Zimbabwe

[onlyMark]

I've just written elsewhere on the forum the following -

"Driving to Zimbabwe tomorrow for ten days or so.

However, that might be a mistake. There have been new fiscal regulations applied to the country a week or so ago, supposedly to help their financial situation, but they have caused chaos. Food and fuel is scarce and shopkeepers/garages/suppliers are demanding that payment only be made in US dollars plus have raised the prices by double at least."

www.zimeye.net/2018/10/08/monday-morning-shocker-as-shops-demand-us-dollar-payments-only-no-ecocash-swipe-or-bond-notes/


I thought I'd add to the above though in it's own thread.
It seems the country, after a period of relative calm, is imploding again.
The BBC report -
"Crippling petrol shortages have prompted Zimbabwe's central bank to release over $40m (£31m) for the commodity, it says.
Petrol queues had stretched for several kilometres at some stations before fuel ran out.
Food prices have risen and essential goods are in short supply because of a foreign currency shortage. A $500m credit line will also be used to import fuel, medicines and wheat, as well as soya beans to address a shortage of cooking oil, authorities say.
Some see this as a sticking plaster. The bigger problem - Zimbabwe's foreign currency shortage - can only be resolved when the country increases its exports."

We are intending to travel around the country, travelling approximately 2000km or so.
We will enter in the north, at the top end of Lake Kariba, head for Harare, then to Mutare, Masvingo (where the Great Zimbabwe Ruins are), Bulawayo, Matobo National Park nearby, then head north west exiting the country at Victoria Falls. From there we'd be back in Zambia again and travel back to Lusaka.
Our problems are associated with food and fuel. Food is a lesser problem as we are quite flexible in what we eat and even though we might end up a little hungry at odd times, I don't yet see this as a major problem. Hungry though in the way that we might have to miss a meal, not hungry in that we are going without food for days/weeks.

Fuel is the biggie though.
The plan is so far that I will carry enough fuel with me to get to a town called Mutare. This is in the far east of the country and only ten km or so from the border with Mozambique. Word from people we know in Mutare say that there is still fuel, mainly because it is easy to get it across the border, but our situation may entail actually going across that border to get some, if the situation deteriorated even further.
Further on and in Bulawayo, when we get there we'll see what the score is, but I'm not expecting miracles. So we may have to go the 110km to Botswana to get fuel.

When I've sorted them out I'll try and post a few photos from today from a supermarket in Harare.

[onlyMark]

The prices you see are in US dollars. This is what people are generally only accepting for payment.
If you want to pay by USD it is one price, credit card another and local notes a third. As written in the article linked above -
"At a shop in Gweru on Monday morning, a 2 litre bottle of cooking as an example is pegged at US$4.00 and $11.50 for swipe and Ecocash and $9.00 for Bond Notes." Swipe means credit card and Ecocash is payment over a phone. Bond notes are a new form of Zimbabwe currency - "Zimbabwean bond notes are a form of banknote in circulation in Zimbabwe. Released by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe the notes are stated to not be a currency in itself but rather legal tender near money pegged equally against the U.S. dollar."

[bjd]

Those prices are extraordinary! They could take back that $10 million they gave Mugabe and put it into the economy to lower food prices for a day or two.

[mossie]

Very sad to see what was once a good thriving country reduced to that.

[bixaorellana]

That is impossible! Who can afford to eat?

[onlyMark]

The thing to bear in mind is the photos were sent to me today by expats. And I don't mind if they have to suffer to a certain extent and can't get their favourite muesli for a while. It would be rare the common man would be buying this sort of stuff, except maybe the oil. The traditional meal is little different to in Zambia in that the main constituent is maize meal made thick with a stew of vegetables, maybe small fish called kapenta, sometimes a little meat but often with stewed rape leaves or pumpkin leaves (or other collard greens).
The maize meal has been mentioned over in the Zambia threads but the only difference is the name, due to the different languages. We call it nsima, it is also called ugali, pap and in Zimbabwe it is sadza.

The point is, I have no information yet as to how much the local staples are. No doubt they have gone up and I have heard tonight of students rioting in the capital because of the increase in prices.
All I can say for now is, we'll see.
If all goes to plan I should have internet most days, but you know what they say about plans....

[kerouac2]

This has happened before. In July 2008, inflation reached a rate of 231,150,888.87% -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_Zimbabwe

For once, one can say "thank god for the black market."

[nycgirl]

This is terrible!

[bixaorellana]

Oct 8, 2018 19:18:49 GMT onlyMark said:

It would be rare the common man would be buying this sort of stuff, except maybe the oil.

Ah -- thanks for that, Mark. I assume the local people buy more from markets than from supermarkets anyway, correct? Still, the student riots over food prices sound as though everyone is getting it in the neck.

Hope things have calmed down by the time you get there.

[onlyMark]

I picked Mrs M up from work at lunchtime yesterday and we had a steady drive down to Lake Kariba. I triple checked I'd packed my four 20 litre jerry cans in the back. And the cool box with cheese and cucumber sandwiches and salt and vinegar crisps.
We stayed at a reasonable hotel right on the lake and early this morning crossed the border over the dam bridge. Formalities both sides were more or less straight forward. My usual nightmare is them asking me for a piece of paperwork that I don't have.

It was then a five hour or so drive to Harare.
I'd filled up with petrol at Lake Kariba but stopped at the first fuel station on the Zimbabwe side I saw. I wanted to ask if he had fuel, which he did. But then things got worse.
I must have passed at least twenty fuel stations on the way and within Harare itself. Only three had fuel, but also had long, long queues. I mean multi-hour queues. There was no way I was going to wait when I actually had enough to get to the capital and then further on.

"Further on" means a town called Mutare. This is about 10km from the border with Mozambique and we have been assured by people living there that there is fuel enough. We'll see the day after tomorrow when we make our way there.

[kerouac2]

Ah, already the suspense is building! It is already good to know that the internet is not in short supply.

[onlyMark]

It is good the internet is reasonable at the moment.
As regards fuel, we've had a message tonight from Mutare saying it had run out. But then a second one saying there had been a delivery and the queues are now only two to three hundred metres long. Still too long for me.
This is our projected route -




The problem is, I have just enough fuel left now to return back the way we have come, back to the border at the northern point of Lake Kariba.
That is the safe option - give up and go home.
"Safe" in that all that would happen though is that we'd be stuck somewhere, and not know really how long we would be stuck for. That, for me, is not unsafe enough to do that option.
I still have enough fuel to get to Mutare, where we do want to go. But - even if we manage to fill up there, we may not have enough in total with the fuel tank and jerry cans, to get around the loop and exit via Victoria Falls.
If we fill up we will be able to get back the way we have come again and back through Harare.
Don't want to do that though, it strikes me as a bit of a failure.

There is a Facebook page about which stations in Harare have fuel. Just as I logged on a message came up from someone who had just filled up somewhere and the wait was minimal. I shot out as it was just 4km away. When I got there the queue was about half a km long. I came back to the hotel.
A man told me he got up early and was outside an open fuel station at 5.30am this morning. He waited until 9.30am and gave up to go to work. And he was still nowhere near the front.
Tomorrow we are still in Harare, then the next day we will move on, and 95% certain it will be to Mutare and then we'll see what happens there.
Can I get fuel?
If so, do we return the way we have come?
If so, do we continue around the loop as we want to, but knowing it is a minimum, without sightseeing, of at least a thousand kilometers? Will our car be economical enough to do the whole thing from there without filling again?
Questions, questions........

N.B. I have a 3 litre, 6 cylinder, automatic, petrol Mitsubishi Pajero. (I wish I had the Berlingo from Germany)
Economy is a dirty word for it. The figures state the car will average about at best 13 litres per 100 km. It usually is worse.
That means to do 1000km I'll need about 130 litres.

I can do that, I have that with the tank and jerry cans, but it leaves little margin for error or time to wander around sightseeing, which is what we want to do, not to drive in a straight a line as possible.

The best economy I've had out of it was 200km and used 16 litres, but that was a lot of downhill. I tend to achieve ten to eleven litres per 100km on a long flat run.

Further news is that there has been a shooting in the city today that was a result of a difference in political affiliation. An argument began and one of the men was shot dead. Mrs M has banned me from going out tomorrow. I've told her I just won't talk politics and I'll be ok.
Last bit of news is that my camera won't connect to my computer, so I can't get any photos off it to post for now. The computer is shunning the camera, won't recognise it and turns its back on it. I've spoken to them to kiss and make up but neither want anything to do with the other for now.

[onlyMark]

Update - no matter the warnings of Mrs M, I went out for a walk yesterday. As expected, there was nothing to fear. Unfortunately though, with having little enough petrol to drive anywhere, there was little to see around where we were staying. I took some photos of some nice trees though.
There was no hope of obtaining fuel in Harare, unless I wanted to queue for many, many hours, so this morning we set of on our next leg - to get to Mutare.

Here is one of the problems - some fuel stations that have some will only sell to customers who have coupons. These are obtained like when you are a member of an airline, or a major store. If you are not a member you cannot apply for and get the coupons, thus no fuel will be sold to you. The logic of this escapes me, but I can only assume it is to promote loyalty to a company and as a bonus as the fuel is not then open to be bought by all members of public.
Stations that have fuel and will sell to anyone usually have signs saying you cannot fill up canisters/jerry cans. Not a lot of good if you've run out somewhere. Besides the fact that with the length of some of the queues, you'd need nearly a full tank just to get to the front anyway.

Other stations have no fuel at all and will have a small queue of vehicles just waiting until there is a delivery. Sometimes people stay overnight in their car just so they can be one of the first.
Then there is the category of stations that are hard to know of, but I found one today, just by chance.
They are the ones who have fuel but for unknown reasons, and again the logic escapes me, but they are closed. I think they have full underground tanks of fuel they bought previously at one price. They are now waiting for the price to go up significantly due to the shortages. At some point they will open up and sell off their stocks at a good profit. Then probably close again.

Today I wasn't desperate for fuel but I was keeping my eye open for a likely fill up point.
About 100km before Mutare we were passing through a small town with four stations. The first one was seemingly derelict. The second one had a substantial queue, that was also bad tempered judging by the honking of horns.
The third had cones across the entrance and nobody about. The fourth had no queue at all but two men sitting by the pumps. I decided to stop and ask them if they knew of anywhere that I could get fuel without coupons but with USD cash.

They said, "Here".
I didn't want to question them about it so I filled my tank and an empty jerry can, gave them the money displayed on the pump, which was the proper rate (total $110) and drove off.
Yeehaw.

We passed through Mutare and after stopping at the "White Horse Inn" up in the hills for lunch (cheese and tomato toasted sandwich and home made proper chips, not that frozen stuff) we checked in to our hotel where we will stay a couple of nights and walk in the countryside/hills.
The only downside is that as we are quite high up, the evening and night temperatures are quite cool, so the Reception has told us they will supply hot water bottles if we want them.

More in a couple of days when we move on again. We are now at the furthest point away from Zambia, the end of the loop, and I really would like to be able to fill up again as we leave Mutare. It is not desperate we do so, but still, it would be good.

[kerouac2]

I would think that cool temperatures would be a treat in a lot of Africa. I guess your location is farther south than I thought.

For many years, Italy had some sort of coupon system for buying petrol, and tourists were told to be sure to have them. I don't know how long it lasted or when it disappeared, but I always found this amazing for this part of the world, when none of the other European countries did such a thing. So it is interesting to learn that some sort of similar system lives on in another part of the world.

[bixaorellana]

This is a fascinating report, Mark, and in fact made somewhat better by the lack of photos so far. I say that because it conveys the true feeling of a road trip -- a combination of enjoyment, anticipation, and in this case, some frustration. Photos, lovely as they are, would distract from the very real concerns about fueling up and the details about the homely pleasures of such a trip -- a pleasurable lunch up in the hills, the possible need for hot water bottles, for instance.

Looking forward to more & fingers crossed that you find more entrepreneurs like the guys with the cones across the entrance.

[onlyMark]

K2, I'm not sure if I'm further south or just higher up. Currently I think just a bit less than 1600m. The day time temperature here is about mid to high twenties but at night I'm not sure. I know the temperature has dropped somewhat quite quickly now the sun has gone down.

Bixa - yes, a picture paints a thousand et ceteras but I'm afraid you'll all just have to use your imagination for now. I hope tomorrow to see some giraffes and zebras! While I am on foot! Maybe other stuff as well.
When I return I will marry up some of what I've said with the photos obviously.
Tonight is dinner with the Queen Mother.
Actually no, but where she did have dinner many years ago.

[onlyMark]

"A deepening unease is settling over Zimbabwe as the country's fragile local currency loses value at an alarming speed, prices soar, local and foreign businesses close their doors, and people wonder whether their savings are about to be wiped out once again, as they were during the economic collapse and spectacular hyperinflation that tore through the country a decade ago."

www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45822166

[mossie]

I think it was extremely brave, or very foolhardy for you to undertake this trip. The Times this morning has a very worrying piece about the shortages and hyperinflation. I would be all for getting out as fast as poss.

I wish you luck and hope it all works out

[onlyMark]

I do too Mossie. I reserve opinion on the brave or foolhardy thing until we are out of the country.

Today was a steady day. After breakfast we went to a Botanical Garden, then we stopped off for an expensive but very tasty piece of cake, then I had a cup-a-soup (chicken and vegetable) and a packet of Italian cheese gratin flavoured crisps for my lunch, then we had a walk round a small game park attached to the hotel where we saw very few animals, but had a nice walk for a couple of hours.

[lugg]

Really good read Mark, fingers crossed you get to travel further but safely. Thanks for the map ...it certainly helped me get a better idea of your plans/geography. Is it true that a tax on drinking water has just been introduced ? ....if so that's not only going to hit the ex pats ?

[onlyMark]

There has been a tax on water supplies but I thought it was several years ago. Don't know of anything recent.

[lugg]

www.zimeye.net/2018/10/13/mthuli-launches-his-cruel-new-tax-on-drinking-water-basics/

[onlyMark]

Ah yes, I know of this. I know of the tax and how wide ranging it is, but didn't associate it with water in amongst all the other things. It is though, as far as I understand, just for online transactions which though numerous, can be avoided.


Yesterday we had a drive of a few hours after managing to fill up with fuel in a town near to the hotel. We ended up looking at thousands, nay millions, of stones arranged to form a number of enclosures, built about a thousand years ago.
Last night we stayed at a self-catering lodge and it was pretty dire, with untold gazillions of insects in the bathroom and other rooms. The meal last night at the attached lodge was ok but minimal and left me hungry. Had to revert to getting out my camping stove and eating a ramen noodle soup for added stomach filling.
No breakfast this morning because we set off as early as possible to escape our insectary.

Made it several hours later to Bulawayo, where we are now, and had brunch in a cafe where we were hassled to leave our table as soon as we finished eating, even though there was nobody waiting and Mrs M had not finished her coffee.
I sweet-talked a female petrol station attendant into giving me fuel when they were officially closed. We now have enough to easily drive all the way to the Zambian border without filling up again.

[kerouac2]

That should definitely make the remainder of your trip less worrisome as long as you don't starve.

[onlyMark]

Won't starve, especially because out of interest we had a walk round two supermarkets in the city this afternoon. Both are chains that have branches in Lusaka, so it was easy to compare prices.
On balance most stuff is twice as expensive now than Lusaka whereas it all was about the same price. Butter is the exception and a person we know in Harare is using a "Butter Index" to track the economy. It is currently about three to four times that of in Zambia.
I also noted local provisions, like mealie meal, the staple of the unhappy masses. Those sorts of things are about half as expensive again.

For example, mealie meal for 10kg in Lusaka is $3 but $4.50 here.
A grilled/cooked chicken in Lusaka is $5 and $10 here.
Uncooked chicken is $4 a kg in Lusaka and $6.25 here.
Bottles of water are scarce and there are some empty shelves, but less than I thought there would be.

[kerouac2]

The price of a roasted chicken is always an amusing example for me, since they cost 4.50€ in my neighbourhood (and I suspect they might be a bit fatter than most African chickens) but the Paris travel forums talk about them all the time and the visitors in the tourist ghetto in the centre seem delighted to pay "only" 10 or 12 euros for the same product.

[onlyMark]

I'd gladly pay more than the $5 because if it is just for me I get four meals out of it.

[onlyMark]

Well, we crossed over the border back to 'home' territory this morning. The low fuel warning light came one just as I approached the Zimbabwe barrier. Knowing the next fuel station is in Zambia and just 10km or so away I carried on. I wasn't too bothered as I'd still got four full jerry cans totalling 80 litres in the back.
We will spend the night here and return to Lusaka tomorrow.
This is where we are now. It's a hard life.

[mossie]

Well done Mark. Sooner you than me

[lugg]

Looks lovely Mark - a little luxury to end your adventure must be good.