Danger of the white water

Hurtling through the crashing waves of a Zambezi rapid, giant rocks encroaching left and right, as you paddle in a hopeless attempt to find "solid" water rather than foamy spray, it's worth remembering two things:

a) this is a holiday
b) you paid upwards of $80 for the experience - this is supposed to be fun!

To conjure the experience of whitewater rafting in your head, imagine sitting at the front of a rollercoaster car and seeing the track in front vanish.

There is no telling what path your inflatable raft will take through the swirling eddies and breaking waves of a grade five rapid. (Grade six is considered "unrunnable" for all crafts except one-man kayak canoes.)

Of course you get a pep talk before each - a brief set of guidelines for those on the left and right of the craft, on whether to paddle forward or backward, fast or double-quick speed.

But except for the guide at the back, you are all amateurs and you quickly realise eight plastic paddles can only command a limited influence against the might of this untamed waterway.

And so, inevitably, you end up plunged into the water where surging currents and whirlpools suck you down before, eventually, spitting you out.

Money in them there rapids

In Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, whitewater rafting is the second biggest tourist draw after the cascading 128m falls themselves.

The stretch of Zambezi river that runs immediately from the bottom of the falls is said to have the highest concentration of grade five rapids anywhere in the world.
Everywhere in the town, visitors are confronted with the hard-sell tactics of representatives working for the rafting companies. It takes real bravery to say no and, while on a holiday last year in Southern Africa, I reluctantly caved in.

And so, early one sunny November morning, I found myself perched on the side of an eight-man raft, paddle in hand, crash-helmet clamped to my head and with a lifejacket as tight as corset. No one is strapped in - that would be even more dangerous than hanging loose.
I had already signed the all-important indemnity certificate that absolved the organiser of liability in the event of an accident.

In my gung-ho haste I had not even checked my travel insurance to see if I was covered - most standard schemes do not include this sort of extreme sporting activity.

My fellow crew, a mix of Swedish, Irish and Dutch 20 and 30-somethings, were, like me, whitewater virgins. Our induction was swift but serious. Of course, what they do not tell you is that an average of two people die every year on this stretch of river, doing the exact same thing.

The river takes control

The first two or three rapids were reasonably fun, providing just the right mix of adrenaline surge and safety reassurance, which basically meant we all managed to stay in the boat.

But things got really hairy with the first grade five. Our plotted course went out the window as the forceful flow of the rapid took over.

Very suddenly the water came crashing in from all sides, buffeting the side of the raft and pitching it in a dozen different directions within a few seconds.

The guide urged us to keep paddling - "Left side hard forward, right side hard back" - but the raft might as well have been floating on several multi-directional jet-streams.

Taking the plunge

I looked behind me and saw the edge of the raft minus two team members. Then came a huge surge of water which flipped the craft over and I had a micro-second to fill my lungs with air before taking the plunge.

"If you fall in, don't panic" we had been warned, and I didn't ... not for the first 10 or 15 seconds at least. The currents had dragged me down and I waited in a semi-calm state to surface.

But as the urge to breathe intensified and still I failed to find oxygen I began to worry. Finally I surfaced, gulped a breath of air and was immediately sucked down again by the rapid which continued to carrying me through.

When I surfaced once more, I gasped for air but the panic had forced my windpipe to contract, making it difficult to fill my lungs. Thankfully I was clear of the rapid but water continued to flush around my head.

A white-knuckle ride too far

Utterly drained I swam to one of the support-team's kayaks and was finally hauled into another raft.
When our team was eventually reunited we were given an option of taking the next grade five rapid in one of two ways - easy or hard.

I plumped for the former but some of my team-mates had got a perverse kick out of their own near-death experiences and the latter won through.

Not surprisingly, it was pretty much a repeat performance. By lunchtime I was glad I had chosen the half-day option instead of the full-day. Whitewater rafting was a white-knuckle ride too far - give me a rollercoaster any day.

Source: BBC World News Danger of the white water (28/07/99)

Michael Jackson visits Victoria Falls

Pop-singer Michael Jackson visited Zimbabwe this week to meet with President Robert Mugabe and discuss investment possibilities, according to the Associated Press. Jackson arrived Monday as a guest of Zimbabwe Defense Industries with a group from the U.S.-based United Pacific Holdings Group, in which he reportedly has a financial interest. According to Mugabe, he and Jackson discussed investment ideas for a hotel development in Victoria Falls, one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. There was no advance publicity for Jackson's visit, and the singer refused to speak to reporters. Hundreds of screaming fans mobbed the singer's hotel when word of his arrival spread, and a few were rewarded with autographs.

Source: Michael Jackson visits Victoria Falls (17/11/98)

Onslaught Of Tourists Threatens Victoria Falls

 By Deseret News

Apr 26, 1996, 7:00am BST

Reuter News Service

The wall of water over a mile wide tumbling into the Zambezi River gorges is as awesome today as when David Livingstone became the first European to see it in 1855.

But Victoria Falls, the world's biggest waterfall straddling the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, is facing a growing onslaught from tourists whose numbers could triple in 10 years. Conservationists fear the hundreds of thousands of visitors who flock to the falls each year could end up destroying the very wilderness they come to see.

The Zambezi upriver from the falls is already invaded by an armada of "sundowner" cruise boats each evening while small planes and helicopters vie for aerial views overhead.

Downriver, more and more intrepid travelers white-water raft through the gorges - and in between, the downright reckless queue up for the world's highest bungee jump from the Victoria Falls bridge.

For the local economy, this is boom time.

Incoming flights and hotels are full, more so than ever before this year as excellent summer rains restore the falls to their former glory after years of drought.

For the moment, the falls - known locally as Mosi-Oa-Tunya or "the smoke that thunders" - remain relatively unscathed by the invasion.

The rain forest created by the plume of spray rising 1,000 feet into the air is still pristine, apart from the narrow concrete path along the edge of the waterfall. The surrounding game parks offer vistas of unspoiled African bush.

But that could change with hotel groups planning to cash in on the resort's growing popularity by building another four hotels, including a large Sheraton that would protrude above the tree line.

At present the town of Victoria Falls has eight hotels plus three under construction. There are five on the Zambian side.

In an effort to balance the needs of tourism and conservation, the governments of Zimbabwe and Zambia commissioned a study from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature into future development of the area.

But the report, presented at the end of March, has only fueled controversy after Zimbabwe rejected a key recommendation for a moratorium on new projects pending a detailed master plan for the area.

The Zambezi Society conservation group said it was disappointed by the rejection of the moratorium call.

"We believe it is essential that the Victoria Falls area retains the wilderness quality that people have come to Africa to experience," it said.

The IUCN report concluded that further development in the area would inevitably have a significant environmental impact.

"If tourism increases two or three times in the next 10 years, which is the scenario we are talking about, it is going to be necessary to put limits on use," said IUCN program officer Jan Sugl.

Source: Onslaught Of Tourists Threatens Victoria Falls (26/04/96)

The Victoria Falls : A Fragile Power

THE VICTORIA FALLS - A Fragile Power
by Sally Wynn
Africa Geographic Magazine
Vol.3, No.1, January 1995

Last July, the President of Zimbabwe announced that his government would carry out a study to assess the environmental impact of tourism in the Victoria Falls area. Conservationists, Victoria Falls residents and members of the tourism industry were delighted - they have long been worried about the way things run in the popular tourist town, and the effect this all may be having on the very fragile wilderness which makes this one of the world's greatest natural wonders.

A year later, Phase One of this document has been completed by consultants in the Department of Natural Resources. The study urges increased co-operation between Zimbabwe and Zambia in promoting environmentally sustainable tourism development. It calls for a major environmental awareness campaign aimed at all sectors of the Victoria Falls community, and for a Tourism Development Master Plan, incorporating environmental and natural resource management considerations, to be prepared and implemented. This could take years. In the meantime, the report recommends that the Victoria Falls Town Council be given greater authority to plan and manage its own development and to ensure that proper environmental impact studies are carried out before any more development takes place in the area.

This begs the question of why the Town Council lacks authority in the first place, and how some large hotels have recently been allowed to ignore carefully formulated planning controls aimed at preventing environmental damage and overdevelopment in the Falls area.

The report contains some interesting recommendations which should spark off lively public debate, and raise some pertinent questions about which matters more - tourism revenue or the welfare of the environment it relies on. Since the one is largely dependent on the other, it would be logical to assume that the recommendations of the impact study should be followed to the letter … but, as usual, when there are large amounts of money involved, it probably won't be as simple as that. For the report recommends (among other things) the banning of helicopter flights over the Falls and the complete removal of electric fences around tourist developments. This should outrage a few operators and hoteliers who are reaping profits at the expense of the environment.

The most obvious cause for concern must, of course, be the impact of so many tourist feet tramping the paths of the fragile ecosystem of the rain forest and other riverine habitats. The tourism impact report fully endorses the sensible move taken by the Department of National Parks to impose an entry fee to ensure that only bona fide visitors enter the rain forest. In order to ensure that this beautiful and tiny patch of natural paradise will survive for future generations, very hard-wearing but environmentally sensitive pathways have been constructed, visitors are directed into a one-way system and are warned of the dire consequences of their straying from the paths and disturbing the vegetation or the wildlife. More monitoring of tourist movement is called for, and it is suggested that numbers of visitors at any one time be restricted to an agreed maximum.

As more and more tourists visit the Victoria Falls (156000 arrivals in 1992 as compared with 46000 arrivals in 1983), the growth of the town to accommodate them has taken little account of an original Outline Plan laid down to protect the area from over development. There is lack of a precise planning law stipulating that buildings in Victoria Falls should not rise above tree height. While some hotels have clearly made an effort to blend well into the environment (Masuwe Lodge, the A'Zambezi River Lodge and Ilala Lodge, for example), skyline intruders like the Makasa Sun and Elephant Hills hotels spoil the otherwise natural appearance of the landscape.

In addition, the nearly completed Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, for example, is built on land originally set aside as a wildlife corridor from the Zambezi National Park to the river. This has created a whole new problem - keeping potentially dangerous large animals at a safe distance from tourists. Electric fences have been erected to 'protect' the new Safari Lodge and the Elephant Hills Golf Course. But they are unpopular with local people who say they are hazardous, and with conservationists who argue that they cut across game corridors and are, in fact, often ineffective (both elephant and buffalo are able to breach electric fences). The tourism impact report recommends that all barriers such as electric fences should be pulled down to allow free movement of wildlife. It calls for much tighter controls on the siting and appearance of buildings to avoid further undesirable environmental impact and to ensure that game is able to move freely past the town.

One of the major problems apparent in the Victoria Falls (and indeed elsewhere along the Zambezi River) is that there appears to be little cross-border co-operation between the Zimbabwean and Zambian authorities when it comes to enforcing regulations for the sake of the environment.
The two countries have a Joint Technical Committee on Tourism and Natural Resources, but this group meets only infrequently. It is blatantly obvious from a number of examples in the Victoria Falls that some unscrupulous companies are exploiting loopholes in the system because the two nations lack cohesion in their approach to conservation and protection of the area. It appears that some operators are able to obtain permission from Zambia to carry out activities banned in Zimbabwe (and vice versa). This situation sets a dangerous precedent. It extends to a wide range of activities, including overnight camping on hitherto undisturbed island refuges in the middle of the river, bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls bridge, boating on the river and flights over the Falls.

Noise pollution is a major problem for residents and visitors alike in the Falls. Air charter companies on both sides of the river are making 'big bucks' out of 20-minute flips over the Falls to allow tourists to view the spectacle from the air. The report recommends much stricter controls on the number of aircraft and minimum flying heights, and suggests that all flight activities in the Falls be based at the main airport which lies 24 kilometres south of the town, away from residential, commercial and tourist areas. It calls for a total ban on helicopter joyrides. Fixed wing planes can stay, suggests the study, but consideration must be given to their noise being muffled by some sort of silencing device. A laudable (if not entirely feasible) suggestion. However, unless there is considerably improved co-operation from the Zambian authorities in enforcing such limitations, there will be little reprieve from the incessant din and whine of engines which has become a feature of the 'tourism experience' at the Falls.

Likewise, along the Zambezi River upstream from the Falls, lack of cross-border cohesion on the issuing of boating licences has resulted in a proliferation of vessels operating 'sunset booze cruises'. Some evenings there may be as many as 18 boats chugging up and down - all disturbing the wildlife and ruining the peace and tranquillity of a sunset experience on the Zambezi River, so carefully outlined in each company's advertising blurb. The number of licences issued to companies operating from the Zimbabwean bank is ostensibly strictly limited by the Department of National Parks. But companies refused a permit in Zimbabwe are simply taking advantage of a convenient loophole and are obtaining permission to operate from the Zambian side of the river - to the detriment of its environment. Some appear to be operating whole fleets of vessels at any one time, and each year the boats get bigger because the licence costs the same, regardless of the size of the boat. The proliferation of boats has resulted in a proliferation of jetties and onshore facilities - not all of which have been constructed with due care and concern for the environment. Apart from anything else, what sort of pollutants are the engines at those jetties emitting? And what sort of effect is all the wave action having on the breeding sites of certain birds (such as the African skimmer) which nest on islands in the river?

The tourism impact report calls for much stricter regulations regarding boating, and makes special mention of the need for Zimbabwe and Zambia to co-ordinate controls and the issuing of licences. Indeed, there is some glimmer of hope that such cross-border discrepancies will receive serious attention in the future. An international conservation organization intends to prepare a management plan for the area which will span both sides of the river. This is good news indeed.

There are other, less obvious, environmental problems in the Victoria Falls, many of which have come about because the town council is failing to exercise existing controls already laid down in the bylaws.

What, for example, happens to all the rubbish? Hotels are notorious waste producers and notoriously bad at waste management. The unfenced municipal rubbish dump is an environmental disaster area, posing a serious health hazard as it remains largely unburied, is invaded by human and animal scavengers and overflows into a nearby river bed from where its potentially toxic contents are carried … who knows where? … when the river is in flood. The report again urges tighter controls and has some practical suggestions about fencing the area and burying the rubbish and suggests alternative and more appropriate sites for landfill dumping.

Cutting of local hardwood trees for firewood and for the carving of curios remains unchecked and will continue to do so until council bylaws are enforced. The report's suggestion that electricity be supplied to the town's high-density suburb, thus reducing the need to burn wood for fuel, is a laudable one - but unlikely to succeed in its ultimate goal, as few occupants will be able to afford electricity charges.

It is not within the scope of the report to highlight some of the success stories on the environmental front. But there are some, and it's worth drawing attention to these, to highlight the commitment of some sections of the Victoria Falls community. The town itself and the beauty spots along the river are being kept clean by the Victoria Falls 'Clean Team' - a successful campaign organized and sponsored by a group of local companies. An area of derelict land near the municipal camping site and adjacent to the railway line is being rehabilitated into a parkland, under the guidance of a local business-woman. A severely eroded gully near Chinotimba high-density suburb has been reclaimed and a drainage canal constructed to divert surface water runoff and prevent further erosion. New sewage filtration ponds below the Victoria Falls Hotel have successfully replaced an antiquated and environmentally unacceptable system whereby untreated sewage was discharged into the Zambezi River (the Zambian town of Livingstone still pumps its raw sewage into the Zambezi).

And slowly, very slowly, the rest of Zimbabwe is becoming aware of the need to protect its greatest tourism asset. The government's initiative to undertake an Environmental Impact Study for the Victoria Falls was a welcome and long overdue step. But it will only be effective for the environment if its recommendations are swiftly and boldly implemented.

The Victoria Falls community, concerned citizens of Zimbabwe and environmentalists all over the world are waiting to see whether their research is followed by firm action in the right direction. If so, there is hope for the future of this most precious of the region's tourism assets. And a fine example will have been set for the future management of the other jewels in southern Africa's tourism crown.

Sally Wynn is a freelance journalist based in Harare and she specializes in issues related to travel and the environment. She has edited The Traveller's Times, an independent newspaper for visitors to Zimbabwe, and was previously assistant editor of Countryside Commission News, the official journal of a British environmental organization.