Cheeky Monkey sneaks into hotel to steal milk

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, March 25 (UPI) - A visitor to a famous Victoria Falls hotel captured footage of a sneaky monkey quenching its thirst by stealing some milk from a housekeeping cart.


The video, posted to YouTube by Dave Sparks, shows a monkey in a hallway at the famous Victoria Falls Hotel climbing on a housekeeping cart and helping himself to some milk.

"This vervet monkey was drinking from the single serve milk containers on the housekeeping cart at the famous Zimbabwe hotel," Sparks wrote.

The video, filmed last summer, shows the monkey drink multiple small packages of milk before running off down the hallway.

KAZA-TFCA is not a white elephant

Windhoek – The Kavango-Zambezi Transfonteir Conservation Area or KAZA – TFCA is still relevant, and the institution has made notable progress towards achieving the institution mandate, even though some member states, such as Botswana, have expressed dissatisfaction with the developmental pace of KAZA.

Countries such as Zambia and Namibia has already tested the fruits of the initiatives, developing new infrastructure development in the parks and having training for park officials.

Among the success stories are the joint patrols, sharing of knowledge on human wildlife conflict mitigation measures, opening of wildlife corridors in countries particularly the demining process in Angola to allow for movement of elephants, joint raising of funds for infrastructure development, tourism visa in piloted between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“We have been spearheading consultative meetings throughout the region, affording stakeholders an opportunity to actively participate in deliberating and planning the actions they deemed necessary to protect the natural and cultural assets of the area, unlock its ecotourism potential and deliver benefits emanating from conservation to the people of the region in an equitable and sustainable manner,” KAZA executive secretariat Dr Morris Mtsambiwa told The Southern Times in an exclusive interview.

KAZA was formed in 2012 as the largest transfrontier conservation area in the world measuring over 500,000 square kilometers and spread out over five SADC countries – Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The regional park converges on the international borders of Zambia, Botswana, Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The area encompasses 36 national parks, game reserves, protected areas and villages.

Most well-known of the component parks are the Bwabwata National Park, Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta and the Victoria Falls.

Last month Botswana Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Tshekedi Khama expressed his frustration about the slow progress made through KAZA since its formation during the Botswana’s Travel and Tourism Expo in Kasane this year.

“I am not impressed were KAZA is at. We have challenges. In Zambia, it is poaching, in Zimbabwe it is funding. In Namibia they don’t have dedicated conservation areas; there is mixed land usage system. In Angola there are just coming out of the war. I wish I could be more positive. I wish KAZA would have gone a lot further than it has go,” the minister was quoted as saying during the side-line interview with Peolwane, an in-flight magazine of Air Botswana.

Nevertheless, the Namibian environment and tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta said transformation is a process and KAZA TFCA is making good progress in this regard. “However, some barriers (which are rather challenges) like not being at the same level at country level on tourism development and different policies are being experienced. These will be overcome by the KAZA TFCA Tourism and Marketing Strategy that is being developed. Stakeholders met in Maun, Botswana last week to discuss this strategy before it is brought to the Committee of Ministers for approval later this year,” Shifeta said.

On poaching Shifeta said a number of strategies have been put in place including increase of personnel on the ground, but added: “We cannot elaborate further on our strategies but we have seen a reduction on poaching incidents over the years.”

KAZA was declared as a trans-frontier park in 2006 through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the five participating countries.

Among the achievements includes the formation of an Integrated Development Plan (IDPs) at country level as well as other various joint projects aimed at improving natural resource management, land-use planning, tourism, infrastructure and alternative livelihood development as well as human-wildlife conflict.

Mtsambiwa said the IDPs outline the summary of the needs and expectations of conservationists, wildlife managers, safari and business operators, foresters, as well as local communities of each country.

“KAZA has been doing consultation meetings in member countries especially with communities that fall under this conservation to assist them on how to avoid human-wildlife conflict because wherever humans and animals depend on a shared natural environment,” he said.

“Their different needs and interests often spell conflict and KAZA role here is to create peaceful and viable coexistence as well as to creating wildlife corridors, which animals can safely navigate without causing any harm,” Mtsambiwa said

While applauding the member states and international partners financial support to KAZA, Mtsambiwa nevertheless admitted that finance is a major challenge facing the institution for it to successfully carry out all its planned programmes.

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is the biggest foreign donor to KAZA, that contributed 35.5 million Euros via the KfW Development Bank so far.

The headquarters of the Sioma Ngwezi National Park, in south western Zambia was built with financial support to the KAZ-TFCA, from the German Government.

Mtsambiwa said the national park is the first of its kind to be developed under the KAZA-TFCA initiative, with many more to be development throughout the KAZA Landscape, in the next two years.

The infrastructure comprises of one high cost, 4 medium cost, and 20 low cost staff houses, and office accommodation constructed at a total cost of just above one million euros, he said.

Sioma Ngwezi National Park Headquarters, Mtsambiwa said is expected to provide the wildlife officials with a decent place to live and work, and untimely boost their morale in carrying out their duties.

“The sustainable management of wildlife resource in Sioma Ngwezi National Park, as a result of this infrastructure, will not only benefit the Republic of Zambia alone, but will ultimately benefit the other four countries that share wildlife species with Zambia,” he said.

Apart from Simon Ngwezi, the institution has also introduced other programmes to source funds such as the introduction of a Univisa for tourists visiting the KAZA areas.

“In order to finance our programme and make it sustainable, we decided to develop and expand eco-tourism in the area through a single visa. Tourists will eventually be allowed a month of unrestricted travel in the KAZA areas of all five countries. Zambia and Zimbabwe already offer this visa, and the remaining three KAZA partner (Namibia, Angola and Botswana) countries are set to follow,” he said.

Source: KAZA-TFCA is not a white elephant (13/04/16)

Victoria Falls hotel to undergo facelift

Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) has started the refurbishment of its Kadoma and Victoria Falls hotels, as it renews its tourism product. The exercise is expected to cost $1,5 million.

In emailed responses, RTG chief executive officer Tendai Madziwanyika said the group expected to complete the refurbishment of both hotels by year-end, saying work on Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre began in the first quarter of 2016.

“The project includes new flooring, with the carpets replaced with tiling, new beds and bedroom furniture, bathroom tiling, new curtaining and linen, installation of solar geysers, a new reception counter, and repainting of the hotel interior and exterior,” he said.

“For Victoria Falls Rainbow Hotel the refurbishment will include new bedroom furniture, tiling
of bedrooms and bathrooms, new bathrooms, repainting of the hotel interior and exterior and upgrades of the conference rooms.”

He said the hotels would remain open to guests during the period of refurbishment without any distractions.

Madziwanyika said apart from the two projects, the hospitality group would continually upgrade all of its hotels to meet and exceed guests’ expectations which include the installation of two new customised elevators at the Rainbow Towers Hotel by July 2016.

“In line with this imperative we continue to conduct improvements of the product in all our
hotels. Of note will be the installation of two new customised lifts at the Rainbow Towers Hotel
by July 2016. We have opened a brand new venue on the Roof Top of the New Ambassador Hotel,” he said.

“This venue called the ‘The Breeze on the Roof Top’ offers an open air and pleasant environment for banqueting or conferencing activities. We also opened an executive bar on the ground floor called ‘The Fortress at 88’. At Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel we are completing installation of new air conditioning units for all bedrooms, public areas and restaurants,” he said.

Commenting on RTG Virtual, Madziwanyika said the product achieved gross revenues of $750 000 (value of the business channelled to RTG Virtual Partners), of which RTG earned in excess of $70 000 in net commission.

He, however, said the group was targeting to close the year at 51% group occupancy and revenue per available room of $36.

“We anticipate continued growth in our foreign business segment, which as you know grew by 6% in 2015. We believe it will continue to ameliorate the difficult domestic liquidity situation to assure growth in our revenues going forward,” Madziwanyika said.

RTG recorded flat revenue performance for the year ended 2015 as compared to the same period in 2014, closing the year on $30,6 million.

Despite the flat performance RTG registered growth in occupancy and foreign business.

Occupancy grew by 4% to 50% from 48%, while foreign business revenues grew to $9,28 million from $8,75 million recorded in the corresponding period prior year.

Source: Victoria Falls hotels undergo $1,5m facelift (11/04/16)

Wild Horizons to manage Vic Falls property

Wild Horizons has been awarded a management and marketing agreement for The Stanley and Livingstone Private Game Reserve, Victoria Falls, for five years, effective January 2016.  

There is a boutique hotel on the reserve, which has Big 5 game viewing opportunities and is minutes from the Falls.

Salim Bitar, CEO of Real Estate and Hospitality for Aujan Group Holding, which own The Stanley and Livingstone Private Game Reserve, said: “We are proud to align with Wild Horizons, who support our brand growth and conservation strategy. I believe that the reputation of The Stanley and Livingstone Private Game Reserve coupled with its association with Wild Horizons will enable this unique lodge to achieve its full potential and pave the way for a successful collaboration for many years to come.”

Gary Archer, CEO of Wild Horizons said: “Wild Horizons is delighted to add The Stanley and Livingstone as a partner and we believe that the management by Wild Horizons will result in improved operating results at the lodges. This addition will give our guests another unique option to choose from in the Zambezi region.”

Source: Wild Horizons to manage Vic Falls property (11/04/16)

Victoria Falls arrivals down 5%

TOURIST arrivals at Zimbabwe’s premier resort, Victoria Falls, were down 5% in the first quarter of 2016 due to depreciation of regional currencies, an official has said.

BY MTHANDAZO NYONI

Employers’ Association of Tourism and Safari Operators president, Clement Mukwasi, told NewsDay that tourist arrivals were declining as regional currencies get weaker, making Zimbabwe more expensive compared to its neighbours.

The rand collapsed to over R16 against the United States dollar in June 2015 and as of yesterday it was trading at R14,8 against the greenback.

Giving his presentation on current and future trends in travel and tourism in Zimbabwe at the 2016 Tourism Convention held in Victoria Falls recently, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said the country has become a very expensive destination compared to other competitors in the region.

“There is very poor service in the tourism industry and personnel lack passion in serving customers, a major key to success in tourism business,” he said then.

Kaseke said brand Zimbabwe was not doing very well in major source markets and there was poor destination accessibility.

“(There is) lack of adequate and quality transport services (local, regional and international), and also an absence of a strong national airline, poor facilitation at ports, particularly Beitbridge, and also poor access to attractions — dysfunctional feeder roads,” he said.

He also said there was lack of real skills to drive efficient service delivery in the industry.
Mukwasi said currently, hotels in the resort town were fully booked due to church conferences that were going on in Victoria Falls.

He envisaged a slight improvement in the second quarter when regional currencies were expected to stablise.

Source: Victoria Falls arrivals down 5% (06/04/16)

Cornered Cop Collapses While Trying To Swallow Bribe Money

Victoria Falls, March 18, 2018 - Judith Sibanda - A Victoria Falls police officer almost chocked to death on Thursday afternoon when he tried to swallow a $10 note after he was allegedly caught soliciting for bribes from motorists at a roadblock.

The drama happened when the police officer only identified as Constable Mabiwa was allegedly approached by one of his bosses at a roadblock in the Masuwe area.

“Chief Superintendent Commanding Fairbridge, Masiya who was in the resort town to carry out routine anti-corruption work arrived at the roadblock unexpectedly and asked to see Constable Mabiwa’s declaration book together with money paid by motorists as fines,” said Nonceba Dube who witnessed the incident.

“As Masiya was going through the book and counting the money, he noticed that the money for fines was over by $5. He questioned Mabiwa about the anomaly but the Constable insisted that his boss had failed to count the money properly. As Masiya was talking to other two police officers who were at the roadblock, Mabiwa snatched the money from his boss and ran into the bush.”

Dube said other police officers tried to give chase but failed to catch up prompting them to fire warning shots. “As he was running, he tried to swallow the money but unfortunately, it choked him and he collapsed,” Dube said. “Officers had to punch him hard on the chest until he spit the money and regained consciousness," she said. Mabiwa was handcuffed and taken to Victoria Falls police station.

A video of the embarrassed police officer taking a few punches from his colleagues in a bid to induce vomiting of the exhibit also went viral on social media.

Zimbabwe Republic Police deputy officer commanding Victoria Falls Chief Superintendent Dominic Sibanda confirmed the incident, but said investigations were still to be done. “I cannot give much information as of now because details are still sketchy and it seems there is lot of corruption that has been taking place and it was not him only who was involved,” he said. “We will give you full details maybe on Monday.”

Meanwhile, another Victoria Falls police officer was arrested on Wednesday as he tried to smuggle second hand clothes from Zambia. Police said the police officer only identified as Constable Chinyuku was on arrested on the Zambian side of the border in the afternoon.

“He had crossed to Zambia (Livingstone) the same afternoon and at around 2PM he came back in the company of Beauty Lungu, Violet Matau and Cleopatra Ncube who are also in custody charged with smuggling,” Sibanda said.

“Chinyuku dropped the three ladies, all from Hwange before driving towards the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority security check point and they found him in possession of two containers of second hand clothes, two packets of onions and potatoes, four boxes of biscuits and jiggies.”

Source: Cornered Cop Collapses While Trying To Swallow Bribe Money (18/03/16)

Aggressive Curio Vending Riles Vic' Falls Council

Victoria Falls, March 11, 2016 – COUNCIL has accused vendors selling curios in the resort town of harassing tourists and stealing from the visitors, a practice the local authority says is a threat to the tourism industry. Victoria Falls has dozens of vendors who sell artefacts such as curios to foreign tourists on the streets especially in the central business district.

The competition on the streets has forced the vendors to be aggressive in their marketing but Victoria Falls town clerk Christopher Dube said some of the vendors were now over doing it. “We are having a big problem with curio vendors along the Ephant’s Walk and around the town centre,” Dube told RadioVOP. “Tourists come to report almost every day saying they are being harassed by these people. “The vendors follow the tourists in large numbers and they make a visitor’s stay end up not worth it.”

Dube said tourism police, a group of residents meant to protect tourists in the resort town, had failed to deal with the vendors’ menace. He said it was likely that the marauding vendors were also involved in criminal activities targeting the police. “Tourism police are not doing anything and it ends up our duty to protect these tourists and that gives us more job yet they are paid for free,” Dube complained. “We suspect they (police) are also the ones who steal from our tourists because, they are dotted all over the town. They are also found at the rainforest but you find different tourists per day coming to report stolen goods or complaining about harassment.”

Anne Valley, an American tourist said she had a nightmarish experience at the hands of the curio vendors. “This is so wrong,” Valley said. “There is no point of visiting if this is how people of Zimbabwe live. I came alone because I wanted to have a peaceful holiday but I am being harassed on the streets. “The traders are so irritating and abusive, I doubt it can make me want to visit again.”

Hotel Association of Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls chapter chairman John Gwese blamed the police for the lawlessness. “The initiative (tourism police) was introduced to safeguard and add comfort to our tourists but at the end, many reports come to us saying visitors are harassed on the streets,” he said. “As hotels, we contribute some money to pay the hired police but due to unending complaints, we ended up surrendering them to the local police and they are the ones who give them their salaries on our behalf together with allocation of shifts among other duties.” Zimbabwe Republic Police’s officer commanding Victoria Falls Superintendent Jairos Chiwona said they were aware of complaints against the traders and tourism police.

“This has become a big problem in town,” he said. “We have arrested quite a lot of people on allegations of victimising and stealing from our tourists. These vendors have become a nuisance in town and they never stop harassing our visitors. They do all sorts of embarrassing things just to get money from them.” He said tourism police were not doing their job to protect tourists properly.

“Tourism police are not doing their jobs as well because many tourism have stopped contributing to the salary and as a result they no longer perform their job so well or report for duty daily,” Chiwona said. The tourism police are drawn from the local community to protect visitors from criminals but the initiative has been crumbling because the over 20 members of the voluntary force say they are not being remunerated properly. Council wants curio dealers to operate from designated areas that are safer and licensed but a number of vendors refuse to comply arguing that is no business at such places and prefer to approach tourists directly.

Source: Aggressive Curio Vending Riles Vic' Falls Council (11/03/16)