Tag Archives: Zimbabwe

How the Other Half Travels

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Hello Mr. Giraffe

Hello Mr. Giraffe

One of the first countries we had talked about visiting in Africa was Botswana, but alas the Botswana economy is doing relatively well and tourism tends to cater to the up market, which needless to say is not us. So when we learned that there were overnight trips available from Vic Falls to Chobe National Park in Botswana, we were very excited.

The original plan was to do an overnight camping trip in the park with game drives, boat cruises and “sundowners”- game viewing at sunset with a little beverage of choice. Following the normal amount of confusion we of course were unable to do that trip. The alternative was to stay at a private lodge just on the Zim side of the border and then take a day trip to Chobe with the masses. I was a little skeptical that it would be as good, but it was a bit cheaper and our options were running out.

Remember that mantra: expect the worst, hope for the best? This time we unexpectledy experienced the very best. When we arrived at the lodge and went to our room to freshen up, Dave immediately became concerned. How much is this again? I swear she said it was cheaper than camping.

We enjoyed one of the most pleasant days of our trip. Dining on fantastic home cooked food made with fresh vegetables from the garden, taking a private guided cruise down the Zambezi, sitting quietly just meters away from a pack of 40 or more elephants and their babies, waking up in our private bungalow to the sounds of hippos along the banks of the river…so this is how people with money experience Africa! I highly recommend it. It was especially nice because it’s a very small, private lodge with incredibly personable folks who shared their tales of life in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia I was reminded).

We realized it would be hard to top that day of indulgence, but the trip to Chobe National Park also proved rewarding. Chobe has the highest concentration of elephants in Africa, so sighting them is not hard work. Drive to the river. Simple as that. Cruising the Chobe River also affords fun hippo viewing and loads of water fowl.

Without knowing it or planning it, we gave ourselves a brief vacation from our travels. Meanwhile we also made it to one little corner of Botswana. No signs of Precious Ramotswe this time, but maybe we’ll make it back to Botswana in the future.

Victoria Falls – The Smoke That Thunders

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Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls

We are so glad to be leaving Johannesburg that the thought of going anywhere else is appealing. Even a departure to Zimbabwe – yes, that Zimbabwe, land of 7000% inflation, of dictatorial rule (Our first dictator, yes!), and shortages of everything – sounded good. So we happily boarded our flight out of Jo’berg and didn’t look back, even though we’ll head back in a week.

To add to our delight somehow, magically, we ended up being bumped up to first class, providence was rewarding us for leaving Jo’berg, it’s the only explanation that makes sense. I’ve never had the privilege before, but I hope it happens again.

Flying into Vic Falls is like stepping into a movie about Africa. It looks exactly like it should – dry, flat and dusty. There’s little vegetation beyond low scrub and Acacia trees, and the locals are suitably colorful. When we checked into our rooms we asked the owner about security issues – we were coming from Jo’berg and the economy here is wrecked and far beyond anything we’ve ever experienced – she replied that you shouldn’t be out on the streets after dark because there had been reports of a male Bull Elephant prowling the area of late. We asked her again, expecting to be warned about well, you know, the locals. She dispelled any fears we had, explaining that the local population were not the type to get into that sort of trouble, and I have to say she was spot on. But Zimbabwe and it’s people, economy and government are a whole other blog entry. Let’s talk about Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls are like Niagara Falls in that they are both huge waterfalls that divide two countries. You can view the falls from both the Zimbabwe and Zambian sides. If you come here you owe it to yourself to view them from both the Zim and Zam sides. In my opinion Zim has the better part of the falls, but the Zam side is more impressive. You can get closer, and the most dramatic views are on that side. The best view is probably from the bridge downstream on the Zambezi. The bridge is in the “No Mans Land” between Zim and Zam, which is another plus.

Vic Falls is also probably a contender for “Adrenaline Capitol” of Africa. You can do a stupid amount of stupid stuff here: Bungie Jump, Gorge Slide, Parasailing, Rafting, Parachuting, pretty much everything you can do that will get you in the hospital. In addition, if those things don’t do you in, you can go on Safari and see a bunch of animals that can put you in the hospital too.

Vic Falls should be high on your list of things to see if you’re planning to come to this side of the world. Were a bit worried we’d have trouble filling a full week here, but it wasn’t a issue at all, the Falls are a place that shouldn’t be rushed. But if you’re looking for a rush, they can provide that too.

Banking in Zim-Zam

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If you’re planning a trip to Zimbabwe – okay, not that many people plan to go to Zim, lets start over – if you’re planning a trip to Victoria Falls and flying in, guess what, you’re going to Zimbabwe. The land of 7000 percent inflation, and the land where the government officially denies that there’s an issue with inflation. You say, “What? This is too abstract, can you give me an example of what it’s like there Dave?”. Yes I can:

When we were there one US dollar will get you 140,000 Zimbabwe Dollars on the street. The street observes the market reality of the countries inflation issues. If you go into a bank (which has to observe the governments “Official” rate to stay in business) and change the same dollar it will get you 250 Zimbabwe Dollars – that’s a lot less. So, no one uses banks, even locals. Also, no one uses the ATM (again official rates), or uses credit cards (guess why? official rates).

In terms of what you use that dollar for: Seven thousand percent inflation mean that if you are lucky enough to find a store or restaurant that can provision itself, prices will be written in pencil and changed every week. For example – a loaf of bread will cost 500,000 Zim dollars this week, but will cost 1.1 million Zim next week. Do you see where we’re going with this?

Therefore, you need to come here with all of the hard currency – Dollars, Euros, Rand – you plan to use. Or if you’re near a border you can cross over and use an ATM, or change Travellers checks. Of course carrying a lot of cash in the third world is never fun, but you wanted to see the Falls right?

So begins our story: Reading about the difficulties people here have we pulled out a lot of cash in Hong Kong and changed it into Travellers Checks, we pulled out more Rand than we needed at the airport in Johannesburg and we planned to use the ATM just over the border in Zambia. Now, apparently pulling out the daily maximum from three different countries on two continents with a four day span throws up a red flag to the security folks at the bank. When we dipped our debit card into the ATM in Livingston, Zambia it got locked down. No cash for you.

This was kind of a problem, because we still need to pay for a Safari we were planning to leave on the next day.

Why did this happen? Well, again, we were pulling out cash from different parts of the world, which got someones attention, but we had been diligent before we left called our banks and told them about our travel and named every country we planned to bank in. Zimbabwe was not one of them for the reasons we’ve already been over, so it shouldn’t have been a problem right?. Well, for whatever reason the ATM’s in Livingston , Zambia show up as being in Zimbabwe for Bank of America, and no amount of telling them otherwise was going to help.

We were locked out of our account and it was a pain in the neck to get it unlocked.

Bank of America has switched to a 800 number system exclusively, trouble is calling a US 800 number from Zimbabwe won’t work. So I ended up calling Bank of America offices (which have a real number) in the states and asking them to transfer me to their debit card division. First huddle cleared. Next, the phone we were using didn’t have touch tone dialing and all of BofA’s systems are automated. It took several calls, but I finally got through to “Ted”, explaining to him that he was my lifeline, and if I lost him, I lost all hope in BofA.

He was great, he treated me as if I were a caller to a suicide hot line: “David, I’m going to put you on hold for a moment. But I want you to understand it’s because I’m going to connect you with the person that can help you, and explain your situation to them. This will take a minute or two, but I am not going to disconnect until you are on the phone with them. Do you understand?”

Within minutes we had the hold on our card removed and were back in business.