NEW SPONSORS FOR VICTORIA FALLS ANTI-POACHING UNIT

victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit (VFAPU) is thrilled to have new sponsors on board following a recent trip by Travellers Choice Gold Family Group (Africa Safari Co) to Victoria Falls.

The group from Australia met with Charles Brightman, head of VFAPU at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge in March, to find out more about what the Unit is doing to help combat poaching in the area. Having been impressed by the efforts of the organisation, five of the Travel Agencies in the Gold Choice Group have committed to a once off sponsorship of a Scout. Bay Travel Services, City Beach Travel & Cruise, Jayes Travel, Jamison Travel and Stodarts Travel & Cruise, have joined together in donating US$ 3420.00 to the cause.

“It was enlightening to learn of the fabulous work being done by Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit” remarked Sue Fessey, Managing Director of Stodarts Travel & Cruise, following her meeting with  Charles Brightman.

VFAPU is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of wildlife and its natural habitat. The unit protects the wildlife and habitat of the beautiful Victoria Falls area from subsistence and commercial poachers. It also rescues and rehabilitates animals injured by human interference, provides employment for ex-poachers giving them a sustainable income, and educates children at an early age through school and community awareness programs.

 “It is amazing to have donations such as these as it takes some of the pressure off and means that VFAPU gets to live longer”, said a truly delighted Brightman, following news of the generous donation.

Foreign Advisories with regards to Typhoid

There have been a number of warnings released by the Travel Advisories in various countries, including the USA and UK about a typhoid outbreak in Zimbabwe. The US has recommended no “non-essential” travel to Zimbabwe, while the United Kingdom is recommending no travel at all. This has caused a lot of concern for travellers visiting Zimbabwe from these countries.

It should be noted that while there has been a typhoid breakout in the high density suburbs of Harare, this area is 900km away and therefore not a threat to visitors to Victoria Falls.

Foreign Governments are obliged to report on the safety and security matters within each specific country, according to information released by government and the media about that particular country.

In saying this, visitors should always take the necessary precautions and immunisations, as advised by their doctor when visiting Zimbabwe. The best form of protection against mosquitoes and malaria is having a malaria prophylaxis treatment, using repellent and wearing long sleeved clothing in the evenings.

With regard to the Typhoid issue, guests are advised to take the necessary immunization against typhoid as well as follow caution by drinking bottled water, and avoiding eating unwashed fruits and vegetables. Since Victoria Falls is far away from the area where the problem has arised, we do not foresee this being an issue at all for visitors to the town. It is not a 100% guarantee, but if precautions are taken it is very unlikely it will be a problem.

The general feeling by members of the tourism industry in Zimbabwe is that the apprehension is both unjustified and unrealistic.

UNWTO PLEASED WITH PREPARATIONS FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

A team from The United Nations World Tourism Organisation visited Victoria Falls this week, and we are pleased to announce that so far they are extremely satisfied with the preparations for next year’s general assembly. Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) and Livingstone (Zambia) will be hosting the 2013 UNWTO general assembly and the two countries are very much on track to host the event.

The visiting team also noted that they were inspired by the unity of purpose between the two host nations, and mentioned that they only needed to smoothen their transport system for inter-venue traffic

The visiting team from UNTWO included executive director Zoltan Somogyi, Deputy Director for Africa Mr Helder Thomas and programmes officer Mrs Pearl Blanca. The delegation has advised that they are confident that next year’s general assembly will be an extremely memorable one.

The Zimbabwean government has plans to build a new conference centre as preparation for the assembly. There are also plans to upgrade the Victoria Falls airport. Both projects, together with a number of other upgrades in the area will go a long way in helping to accommodate the expected 3000 visitors from 176 countries.

The towns of Victoria Falls and Livingstone are both sure to see a massive boost in tourism as a result of hosting this prestigious event.

BEAR GRYLLS: - ADVENTURE ICON IN THE ADVENTURE CAPITAL

Adventure icon Bear Grylls was recently spotted at Vic Falls and took “the leap of faith” by bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls Bridge.

He was quoted as saying “I had to come and test this out for myself since your widely publicised incident” and Victoria Falls Bungee were extremely excited to have the "Born Survivor" star giving them his stamp of approval. Of course he survived and described the jump as an “awesome experience” which is a great compliment from the ultimate adventurer.

Bear has been in Zambia for a little family relaxation and will be returning to his day job of extreme adventures shortly. It was fantastic having such an icon testing out the bungee, especially following the recent negative publicity.

The 111m bungee jump is world famous and was recently voted as one of the top 5 bungee jumps on the planet. Not surprising given the magnificent backdrop of our exquisite Victoria Falls - there can be very few settings that rival it.

VICTORIA FALLS BUNGEE TO RECOMMENCE TODAY

Go to Victoria Falls have received the following update from Victoria Falls Bungee:

Further to our previous releases on the incident involving an Australian tourist which occurred on the 31^st December 2011 and whereby the bungee cord she was jumping on broke, we now wish to update you as follows;

Firstly we would like to advise that the lady concerned has recovered very well and has now returned to Australia. We continue to wish her well now that she is back home.

Secondly we are pleased to announce that following a thorough investigation into the incident bungee jumping will recommence on the 2^nd February 2012.

Since the incident a full and thorough investigation into the cause of the bungee cord failure was conducted which amongst other things included;

• A detailed safety audit and inspection of the bungee jumping system at Victoria Falls.

• Subjecting the broken bungee cord to forensic analysis and testing.

During this process of investigation we chose to suspend bungee jumping operations so that the inspectors could carry out their work without interruption and to allow time for the forensic analysis to be carried out. Unfortunately this process took more time than we anticipated due to the availability of the experts..

The international qualified IRATA safety auditors who have audited and inspected our system and equipment, have advised that after inspecting all components of the bungee system they found our safety standards prior the incident to have complied with the international standard ( AS/NZS 5848:2000) for bungee jumping. We have been carrying out bungee jumping in accordance with this code from the Victoria Falls bridge for over 17 years where approximately 150,000 jumps have been done without there ever having been a cord failure. 

As safety is of the utmost concern to us, together with the safety auditors we have developed certain new procedures to improve safety standards. With particular regard to the management and handling of the bungee cords, a safety auditor expressed the opinion that the standards we now apply are unparalleled in the industry in all probability industry leading. We are of the opinion that they set a new standard in terms of safety internationally.

The inspection of the cord which broke was carried out by a team of experts  based in South Africa which was lead by two Professors  in Structural Engineering. In their investigations the team amongst other things, compared the rubber used to make the bungee cord that broke against the latest batch of rubbers we obtained directly from our normal supplier. Our understanding of the investigation findings is that the rubbers from the cord which broke were not as strong as they should have been and were weaker than the newer rubbers.  We will be taking this up with the rubber manufacturers. The newer rubbers which we will now use were found to be far stronger than the “Code of Practice for Bungee Jumping” requires.  To ensure as best as possible the strength and integrity of all rubbers we use, we are arranging to have samples from every future batch of rubber tested before being put into service.

In light of the investigations and the opinions of both the safety auditors and the forensic investigators we are satisfied that the cause of the broken cord has been established and that the new standards, testing and inspection methods we have introduced will prevent a recurrence of the incident.

We are therefore pleased to announce that commercial bungee jumping operations will recommence on the 2^nd February 2012.

VICTORIA FALLS BUNGEE INCIDENT - FOLLOW UP

Go to Victoria Falls have received the following update from Victoria Falls Bungee, in response to the bridge incident on 31 December 2011. This follows the official statement released on 2 January 2012.

We remain in contact with the Australian lady involved in the incident who is recuperating in South Africa where she has received expert medical attention.  We are pleased to advise that she has now been released from hospital and although she remains bruised and sore she will shortly be free to return home to Australia.

As a matter of record we wish to highlight her bravery and survival skills, which contributed significantly to her own rescue and her continued positive disposition and strength of character has been an inspiration to us all.

It goes without saying that we deeply regret the incident, which has come as a huge shock to us.

Despite the experience of the crew and parameters and procedures, which have successfully guided the operation for 17 years and over 150,000 jumpers, we were unable to prevent this accident. We take this exceptionally seriously and our objective now is to learn from this incident and review every component part of our operation to determine where we can further minimize the risk of bungee jumping from the Victoria Falls Bridge.

To this effect the following preliminary measures have been implemented:

• We have removed all bungee cords from the system, which were made with the same batch of rubber as that used to make the failed cord. These have been retained for further testing.
• An entirely new set of bungee cords have 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 fully 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 are 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.
• The broken cord has been carefully stored and will shortly be sent to South Africa for forensic testing.
• A qualified river guide with first aid certification and necessary safety and recovery equipment will be positioned in the gorge below the bridge.

In light of the above Victoria Falls Bungee are entirely satisfied that everything humanly possible has been done to ensure the safety of our clients and bungee jumping operations have now recommenced without further incident.

GO TO VICTORIA FALLS MEMBERS ARE TOP TOURISM EXPORTERS IN MATABELELAND NORTH

Three Go to Victoria Falls members came out tops as tourism Exporters of the Year in an awards ceremony honouring Matabeleland North’s Outstanding Businesses. Victoria Falls Safari Lodge was named Exporter of the Year at the ceremony held at Elephant Hills on Friday 16 December 2011. 

The inaugural regional awards were launched by the Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce and have been introduced as a way of recognizing outstanding businesses and leadership, who excelled during the year and should be awarded for helping to revive the economy.

Victoria Falls Safari Lodge now goes through to the Regional semis in March 2012 to be held in Bulawayo, and from there to the Finals in Harare in mid-2012.

Other Go to Victoria Falls members came in as runners up, with The Victoria Falls Hotel as first and Wild Horizons as second.

Members of the Victoria Falls community were obviously clear favourites as another five were also recognized for their outstanding achievements:

Manager of the Year went to Trythings (GM of Ele Hills)

Entrepreneur of the Year went to Geoff Gover (Seven to Eleven Superette)

Woman of the year went to Mrs Mhlanga - Vic Falls Education Centre – for consistency of her duties over the last 5 years.

Exporter Agriculture – Spencers Creek Victoria Falls

New Business of the year – Comoil Lupane

It is once again evident that members of this amazing community are succeeding in bringing tourism back to Zimbabwe and it is wonderful that they are being recognized for their achievements.