international terminal building in Livingstone
SECURITY has been tightened at Victoria Falls World Heritage Site in Livingstone during this weekend’s Easter Holiday to safeguard tourists and other visitors from being swindled by illegal tour operators.
The Falls are also currently at their high peak in terms of water levels and so visitors may need to be guided properly.
National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC) senior conservation officer in charge of cultural heritage Richard Mbewe said three additional police officers from Zambia Police and two security officers from Panorama have been engaged.
Mr Mbewe said in an interview in Livingstone yesterday that the five officers were in addition to the already deployed security staff at the Falls.
“Surely, this year we have taken a huge step in securing the visitors and their property.
“The reasons for beefing up the numbers is as a result of the lessons learned from last year where some illegal tour operators harassed a few tourists,” he said.
He said there was no room for illegal activities this year because NHCC had also incorporated the Curio Traders in its surveillance of the fenced part of the falls.
“I can also confirm to you that the water levels at the Falls are definitely higher than last year this time around.
“We have two empirical measurements we use to determine the levels every month. We use the measuring point just before Sun Hotels. The level that was marked last year has been submerged,” he said.
Mr Mbewe said the daily water flows as captured by ZESCO had exceeded the ones recorded at this time last year.
Mr Mnewe said the visitation figures so far were very good for both locals and foreigners.
“We anticipate a better visitation record knowing that we have three events happening at the same time in Livingstone.
“We have the third Livingstone International Cultural and Arts Festival (LICAF) whose delegates are already arriving in the town. Easter patronage has already started a week before the actual date and lastly we have the visitation from the world parliamentarians that were meeting in Lusaka and already more than 40 of these people are in Livingstone,” Mr Mbewe said.
Huh? so tourists are being protected from Zambians right & not Zambians & foreign tourists being protected?
That’s the PF govt for you. Misplaced priorities all the time. The tourist capital is currently faced with a critical fuel shortage, yet they expect to generate much revenue during this period. How are tour operators going to run their activities without a single drop of fuel??
What I am reading is that there is more water in Zambezi river than last year. How come the Kariba dam people are saying there is less water this year than it was last year? Someone is not telling the truth. I don’t think the Zambezi river is drying up as it is flowing towards Kariba dam. Actually there more streams of water joining Zambezi between Victoria Falls and Kariba dam. Why is load shedding continuing?
My thoughts exactly.
Power consumption is increasing every year. Water level is now. You can not get any more power out of the river. Government need to invest in alternative power sources other that hydro power.
Muzungu anikonde mentality! Terrorist can easily sneak into Zambia as long as they are light skinned. NO PROBLEM!! I wonder when Zambians will wake up.
@2Matokwani,
My thoughts exactly. This is proof from an independent source that Energy Minister Siliya is MOST DEFINITELY LYING when she says load shedding is due to drought which has left Kariba Dam at only 14% full. There is something else going on, i.e. questionable efficiency of the Turbines in place is top on the list. Question is:- why is she going to this embarrassing extent to cover up and lie???.
If you’re sending security and policemen to a location and they are visible in a tourist’s eyes is not a good thing. This causes concern in a tourists eyes specially with what is going on in the world (terrorism). We are suppose to show visitors it’s a safe destination. People managing those areas such as guides and operators should be trained in emergency or contingency plans already and know what to do. Should they need help is when they call the authorities. They need to do a credit check of all curio traders and tour operators and know who will be there and if they have a criminal record. For an illegal tour operator to be there means someone did not do their job.
Ati 3 Zambia Police Officer and Two Panorama security guards, joke indeed!
The falls are also currently at their high peak …what is this? At their highest peak?