March newsletter

March 4, 2010

Hello there!

This is our first newsletter of the year, and it’s in a clearer cleaner format that reflects our re-designed, more user-friendly website, we hope you like! We’d love to hear from you if you have any constructive criticism or suggestions (taking care not to bruise our web designer’s fragile ego )

There is a lot to catch up on!

History of Flights to the Falls – I have always been interested in the history of our area, and was recently sent the URL for a very interesting article posted by a person by the name of Raymond Critchell. Critchell is an Englishman who found himself a job as the Fireman for the British Oversees Airways Company (BOAC) Victoria Falls flying boat base. For those of you that are not aware the first commercial flights to land in Victoria Falls were flown by this company in large four engine “Flying Boats”.

I recommend a visit to Raymond Cretchell’s article (http://gnr.niner.net/boma/Fireman_in_Africa) if you would like to hear some interesting tales about Livingstone Town and the early Victoria Falls settlement back in 1948. These photos and more on Raymond Cretchell’s page.

Update on Victoria Falls – We have entered the final stretch of our rainy season and it has been an excellent one if you like having duck feet! We have already received over 650mm and I think Livingstone is over this by some way. The average annual rainfall in the Falls is 650mm so we will be way over that by the end of March when things should start to dry out. Isn’t it amazing how much we look forward to the rains each year and then by this time we begin to look forward to the dry cool weather of April.

You will all be delighted to hear that numbers of visitors to the Falls (Zimside) are up in 2010 to date, and the forward bookings are looking good at all of the main Hotels. Numbers are down in Livingstone but this is no different to most tourist destinations around the globe at the moment as people ponder what is left of their bank accounts. The Zimside numbers are increasing off a much lower base caused by totally different reasons.

On this note the dollarisation of the economy in Zimbabwe has certainly brought with it stability and confidence. Unfortunately the recent utterings on the indigenisation of companies has dampened some spirits but we are confident that the momentum is in favour of Zimbabwe’s recovery now and the good people in this country who are by far in the majority, are looking ahead to good times.

At the risk of repeating myself, it should be added that the people of this region really need the support now of the global tourist market. We all know that there are bad elements in the society of all countries and if we were to boycott travel to all of these countries we may be left to play with our friends next door or worse. Take the time out to come and visit the country and you will be surprised at how good the product is here and how friendly the people are.

The Victoria Falls Green Fund – Of special interest in Victoria Falls town is the recent launch of the Victoria Falls Green Fund (see Robin’s speech). This is an initiative that includes private business, parastatals and local government together with a number of local NGO’s. The objective is to see the Greening up of the Tourism Industry and the town as a whole. It is heartening to see projects already in place; such as the one at The Victoria Falls Hotel who are recycling all of their precooked waste through a Vermiculture scheme (An earthworm farm).

The fund was recently launched in the presence of leaders in the Tourism community, National Parks and our Minister of Environment and National Resources right on the edge of the Victoria Falls overlooking the Devil’s Cataract, under the eagle eye of David Livingstone himself.

Update on Livingstone – A new shopping centre has recently been opened in the middle of Livingstone town, and some good news for those of you that visited last year and were made to bump and shake all over the road works, work has been completed between the town and the falls. What a pleasure it is to see this town develop in a professional well planned way!

Although numbers are down at the Sun International resorts the standards are as high as ever and we have enjoyed the attentions of Mr Giulio Togni the GM at the Royal Livingstone, who has come in with an amazingly refreshing “hands on” and practical approach. He has already been there for a year now and we look forward to many more ahead!

The David Livingstone Safari Lodge and Spar has recently experienced some bad luck with a lightning strike to the roof of the Hotel and then barely a month later, a powerful storm. Fortunately the thatch is well protected by a fire prevention chemical and the staff have handled the situations exceptionally well, keeping hotel guests virtually unaffected.

On a recent group we housed the flight crew of a charter company at the New Livingstone Protea for 5 nights. Their report on the state of the rooms, meals, service and facilities was good.

Looking beyond 2010 – I think for us at least the 2010 SWC is going to be a bit of a difficult period. It seems that most international regional inbound travel has been strangled by the demand for flights by the soccer fans. This has seen forward bookings for many of us drop off dramatically in comparison to previous years. So if you are in SA and looking to go North in this period or around it please let us know. We have hotel rooms and flights as well as a lot of activity space available. Lets hope Wayne Rooney can help the poms this year, at least get close!

Cansaf at Indaba this year – We will be exhibiting at Indaba this year so please make an appointment and come and see us. We will be on stand no. ICCK011 in the ICC. We plan to take part in the Victoria Falls Anti Poaching Cricket Day which is held on the Friday before Indaba. If you have time on this day or in the evening on Friday please come down and support this excellent cause. Charles Brightman the founder and CEO of VFAPU will be there and can give you an update on the positive results his team have achieved this last year. If you would like to read more about VFAPU or to donate to this worthy cause now please go to the web site (http://www.vfapu.org/).

A new Creative Teaming Team Build – Cansaf has been a ground breaker and leader in the Team Build arena in the Victoria Falls / Chobe region for over eight years now. We have run Team Builds on the river above the Falls involving treasure islands and river races, down beneath the Falls in white water challenges, Nature trails with map reading and GPS awareness, Bush Olympics and amazing races through Victoria Falls, Livingstone and Kasane. We are continually on the look out for new fun and imaginative programs to offer our clients. Recently we put together a Murder Mystery program that is run through one of the Hotels in the area, if you would like to hear more about the programs we offer please contact us or go to our website’s team build page.

Update on Andrew – For those of you that keep asking after Andrew. He is doing very well in Western Australia where he and his wife have settled with their three children, Harriet, Drew and Holly. You can contact him at “andrew [at] cansaf [dot] com” – I believe that supporting the Western Force has been his biggest problem to date!

If you managed to read this far, have a successful second quarter and remember to get in touch if you have any questions or enquiries!

Best Regards,

Robin Brown

Posted in Anti Poaching, Latest News, Livingstone, Victoria Falls Green Fund, Wildlife Conservation