Travel Update – 30 June 2008

June 27th came and went in Victoria Falls just as calmly, peacefully and normally as all days in our remarkable destination. We now look forward, as ever in tourism, to how we all continue to develop and deliver exceptional visitor experiences in this IUCN World Heritage Site.

The airlines continue to fly in daily and unload guests from a myriad of countries and points of origin as Victoria Falls continues to be the Hub of regional tourism. Stand in the airport or the rainforest and at any given time you will hear 4-6 languages being spoken as each plane delivers more visitors from across the world together with arrivals from our neighbours in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia and, of course, our very own Zimbabwean guests.

New products, excursions, activities and initiatives continue to be launched and the never-ending sense of positive motion that is part of the fabric of Victoria Falls and its community is always evident.

People come and go in the industry and it is wonderful news to welcome back Jono Hudson, his wife and 2 young children as of June 27th. GotoVictoriaFalls.com is very pleased to have Jono back on the team, as is the Victoria Falls community.

We recognise of course that certain agents, operators and travellers have concerns about visiting Zimbabwe as a result of travel advisories issued by some countries. On this topic, an industry delegation from JATA (Japanese Association of Travel Agents) visited Victoria Falls last weekend on a specific “look see” experience and have gone back determined to encourage their government to keep Victoria Falls on the lowest possible level of travel advisory. In a similar vein, we hope to be able to influence local embassies and high commissions so that Victoria Falls is not included in increased travel warnings for the country at large.

We once again reiterate that Victoria Falls remains one of the safest, calmest and most peaceful destinations on the planet. There is no sound reason not to visit, and indeed many good reasons why one should visit.

GotoVictoriaFalls.com and all its members have always been, and will always be honest, frank and professional in our communications about the status and facts on the ground in Victoria Falls. We will always seek to be the first to advise, should it ever be necessary, against travel to Victoria Falls.

We look forward to your continued support and remain sincerely appreciative of all your efforts on our behalf.

Yours sincerely,

Ross Kennedy
For GoToVictoriaFalls.com

Tentative dates for the 2008 Zambezi Challenge has been set for the 17th, 18th and 19th of October. Confirmation will follow soon!

The Zambezi Challenge is being aired on Supersport before Christmas 2oo7! If you have access to these channels be sure to check it out!

Thursday 20th December

2200pm SS1

************

Friday 21st December

0230am SS1

************

Saturday 22nd December

1030am SS1

2030pm SS5

************

Sunday 23rd December

2230pm SS2
************

Monday 24th December

1500pm SS6

2230pm SS7

FYI from Shige Asano (IRF BOD / Japan Rafters Federation). Contact him at info (at) intraftfed.com

I would like to notify you that there will be 2008 Australasian Rafting
Championship in Nagara-river, Japan from 11th to 13th Oct 2008.

Nagaragawa Whitewater Festival, known as the biggest rafting event in Japan,
has been running for 14years now and this event is a part of Japan Cup
Rafting Race and there are about 50 teams coming every year.
This event started with referring to the Project Raft World Champs in Turkey
‘93.
In 2003, the event was 10th anniversary and we invited the New Zealand Man’s
national rafting team to this event.
All the staff related to this event are real rafting lovers and has
experienced IRF Australasian Champs in 2001 so we all have know-how to which
an international event is made to succeed !!
It will be the 15th anniversary in 2008 so we would be very happy if we
could celebrate this event with a lot of international guests.

More information will follow soon.
Please let me know if you are interested in to this event and please send me
any question and suggestion.

Best Regards,

Shigeto Asano
Race-director of Australasian Rafting Championship 2008

Congratulations to all the participants who took part in this years Zambezi Challenge. The table below lists the final results for 2007. We look forward to seeing you all next year with more international teams, and some very inspired and determined locals!

Zambezi Challenge '07

To the Indian teams who missed the festival due to visa problems, we hope that this has not dampened your enthusiasm and that you too will attend in 2008! Continue to view the results! [Read more →]

The Zambezi Challenge 2007 was complete when the reigning World Champions “Brazil Men’s Raft Team” held the Zambezi Challenge’s “Nyami Nyami Trophy” high above their heads. It was the closing function and prize giving event on the banks of the Zambezi River in the evening of Sunday the 22nd October.

That same day these fine athletes had clocked a credible time of fifty three minutes and ten seconds ( 0:53:10 ) on the “Down River” course between the “Boiling Pot” of the Victoria Falls and Rapid Number Eleven, a section that [Read more →]