|
|
|
www.victoriafalls-guide.net |
[August 2009] |
|
|
If you don't already subscribe to this newsletter why not sign up now
!
|
|
The
Long Awaited Low Water Run
Started on the 3rd Aug!!!!!
|
|
Hi there everyone
Thanks for subscribing to our
newsletter!
As a subscriber, you will get
interesting news and
events in and around Victoria
Falls area. As well as
hosts of other topics that you
as a wild life enthusiast, adventurer,
traveller and conservationist
will enjoy!
Please interact with us
by letting us know, what you
would like to see and also what
you don't like, and of
coarse
share with us any stories you
have that our readers will
enjoy. Simply follow the links
in the left hand column of this
newsletter.
|
|
Victoria Falls Marathon
Vic Falls Marathon is all ready
and set to go on the 21st -24th Aug
09 - we are trusting for a good turn
out and above average support for
this fun event....
Read more details of the Vic Falls
Marathon
White Water Rafting
The long awaited low water
rafting run
started on the 3rd Aug 09.
The operators have confirmed that
the water level has dropped and is
now low enough to run the low water
run safely.
On the whole lower water
levels
means higher thrill levels. This is
because when the water levels are
very high, they flood the rocks and
outcrops which are the formation of
the rapids. As water levels drop
rocks get closer to the surface and
the white water starts to really
boil and crash through the gorge.
Names of rapids like Stairway
to Heaven, The Terminators, Deep
Throat, Devils Toilet Bowl and
Oblivion, give you a small
insight of what to expect.
To find out more about white water
rafting in the Falls
Hope For The World Cup To
Revive Vic Falls
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe — A
decade after the bottom fell out
of Zimbabwean tourism, Victoria
Falls wants to re-establish
itself as a luxury and adventure
travel destination ahead of
South Africa's World Cup.
Operators are polishing their
attractions -- though sometimes
with what is seen as too much
enthusiasm. The town, home to the world's
largest waterfall, was
once a
tourist magnet but years of
political violence and economic
collapse have sent holiday
makers fleeing.
The decline is stunning: 10
years ago, Zimbabwe drew 1.4
million tourists who generated
400 million US dollars (281
million euros) for the economy.
Last year, 223,000 tourists
came, generating 29.1 million
dollars." Right now things are
not well within the tourism
industry, but it's much
better compared to last year
when we did not have tourists
because of political violence,"
said Ollalia Nyoni, a local
hotel manager.
Victoria Falls is only a
90-minute flight from
Johannesburg, but
Zimbabwe so
far is struggling to find ways
to cash in on the games that run
from June 11 to July 11, 2010.
State media complained last
month when hotels in Victoria
Falls failed to agree with
FIFA's accommodation service on
prices for the World Cup.
Zimbabwe's hotels were seeking
rates of between 1,000 and 3,000
dollars (700 and 2,100 euros) a
night. FIFA proposed maximum
rates of about 500 dollars,
according to state media.
The
town also wants to draw football
fans by increasing the number of
helicopter flights over the
mile-wide falls.
|
|
The Easter
Elephant Tragedy
In years of
high rainfall, animals often get
swept over the Falls. A
particularly heart-wrenching example
occurred on Good Friday in April
2007.
Guests at the
Livingstone Hotel in Zambia watched
as an elderly elephant attempted to
cross the river from Zimbabwe to
Zambia with two younger animals.
Midway across the river, which was
flowing at an estimated 35km/h, the
bigger elephant appeared to get into
trouble.
Quoted in an
article published in the
international magazine Newsweek,
Kelvin Ng'andu, senior waiter at the
hotel, said the larger elephant
almost made it to the bank to the
cheers of hotel guests who were
watching from the wide lawns that
stretch between the hotel and the
river bank.
However, sharp
rocks appeared to make the animal
change its mind, and it turned
back into the river, It
battled against the water, which
dragged it downstream towards the
Falls. The battle against the
current went on for half an hour,
with the elephant screaming
piteously and its companions
returning the calls.
"It was a
very sad struggle; we could all put
ourselves in the boots of the
animal," Ng'andu said "Some people
were crying".
At
4.55pm, a hush descended over the
scores of spectators as the elephant
disappeared over the main part of
the Falls, tumbling down into the
Boiling Pot. "that was the same day
that our Lord Jesus died for us"
said Ng'andu.
|
|
Friends of Hwange Trust
Saving Zimbabwe's largest
National Park
In partnership with Wildlife &
Environment Zimbabwe and The
National Parks & Wildlife Management
Authority
To all those interested in Hwange
Wildlife in the Hwange National
Park, alias Friends of Hwange
As we near the end of July, we are
well and truly into the dry season
in Hwange National Park. Although we
had a good rainy season, surface
water in the South of the park dried
up quickly, and the big game
returned to the North of the park
early this year. As a result there
has been heavy demand on waterholes
and pans in the Park since April,
necessitating pumping of water from
then.
For those who have never visited
Hwange in the dry season, or have
not witnessed the desperation of
animals during a drought, let me try
to describe the scene at a waterhole
that contains inadequate water.
Highest up in the chain of animals
are the elephants (of which Hwange
has an estimated 20 thousand)
which due to their size are able to
dominate all available water at a
pan and prevent any other animals
from drinking. Elephants will stay
around a pan that has water until
their thirst is assuaged. If the pan
has been totally depleted, and all
that is available is the water
coming out of the pipe supplying the
pan, an elephant will stand with the
end of his trunk over the pipe, and
suck up every drop that comes out of
the ground. As one animal takes his
trunk away from the pipe to pour
what he has collected down his
throat, another will immediately
take his place and there are all the
while multiple trunks searching and
feeling for each
drop that might
escape.
Read Full Story.....
|
Conservation
RHINO AND CONSERVATION
TWO RHINO CALVES
BORN IN VIC FALLS PRIVATE GAME
RESERVE
As many of you may well know we have
been expecting our two female rhino
Buster and Bambi to be visited by
the stork and guess what, finally,
last week Bambi was spotted fussing
around her new bouncy baby girl. We
decided we would provisionally name
her Lindani which means the “long
awaited one” in one of the local
languages Ndebele, and goodness
knows we’ve waited long enough.
A few days later, Buster not to be
outdone, dropped her own little
baby. We are yet to determine the
sex of the baby because as you can
imagine nobody is going to be
getting too close uninvited, but the
chosen name is provisionally Chippy
which is derived from the word
Chipembere meaning rhino in the
local language Shona.
Read full story...
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Tortoise and the
Birds
Long, long ago, beside the animals of the
earth and birds of the air, there lived
strange creatures whose home was far above
the clouds. They were good and kind,
and although it was only the birds who had
ever seen them, the animals knew they were
there. But no one knew their name.
One year there was drought
everywhere and both birds and beasts were
nearly dead from hunger. The Cloud
People looked down in pity upon the earth
dwellers and said, "Come up, all you who
have wings, and let us feed you, for here
there is plenty to eat."......
Read the full folktale |
|
|
Package Tour To
Vic Falls |
"The Mighty Smoke that Thunders"
Price - R 5 050
Return Flight to Victoria Falls on
British Airways from Johannesburg
Return airport-hotel transfers
3 Nights at the 4* Victoria Falls
Safari Lodge with Breakfast daily
2 Dinners at either Boma or Makuwa
Kuwa Restaurant
Courtesy Transfer Victoria Falls
Safari Lodge/Boma
 |
Contact Us
|
|
The eggs of ground-nesting birds, especially
those that lay three to four eggs, such as
Jacanas, Black winged Stilts and Pied
Avocets, are often arranged neatly in the
nest with their pointed ends all facing
inwards. It is thought that this
arrangement might help to "wedge" the eggs
in place together in the nest, making them
less likely to roll away, as well as keeping
them in the best position for incubation.
|
|
|
|
 |
THE ELEPHANTS AND I
Pursuing a Dream in
Troubled Zimbabwe
by Sharon Pincott
They came when she called. Offering her
trunk to be rubbed Lady would
acknowledge Sharon’s greeting and return
hers. This proud, noble and wild
matriarch would bring her family to the
pan at Kanondo, knowing Sharon, sitting
quietly watching, only wishes them well.
Then came the drought. The land grabbers
who claimed State Land and elephants
protected by a Presidential Decree their
own. In came the unethical hunters and
the dreadful poaching by the cruellest
measure,
snares, increased dramatically.
Read full review
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
www.victoriafalls-guide.net | Pietermaritzburg | Kwa-Zulu
Natal | 3201 | South Africa
|
|
