Australian woman Erin Langworthy survives 111m bungee fall into the Zambezi River

AN Australian tourist survived a 111m fall into a crocodile-infested river after her bungee cord snapped.

Erin Langworthy, 22, plunged into the Zambezi River, which divides Zambia and Zimbabwe, on December 31. The West Australian woman fell headfirst into the river after the jump with Safari Par Excellence.

Describing her survival as a "miracle", she told Channel 9 she blacked out as she hit the water.

"It felt like I had been slapped all over," she said. After hitting the water she started swimming downstream but her bungee cord became snagged on rocks.

"I actually had to swim down to yank the bungee cord out of what it was caught in," she said.

When she made it to rocks, her rescuers rolled her on her back.

"All the water I inhaled meant I couldn't breathe and I made them roll me on to my side and that's when I started coughing up water and blood."

The Safari Par Excellence website says the bungee experience is "111 metres of pure adrenalin!".

"Based on The Victoria Falls Bridge, the Bungi (sic) jump can certainly be classed as the most scenic in the world. Not for the faint hearted!" the website says.

Zambia's Southern Province police commissioner Brenda Muntemba said Ms Langworthy was treated at Victoria Falls clinic in Zimbabwe and evacuated to South Africa.

Source: Australian woman Erin Langworthy survives 111m bungee fall into the Zambezi River (09/01/12)

Minister bungee-jumps from Victoria Falls to prove it is safe

Zambia's tourism minister bungee-jumped from Victoria Falls to reassure tourists the activity is safe after an Aussie backpacker's rope snapped last week.

Given Lubinda took the plunge after footage of Australian backpacker Erin Langworthy falling into the Zambezi River was shown around the world last week, the Daily Mail reports.

Langworthy survived, despite falling head-first into the rapids when her bungee cord snapped as she leaped from the 111m-high bridge on New Year's Eve.

Mr Lubinda said he remained convinced the accident was a one-off and the attraction was safe.

Speaking after completing the jump yesterday, the Mr Lubinda said "I myself will be engaging the operator on how we can make this exciting tourism event become totally incident-free."

Mr Lubinda's display of confidence in the jump came as its operator confirmed Ms Langworthy's snapped rope had been sent to South Africa to be tested by experts.

Mike Davies, boss of the Safari Par Excellence travel company which reportedly organised her jump, said the incident was a "one off" and added that a full investigation had been launched.

He told New Zimbabwe: "There have been over 150,000 people jumping over the last 17 years without incident. So we are confident in it."

He said a team of experts had been brought in to look at improving safety on the attraction, and added: "We have replaced all the equipment, all the ropes and the elastics in the meantime."

Describing her survival as a "miracle", Ms Langworthy told Channel 9 she blacked out as she hit the water.

"It felt like I had been slapped all over," she said. After hitting the water she started swimming downstream but her bungee cord became snagged on rocks.

"I actually had to swim down to yank the bungee cord out of what it was caught in," she said.

When she made it to rocks, her rescuers rolled her on her back.

"All the water I inhaled meant I couldn't breathe and I made them roll me on to my side and that's when I started coughing up water and blood."

The Safari Par Excellence website says the bungee experience is "111m of pure adrenalin!".

"Based on The Victoria Falls Bridge, the Bungi (sic) jump can certainly be classed as the most scenic in the world. Not for the faint hearted!" the website says.

Source: Minister bungee-jumps from Victoria Falls to prove it is safe (13/01/12)

Victoria Falls Council disconnects water supplies to defaulting hotel

Shop owners at Sopers Arcade have been operating for more than six months without water following the disconnection of supplies by the local authority over unpaid bills.

The move by council comes at a time when its debt recovery is just 2.9 percent when it is owed more than $4 million in unpaid rates and water charges by residents and other stakeholders such as hoteliers.

Sopers Arcade houses clothing boutiques, Internet cafés, bookshops, a restaurant and a fruit and vegetable shop.

Shop owners and their clients have resorted to visiting other complexes like Galleria, Victoria Falls Rest Camp, Innscor complex or any other nearby outlets for the purposes of relieving themselves as the toilets at the arcade have since blocked because of the unavailability of water.

Some also visit the same places to collect drinking and cooking water and as a result, a health hazard is looming.

In an interview yesterday, the acting Town Clerk, Mr Philip Ndlovu, said council had resorted to disconnecting water supplies to force defaulters to own up.

He said the shop owners were given their bills but were not settling the bills.

“Yes water was disconnected at Sopers Arcade and I do not know how they are operating without water.

“In this light we are going to shut down all the shops at the arcade soon to force them to pay their water bills so that water is restored,” he said.

Mr Ndlovu added that the reason for the closure of the premises was mainly due to health concerns.

He added that there were at least 25 shops which dealt with visitors such as tourists everyday that were operating without water.

“It is just a matter of time before there is a disease outbreak at that shopping centre. It is a hive of activity yet they do not want to pay. After closing the premises and if they do not come forward, we will be forced to take legal action against them.”

Meanwhile, the Sprayview Hotel had its water supplies disconnected by the municipality because of a bad debt.

Although the amount owed by the hotel was not readily available yesterday, this paper has it on good authority that the hotel had clients booked during the festive season even though it had water problems.

According to the “reconciliation of figures with ratepayers (commercial)” update, presented at the management committee meeting held on 19 December last year, Elephant Hills resort had also not settled its debt.

“The accountant highlighted that the department was not yet through with the reconciliation but advised as follows: Elephant Hills Hotel — still outstanding, Sprayview Hotel — water supplies were disconnected and no payments were made. The rest of the bad debtors made payment plans and some had started making payments.

“Members agreed that all bad debtors should be handed over for litigation,” reads part of the minutes.

Source: Victoria Falls Council disconnects water supplies to defaulting hotel (11/1/12)

Tourists sceptical after bungee jumping mishap

Chronicle visited the bridge on Monday and witnessed that bungee jumping operations have since commenced.

Some tourists jumped while others refused even after paying for the activity mainly because they were not sure about their safety.

Bridge swing, bridge slides and bridge tours that were not affected by the accident continued operating as usual.

While some tourists jumped, some had some reservations because of the snapping of the cord that happened on 31 December.

“After learning of the accident that occurred I cannot help it but desist from jumping today. We are no longer sure of the safety of these cords,” said Mr Martin Attikinson of South Africa.

Meanwhile, Zambia’s Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism, Mr Given Lubinda, was at the bridge on a fact-finding mission on Monday.

Mr Lubinda took the opportunity to take part in the bridge activities such as bridge slide and bridge swing. He took a chance and bungee jumped before bridge sliding to assure tourists and others present that it was still safe to engage in these activities.

Mr Lubinda expressed sadness at the fact that a life could have been lost on 31 December.
In a statement, the Zambezi Bridge Company, which operates the bridge activities, said this was the first incident of its nature in 17 years of operation.

“It goes without saying that we deeply regret the incident, which is the first such incident in 17 years of operations during which time more than 150 000 people have safely jumped from the bridge.

“The exact reason for the bungee cord failure is as yet unknown. We have engaged the necessary safety specialists who will be coming within the coming week to investigate the cause.

“We are treating this incident seriously and our aim now is to learn what we can from this and apply that knowledge so as to ensure that there is no reoccurrence,” reads part of the statement.

The statement further stated that preliminary measures that include removing all bungee cords from the system, which were made with the same batch of rubber as that used to make the failed cord, had been implemented.

“An entirely new set of bungee cords has been installed on the system. These have been extensively load tested and inspected thoroughly and we are satisfied that they are safe to jump on.

“The entire bungee system has been thoroughly inspected and checked and we are confident that everything is safe to jump on. In addition to our normal checks and procedures we have instigated additional daily and intermittent checks on the bungee cords and we are fully satisfied that these checks and procedures are more than sufficient to ensure our clients’ safety.

“Our own crew is conducting test jumps before the commencement of daily operations and throughout the day. Experts in South Africa have been contacted and we expect them to be on site next week to help us with our ongoing investigations as to the cause of the incident.”

Officer Commanding Victoria Falls police district, Chief Superintendent Jairos Chiona confirmed the incident saying that it took place on 31 December at around 5:30 pm. “A 22-year-old Australian backpacker, Ms Erin Langworth, fell from the Victoria Falls Bridge, 111m above the river on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. We attended the scene as the police because she managed to swim to the Zimbabwean side of the river. We, however, handed over the matter to the Zambia police since she was staying in Zambia and had been booked by a Zambian company to do bungee jumping.

“The bungee machines are on the Zambian side and therefore we treat the matter as having occurred in Zambia,” he said.

Chief Supt Chiona said after the snapping of the rope, Ms Langworth was sent plunging into the rapids below and was forced to swim through the rapids with her feet still tied together.

“The bridge crew and a local medical response team then rescued her. She sustained relatively minor injuries, mostly bruising and has no broken bones. The cause of the incident is being thoroughly investigated,” he said.

Source: Tourists sceptical after bungee jumping mishap (10/01/12)

Commotion Over Issuance Of Mining Licenses In Sanctuary

 BULAWAYO — The Conservancy and Tourism Association of Matabeleland North is up in arms against government over the granting of prospecting licenses to four coal mining companies in an area falling under the Zambezi Trans-Frontier conservancy park.

The park is a joint venture between Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Botsw-ana and Namibia.

The coal prospecting grants issued by Mines and Mining Development Minister, Obert Mpofu, also lie close to the construction site of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, and environmentalists have warned that water pollution would increase as waste from the mines is likely to flow into the reservoir.

The Environmental Management Agency has also warned of environmental dangers should full-scale mining take place: The emission of poisonous gases — carbon chloride, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide and methane gas — would contaminate the dam.

The Hwange, Gwayi and Dete Cons-ervancy and Tourism Association chairperson, Langton Masunda, this week said business would suffer as a result of government’s move to award the mining licenses without consultation with the association.

Said Masunda: “The clearing of the bush, pollution and noise produced by the heavy mining equipment will affect wildlife and this will result in low revenues earned for the country because the Hwange, Gwayi and Dete Conservancy area is the second largest in terms of revenue earned per annum after Victoria Falls.”

Wildlife in the area has already begun migrating into neighbouring Botswana as a result of the increased mining activity.

Mpofu declined to comment on the issue, saying he was in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Although the four mines are yet to fully conduct an Environmental Impact Asses-sment (EIA), they have already gone ahead with full-scale mining activities, according to Masunda.

“It is our belief that they cannot start mining unless they produce an EIA certificate and all stakeholders, local community and tourism businesspeople will have to be part of it.

“That has not happened for now and we are surprised to see some of these mines operating only with the blessing of the Mines Ministry”, said Masunda.

Earlier this year, 20 coal mining companies were given concessions to prospect and mine for coal in Matabeleland North. The Hwange region contains the country’s largest coal deposits, with estimated coal reserves lasting 1 000 years of mining.

It is also the location of the country’s largest national park and wildlife reserve.

Source: Commotion Over Issuance Of Mining Licenses In Sanctuary (14/11/11)

Tourist arrivals up 16 percent

TOURIST arrivals into Zimbabwe climbed by 16 percent during the first half of 2011 to 657 302, from 568 706 during the six months to June 2010, driven by significant easing of the global financial crisis, a new report said this week.

The growth in arrivals was led by Africa, which pushed volumes up by 11 percent to 567 000, from 510 300 during the prior comparative period in 2010.

However, South Africa, the continent’s largest tourist market, declined by 33 percent, according to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA)’s Tourism Trends and Statistics Report released on Tuesday.

“Zimbabwe recorded a 16 percent increase in tourist arrivals in the first half of 2011,” the ZTA said. 

“The continued growth in arrivals can be attributed to the increased confidence in Zimbabwe as a tourist destination. This has been necessitated (by) continued marketing efforts by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. The economic recovery by the country and the increased trade within the region also contributed significantly to this increase,” the report added.

Hotel room occupancy levels increased to 38 percent during the review period from 35 percent during the six months ending June 2010, with holiday travelers dominating.

Business travelers increased by 44 percent to 136 000.

Britain, Zimbabwe’s former colonial power that led an aggressive global onslaught against the country’s political establishment over a chaotic land reform programme that resulted in a sharp fall in foreign tourist arrivals into Zimbabwe, reported a 141 percent rise in arrivals at 10 720.

The report indicated that a marked recovery of Zimbabwe’s economy since dollarisation in 2009, significant improvements in international trade and aggressive marketing strategies had helped restore tourist confidence on Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s economy grew by 8,1 percent in 2010 and was projected to grow by 9,3 percent in 2011, bolstering domestic tourism as disposable incomes improved. Fourteen percent of arrivals during the review period were overseas tourists, from 10 percent during the first half of 2010.

The Americas, where the ZTA had intensified its marketing drive and opened a marketing office in Brazil, together with a plan to lure about 14 million African Americans in the United States, had a 37 percent rise in Zimbabwe arrivals to 22 290.

Asia reported a 104 percent increase, Europe increased by 51 percent, the Middle East increased by 125 percent.
Tourism Minister, Walter Mzembi, had a highly publicised trip to Iran during this period.
The ZTA said there were positive signals of a significant rise in arrivals by year-end.
“The year 2011 promises to bring positive results to Zimbabwe’s tourism industry in line with the anticipated growth in international tourist arrivals by between four and five percent and the regional growth of 13 percent,” the ZTA said.
“Tourist trends are expected to rise following the stabilisation of the economy and the demand resulting from the expected increase in arrivals in 2011,” said the authority.

Source: Tourist arrivals up 16 percent (11/11/11)

ZTA moves to repossess 5 hotels

THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority is withdrawing five hotels from the Rainbow Tourism Group, as it moves to enhance its business thrust in line with its economic turnaround project.

In an interview here yesterday, ZTA chief executive Mr Karikoga Kaseke, said ZTA was withdrawing Rainbow Towers and New Ambassador Hotel in Harare, Rainbow Bulawayo, Rainbow Victoria Falls and a lodge in Hwange, as part of its new business thrust.

But RTG chief executive Mrs Chipo Mtasa said she was not aware of any such moves “so we have no comment to make”.

Said Mr Kaseke: “We cannot be a tourism authority without a single hotel or lodge. We have made a decision to repossess Rainbow Towers, Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel, New Ambassador Hotel in Harare, Rainbow Hotel Victoria Falls and a lodge in Hwange. I can’t name the lodge but it’s a good one in Hwange.

“At the peak of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, the ZTA leadership of that time surrendered these facilities to the Ministry of Public Construction and they were leased out.”

Asked if the ZTA had the capacity to run the hotel facilities, Mr Kaseke said it could subcontract someone to run or lease them out.

“We must make money out of those facilities. Even if we make US$100 000 a month from them, we will be fine,” said Mr Kaseke.

He said the ZTA had already started working on the necessary modalities to ensure that the hotels become the ZTA’s a cash cow. It had largely survived on Government grants and levies paid by the tourism and hospitality industry.

Mr Kaseke said it “made sense” to repossess the facilities since his organisation had, over the years, rebranded and repositioned itself to market, promote and develop the tourism industry.

ZTA, which hosts many local and international celebrities and media houses as part of its National Perception Management Programme, needs hotel and lodge facilities of varied sizes and comfort.
Over the years, ZTA has been either paying cash or relying on the benevolence of hoteliers to accommodate its visitors.

“As an authority we need to invest in the industry as well, so that we get first-hand experience on the situation on the ground.

“We need to work on serious investment projects elsewhere in the country’s tourist resorts, so that we generate income for ourselves,” said Mr Kaseke.

Source: ZTA to repossess 5 hotels (16/10/11)