Daily Archives: 05/15/2012

ZIMBABWE WEEK: “The Cloud that Thunders”

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SECOND IN A SERIES

Victoria Falls, Zambia | © Francois Etienne Du Plessis/Dreamstime.com

Zimbabwe’s greatest natural attraction also happens to be arguably the world’s greatest waterfall.

When the Africa Travel Association convenes its annual congress this Friday in Zimbabwe, it will be located outside perhaps the greatest waterfall in the world, Victoria Falls.

The venue was not a casual choice.

Victoria Falls is more than a mile wide. Combined with its height of more than 350 feet, it produces the largest single sheet of falling water anywhere on Earth.

The beauty doesn’t stop once the Zambezi pours over the edge. The water is merely descending into the first of five gorges. It also is the hub that connects a half-dozen of Zimbabwe’s 11 national parks.

Victoria Falls is so big, one country isn’t enough to hold it. Zimbabwe actually shares the falls with neighboring Zambia. It is the dominant feature along the great Zambezi River in southern Africa, a natural wonder in its own right.

Small wonder that this was the first-ever destination on CBS’ The Amazing Race.

The Scottish explorer David Livingstone “discovered” the falls as far as the Western world is concerned; he was the one who named it after Queen Victoria. However, archeologists have found artifacts showing that humans had been there since the Stone Age, and maybe earlier.

Those first local inhabitants had their own more descriptive — and for my money, more accurate — name for the falls:

“Mosi-oa-Tunya.”

The cloud that thunders.

Foreign and local tourists have been coming here since the early 1900s. Periodic episodes of political strife and civil war sometimes pushed down the numbers dramatically, but could never completely stop the flow of people.

Mother Nature at her most powerful always pulls a crowd.

Those people who prefer to do rather than just see have got lots of options — horseback riding, bungee jumping, whitewater rafting, kayaking. I’m told you can also do some pretty serious sport fishing in the Zambezi.

If all you want is to soak in some of the world’s most spectacular scenery, you can cruise the river or take a scenic flight over the falls itself.

But maybe one of the best things you can do while at Victoria Falls is get a chance to meet and interact with the Zimbabwean people, who go to the falls as sightseers, just as you would. Indeed, more locals visit the falls than foreigners, something not typical of many of Africa’s attractions.

As far as accommodations go, Victoria Falls is one of the more highly developed tourist attractions in all of Africa, which can be both a blessing and a curse. At one point, the development was so out of hand that the United Nations was seriously considering revoking its status as a World Heritage Site.

Moreover, poachers, mostly driven by economic hardship, plague the surrounding national parks. The falls has its own anti-poaching patrol.

None of that, however, should stop you from traveling to see one of the most spectacular water shows in the world.

IF YOU GO
You’ve got multiple options for getting to Victoria Falls:

At this time, there are no direct flights from the United States to any point in Zimbabwe. Once in the country, you can fly to Victoria Falls via the national airline, Air Zimbabwe, as well as British Airways and South African Airways. However, the flights can be hideously expensive.

You might be better off financially seeking a package tour to the falls out of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana or Zambia.

For railfans, South Africa has two luxury trains that include stops at the falls, Rovos Rail and the Shongololo Express. There’s also a 1920s steam train that makes the run to Victoria Falls from the city of Bulawayo.

Bus transportation also is available from Harare and Bulawayo.

The falls also is home to the century-old and world-class Victoria Falls Hotel, a colonial-era showpiece, with prices to match. Many more economical tour packages, including stays at lodges near or overlooking the falls, are available.

Timing your visit may be the tricky bit.

Between January and April, the water volume going over the falls is at its height, but that thundering cloud of which the native peoples first spoke may be so thick that you can’t see much. Come September and October, you can see everything clearly, but the water flow is down to a comparative trickle, especially on the Zambian side of the falls.

Around October and November, Zimbabwe gets the lion’s share of the Zambezi waters, so if you’ve come for the spectacular, you’re better off then.

NEXT: A steady stream of wonders

ALSO CHECK OUT:
ZIMBABWE WEEK on IBIT
ZIMBABWE: Revealing “a World of Wonders”

Edited by P.A.Rice

AIRLINES: M is for merger

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American Airlines bows to the inevitable. The only remaining questions are when and with which of its rivals will the airline merge, and what will it mean for the traveling public?

After months of living in corporate denial, the owners of American Airlines finally are using the M-word.

AMR Corp., American’s parent company, announced last week that it would look at options for a merger while the airline goes through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

It’s as if King Canute had waited until he was neck-deep in water to admit that his command to stop the incoming tide may need to be tweaked a little bit.

American’s high tide is one of red ink, bad luck and bad decisions. In the last decade, the airline has:

  • lost enough money to equal the gross domestic product of several small developing countries.
  • maintained a fleet of older, gas-guzzling aircraft in the face of sky-high fuel costs.
  • alienated its labor unions to the point that they cut their own back-door deal with a rival airline.

Does that sound to you like an airline in a position to dictate terms to anybody, on anything?

Through it all, however, the folks who run American have steadfastly insisted that when the airline emerges from Chapter 11, it will still be a “stand-alone” airline.

A stand-alone airline with fewer flights, fewer routes, fewer planes…and at least 13,000 fewer employees.

Small wonder, then, that when US Airways quietly went to American’s three unions with a merger plan that promised to save a lot of those 13,000 jobs, the unions came on board faster than passengers with seats in First Class.

The fact that those same unions hold a sizable chunk of American’s unsecured debt made that deal a lot more than symbolic.

In turn, US Air has made general statements about maintaining the American Airlines brand in any future merger, much in the same way that Southwest Airlines has maintained the AirTran identity after buying up that airline.

In my admittedly casual observation of the corporate world, the only thing that seems to be truly consistent is that promises are worth the paper they’re printed on — and not much else.

To put it another way: Being the buyer gives you the right to change your mind.

You can read more about American’s announcement in this New York Times story here.

As you’ll see in the Times story, none of these developments absolutely guarantees a merger. What it does mean is that AMR has finally decided to acknowledge the proverbial handwriting on the wall, which the rest of the airline industry has been reading for the last couple of years.

The one thing that no one can say right now is what an American Airlines merger with US Air — or anyone else, for that matter — would mean for the traveling public. Would some big cities have fewer American Airlines flights? Would other locales no longer see American at all? What would happen to our frequent-flier miles?

The problem with these airline mergers, as another Times writer recently pointed out, is that the voice of the traveling consumer goes largely unheard through the whole process. The corporate powers do what they do, the federal government nods in approval, and you and I get to swallow whatever comes out.

Dont expect anything different this time around, either.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
AIRLINES: US Air moves on American
AIRLINES: The end of American?