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Old April 3rd, 2006, 08:55 AM posted to rec.travel.africa
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Default Driving through Zimbabwe

Riverman, thanks for your reply.

I completely agree with you about misinformation regarding Zimbabwe. I
travel through the country several times a year, usually on the way to
northern Mozambique. The roads are still in a pretty good condition
and there is no shortage of stores and shops and I saw no evidence of
whites hiding in fear :-)

However, you do say that you had the road to yourselves. That is the
most striking evidence of the problems in Zimbabwe. The Beit Bridge -
Masvingo road used to be full of vehicles. There are virtually none
any more, save for foreign registrations. Fuel supply is erratic at
best.

The reason I posted my original thread was because I've heard that the
changes have happened as recently as a month back, and I need up to
date information to decide whether to go through Zim, or all the way
through Mozambique at the end of the month. I certainly don't want to
waste 2 days travel to find out that the carbon tax is indeed several
hundred US$.

The "scam" that they have going when you try to exit Zim is an old
trick. They are looking for bribes. They've stopped trying it with me
because I refuse to fall into their trap. The trouble is that so many
tourists are intimidated by horror stories, and believe that bribery
is the only way to get around. This feeds the fire of corruption.

Regards,
Marc


On Sat, 1 Apr 2006 10:01:47 +0800, "riverman"
wrote:


I drove through Zim from Joberg to Zam last Christmas. It was one of the
most interesting and pleasant trips of my trip-filled life, as we met and
chatted with many a person, had the road to ourselves, and had an
opportunity to learn a lot of truth, and dispel a lot of fiction, about how
Mugabe's policies were impacting the country. The hardest and ugliest part
of the trip were the border crossings, because that's where you had to deal
with the authorities. The crossing into Zim from SA was not bad;
unfamiliarity with all the paperwork was the big hassle, but I don't
remember the carbon tax being all that unreasonable; certianly not in the
$200 range. The crossing from Zim to Zam was a bit of a hassle, as they
required that I show some of the paperwork from my entrance, and as I had a
rental car they claimed that the notarized copy of the registration (or was
it insurance) form was not sufficient. I think he was fishing for a bribe,
but the whole hassle was such an inconvenience, I refused to pay off and we
had a stalemate for about 10 minutes before he stamped my papers and let me
go.

I believe I remember that, when we crossed back into Zim from Vic Falls, our
original insurance from the first entry was still valid, but we had to repay
the Carbon Tax. Again, I seem to remember it being $20 or $30 or
something...nothing offensive, but enough to be inconvienient and
frustrating.

The big thing I remember, though, was all the misinformation out there. I
had heard that you had to carry ALL your fuel across Zim, that you could not
find ANY grocery stores, that ALL the whites were terrified and in hiding,
that the government influence was everywere, and that the roads were in
complete disarray and deterioration. None of that was true, so I would be
very cautious about changing your trip plans without first-hand info.

--riverman