Went to Zimbabwe as part of my tourist trip and to fish on the Zambezi from the Zimbabwe side. Also was planning on heading up to Zambia and Tanzania if time permitted. Zimbabwe, turned out to be much more of an adventure and I expected and a much shorter trip than planned.
Firstly, as I have been in Johannesburg watching and reading the news for a while, the reports seemed to indicate problems but first hand knowledge does not hurt. Arrived in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on Thursday morning and stopped by the National Art Gallery. Nice place with two fish paintings by the artist:
Felix Nene – “The Dream of a Fisherman” and “The Big Catch”
http://www.nationalgallery.co.zw/
Was interested in getting a coffee at the Café and went to get some money from an ATM. This is when all the images of people waiting in lines hit home. The ATMs did not have money and the withdrawal amount was $500 Zim dollars for Zimbabweans. People would move around the town with rumor that a particular machine had money in it. After a few hours of this, I realized there was some more to this for my particular case. Went on one of the slowest internet connections and found out that Zimbabwe was on the banned list for this particular institution’s card network.
Decided to change money the old fashion way, exchange. Luckily, I needed to make a phone call so I had to exchange money for the call and got what I thought was close to the going rate: 1 South African Rand = 20 Zimbabwe new dollars. Later on I found out from the Zimbabwe Federal Reserve that the official exchange rate is around 1 Rand = 4.2 Zim dollars. Fascinated with this from an economics perspective, I asked if they knew what the street market was…the reply was no.
As part of my tourist duties, I wanted to send a few post cards so I headed to the post office to find out if they had any. The only post cards were Valentines cards from last year. I did happen to procure a couple of sets of special edition “Rat” stamps issued April 28, 2008. The lady gave me some change back in the old currency which has a valid date until Dec. 31, 2008. The old note happened to be a 50 billion dollar note. At this point I am more intrigued than ever and decide to head to the grocery store to get some items.
The experience at the grocery store was a lesson in the complexity of conduct foreign currency transactions in an unstable environment. I was not able to buy something from the deli as there was no basis for what I was supposed to pay. Not that the grocery store clerk was trying to rip me off, but mentally, I could not understand how much I was paying.
Ended up making to the train station and navigating the maze of people and lines. After the third attempt to stand in a line and purchase a ticket to Victoria Falls (this is after calling the reservations number and speaking with someone) I reached the ticket counter. Excited that was able to get a ticket I took a couple of photos of the train station line and counter. Next thing I know, a solider is telling me how he does not want to arrest me but it is against the law to take pictures. We discuss this for some time and another older city council member comes along and drives me to the police station. After two hours of interrogation and searching they decide I can go.
The falls and fishing were slightly dampened by the state of the country and my experiences traveling around Zimbabwe. Did go fishing in the Zambezi National Park for Tiger fish and my stay at Shoestrings was quite pleasant.
*Shoestrings Backpackers
12 West Drive, Victoria Falls, 013 40167 shoestrings@absamail.co.za
*ZAMBEZI NATIONAL PARK
http://www.zambiatourism.com/travel/nationalparks/lowerzam.htm
Currency – who knows but as of August 31, 2008 the official rate was around 4.15 to the Rand while the street market was around 30 with rumors of 50 using bank notes or checks.
To give an example: the train ticket from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls was 525 Zim dollars on this past Thursday and by Saturday the return was 1279 Zim dollars.
Link to National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ)
http://www.nrz.co.zw/ sdss
Phone numbers in Bulawayo: 322904, 322907
A few items in the papers that caught my eye when I got to South Africa:
Zapiro – Cartoon – August 31, 2008 – The Times – Mugabehttp://www.thetimes.co.za/OnCamera/Article.aspx?id=304444
Remove a cockroach and a rat comes to take its place
George BN Ayittey: http://www.american.edu/cas/econ/faculty/ayittey.htm
Published: August 31, 2008 (Clip of article)
http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintArticle.aspx?ID=833306
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Race has little to do with the crisis. Neither does colonialism. The most singular cause has been the stubborn refusal of the leadership to relinquish power
Nothing coming out of Zimbabwe makes sense. The country is now a certified “coconut republic,” where common sense has been butchered and arrogant insanity rampages with impunity.
A loaf of bread not so long ago cost Z$6-billion and one US dollar exchanged for one trillion Zim dollars. The rate of inflation is over three million percent — whatever that means. African villagers laughed off the June 27 coconut runoff , in which President Robert Mugabe, the sole candidate, won a “landslide victory”.
Zimbabwe is a despicable disgrace to Africa and reinforces the racist notion that black Africans are incapable of ruling themselves.
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