Drunk tourist loses arm in Victoria Falls captive-crocodile attack

(31st March 2018)

A tourist from Zambia is fortunate to be alive following a crocodile attack Thursday evening in Victoria Falls after he had jumped into the crocodile pool.

The 21 year old Collin Miller who is suspected to have been under the influence of alcohol decided to be adventurous and took off his shirt before diving into a crocodile pool to swim.

The tourist lost his arm following the attack.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) public relations manager described the incident as unfortunate and urged all local and foreign tourists to always avoid taking unnecessary risks when dealing with animals.

Miller is said to have been in the country with the other family members for a wedding ceremony.

Reports indicate that the 21 year-old is now in a stable condition at an undisclosed South African health institution where he was flown to yesterday morning.

Source: Drunk tourist survives Victoria Falls crocodile attack (31/03/18)
See also: Man Reportedly Loses Arm While Swimming In Crocodile Pool In Victoria Falls (01/04/18)
Drunken tourist, 21, had his arm ripped off by three crocodiles who attacked him when he jumped into a pool on a night out - but miraculously escaped with his life, Daily Mail (04/04/18)


More information: A captive crocodile diving tourism interaction activity has been operating in Victoria Falls for several years under the name Crocodile Cage Diving Victoria Falls - see their website or facebook page for more information. The small man-made pool is located next to the Elephant's Walk Artists Village and home to three large female Nile Crocodiles, native to the local Zambezi River. The pool is protected by a high fence, but the recent opening of a backpackers nearby has perhaps increased late-night tourist activity in this part of town. The activity is sold and promoted by all the main tourism agents and operators in the Falls, along with other captive-animal interactions involving elephant rides and lion walks. The company website promotes their crocodile interactions on their website as an educational experience. "Crocodile Cage Diving attempts to address human-wildlife conflict in Victoria Falls by promoting biodiversity and appreciation of our natural heritage. Getting to interact with a Nile Crocodile is an educational experience. We aim to demystify the negative perceptions that many have about crocodiles and teach patrons about their vital role in the wild."

Images from the Crocodile Cage Diving Victoria Falls Facebook page.

Vic Falls threaten to take action against Legacy Hotels

VICTORIA Falls councillors have threatened to take action against two leading Legacy Hotels in Victoria Falls who owe the municipality nearly $200 000 in unpaid water and rates.

Speaking at a full council meeting on Monday, councillors said the municipality was being lenient on corporate entities that fail to service their debts yet ordinary ratepayers were being penalised for not paying.

Ward 8 Councillor Robson Salimi who was leading discussions on payment of water and rates, implored his counterparts to appeal to residents to pay their water bills and rates to avoid litigation.
“Fellow councillors, may we encourage residents to pay what they owe to council. Some paid for servicing of the refuse truck and there are some who are not paying at all. We don’t want to end up taking the litigation route,” he highlighted.

Ward 9 Clr Somveli Dlamini interjected.

“What is the situation with businesses? We are being lenient to them, we can’t be seen taking ordinary poor residents to court when there are big entities who aren’t paying. Let’s be seen first pressuring these businesses to honour their obligations,” he said.

The Cllrs demanded to know how much Elephant Hills and Kingdom Hotel owe the municipality as the two entities were not paying their dues.

Town Treasurer Mr Neville Ndlovu said Elephant Hills and Kingdom Hotel owe council close to $200 000. Mayor Cllr Sifiso Mpofu implored management to come up with strategies of dealing with the issue and other businesses that were not paying rates and other service charges.

This is not the first time Victoria Falls municipality and the same hotels have clashed over non-payment of bills and rates.
Three years ago, the municipality dragged The Kingdom Hotel, The Victoria Falls Hotel and Elephant Hills Hotel to court for failing to pay more than $380 000 in rates and water charges accrued over an unspecified period. Then Elephant Hills owed $166.457.51, The Victoria Falls Hotel ($125.676.32) while The Kingdom Hotel had a cumulative debt of $91.762.63.

The hotels had allegedly stopped paying following what they termed an unscrupulous hike in rates by the council at a time when hotel occupancy was low.

The issue was later settled when Legacy Hotel paid more than $200 000 to clear the debt.
Things almost went off hand when the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) ordered the municipality to reverse rates after tourism operators in the resort town complained that they were too high.

The Victoria Falls business community that is dominated by tour operators, hotels and lodges, had threatened to withdraw various charity work and developmental projects in the resort town after council hiked rates by more than 500 percent.

The local authority however argued that it acted within the confines of the law.

Source: Vic Falls threaten to take action against Legacy Hotels (29/03/18)

Vic Falls resumes solar street lighting project

VICTORIA FALLS Municipality has resolved to resume its solar street-lighting project in May, following the promulgation of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act.

Town clerk, Ronnie Dube said 100 solar street lights will be installed at a cost of $250 000.

“We are guided by the new public regulation [Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act], which strictly suspended all the 2017 projects with effect from January 1, but we will resume in May or June. Our residents need to be patient. Our main priority areas are high-density suburbs, that is, Chinotimba and Mkhosana together with the central business district,” he said.

“Residents must understand that the solar street lights being put at CBZ stands belong to CBZ development project. We still have their street lights and theirs too will be installed soon, they must not think that we used their money to put those lights.

“In the near future, we want to go green completely as a town and we believe that will be a success along as people pay their bills and it will help us reduce tariffs charges.”

Another project, which had been put on hold, was the installation of pre-paid water meters.

Dube said residents owed council over $9 million, hence the decision to install pre-paid meters.

“It is an expensive project, but we have to do it because it is an inevitable technology that is there and it is going to assist us in our debt collection strategy and avoid ballooning debts, which is sitting at over $9 million,” he said. “Pre-paid meters will also help us to calculate and dictate non-revenue water leakage and be able to attend to it effectively,” he said.

Source: Vic Falls resumes solar street lighting project (27/03/18)

Tourism geared to turn around Zimbabwe economy

Zimbabwe's tourism industry should soon turn around the economy through increased tourism activity at the country's tourism resort areas.

Zimbabwe's tourism industry activities aimed at turning around the economy have been necessitated by the humanitarian military intervention that unfolded from 14 November 2017 unveiling a new era in Zimbabwe. 

The military intervention in the country ushered in a new Government which ensured that Zimbabwe became open for Business. The new Government of Zimbabwe has since committed itself to honour its obligations in relation to business be it in the travel, trade and any related sector. 

During the preceding years, Zimbabwe had lagged behind in many areas as a result of the global isolation for the past 18 years due to the errors of the past.  The isolation left Zimbabwe's once-rich tourism sector in a sorry state. 

As a way of regaining its status, the tourism industry should regain and improve its 30% market share which the tourism industry used to receive from the overseas market in the 90s when tourism was at its peak. Currently this contribution has since dropped to less than 15% of the international arrivals into Zimbabwe mainly because of the negative image the former president Mr. R. Mugabe used to send abroad. 

Hitting the ground running during the first 100-days target, Government has committed itself to reversing the legislation constraining incoming business and easing the way of doing business. To promote investment from abroad in the tourism industry, risks that have been inhibiting investment to Zimbabwe such as the dense and inefficient bureaucracies, corruption particularly in the policing industry and infrastructural disinvestments shall be curbed by Government. 

Major barriers affecting the growth of tourism in Zimbabwe are being removed, one of them being the numerous roadblocks that had become a menace to foreign tourist and local traffic. Tourists should be left to enjoy their drive around the country as they used to do in the past. 

Government has also prioritised road maintenance of major roads most of which are receiving urgent attention. Government has also committed itself to address hindrances that inhibit travel within Zimbabwe to ensure tourists travel from the point of entry and exit conveniently. Some of the convenience being incorporated includes the ease of facilitation at the border posts and the liberalization of the visa regime. 

To date, Government has reviewed the visa regime with 29 countries upgraded from Category C to Category B which facilitates tourists to attain visas at the port of entry.

Government through these efforts has shown its readiness to welcome travellers to Zimbabwe and to promote the growth of the tourism industry.

Players in the tourism industry should utilise the numerous resources in the country that have the potential to become tourism attractions for the benefit of the nation through value addition and wealth creation. 

The country has well known tourism attractions which include Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders in the World. Zimbabwe has also been endowed with heritage sites and vast national parks which provide a relaxing experience to tourists. 

Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Prisca Mupfumira has since been promoting the tourism industry abroad since she became the Minister. She has on record said Zimbabwe has been of late presenting varied opportunities in various sectors such as mining, agriculture, health, aviation, manufacturing, water and most importantly in the tourism industry. Opportunities have been unlocked in the Special Economic Zones and Trans-frontier Conservation Areas which will see the development of hotel and catering industry, safari and tour operations, gaming and construction of international conventions among other developments. 

To support the sustenance of the tourism industry, Government has also committed itself to offering tourism investment incentives such as duty exemptions and rebates on capital goods for tourism development zones as well as the provision of the tourism fund. 

With this in mind tourists should consider Zimbabwe as their next destination for investment and tourism business. They are welcome in Zimbabwe which remains also a peaceful nation. Tourists should be part of the transition to reposition Zimbabwe to its yesteryear glory. Zimbabwe has always been the favourable destination to visit, the tourist's destination of choice and also the favourable investment economy for investors.

Source: Tourism geared to turn around Zimbabwe economy (21/03/18)

IDBZ on Vic Falls water and sanitation

Victoria Falls requires at least $15,7 million for expansion and rehabilitation of water and sanitation infrastructure to support more than 5 000 properties in the resort town.

According to a budget proposal by Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe (IDBZ), which advises Government on major infrastructure projects, Victoria Falls, being Zimbabwe’s tourism prime destination requires massive investment to upgrade its water and sanitation facilities

Victoria Falls had a population of 33 600 and received an average of 50 000 tourist per annum according to the 2012 national census. Tourists arrivals have since increased significantly following the upgrading of the Victoria Falls airport which has resulted in massive increase in flights to the resort town.

“Victoria Falls like many urban centres in Zimbabwe has been affected by many years of under investment in maintenance of its sewerage and water infrastructure.

“Overloading of the existing system is evident from marked increase in sewer blockages and deterioration of quality of treated sewage effluent which is now polluting local water courses,” said IDBZ.

The budget also proposes increased spending for the sewer connection and infrastructure while the installation prepaid water meters is prioritised.

“The main project outcomes are improved household access to municipal water supply, reduced environmental pollution from raw sewage, and improved utility water revenue collection efficiency,” part of the proposal reads.

At the moment feasibility studies have been done.

Last month, Victoria Falls Municipality introduced a tight water rationing regime in the tourist resort town, following shortages of water treatment chemicals.

According to the town fathers, their regular supplier of water treatment chemicals had cut supplies, citing foreign currency shortages.

Ironically, residents have been running for weeks without tap water despite living on shores of the Zambezi River.

Some places have also gone for years without adequate running water and a sewer reticulation system.

Source: IDBZ on Vic Falls water and sanitation (20/03/18)

Mosquitoes, roaches wreak havoc at Vic Falls Hospital

MOSQUITOES and cockroaches have become an everyday menace for patients and nurses at Victoria Falls Hospital.

Several patients interviewed by Southern Eye said they were having sleepless nights because of the mosquito and cockroaches menace. Mothers said they had woken to see mosquito bites covering their babies’ faces and hands.

“The buzzing sound of mosquitoes keeps me awake. I normally cover myself with blankets to protect myself. It is too hot and they breed a lot,” one mother said.
“My baby’s ears and hands have red marks,” said another mother who refused to be named.

A just-discharged patient also complained about lack of mosquito repellents or mosquito nets at hospitals.

“Three days ago, I struggled to sleep at night in this referral hospital. How can I get well from malaria when mosquitoes bite me because of lack of hospital nets in the room? This is a pure paradox that there is no mosquito bed nets to support the sick in this clinic and cockroaches run up and down even in the toilets at night.”
Another parent, whose child was admitted, also complained about the lack of mosquito nets at the institution.

“Before we took her to Mpilo (Central Hospital) in Bulawayo, she had reacted badly and she had bites all over body. She kept scratching and I feared that she might suffer from malaria. Government needs to intervene. There is no medication, some windows are broken and the mosquitos are terrorising sick patients who can’t defend themselves,” Ndaba Ncube said.

Although he acknowledges the presence of mosquitoes at the hospital, district health practitioner Wisdom Kurauone suggested there was no serious problem at the hospital and said he did not believe that mosquito nets were necessary as it was the season for them to breed.

“There is nothing that we can do. Hwange district is known for its high temperatures and mosquitos and cockroaches breed during that time a lot. They [mosquitoes and coackroaches] are not only breeding in hospital, but their houses too,”

“They are just causing a nuisance and they cannot cause malaria . . . they won’t infect anyone with malaria.”

Source: Mosquitoes, roaches wreak havoc at Vic Falls Hospital (19/03/18)

Victoria Falls Launches A Major Recycling Project

Victoria Falls is going greener with the launch of its very own recycling project, which is expected to have a major impact in protecting the environment around one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

Victoria Falls town is growing rapidly, and it is crucial that as much waste as possible is recycled and composted, thus reducing the amount of litter on the streets and the volume of waste going to the dumpsite.

Victoria Falls Recycling (VFR), an initiative sponsored by leading Zimbabwean hospitality group Africa Albida Tourism (AAT), and co-ordinated by well- known local environmental conservationist Charlene Hewat, launched this week.

Ms Hewat said the initiative, which is supported by Greenline Africa Trust, Petreco Zim and Victoria Falls Municipality, had begun operations, initially, recycling paper and plastics from eight hotels.

Paper and thin plastics will be sent to Harare where they will be recycled to make plastic bags and piping, while thicker plastics, such as water bottles, will be sent to a recycling plant in South Africa, Ms Hewat said.

Within a year the project is expected to expand to include the recycling of glass and beverage cans, as well as taking recyclable goods from the wider Victoria Falls community, Ms Hewat said.

As the project develops, it will also include tourism operators in surrounding areas, such as Hwange National Park, who are keen to participate.

There are no other recycling plants in the resort town, and this initiative is expected to have a major impact, she said.

“Around 80 per cent of waste is recyclable or compostable, so should not be going to the dumpsite at all. If we can reduce the amount of waste going to the dumpsite, and do it in a manner that creates jobs, and, also improves the environment, I believe recycling is the key,” Ms Hewat said.

The operation has been set up as a community-based project with locals trained to operate the machines, sort waste, bale, load and manage the project – with the aim of creating a fully sustainable recycling program in Victoria Falls.

VFR is operating from an AAT-owned site in the industrial area of the resort town, but as the project develops it will relocate to a larger recycling area which has been designated by the Victoria Falls Municipality.

Ms Hewat, an experienced conservationist, has been contracted by AAT as a consultant to the group’s expanding corporate social responsibility program, with VFR being the first major project to launch under her watch.

AAT chief executive Ross Kennedy said the group was thrilled to have a conservationist of Charlene’s calibre on board to guide AAT in its corporate social responsibility program.

“The recycling project is a great initiative, which will have a hugely positive impact on the Victoria Falls community, and as tackling environmental and conservation challenges has always been a priority for us, we look forward to working on more ventures together,” Mr Kennedy said.

AAT operates a portfolio of properties in Victoria Falls, including Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, Victoria Falls Safari Club, Victoria Falls Safari Suites, Lokuthula Lodges, and Ngoma Safari Lodge in Chobe, Botswana.

Source: Victoria Falls Launches A Major Recycling Project (15/03/18)