ULTIMATE
AFRICA SAFARIS
Ultimate Africa travel and wildlife news archive January 1999 Zimbabwe Introduces Entry Visa for US Travelers, January 3 1999 In a surprise move the Zimbabwe Government has announced that as of December 1, 1998 all United States travelers to Zimbabwe will be required to purchase a visa at their port of entry. A single entry visa costs US $30 per person while a multiple entry visa costs US $55 per person. Zimbabwean tour operators have voiced concern over the implementation of the entry visa scheme for US travelers as they fear many tourists will now look to neighboring Botswana for their safaris. Botswana, with a comparable product, does not require an entry visa for US travelers. Bookings to Zimbabwe have already begun to drop because of the visa implementation with Zimbabwe Express Airlines having to reschedule flight timetables to reflect the smaller number of visitors. The Zimbabwean government has argued that since the US government requires entry visas for Zimbabwean visitors to the United States they would reciprocate. They also see the introduction of an entry visa as a means to generate additional government revenue. Many would argue however that the Zimbabwean government's decision is shortsighted and flawed. The United States does require that all Zimbabweans traveling to the US procure an entry visa as many Zimbabwean's visit the US in hopes of finding work or immigrating to America. The US visa process helps the United States government control who is allowed to enter and ensures that all visitors allowed into the US have sufficient funds to cover expenses during their stay. On the other hand most US travelers to Zimbabwe have no intention of immigrating to, or finding work in, this southern African country. The vast majority of American visitors to Zimbabwe are traveling on safari. The introduction of an entry visa deters travelers and in the long run revenue earned from an entry visa fee does not help to stem the overall reduction in earnings from fewer visitors. Enormous Resort Planned for Undeveloped Area of Zimbabwe, January 3 1999 A group of Zimbabwean businessmen has teamed up with a consortium of European investors to develop a huge upscale tourist resort worth US$50 million at Binga, several hours by road east of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The massive project, to be known as the Binga Peninsular Tourist Resort, is to include a five-star 220-room hotel, 14 chalets, a casino complex, international golf course and shopping facilities, among other supporting facilities. The site is situated on a peninsula jutting into the waters of Lake Kariba east of the township of Binga. The land has been secured by way of lease subject to 25 years notice from the Binga Rural District Council. Three international hoteliers have submitted bids to manage the resort The resort is being modeled along the lines of the Sun City Resort in South Africa and plans include an international airport, a 200-bed hospital and a private school. The project will be the single largest private sector investment in this part of Matabeleland. Cape Town Courts Gay Tourists, January 3 1999 Cape Town has recognized the spending power of gay tourists and is doing all it can to attract their pounds, dollars and marks to its shores. "Cape Town is the gay capital of Africa," said Sheryl Ozinsky, manager of Cape Town Tourism. "We are going all out to attract the pink Rand to Cape Town," she said. "We believe it not only has economic benefits, but gay people also make an exciting and refreshing contribution to the city at large." Cape Town, a melting pot of many cultures and races since Portuguese sailors landed over four centuries ago, has a large gay population of its own and is particularly tolerant. "Cape Town is very gay-friendly," said Andre van Vuuren, owner of the Abs Fab guest house. "Foreign visitors compare it to San Francisco-- it's so warm, friendly and relaxed-- we can hold hands in the street without any problem." The post apartheid South African constitution is one of the most progressive in the world and specifically recognizes gay rights. Day Visitors Discouraged at New Cape Reserve, January 3 1999 The new Cape Wildlife Reserve, which plans to reintroduce the Big Five wildlife species to the Western Cape at an exclusive 25,000 ha Klein Karoo scrubland site, plans to protect its environment by actively discouraging day visitors when it opens in January 2000. A number of species are to be introduced on to the reserve, the first to move in being five elephants, eight lions, four rhinos and 20 buffalo, closely followed by bontebok and hartebeest. Fortes King will manage a 30-bed, upmarket resort lodge on the Reserve. The new Cape Reserve is located about two and a half hour's drive and an hour's flying time from Cape Town. Bushmen to get Stake in Wildlife Park, January 3 1999 Bushmen of the southern Kalahari are close to signing a deal which will give them co-ownership of the neighboring Gemsbok National Park. A deal being hammered out with the southern Kalahari Bushmen and South African government will entitle them to jointly own and manage more than 1,000 square kilometers of the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa's Northern Cape. It will also add an additional 500 square kilometers to the park. If the deal goes through the Bushmen will not only be able to use traditional resources in the park, but will be drawn into commercial decision making about gate fees, rest camps and 4x4 trails. Although the deal gives the Kalahari Bushmen access to only 25% of the land that they originally claimed, they are being treated as players in the modern world, rather than as a quaint, primitive people who need to be protected or assimilated. The 300 strong community of Kalahari Bushmen lived in what is now the Kalahari Gemsbok Park for generations until it was proclaimed a national park in 1931. They continued to live there until they were perceived to have acquired modern habits. From 1937, there were several proposals by the old National Parks Board to resettle them on land outside the park, all of which were rejected by the community. They were eventually reclassified as colored and resettled in Mier, a colored reserve south of the park, in 1973. Mier is now home to two communities: the Bushmen and a large colored farming community. Both communities launched land claims in the area in the past two years. Botswana's Chobe Game Lodge Educates Community, January 3 1999 As the largest employer in the Kasane area of Botswana, Chobe Game Lodge prides itself on the initiatives it has set up to educate residents of the surrounding Motswana communities. The lodge is affiliated with the Chobe Wildlife Trust which is instrumental in the education of the local community's children. They are taught about conservation and the impact and importance of tourism to the area. Chobe Game Lodge is also actively involved in the Kasane Litter Committee and an AIDS education and awareness campaign as well as making annual donations of foodstuffs to the local hospitals each Christmas. The lodge, which was recently upgraded, features 40 en-suite rooms with private patios and air-conditioning. Facilities include a new bar overlooking the Caprivi floodplain, swimming pool, and a gameviewing terrace. The lodge is the only permanent establishment within the Chobe National Park. Sun City Voted Top Resort, January 10 1999 Sun International's "Palace of the Lost City" hotel at Sun City was voted Africa's top resort in the US travel magazine, Conde Nast. Award winning South African game reserve, Mala Mala placed fourth. Cape Town Airport Upgrade Begins, January 10 1999 Cape Town International Airports upgrade work has started. The new US $12 million dollar international arrivals terminal will be capable of processing 1,000 passengers per hour (currently 350 per hour). The upgrade is scheduled for completion in April of 2000. Cape Town Goes Green, January 10 1999 Cape Metropolitan Tourism has become a registered member of the Green Globe environmental program, making Cape Town the first African city to join the international organization. "The Cape metropolitan area is fortunate that it is endowed with many scenic attractions which distinguish it as a tourist destination of international status," said Cape Metropolitan Tourism chief executive, Rick Taylor. "But, we mustn't overlook the fact that we need to treat our environment as a business asset. Maintaining a clean, healthy environment is essential to the future of the travel and tourism industry, both at an international and local level, and everybody must play their part." Green Globe, which was established in 1994 by the World Travel and Tourism Council, is an environmental management program for travel and tourism related companies and tourism destinations. It has a worldwide membership base in over 100 countries and is dedicated to improving environmental practices and increasing environmental awareness within the travel industry. South Africans Exempted from Zimbabwe Visa Fee, January 17 1999 THE Zimbabwe Council for Tourism (ZCT) has confirmed that the US$30 visa fee to be imposed on all visitors who require visas to enter Zimbabwe, will not be applied to South African passport holders. The Zimbabwe tourism industry reacted angrily to the decision to impose the visa fee as of December 1, 1998, and has lobbied for a reprieve. Minister of Mines, Environment and Tourism, Simon Moyo, has pledged to intervene, saying: "The lack of adequate warning given with respect to the introduction of an entry visa fee is cause for great concern to my ministry." New Malaria Information Website, January 17 1999 British Airways Travel Clinics SA this week launched the world's first Malaria Reporting Website in an effort to provide the traveling public with accurate information on the disease and its prophylaxis. "We feel that there is a lack of information about exactly why travelers contract malaria," said Dr. Stephen Toovey, one of Travel Clinics' medical consultants and the driving force behind the website. "We strongly suspect, although it hasn't been proven, that people are often the victims of poor travel advice. We also see people taking the wrong prophylactic drugs or the wrong dosage at the wrong time, leaving them with inadequate protection against malaria" he said. The website contains a "user-friendly" input page where malaria victims can share their experience and describe where and how they contracted their illness. Toovey said this would both educate other people traveling to malaria areas as well as provide the medical fraternity with relevant, up-to-date information on the prophylaxis of malaria. The new site can be found at www.malaria.co.za Cape National Park to Open Soon, January 17 1999 The Cape Agulhas National Park, which will officially open on March 1, 1999 will provide a home for more than 2,000 indigenous plants in an area of 1,500 hectares. This will be increased to 10,000 hectares over a five year period, and up to 20,000 hectares within 15 years. Apart from the indigenous plant species, there are also wetlands which - vital for bird conservation and archaeological middens, serving as a reminder of the Stone Age people who once inhabited the area. Kenya to Start Elephant Census, January 17 1999 The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) will start a five-day aerial count of elephants in the Tsavo Game Park from Monday in a move to help gauge the impact of renewed ivory trade in African elephant range countries. Paula Kahumbu, the scientific advisor to the KWS director, said in a statement issued this Sunday that 10 aircraft and some 40 personnel on the ground, including wildlife experts from South Africa and Zimbabwe will take part in the census. The tenth conference of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), held in Harare, Zimbabwe, 1997, re-opened experimental ivory trade by allowing three southern African nations to sell a shipment of ivory to Japan. However, CITES agreed at the meeting that should elephant populations in other African countries become threatened, the permit would be canceled. Kenya is among countries which fear that even a limited lifting of the ban on the ivory trade will revive the large scale poaching of earlier years. By 1988, the number of elephant in Tsavo, Kenya's largest game reserve, had fallen to 5,363 from more than 45,000 in the 1960s. "The need to establish the status of the Tsavo elephant population is now imperative in order to be able to gauge the impact of a reopening of trade in ivory,'' Kahumbu said. "After 1988, intensive anti-poaching efforts were rewarded, and by 1994 the elephant population in Tsavo had risen to over 7,000,'' said Kahumbu. Kenya's Tourism Future Looks Bleak, January 17 1999 This year will be a tough one for the Kenyan tourism industry if problems affecting it are not solved, the outgoing chairman of the Coast branch of the Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and Caterers, Mr. Joshua Mwendwa, predicted. He called for the resolution of problems such as poor infrastructure, water shortages, and telecommunication and electricity problems. "Time has come when bureaucracy must be gotten rid of because we want to repair our roads so that our guests can access national parks without problems," he said. A one-year moratorium on tourist visas was also called for. Crocodile in Hwange Lodge Room, January 17 1999 Two English travelers visiting Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park on safari were terrified by a crocodile which found its way into their room. One of the travelers had gone to bed early and while the other only returned to the room after midnight. While brushing her teeth she noticed a pair of eyes and long nose. They both shrieked when they realized it was a 5 foot long crocodile. Several men from the lodge ran to the room and wrestled with the reptile. One wrapped a towel around his arm and stuffed it between the animal's jaws while colleagues stunned the crocodile. The guide noted it was the first time a crocodile had entered a safari lodge but, although it was young, it was still powerful and dangerous. The pair completed their holiday safely after visiting Victoria Falls where they enjoyed white water rafting on the Zambezi River. Zimbabwe: Carving Trees into Extinction, January 17 1999 Several species of hardwood in the forests surrounding Zimbabwe's eastern border city of Mutare are threatened with extinction due to excessive curio carving to supply South Africa, environmentalists warn. Carvers are very selective and are targeting red mahogany trees such the Afzello-Quancesnsis and the Pretrocarpus, which environmentalists predict will be wiped out by the turn of the century if the wanton cutting is not controlled. Although carvers agree that some trees could become extinct, they say they were driven into carving by poverty and no possibility of a finding proper jobs. Last June it was reported that several hardwood species, favored by the carvers in Hwange, had been wiped out and the carvers had turned to other tree species. Traditional leaders have become alarmed by the situation and are working with the Natural Resources Department and non-governmental organizations to come up with an answer. Cephas Zinhumwe of the Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources, a non-governmental organization which deals with conservation of local resources, says the organization has been trying in vain for a long time to educate carvers about the environmental problems. The organization is encouraging villagers to plant indigenous trees, such as the baobab, which have seeds. Chief Marange, a local leader, is levying fines. "I am lucky that in my chieftaincy I command a lot of respect," he says. "So I have no problem convincing the people that we need to protect our natural resources." Air Tanzania to Increase Domestic Fares, January 24 1999 Air Tanzania will increase domestic fares by 15% effective February 1, 1999 according to the company's managing director, Dominic Rwehumbiza. Rwehumbiza said that the increase has been necessitated by rising costs in operation, maintenance, insurance, spare parts and other sectors, as well as the devaluation of the Tanzanian Shilling against the U.S. Dollar. Italian Tour Operator Killed in Kenya, January 24 1999 An Italian tour operator, a Mr. Tomatis, was recently killed by robbers on the outskirts of Nairobi. Five armed gangsters stole valuables and cash from six Italian tourists Mr. Tomatis was scheduled to take on a tour. The robbers then stole the tour vehicle which held the tourists' luggage. Mr. Tomatis, 46, was the proprietor of African Adventures Tour Company based in Italy. According to Kenya's Tourism Minister, Henry Kosgey, the killing of Italian tour operator Claudio Tomatis was an isolated incident. The following day six bandits raided a tourist campsite in Isiolo and stole property belonging to 10 foreigners. They also shot and injured an employee of Robin Heart Safaris during the raid on the Joy Adamson Camp site at the Shaba Game Reserve. Flamingoes Leave Lake Nakuru, January 24 1999 Flamingos at the renowned Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya's Rift Valley province have migrated due to an increase in the amount of fresh water into the otherwise saline lake. According to Assistant Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) director, Daniel Kilonzo, the birds have moved to Lake Bogoria, about 90 kilometers away where there is plenty of alkaline water. "Flamingos feed on green and blue algae which are only found in salty water. Lake Nakuru is currently filled with fresh water after the El-Nino induced rains, thus the flamingos cannot find their food there" he stated. Mr. Kilonzo noted that there are currently less than 20,000 flamingos at Lake Nakuru. At Lake Bogoria, famous for its hot springs, there are now over 1 million flamingoes. He also stated that "the birds are expected back around the end of February." The number of pelicans at Lake Nakuru have gone up with the rising water level. Elephants Wander into Harare Suburb, January 31 1999 Zimbabwe wildlife department rangers shot and killed two elephants that had roamed into the suburbs of Zimbabwe's capital this past Wednesday. The animals injured a person in Harare's northwestern suburb of Bluff Hill. Rangers called in an air force helicopter to scare the elephants away but were forced to shoot the animals before the helicopter arrived because of the danger to human lives. The suburb, which includes a luxury shopping mall, faces open bush and farmland. Wildlife officials say elephants, the world's largest land mammal, have wandered toward the cities far from their regular ranges because water and vegetation are abundant after unusually heavy seasonal rains this year. Zambian Hotel Project Sparks Concerns, January 31 1999 The Toka-Leya people on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls are worried that the development of an enormous leisure complex by Sun International, will erode their cultural heritage and damage the environment. Chief Mukuni, of the Toka-Leya, fears the anticipated influx of tourists will lead to the erosion of traditional cultural values. There are also worries about the destruction of vegetation and water pollution. A report by a South African consultant, CSIR, contracted by the Environmental Council of Zambia, warns that if there are not proper controls, wildlife movements will be restricted. Sun International was awarded a portion of the Mosi-o-Tunya National Park by the Zambia Privatization Agency to construct a resort consisting of three hotels including a day visitors center and a small casino. The project will employ about 3,000 people during the 18-month construction period. The resort will eventually employ a total of about 6,000 people when it becomes fully operational. The three hotels will consist of a family hotel, a five-star hotel and luxury villas. Sun International owns a string of hotels and casinos around the world, including Sun City in South Africa. Last year, the Zambian government approved construction, but the project was halted after tourism ministry officials raised concerns over the legality of handing over an area originally preserved as a national park. Tourists in Kenya Disgusted by Poor Roads, January 31 1999 A group of Hungarian tourists on a first visit to Kenya say they are disgusted after they failed to reach the Masai Mara game reserve because of the poor condition of the road. "To say that the road is bad, is putting it too mildly. The reality is that driving on the road is a nightmare for a visitor in this country and it's criminal to allow people to use it," the group leader, Ms Burger Anna said. Kenya Issues Poaching Alert, January 31 1999 The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has sounded an alarm over the possibility of renewed elephant poaching following the resumption in ivory trade. KWS director Richard Leakey said that at the end of a five-day aerial count last week, figures indicated a decrease in the elephant population in the Tsavo National Park. "There has been a general growth pattern of 3.8%. But this time the growth is reversed; it is much lower," Leakey told a press conference in Nairobi. "This can be interpreted in a number of ways, but we can imagine it could be because of poaching," he added. The census which started January 18, established that only 8,100 elephants now existed in the 40,000 square kilometer Tsavo National Park compared with 25,268 in 1972. The count was aimed at evaluating the impact of the lifting of the ban of ivory trade two years ago at a meeting of the International Convection on Endangered Species (CITES). Leakey said the elephant census, to be repeated in January 2000, was important because it would give the Kenyan delegation a good basis to argue for or against resumption of trade. He reiterated that Kenya was opposed to the ivory trade, which gave way to poaching that ultimately reduced the country's elephant population from 130,000 in the 1960s to less than 30,000 presently. Return to Weekly Update Archive |
