New Zambian properties for Three Cities

THREE Cities has added a new Zambian property to its portfolio, Thorntree River Lodge on the banks of the Zambezi River in the Mosi O Tunya National Park. The group will also manage and market The David Livingston Safari Lodge in Zambia, due for completion by May 2007. The resort will be located on the river’s edge about three kilometers away from the Victoria Falls and will feature 72 rooms, located 30 metres away from the Zambezi River. It has been designed to appeal to the conferencing and incentive market. The David Livingstone will become the second Three Cities property in Zambia, following the opening of Thorntree River Lodge last year.

Source: New Zambian properties for Three Cities (04/04/2006)

Statue of explorer Emil Holub unveiled in Livingstone, Zambia

It's been 150 years since David Livingstone discovered a waterfall which the local natives called "the smoke that thunders" and christened it "Victoria Falls" after his queen. But the first ever map of the great falls was drawn by a Czech explorer, Dr Emil Holub who arrived at Victoria Falls twenty years later. To commemorate the event, a bust of Emil Holub has been unveiled in Livingstone, the Zambian city bearing the name of Holub's predecessor and role model.

Emil Holub would probably have become a family doctor somewhere in rural Bohemia had he not come across a German edition of David Livingstone's diaries. From then on - as he writes in his memoirs - he became obsessed with Africa. He set off for the first time in 1872 and three years later he stood in awe before Victoria Falls.

"Even the greatest literary masters would certainly have fallen silent facing such majestic and ever-changing scenery. A human being is totally incapable of describing Mother Nature where she performs with such might as at the Victoria Falls - there, Man just has to adore her!" Emil Holub wrote about the famous Victoria Falls, which he visited twice, in 1875 and ten years later, accompanied by his newlywed wife. A bust of Emil Holub was unveiled this week outside the Livingstone Museum - which, incidentally, was headed by another Czech, Ladislav Holy, between 1968 and 1972.

The event was organised by the Czech Embassy in Zambia. Consul Marie Imbrova.

"This year we are celebrating 130 years since the first ever map of Victoria Falls was drawn by Emil Holub. Naturally, we were looking for a way to make that fact widely known, especially in Zambia and Zimbabwe. We agreed with the Livingstone Museum that we would raise the statue outside the premises and they would show an exhibition on Emil Holub's stays there and about what he did for this region." The bust was made by a local artist, Last Mahwahwa, according to period photographs supplied by the Czech side.

On his African travels, Emil Holub collected everything from ethnographical exhibits to animals, from birds to rock paintings. "Of all my curiosities, of which I brought back forty cases closely packed, I considered my ethnographical specimens, 400 in number, the most valuable, but in addition to these I had a great collection of insects, horns, plants, reptiles, skins of quadrupeds and birds, minerals, skeletons, spiders, crustaceans, molluscs and fossils."

Holub brought back some 13,000 items from his four expeditions, and he sold them to schools and museums back home. But he also brought back descriptions and drawings of plants, animals and also notes about the life and culture of the local population.

"Emil Holub, for example, is the only reliable source in the research of the culture of the Lozi tribe who lived in this area in the 18th and 19th centuries. For the Lozis Emil Holub's notes are the most important ethnographical source of information about their nation."

From Livingstone, the exhibition about Emil Holub's life and work will move to South Africa and Botswana. The Czech Embassy is also preparing an exhibition of postcards featuring Emil Holub's drawings and a new edition of one of his books.

Source: Statue of explorer Emil Holub unveiled in Livingstone, Zambia (22/09/05)

Fast food giant says tourism is on its way to recovery

Tourism, once one of Zimbabwe’s highest foreign currency earners which was threatening to take over from tobacco, could be on its way to recovery following almost five years in the doldrums.

Fast food giant, Innscor Africa, whose adventure company Shearwater provides various forms of entertainment including bungee -jumping to tourists especially at the Victoria Falls, says arrival numbers to Shearwater increased by 32 percent during the year ending June compared to the previous year.

“The group is hopeful that Zimbabwe will regain its status as an attractive tourism destination and will see this operation once again contributing significantly to group results,” Innscor says in its annual report.

Available statistics show that though numbers are still down, at least earnings are going up. Zimbabwe earned US$201.6 million from tourism in 1999 but this plunged to a mere US$44.1 million in 2003.

Although the number of arrivals plunged from 613 030 in 2003 to 348 946 in 2004, tourism earned US$152 million in 2004. Preliminary figures for 2005 show that 452 328 tourists came to Zimbabwe in the first quarter.

Tourism to Zimbabwe has been on the decline since the government embarked on its controversial land reform programme in 2000. The programme has just been sealed with the passing of the Constitutional Amendment Act Number 17 that bars anyone from taking the government to court when it acquires land.

The European Union and the United States slapped Zimbabwe with what they termed “smart sanctions” and also issued travel warnings discouraging their citizens from visiting Zimbabwe which hosts the Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world.

Zimbabwe has initiated extensive promotion programmes including the “Come to Victoria Falls” video which was screened in South Africa and the Miss World Tourism pageant which it hosted. It is not yet clear whether the campaign has paid off or not.

Source and further reading: Fast food giant says tourism is on its way to recovery (15/09/05)

Canadian scribe tells Kaseke problems are political

A VISITING Canadian delegation of tour operators and journalists that visited some of the country’s tourist resorts last week left government with egg on its face after a television journalist said Zimbabwe’s tourism woes were wholly political.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) had invited the delegation to tour Zimbabwe in an event arranged by Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Canada, Florence Chideya.

Jonathan Rooth, a senior producer with Omni Television, told Chideya and ZTA authorities who had bargained for positive feedback that Zimbabwe needed to resolve its political crisis if there was to be a change in tourism fortunes.

“I’m going to be frank with you,” Rooth said. “Your problems here are political. You need to start to talk with the Western media. It’s about time you opened your doors to them. Inviting them to come over to shoot some reality and nature shows can do a lot of good.”

Rooth said currently there was no documentation of Zimbabwe’s tourism products in Western markets making it difficult for prospective clients to visit Zimbabwe. The television producer also cited an array of problems, which he said hog-tied the growth of the sector.

Rooth highlighted fuel shortages, deserted resorts, poor telecommunications and Internet services and a skewed foreign exchange regime as enfeebling tourism operations potential.

ZTA chief executive officer, Karikoga Kaseke, said government was mulling a plan to twin the Victoria Falls with Niagara Falls to entice tourists from the West.

Kaseke said government was going to rectify pricing distortions in the tourism sector. “We have just concluded an arrangement with Noczim to eradicate the fuel problem,” he said. “It’s a situation that can be normalised but as I speak as ZTA CEO I can assure you that government has made it a priority to solve the problem.”

Government of late has been courting Western markets to resuscitate the tourism sector, which came to a near collapse last year.

Kaseke was recently barred from attending the World Tourism Markets Summit in the United Kingdom, a move thought to stem from his membership of the ruling party.

Source: Canadian scribe tells Kaseke problems are political (09/09/05)

Fast food giant says tourism is on its way to recovery

Tourism, once one of Zimbabwe’s highest foreign currency earners which was threatening to take over from tobacco, could be on its way to recovery following almost five years in the doldrums.

Fast food giant, Innscor Africa, whose adventure company Shearwater provides various forms of entertainment including bungee -jumping to tourists especially at the Victoria Falls, says arrival numbers to Shearwater increased by 32 percent during the year ending June compared to the previous year.

“The group is hopeful that Zimbabwe will regain its status as an attractive tourism destination and will see this operation once again contributing significantly to group results,” Innscor says in its annual report.

Available statistics show that though numbers are still down, at least earnings are going up. Zimbabwe earned US$201.6 million from tourism in 1999 but this plunged to a mere US$44.1 million in 2003.

Although the number of arrivals plunged from 613 030 in 2003 to 348 946 in 2004, tourism earned US$152 million in 2004. Preliminary figures for 2005 show that 452 328 tourists came to Zimbabwe in the first quarter.

Tourism to Zimbabwe has been on the decline since the government embarked on its controversial land reform programme in 2000. The programme has just been sealed with the passing of the Constitutional Amendment Act Number 17 that bars anyone from taking the government to court when it acquires land.

The European Union and the United States slapped Zimbabwe with what they termed “smart sanctions” and also issued travel warnings discouraging their citizens from visiting Zimbabwe which hosts the Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world.

Zimbabwe has initiated extensive promotion programmes including the “Come to Victoria Falls” video which was screened in South Africa and the Miss World Tourism pageant which it hosted. It is not yet clear whether the campaign has paid off or not.

Innscor Africa, which now has operations in 12 African countries including the continent’s most populous country Nigeria, says its overall sales grew by 278 percent from $574.6 billion to $2.2 trillion this year. Net profit more than trebled from $115.4 billion to $387 billion.
The group is divided into four operating divisions: agro-processing, manufacturing, distribution and retail.

The agro-processing sector which includes the country’s largest pork processor, Colcom, crocodile ranching firm Nilocitus and adventure company Shearwater, recorded a 592 percent growth largely because of Colcom’s results.

Colcom, which is also a listed company, saw its sales increase from $53.3 billion to $194.7 billion while net profit rocketed from $8.5 billion to $80.1 billion. The company’s financial year ended in December but it has now been realigned to June to fall in line with that of its parent company. Innscor has a 76.6 percent stake in Colcom.

There was a total take-off of 35 650 skins in its crocodile ranching. International prices for the skins continued to firm and there was a high demand for the company’s high quality grades.

The company had a carryover of 3 500 crocodiles and expects to cull 53 300 crocodiles this coming year with the eventual capacity reaching 60 000 crocodiles a year.

The manufacturing sector which includes, bakeries trading as Bakers Inn, fridge makers Capri, Iris Biscuits, Zapnax and National Foods recorded a 188 percent growth in sales with profit before tax shooting up by 318 percent.

The company says though there was improved efficiency and plant utilisation at the bakeries, profitability was affected by high input costs and price controls on bread.

There was exceptional volume growth at Capri and the company is now looking at manufacturing televisions for the local market.

Iris Biscuits and Zapnax both needed additional capacity to meet demand for their products. Management was pursuing opportunities to expand the snack business for both the local and regional markets.

National Foods faced a shortage of raw materials and price controls for its products but it still contributed satisfactorily to the group profit. Its massive underutlisied capacity, however, presented it
with a fantastic potential for future growth.

The distribution division had a sales growth of 283 percent while profit before tax increased by 266 percent. Innscor Distribution is now one of the leading distributors of both international and local brands. It has just acquired distributorship of biscuits, cough mixture and some Unilever products.
The distributorships in Zambia and Malawi continue to increase their market share and there is still potential for growth in the two countries.

Zimbabwe Photo Marketing continued to maintain its market share in both photographic consumer and health imaging products through the Kodak brand.

The Spar brand continued to expand. There are now 51 Spar stores and 17 Savemor stores. An additional 8 Spar stores and 48 Savemor stores will come on stream this year. The company is also pursuing Spar’s penetration into Zambia.

TV Sales and Hire had an exceptional year with real volume growth through its retail sales and wholesaling operation. It has reintroduced limited credit facilities because prices of most of its products have skyrocketed because of spiralling inflation.

Sales in the retail division, which mostly comprises the fast food outlets, were up by 304 percent but profit before tax increased by only 166 percent. The company says growth and profitability were subdued by two factors: lack of profitability in bread retailing due to price controls and above inflation increases in human resources and other costs.

It says, however, fast food stores and retail operations in Zimbabwe continued to enjoy customer loyalty despite declining disposable incomes.

Growth in the retail sector occurred mainly in the region with three new markets opening in Malawi, Senegal and one of Africa’s best potential markets, Nigeria.

The group had a total of 325 counters in 12 countries at the end of the year, with 264 being operated by Innscor and 61 being franchised.

Ratings company Wright Quality Rating says Innscor outshown its major competitors from South Africa- Spur and King Consolidated Holdings. Spur grew by 16 percent in 2004 while King Consolidated shrunk by 0.9 percent. Innscor grew by a staggering 401.1 percent.

Source: Fast food giant says tourism is on its way to recovery (undated, 15 Sept 2015)

Dr Livingstone's statue is ours, we presume, Zambia informs Mugabe

A life-sized bronze of Dr David Livingstone has stood overlooking Victoria Falls for more than half a century. But after years of neglect by its current owners, the Zimbabwean government, Zambia is calling for the statue to be handed over to them.

The figure of the Victorian explorer, leaning on his walking stick, has stood on the Zimbabwean side of the falls and been seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year to one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Recently, however, as political turmoil in Zimbabwe has deepened, tourists have switched in increasing numbers to the Zambian side of the falls - while two years ago the statue, seen as a symbol of British colonialism, was defaced by thugs of Robert Mugabe's regime.

Now the authorities in Zambia want to cap their success by making the figure of Africa's most celebrated explorer the centrepiece of the town of Livingstone, where the tourist trade is booming.

"The Zambians have a great deal of affection for Livingstone's memory, unlike the Zimbabweans," said Siloka Mukuni, the chief of the Leya people, who live around Livingstone. "We have changed a great many of our colonial place names since independence, but we have kept the name of Livingstone out of a deep respect. For Zimbabwe the statue merely represents tourism and money. We would like the statue, but we would prefer not to fight over it."

It was from the Zambian side of the Zambezi river in 1855 that Dr Livingstone became the first European to sight the falls, then known locally as Mosi-oa-Tunya - "The smoke that thunders".

Some older Leya people claim that the statue was originally erected on their side of the Zambezi - then the British colony of Northern Rhodesia - but was moved during the 1950s to its present site overlooking the Devil's Cataract, on what is now the Zimbabwean side.

"I have 80-year-old advisers who clearly remember the statue being on our side of the river," Chief Mukuni said. "It was there and then it was gone, reappearing in Zimbabwe."

Others say there may have been a second statue depicting the explorer shielding his eyes from the sun, on the Zambian side of the falls, which is now missing.

Either way, Zambia is keen to get its hands on the bronze, sculpted in the 1930s by Sir William Reid Dick, before next year's 100th anniversary of the town of Livingstone, when it will also be 150 years since the Victorian explorer first saw the falls. The Zimbabwean government has signalled, however, that it has no intention of handing the statue over.

Now Donald Chikumbi, a senior official at Zambia's National Heritage Conservation Commission, has asked the Foreign Office in London and the British High Commission in Lusaka to help get to the bottom of the mystery. "Ideally, we would like to have the Victoria Falls statue, but obviously we have a stronger case if we can show that it was originally in Zambia. What is clear is that Zimbabwe does not want us to have it," he said.

Once Africa's most popular tourist destinations, the town of Victoria Falls has fallen out of favour in recent years. Hotel occupancy has plunged from 70 per cent to below 30 per cent.

Victoria Falls' losses, however, have been Livingstone's gain. A string of new hotels has sprung up since 2000, when Mr Mugabe began his violent land-grab policy, and occupancy rates have risen sharply.

Tendai Shoku, Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to Zambia, said that the dispute would be resolved "bilaterally".

"Zimbabwe and Zambia are just brothers - we are actually one. Let not this issue separate us," he said. "The habit of bringing confusion is for the British who even in the times of Rhodesia called us Southern and Northern, as if we were different. We are not."

Source: Dr Livingstone's statue is ours, we presume, Zambia informs Mugabe (01/08/04)

40 die in Zimbabwe train crash

At least 40 people have been killed and about 60 others injured in a train crash in western Zimbabwe, according to the authorities.

A passenger train collided with a goods train carrying inflammable material near the town of Dete, on a railway line linking the southern city of Bulawayo to the western resort of Victoria Falls. A fierce fire broke out, and some of the dead were burnt beyond recognition.

State radio said 30 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage, and many more passengers were being ferried to hospital facilities at the nearby town of Hwange.

Hours after the crash at 0300 local time (0100 GMT), rescuers were still trying to free people trapped in the mangled wreckage, and there were fears that the death toll would rise.

Zimbabwe's Transport Minister Witness Mangwende - who visited the scene of the crash - blamed the accident on human error. Mr Mangwende said a mistake in track signals had sent the two trains onto the same track. President Robert Mugabe sent his condolences to the relatives of the dead.

String of crashes

The passenger train was believed to have carried 1,100 people in 13 coaches, 11 of which were destroyed in the crash, which was apparently head-on.

The BBC's Hilary Andersson says passenger trains in Zimbabwe have become increasingly overcrowded in recent months due to severe fuel shortages. She says the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) has found it difficult to import spare parts and maintenance equipment for its railway system recently, because of the lack of hard currency in the country.

Saturday's accident is the latest in a string of crashes involving trains in Zimbabwe.

Last month, five people were killed and more than 100 injured when a goods train ploughed into a bus in Harare.

Last October, 22 people were injured when a passenger train on its way to Victoria Falls derailed near Hwange after colliding with an elephant.

Our correspondent says the latest incident will not make it any easier for Zimbabwe to improve its image as a safe and attractive tourist destination prior to the Cricket World Cup, which starts later this month.

Source: 40 die in Zimbabwe train crash (02/02/03)