Some Zimbabwe travel tips.

Lion walk at Antelope Park

  • Take US$ lots of low value notes $1, $5 and $10.
  • Don’t keep all your money in one place.
  • Keep photocopies of your passport and travel documents in your luggage.
  • Use a water purifier, I used a Steripen brilliant.
  • If travelling make sure you have a knowledgeable guide.
  • If fuel is not available at the service station, check the local pub etc. as there is a black market in fuel.
  • If buying diesel buy in clear containers so you can check for contamination.
  • Take your own toilet paper everywhere.
  • Take tissues, a packet of wet wipes and hand sanitizer.
  • Men buy a suitable hand bag for your travel papers and guard it well.
  • Take a camera but don’t photograph police, army, government buildings etc.
  • Take iodine in a small bottle, great antiseptic for cuts etc. and can be used in an emergency to purify water.
  • Take a suitable power adaptor.
  • Don’t rely on the power to charge your camera, phones etc. have a 12V backup.
  • Don’t forget your personal medicines, headache tablets etc. and have a copy of a letter from your doctor to say the medicines are necessary.
  • Get all the necessary vaccinations including rabies, the monkeys can be vicious, they tried to bite me a couple of times , our guide chased them away, but they turned on him and chased him back, was very funny to watch.
  • Don’t put valuables into your checked luggage.
  • If your carry-on luggage is over weight, especially with camera gear, wear a camera vest or coat with big pockets so you can put lens etc into the pockets if needed. Our carry on luggage was never weighed, I practiced making my camera backpack look very light.
  • Make sure that you always have your car keys with you, do not put them in your checked luggage.
  • Most important have travel insurance and read the fine print as I found a lot of policies don’t cover travel to Zimbabwe.
  • Pay for travel with a Gold VISA card if you can as the free travel insurance can be better than your paid insurance (have both paid and VISA insurance).