Panic as stray lion inches closer to Bulawayo city centre

Source: Panic as stray lion inches closer to Bulawayo city centre (Bulawayo News24, 09-05-14)

Panic waves continue to spread through Bulawayo as the elusive stray lion has been sighted at Riverside, inching closer to the city centre.

Acting Bulawayo police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Abedinico Ncube yesterday confirmed the latest sighting and urged members of the public to immediately report encounters with the big cat.

First seen 14 days ago about 30 km from Bulawayo near Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage, terrified Waterford residents also sighted it last Sunday.

The king of the jungle has been evading a crack team of Zimbabwe National Parks game rangers.

"We want to reiterate that there is a stray lion out there which was last seen at Riverside South Plot 18. Members of the public must report immediately if they sight the animal. Police are available 24 hours a day so members of the public must be free to come to us or call us," said Asst Insp Ncube.

The police call comes after the tracking team revealed that they had received numerous panic calls from members of the public that had turned out to be false alarms.

A member of the tracking team who could not be named as he is not cleared to speak to the press said the operation to capture the lion was continuing.

"We continue with the search and tonight (last night) we will concentrate in the Waterford area," he said.

He said they mainly do their tracking at night and would be searching areas south of Waterford adding that they suspect that it was a young lioness that probably was caged and still learning how to hunt.

Waterford residents where the lion has been sighted are in a state of panic and urged authorities to capture the lion as soon as possible.

Waterford resident Bongelani Sibanda said he heard the lion roar on Wednesday night.

"We live in fear and do not move at night. Just imagine hearing the lion roar and not knowing if the animal is moving towards you or not," said Sibanda.

Source: Panic as stray lion inches closer to Bulawayo city centre (Bulawayo News24, 09-05-14)

EU Council Awards Zimbabwe Best World Tourism Destination Title

Souce: EU Council Awards Zimbabwe Best World Tourism Destination Title (VOA Zimbabwe, 05-05-14)

The European Union Council on Tourism and Trade has unanimously decided to award Zimbabwe the World Best Tourist Destination for 2014 title for promoting ecotourism and successfully convening an international conference last year.

The General Assembly of the council says Zimbabwe cohosted the World Tourism Organization General Assembly in 2013 despite tremendous logistic and economic challenges.

The Assembly says there is no doubt that the country has the capacity to organize top world events, is a safe destination.

According to the Council, Zimbabwe has unequivocally demonstrated that it is a safe, open and perfectly managed power house.

Apart from that, it further says the country has done a lot in promoting eco-tourism leading to a lot of community support in the preservation of natural resources.

“Among other reasons is the promotion and support offered to a new concept of community natural protection supporting tourism friendly to nature, with low ecological impact and preservation of natural biodiversity and protection of endangered species and areas,” said the EU Council.

It said community-based ecotourism protection carved by former Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi is “a perfect way to share revenues and income and to support rural communities in prospering.”

The EU Council said this has ensured that ecotourism is the base for local economic development.

Reacting to this development, Zanu PF activist, Morris Ngwenya, said Zimbabwe deserved the award. “At last the country has been recognized for the good job it is doing in tourism, cultural issues and others.”

But independent economist Walter Mbongolwane disagreed, saying there are countries like South Africa which offer better tourism activities than Zimbabwe. “At least South Africa deserves an award and not Zimbabwe. How can the country win an award in the midst of an economic crisis … This is absurd.”

Tourism visits went up in Zimbabwe soon after the establishment of a unity government which was in power up to the 2013 general election. The situation has degenerated following Zanu PF’s election victory last year as the local economy has been hit by deflation, lack of foreign direct investment and general liquidity constraints.

Souce: EU Council Awards Zimbabwe Best World Tourism Destination Title (VOA Zimbabwe, 05-05-14)

Woman throws herself into the Victoria Falls gorge

A 23-YEAR-OLD Zambian woman committed suicide by throwing herself into the Victoria Falls gorge after her parents expressed disappointment with her college results.

The body of Carol Kanyemr was found along the Zambezi River on the Zimbabwean side of Victoria Falls on Tuesday. Zambian Southern province police commissioner Mary Chikwanda yesterday confirmed the suicide tragedy.

"She threw herself into the Victoria Falls after she said she had been a disappointment to her family after her parents paid fees for her at universities in Namibia and Botswana respectively, but she failed."

Source: Woman throws herself into the Victoria Falls gorge (Bulawayo News24 - 04-05-14)

Vic Falls council embarks on stand repossession

THE Victoria Falls Town Council has embarked on a massive repossession of close to 200 residential and commercial stands under its jurisdiction that have not been developed in a specified period.

CHIEF REPORTER

The affected stands are in Moringa, Mukali, Mukanya and Nyakumbi shopping centres and the bulk of them are residential.

Current owners have been given up to May to rectify the issue.

According to a notice by the municipality, all undeveloped stands are going to be repossessed.

“Notice is hereby given that the Victoria Falls municipality is in the process of repossessing all undeveloped land within low-density residential, industrial and commercial areas of Victoria Falls township lands,” the municipality said in a notice yesterday.

Normally, local authorities as per their regulations, periodically repossess undeveloped stands if owners fail to develop them for two years, without paying any compensation.

However, Victoria Falls is understood to have a policy of repossessing undeveloped stands after six years in the case of high-density areas, three years in medium-density areas and two years in low-density areas.

Zimbabweans based in the Diaspora are reported to be sitting on undeveloped land in the resort town of Victoria Falls for speculative purposes while the resort town has run out of land for both housing and commercial development.

Late last year, Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo ordered all urban and rural councils to surrender houses and residential stands repossessed from aspiring home owners who failed to pay for them due to lack of money.

Chombo said councils which were run by the MDC formations from 2000 up to July last year, should have given residents at least 20 years to pay for the houses and residential stands.

Source: Vic Falls council embarks on stand repossession (28/04/14)

Livingstone runs out of bed space

Source: Livingstone runs out of bed space (Zambia Daily Mail (21-04-14)

Several visitors who came from Lusaka and Copperbelt provinces without prior booking for bed space spent hours moving from one lodge to the next seeking accommodation while some crossed over to Zimbabwe.

Livingstone Tourism Association chairperson Alex Muntali confirmed the development in an interview, saying the association was overwhelmed by the huge number of visitors in the city.

“We are really overwhelmed and we wish things would be like this throughout the year. What is interesting is that a lot of the visitors that came are Zambians,” he said.

During the short holiday, the tourist capital was the centre of attraction for big gatherings such as the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) path-finders camp meeting that brought together 4,500 guests from over 10 southern African countries and 450 engineers that held their annual general meeting here.

The city was also a haven for Zambians of Asian origin that visited the city in large numbers to see the Victoria Falls and had meals along the Zambezi River, where they camped during the day.

Mr Muntali said there is potential for domestic tourism in Zambia, which should be tapped by the Zambia Tourist Board to bridge the dry spell of seven months of no business experienced by tour operators.

He said lack of accommodation experienced is a wake-up call for more investment in hotels and lodges. And Senior Chief Mukuni says the city experienced overwhelming response from the normal 40 percent occupancy levels in lodges and hotels to 100 percent.

“For countries such as Kenya and Ghana, the 100 percent occupancy is a normal trend. As a country, we should position ourselves to tap into the domestic market,” he said.

Chief Mukuni said this Easter holiday has beaten record of guests for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation gathering as those visitors were not holiday makers and were booked in selected hotels.

“At Mukuni Big Five, we had a lot of path-finders who came for the walk with the elephants, lions and cheetahs. It was good but at the end of the day both workers and the animals were very tired. This is a very large group,” he said.

Livingstone town clerk Vivian Chikoti, who had a problem on Sunday to secure a boat cruise for her visitors, said the city was alive with a lot of visitors sampling all the tourism attraction offered.

“The city is very busy with so many visitors, drying up bed space and the entire boats on the Zambezi River for the cruise are all fully booked. This is very good for the city and the people of Livingstone,” she said.

The local airlines flying into Livingstone were all fully booked forcing a lot of families to drive down into the tourist capital causing traffic jams during the period.

Source: Livingstone runs out of bed space (Zambia Daily Mail (21-04-14)

Park's Authority reminds tourists and residents of dangerous wild animals

Zimbabwe's National Park authority (ZimPArks) have been warning residents and tourists in Victoria Falls of the dangers of wild animals After a man was recently trampled to death by an elephant near the Masuwe Bridge, on the outskirts of Victoria Falls.

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority confirmed the incident which occurred on Saturday the 12th of April 2014, adding that the victim comes from Lupinyu village under Chief Mvutu.

The authority's Public Relations Manager, Caroline Washaya-Moyo says parks officers notified the police after the incident, adding that the deceased sustained a broken leg and multiple body injuries.

Washaya-Moyo added that the Authority is carrying out awareness campaign programmes with communities and plans are underway to engage the Victoria Falls council to carry out combined awareness campaign programmes.

The authority urges the Victoria Falls community to report any sightings of elephant herds to either the nearest police or parks office and not to travel at night as well as avoid areas with thicket.

Source: Man killed by elephants, Bulawayo24 (14 April 2014).

Victoria Falls man killed by elephants

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority confirmed the incident which occurred on Saturday the 12th of April 2014, adding that the victim comes from Lupinyu village under Chief Mvutu.

The authority’s Public Relations Manager, Caroline Washaya-Moyo says parks officers notified the police after the incident, adding that the deceased sustained a broken leg and multiple body injuries.

His body is at the Victoria Falls Hospital mortuary.

Washaya-Moyo added that the Authority is carrying out awareness campaign programmes with communities and plans are underway to engage the Victoria Falls council to carry out combined awareness campaign programmes.

The authority urges the Victoria Falls community to report any sightings of elephant herds to either the nearest police or parks office and not to travel at night as well as avoid areas with thicket.

Meanwhile, a 70 year old man was killed by a buffalo in the morning of the 13th of April.

Washaya-Moyo said information gathered shows the man from Kavula Village in Binga under Chief Kavula was trampled by a lone buffalo.

She said investigations reveal that the deceased and his wife went to their field about a kilometer from their homestead and upon reaching the field, they saw what they thought was a cow and the man attempted to drive it off the field.

The man only realised it was a buffalo when he was too close and the buffalo charged at him, gored him and he died on the spot.

His wife managed to escape and rushed to alert other villagers about the incident.

Hwange Main Camp has since deployed a team of rangers which is on the ground trying to locate the buffalo and is working with some details from CAMPFIRE.

Source: Victoria Falls man killed by elephants (1/04/14)