Luxury lodge in Victoria Falls expands offering

Ilala Lodge in Victoria Falls is expanding its offering with a new deluxe extension.

Michele Brown, Head of Marketing, said the recently-opened new deluxe extension has seen 16 deluxe rooms and one executive suite being added to the lodge. “There are now 73 rooms in total after the extension: three executive suites, 36 deluxe rooms, two standard suites and 32 standard rooms,” says Brown. Ilala lodge previously had 56 rooms.

Facilities at the lodge include The Palm Restaurant – currently rated number one in the area by TripAdvisor, one of the world's largest travel websites; an outdoor swimming pool, pool bar, boardroom and spa.

Activities such as the Ra-Ikane river cruise are on offer. Bookings for all other activities can be arranged at the Activities Desk at the lodge.

The lodge is located a stone’s throw away from the Victoria Falls, along the main road to the Livingstone Border Post, overlooking Victoria Falls, and opening out onto the Victoria Falls National Park. It is ideally located and very easy for guests to access all the historical sites, restaurants and activities available in the area.

Source: Luxury lodge in Victoria Falls expands offering (21/06/18)

Parks authority revises stinky deal

 The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, which is battling to sanitise a stinky 25-year lease agreement with a South African company, has approached the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to have the irregular arrangement restructured under the Joint Venture Unit.

This comes after ZimParks had violated State tender procedures in awarding a long lease for a total of 20 of the authority’s premium lodges in Victoria Falls to Adage Safaris of South Africa, an anomaly picked by the then State Procurement Board (SPB).

The State tenders regulatory body, which was last year renamed Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ), fined Zimparks $900 for the offence and ordered it to cancel the agreement, but this instruction has not been obeyed due to legal complications.

Zimparks was ordered to end the flirtation with Adage after failing to justify how the authority had picked the investor.

But in attempts to justify the murky transaction, Zimparks had told SPB that the cash rich South Africa investor was going to invest significant amounts of capital to improve the standards of the lodges, which are located in the heart of the Victoria Falls National Park.

ZimParks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo told The Sunday Mail Business that the deal had since been referred to the Ministry of Finance’s Joint Venture Unit, in fresh attempts aimed at thrashing out a new agreement, under joint venture arrangement, with the South African company.

“The position is that we accept as an authority that a mistake was made. That is why the issue has been referred to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning’s Joint Venture Unit.

“And because there was a binding agreement, despite the fact that the SPB (now PRAZ) instructed us to cancel the agreement, it was going to be a breach of contract (if we cancelled), but the investor is willing to renegotiate.

“So what is now going to happen is a partnership under a joint venture arrangement. So the issue is now being handled by the Joint Venture Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

‘‘As such, all the anomalies are going to be taken care of under the Joint Venture Unit,” Mr Farawo said on Friday.

The Sunday Mail Business understands that attempts by the parks and wildlife authority to break the arrangement had hit a snag after Adage Safaris threatened to sue if the entity prematurely ended the irregular marriage.

But Mr Farawo said: “It was SPB who wrote to us instructing us to cancel the deal, but it was going to be difficult to cancel something that was binding.

‘‘While we were in the process of following the law to cancel the agreement, the investor offered to work with us so that we do a partnership.

“However, we cannot proceed and conclude the partnership on our own, we need to involve the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning’s Joint Venture Unit, which is looking into the arrangement, it is no longer our baby alone,” he said.

Source: Parks authority revises stinky deal (17/06/2018)

See Also

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (20th December 2025) Victoria Falls Set to See Tourism Growth as Zambezi Crescent Gains Full Control of Malachite Camp.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (4th June 2021) Old Mutual to build four-star hotel in Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (18th June 2018) Parks authority revises stinky deal.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (24th January 2018) PRAZ cancels Zimparks, Adage lease.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (2nd April 2017) Massive corruption unearthed at National Parks.

 

Residents up in arms as broke hotels take over Vic Falls rainforest for vending

Stung by limited business compounded by low arrivals and uptake of activities and services by tourists, tour operators doing business in Victoria Falls have resorted to desperate measures of informal vending in curios to maximise income.

The big companies and hotels now operate curio shops in their offices and ‘illegal’ vending stalls in the Rainforest as they target tourists, who now mostly prefer neighbouring Botswana and Zambia.

Those who cross into Victoria Falls mostly do one day trips and return to Kasane or Livingstone where they prefer to be booked due to cheaper rates.

As a result, business is low for local operators hence they have diversified into informal trade.

This has, however, courted the ire of residents who have accused operators of monopolising business by venturing into small scale vending which should be done by unemployed people.

Speaking at a recent public meeting organised by the Victoria Falls Consortium, which was meant to provide a platform for discussion with aspiring candidates from different political parties, residents complained that tour operators were now running vending shops.

They said by venturing into informal work, the big companies were disadvantaging residents who over the years have survived on selling curios and other artefacts to tourists to eke a living after losing their jobs.

“If you go into the Rainforest, companies have set some vending stalls and selling curios everywhere. We wonder who allowed them and allocated them that land to sell from there when us we are not allowed to do so,” said a resident.

Another resident said: “We used to know the Rainforest as a clean natural area that would attract tourists but what would happen to it now that it’s being commercialised and everyone is selling inside. Some companies and some politicians are now vending inside. We know those who have shops inside the Rainforest and we want leaders who can help us correct this.”

The Residents said they were not happy that the Rainforest was not benefitting locals, as they accused current Victoria Falls councillors of corruptly allowing companies to operate vending stalls around town.

They said some companies had even employed some agents who sell curios and services to tourists on the streets hence visitors were no longer visiting designated vending areas such as Sinathankawu, Busy Island, Landela Complex and others.

The residents implored those aspiring to be Members of Parliament for Hwange West Constituency and councillors in Victoria Falls to move a motion in Parliament for the resort town to be allowed to retain at least 10 percent of gate takings into the facility.

This is not the first time Victoria Falls residents have expressed concern over the Rainforest.

A few months ago residents petitioned Parliament demanding to be allowed free entry into the Rainforest.

They said their children were being disadvantaged and failing in school yet the Rainforest is closer to them because they can’t afford to pay entry fees.

It costs $7 for locals to enter the Rainforest and $20 for those from the Sadc region.

Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira recently threw her weight behind locals saying they should be charged nominal fees as a way of promoting Domestic tourism.

Source: Residents up in arms as broke hotels take over Vic Falls rainforest for vending (11/06/18)

Zimbabwe: Huge Boost for Vic Falls As UAE Investors to Build World Class Hospital, Motor Racing Course, Shopping Mall and a Hotel

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) says Victoria Falls will soon become the best world destination following a visit by investors from United Arab Emirates (UAE) who have expressed interest in developing state-of-the-art medical, grand prix, hotel and shopping mall facilities.

A technical team from UAE was in the resort town on Tuesday where it held a meeting with ZTA officials and Victoria Falls Municipality to assess the state of affairs in the country's prime destination.

Coming out of the closed door meeting, ZTA chief executive, Karikoga Kaseke, said the delegation was happy with what it had seen and was ready to pour in a huge investment.

"We met them when we went to Dubai with the Minister (Tourism and Hospitality Industry Prisca Mupfumira) and they expressed interest in investing in a tourist destination. Their choice was Victoria Falls which is why they are here," said Kaseke.

He said the investment, whose amount is still under wraps, would be towards developing a state of the-art-hospital to be used as a world referral centre, a motor racing course, a shopping mall and hotel.

Kaseke said as ZTA they were buoyed by interest shown by investors from different countries who want to invest in Zimbabwe especially in tourism destination centres.

Victoria Falls was designated as a special economic zone (SEZ) focusing on tourism and financial services.

However, the destination still lags behind in terms of world class facilities that can be of choice to tourists.

Some tourists prefer to land and book in Zambia or Botswana and cross into the country by road before going back because of lack of five star hotels, with the few available deemed too expensive for their standard.

The resort town has a room deficit of about 2 000.

Concerns have been raised about unavailability of sporting and recreational facilities which could boost sport tourism.

On a number of occasions, some tourists have been airlifted to Johannesburg or Bulawayo after being involved in accidents because there are no properly equipped medical facilities.

Source: Zimbabwe: Huge Boost for Vic Falls As UAE Investors to Build World Class Hospital, Motor Racing Course, Shopping Mall and a Hotel (01/06/18)

See Also

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (9th May 2018) Investor keen to bring Grand Prix to Victoria Falls.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (2nd June 2018) Huge Boost for Vic Falls As UAE Investors to Build World Class Hospital, Motor Racing Course, Shopping Mall and a Hotel.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (30th July 2018) Vic Falls’ $1.2 bn project takes shape.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (27th September 2018) Construction of Grand Prix circuit in Vic Falls to go ahead.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (4th June 2019) Vic Falls Grand Prix arena to boost tourism.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (29th January 2020) New Vic Falls sporting facility a boom for sports tourism.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (7th July 2021) Victoria Falls F1 circuit construction reaches major milestone.

Victoria Falls Falls Bits and Blogs (13th October 2022) Why a Formula One racetrack in Zimbabwe is a pipe dream.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (16th October 2022) Victoria Falls F1-grade racecourse plans halted by High Court.

Read more on the Keep Victoria Falls Wild website.

Vic Falls: Black market fuel hub

ARRESTS and prosecutions are not enough deterrent factors for illegal fuel dealers and the law has somehow failed to curb the vice.

It is a risky and fast business for Victoria Falls’ Mbongeni Dube (29) and his peers who call it a “permanent” job and are ready to die for it.

The residents too, have a huge appetite for the market mainly the taxi drivers as they claim that the precious liquid smuggled through our porous borders is purer than the local one.

Some of the smuggled fuel is sold on the streets, bush and houses in the high-density suburbs of Victoria Falls, while some finds its way to Hwange, 100km away.

“It is a risky trade; people have lost lives and property after smuggled fuel went up in smoke, but what can we do when they are no jobs,” Dube quizzed.

“It’s survival of the fittest and we are always ready for anything and day in, day out, law enforcement is after us, but we find a way to get away,” said Dube who plies his trade in the cover of the bush along Kazungula road.

“We are many of us and we give ourselves a target of about 3 500 litres minimum per week and it is paying off. We buy our fuel in Kazungula [Zambia] or Kasane [Botswana] and we find a way of smuggling it into the country through ungazzeted points in small gallons. It is not easy though, but one has to find means to survive,” another fuel dealer added.

“Upon arrival, we sell it in gallons, for example five litres goes for $7,50 cash and $10 when fuel stations are dry. We prefer Botswana fuel over Zambia because it is cheap. A litre goes for less than 80 pula while local fuel stations, like Zuva, sell a litre for $1,47 and Petrotrade for $1,42, so we make a lot of profit and we now have our regular clients,” Clive Chitsa explained.

A survey revealed that many local taxi drivers prefer black market fuel which they top up on credit and claim it does not damage their cars.

However some said they no longer trust, the dealers as they also sold ethanol-blended fuel.

“They only want cash and buying from a garage ends up better and we have realised that these people top up at service stations then lie to us that the liquid is pure. So it is a win-lose situation, but they always come in handy when there are fuel shortages in town like last week,” Macloud said.

According to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, smuggled fuel costs the country over $1 billion in undeclared levies.

In 2017, Zimbabwe and the Botswana Defence Forces officials launched a joint operation to curb the smuggling of fuel from the neighbouring country, but unregistered fuel dealers still evade arrest.

Fuel supplies have been dwindling in the country, with government officials blaming foreign currency shortages.

Source:  Vic Falls: Black market fuel hub (01/06/18)

Impala Car Rental opens branch in Victoria Falls

Leading car hire firm, Impala Car Rental, is spreading its wings and recently opened a new branch in Victoria Falls as the company continued to gain a foothold on the hospitality industry.

Last year the company went regional, setting up branches in Johannesburg and Durban in South Africa while mulling plans to open other branches in Cape Town (South Africa), Lusaka (Zambia) and Botswana.

Impala Car Rental sales executive Tatenda Innocent Matiashe said opening a branch in the resort town of Victoria Falls was necessitated by the rapidly growing tourism industry.

“As a leading car hire, we discovered that it was most convenient to open a branch in Victoria Falls so that we serve our customers, mainly tourists and other people who would be visiting the resort town,” Matiashe told The Standard Style on Friday.

He said Impala Car Rental, which is in its 11th year of existence, was gaining a foothold in the travel and tourism in the region.

“Impala Car Rental has opened offices in Johannesburg and Durban. We will soon open offices in Zambia before we set up another branch in Botswana. We want to be a force to reckon with in the travel and tourism sector in the region,” he said.

Two months ago, the company got a major boost on its fleet when it imported five top of the range SUVs Jeep Cherokee models with another batch of Toyota Hilux models having imported last week.

“We have bolstered our fleet in preparation for the elections. We are expecting another batch of 10 sedans in the coming few weeks,” he said.

Matiashe said the Victoria Falls branch would provide services similar to those offered in Harare.

“We would offer services such as car hire, chauffer services, wedding packages and airport transfers just like we do in other cities where our company is found,” he said.

Impala Car Rental was established in 2007 with the sole aim of providing transportation solutions for the traveling public in and around Zimbabwe. However, the company has incorporated wedding packages and airport transfers in its line of business.

Source: Impala Car Rental opens branch in Victoria Falls (23/05/18)

Man who survived fall into Victoria Falls

FIVE years ago, Wang Shunxue made headlines in both local and international media after he slipped and fell into the Victoria Falls but survived... Mr Wang, who is from China, narrated his horrific experience through an interpreter.

In November 2013, Mr Wang, who was 44 years old at the time, was visiting Zambia to conduct a market research on investment opportunities. The Chinese businessman had heard about the investment opportunities in Zambia when former President Michael Sata visited China in 2013, then he decided to travel to Zambia and see for himself.

During his visit, a friend invited Mr Wang to Livingstone to see the Victoria Falls. He lodged at the five-star Royal Livingstone Hotel... A day after arriving in Livingstone, Mr Wang with two of his friends, and the Italian woman, went to view the Victoria Falls.

When they got near the Knife-Edge Bridge, Mr Wang’s friend asked him to take a photo of them with the falls as the backdrop. The Knife-Edge Bridge is one of the vantage points on the Zambian side where visitors can have a good view of the eastern cataract and the main falls, as well as the boiling pot, where the river turns and heads down the Batoka Gorge.

As he tried to take the shot, Mr Wang had not noticed that the guard rails behind him were broken. He slipped and plunged into one of the sections of the gorge...

Mr Wang said as he plunged down the gorge, he thought he was going to die, but he managed to grab some shrubs on the face of the cliff and rested his feet on a small stone to balance his body.

Two helicopters were called in to carry Mr Wang or his body from the gorge, but the rescuers could not see the stranded tourist from the sky.

“Soldiers and people who were at the scene started searching for my body. I could hear people calling out my name,” he said.

“I was now telling myself that as long as I’m alive, I have to survive. My friend went to look for help while some women at the scene knelt down to pray for me,” he said.

After hanging on the cliff for over an hour, Mr Wang was rescued by the fire brigade, who were helped by the state police. There was also help from workers from a company called Bundu Adventure, which conducts bungee jumping activities at the bridge.

Mr Wang said a man from Bundu Adventure went down the gorge using a rope and managed to put him into a harness.

“When I was rescued, people screamed, ‘hero! hero! God bless you.’

After the rescue, Mr Wang had a new perspective about life and God. He thinks God gave him a second life. He is also thankful to the people of Zambia.

“The Zambian people had given me a new life, and from then on, I decided to help 10,000 lives through provision of better medication before I die,” he said.

Mr Wang also decided that he would open a pharmaceutical plant in Zambia... His friend also promised to assist him achieve his business dream.

After the incident, Mr Wang decided not to inform his family members about his near-death experience, and he delayed his flight back home. His wife became anxious. When he arrived back in China, the first thing Mr Wang told his wife was that she was very lucky to hear his voice again.

Last March, Mr Wang’s dream was fulfilled. His pharmaceutical company, Kingphar, was opened by President Edgar Lungu. The plant is located in the Lusaka East Multi-Facility Economic Zone.
Mr Wang said all the equipment in the factory is high-tech imported from Japan, China, America and Australia.

Kingphar Company marks an important milestone in the local medical industry of Zambia, and it is also of great significance to the promotion of public health.

Currently, most of the essential medicine are imported from Asia, Europe and South Africa.
When in full operation, the Kingphar plant is expected to create more than 200 jobs and contribute more than US$6 million towards taxes per year.

Source: Man who survived fall into Victoria Falls (20/05/18)