Should we visit Zimbabwe?? I did!!
 

Having just returned from Zimbabwe on the 1 august it was quite a surprise to see that the leading story in Travel Africa Magazine was "Should we visit Zimbabwe". Having spent 19 days in Zimbabwe I was really looking forward to their conclusion..

Like all you people know, Zim is having a hard time and when I visited (with my girlfriend and 3 year old son, we are all danish) the situation had just gone a bit worse(again). This time it was the Mugabes "Green Bombers" who had tried their price reduction scheme.. NOT a big succes, even though the prizes were quite stabil in the the periode we were there. But the shelves were only half full(or empty) and there were no meat, maize, bread etc. And also the usual problems no petrol, diesel was a bit easier.

We spent 4 days in Gweru antelope park, 4 days on a houseboat on Lake Kariba, 5 days safari in Hwange and some days in Harare so we covered some good distances of the land. And we drove betweem the places. No flying..
I will write a full trip report later(if anyone are interested)but my conclusion is the same as Travel Africa Magazine.

Yes we should go!! I am glad we went. We had a good time. The infrastructure was still working(good roads, propably still the best in Africa after South Africa and maybe Namibia) and the people were friendly even though you could sense (and they would tell you) that they had a hard time. Everybody was looking forward to the elections, but most were still pesimitic about getting rid of Mugabe.
The landscape was some of the most breathtaking I have seen, the stars brighter and there were still huge amounts of wildlife around. Ecspecially elephants around Kariba and Hwange!! Having visited Uganda, Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia(only Victoria Falls) and Botswana(only Chobe Riverfront)I feel Zim have so much to give the traveller.

I was a bit nervous before going about the police and even though we propably drove through 20-25 road blocks we had no problems. Most times we just passed through. A few times we were asked a couple of questions, but even the police were quite friendly( at least towards us) and the only bribe we payed was a apple juice to a thirsty officer :)

So I can understand that people don´t wanna support Mugabe, but I know at least some of my dollars ended up in the right pockets. So go if you have the opportunity, I hope you go and support the people.

hi, jesron,

thanks for taking the trouble to post this. Yes, I for one would be interested in a trip report, not least because there is very little info coming out on Zimbabwe at the moment, as the BBC were banned several years ago.

on our recent trip to SA, we met quite a few zimbaweans, and everyone there is very worried about the situation to the north of them, hoping it won't get worse.

so I'd be very interested to read more.

regards, ann

welcome back! I too would like to read your trip report!

Thanks for the replies. I will write my trip report a soon as possible :)

Jesron,

My hat goes off to you!

Good to hear there are still people going to Zim, in spite of out of proportion warnings from some ministries.

I am eagerly awaiting your trip report.

Ciao,

J.

ditto on the interest in having you write a report. thanks.

That makes 2 of us then. The rest is not that interested and rather sticks to thing they read like here, lol:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_p.../cis_1063.html (read the crime-section)

This post was already on pg2 when you replied. Unbelievable...

I will write a trip report, just check for Trip Report From Zimbabwe, Gweru, Lake Kariba and Hwange

why the hell not.
i'm so sorry.
the amplifier aught to be louder
ed's desk is wet.
he's lovely
i reall think he can help the human Race (and i apologiose to the rest of the human race for my rap spellomg and human now. it its wha ti tiw/ ) ots and the batswana, neither deserve the threat apparently hanging over like death's paraosle.

huh?

who does that remind you of???!!!

Dennis,
I know, I know or at least I think I know. It was that last ditty along with the spelling - am I warm?
Is it someone from the southern hemisphere?

Mark IV?

But WD is from the UK.

Back to the topic: Should we visit Zimbabwe??

My answer could be: How?

Actually I just had to extend my Zim safari for 2 days, and I'm going 2 days earlier now, just because I didn't get a single seat to Vic Falls (or Livingstone) on my planned arrival date on Oct 1 - all flights of SA and Comair already fully booked!

Yes cybor, sure sounds like it to a "T", or an "M"
Vic Falls/Livingstone is a popular destination, no doubt about it.
jesron~where's your trip report?

I posted the trip report under a new topic called, (very original) Trip Report, Zimbabwe.
Hope you enjoy...