well put up a border post here," suggested one tourist guide,
who asked not to be named. "Because life in Victoria Falls is just not as it
is elsewhere."
Sadly, this view could not be further from the truth for the 20 000-plus
locals who live here. The only adventure in their lives is making tomorrow's
ends meet.
Jul 18th, 2007, 08:26 PM
#33
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 708
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Matetsi Safari Camp was closed because tourism was down but there was a caretaker there last year and I tried to talk my way into staying there for a night but it didn't work out. It is a great location, with herds of all kinds at the waterhole including sable. Saw a great lion-hyena encounter there too. Occupancy was up at Matetsi last year and there were mutterings that it might reopen this year but no news so far. The uncertain political situtation is probably the reason.
tuckeg
tuckeg
Jul 19th, 2007, 11:14 AM
#34
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,064
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This morning I received a comment by a lodge owner in VicFalls regarding this Fiona Forde article:
"Really true is the last sentence! I run every week to either Livingstone or Kasane to get simple stuff like eggs, fuel or cottage cheese.
Last week there was not a single tomato for sale in Vic Falls; and our lodge had 20 hungry guests."
Would be interesting to know how these people will manage all this after August 1st ...
"Really true is the last sentence! I run every week to either Livingstone or Kasane to get simple stuff like eggs, fuel or cottage cheese.
Last week there was not a single tomato for sale in Vic Falls; and our lodge had 20 hungry guests."
Would be interesting to know how these people will manage all this after August 1st ...
Jul 19th, 2007, 11:28 AM
#35
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,064
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
While researching for a different topic I found this report yesterday:
"Wildlife Conservation and Environmental Management in an 'Outpost of Tyranny'",
http://www.zimconservation.com/PDFs/...Stapelkamp.pdf
Interesting reading.
"Wildlife Conservation and Environmental Management in an 'Outpost of Tyranny'",
http://www.zimconservation.com/PDFs/...Stapelkamp.pdf
Interesting reading.
Jul 19th, 2007, 01:21 PM
#36
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 90
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I can let you know how Vic Falls will be in late August. As of now, I am going and do not plan on changing any plans, not too worried about it at this point based on news from this board and other sources, including my South Africa based travel agent.
Jul 20th, 2007, 10:39 AM
#38
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,367
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Jul 20th, 2007, 12:20 PM
#40
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 448
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It would seem to me this is not the kind of situation in which one would wish to rely too much on the reassurance of a travel agent who has a financial stake in whether their client continues with their original plans.
