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There are travel tips below, which can make travelling in Zimbabwe even more pleasant.

• When entering a National or wild park make sure that you have a full tank of fuel. There are no filling stations within the parks and driving “of the road” costs a lot of fuel (own experience)
• Go camping in the game parks. The sounds at night are exciting. It is safe as long as you stay behind the fences. In this case Mana Pools isn’t safe. Hippos and elephants wandering (hopefully) around your tent.
• Close your tent safely. Baboons take everything and we have heard that they can even open a zipper. Baboons are monkeys and not human beings as a Dutchman thought.
• Do a walking safari in Hwange Park at sunrise.
• Don’t change money illegally: it is illegal and they will swindle you. The first paper money is real, the rest is paper of a newspaper
• Save money for the departure tax at the airport
• At a restaurant give a tip of at least 10%
• Take the time, no hurry, it is your holiday. When you are relaxed you will see a lot more of the wildlife.
• Take warm clothes with you, it can be cold suddenly (<15 degrees Celsius at daytime) and there is no heater.
• Take 1,5 times as many film rolls that you expect you will need. There is film available in the big cities (even slides and APS) but check the expiry date first.
• Let the custom-house-officer check your handlugage by hand. Film rolls always in your handlugage. The X-ray equipment at the airport is not film safe. They will help you friendly.
• Go to the natural museum in Bulawayo.
• When driving at night look for animals on the road. Also at daytime…
• Read the agreement carefully when you rent a car. Normally it is at your own risk when you drive on a not surfaced road! Sometimes it is forbidden to come at certain places with that car. E.g. when you rent a car by Avis you are not allowed to come within a distance of 50 km of Robins camp in Hwange with that vehicle. Mana Pools is also a forbidden area with a rented car (unless you rent a 4WD of course).
• Respect nature. The national parks are reserves for the animals and not attraction parks like Disney land. Unfortunate some people think different.
• All wild animals are wild and potentially dangerous.
• Take a big wallet with you; you will get a lot of paper money.
• You can make overseas calls at almost every phone box. The international code is 00 and not 110 as mentioned in a lot of books. At a phone shop discuss a tariff by forehand. We must pay 12 US$ for a 2 minute call to Europe!!
• Take an email address by hotmail.com. It is free and you can send and receive email all over the world. Sometimes it is easier than phoning (when you can’t get an international line). Internet is very, very slow in Zimbabwe.
• The coffee tastes like shit in Zimbabwe. If you want (or need) real coffee take it with you.
• Never look in the kitchen of a restaurant before you go there for a dinner.
• Tap water is safe in Zimbabwe. Mineral water is recommended.
• Take you precautions for malaria. Thus pills, Deet oil, and a mosquito net above your bed. Malaria can be fatal.
• Take pills against diarrhoea.
• Take a set of injection needles and infusion needles with you. Ask your GP for a prescription and a statement. Otherwise the think you are addicted to heroin. In the army up to 80% is HIV-positive. In the hospitals is lack of everything. During our stay there was a strike of the hospital doctors because they refused to work in hospitals where there were not sterile needles.
• Refuse a blood transfusion when it isn’t strictly necessary.
• Don’t become scared because all the warnings about the unsafely in Harare and Bulawayo. It is even safe or unsafe as every big city like London, Paris and Amsterdam. So look at your stuff and don’t be stressed: it is your vacation isn’t it?

If you still got any questions you can e-mail me. You will always get an answer.

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