For the first time we had clients asked on the way out about currency. So long as you intend leaving with $1000 or less you are fine- if you think you will leave with more you must declare your cash at the arrivals and its is a BLUE form at the counter- just to be on the safe side- thats the latest up date ! Cheers Buzz

Do they want an account of how the money was spent in Zim also?

Samir, call it whatever you want, it was a ' heads up' thats all. I am not the authority and have no control over policies.
Arjin, not sure, each official may or may not have his list of questions, there is no hard and fast rule.

This issue reinforces the old adage"Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance". Great advice is given here by Buzz and others. I especially like the practice of putting money in escrow with the booking agent or other trustworthy party.
A lot of work needs to be done to prepare for a hunt abroad. If your not willing to do the work that you can expect the worst to happen.

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
Can someone post this form 47 here so we can see it and also print it, please?
Cal

Good day Cal.
Its the blue declaration form that one fills in at port of entry.
Enjoy your ele hunt.
Best regards Adrian

I am not sure if this is true or not. However, today I was told of an American who arrived in Harare. He did not list all of his money on the customs form. The Zim authorities asked to count it. He was deported immediately.

Originally posted by MJines

Everyone has their own risk tolerance I guess, I would have zero qualms about traveling to and hunting in Zim and hope to do so again. I have always found the people friendly and cooperative for the most part. I have been there during periods when there were US State Department warnings and travel advisories and never experience a hint or a whiff of a problem. Could it happen to me on the next trip over, maybe, but I could be killed in a car accident driving to the airport in Houston for my flight to Harare too. I also agree that it is far preferable to prepay as much as you can to avoid carrying cash . . . but that is true if you go to New York or Harare.[/QUOTE]

+1

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I am not sure if this is true or not. However, today I was told of an American who arrived in Harare. He did not list all of his money on the customs form. The Zim authorities asked to count it. He was deported immediately.

Sounds like he deserved to be deported. Not that hard, their country, their rules. Oh, and by the way, on my last two international return flights to the US, US Customs officials were on the jet way (literally, where you disembark) when we arrived inquiring about how much cash we were carrying.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I am not sure if this is true or not. However, today I was told of an American who arrived in Harare. He did not list all of his money on the customs form. The Zim authorities asked to count it. He was deported immediately.

If it is true he was deported for the above reason he could consider himself lucky as deportation is a whole lot better than being behind bars on a charge of "economic sabotage".

When I went in 2012 we drove in-crossing at Beitbridge--

They managed to relieve me of some"excess cash" to cross, but never asked how much I was carrying.


It was a total CF but truly an experience.

My PH Paul Phelan made it work.

Anyone who has crossed at Beitbridge has seen and knows firsthand what a "mass of humanity" is truly like. I have done that crossing twice and that is probably two times too many.

I flew back today and was given no form to complete and asked nothimg about cash on departure. I have a SADC passport if that makes any difference.

What's that gonna do to tipping industry?

FYI, I departed Zim yesterday from Bulawayo and was not asked anything concerning cash.

May be it has finally sunk in.

The authorities in Zimbabwe have not shown any common sense for years now, and just look where that has taken a once great country.

If your cash gets stolen, as happened to me, and if the police find the culprit, as in my case, don't expect to see a penny of it. The police divvy whatever's left of it up among themselves.

To be safe, don't take any cash at all to Zimbabwe other than enough to pay for your "visa" and maybe a burger and coke on the way back.

What about tips you may say? Wire the money to your PH/operator and let him hand it out. You are going to be wiring him a bunch of money anyway for the hunt. He is not going to stiff his trackers, that's like stiffing your wife. You have to live with her. And you are not going to stiff your PH as he has your trophies.

Good advice Russ.

This year for Zimbabwe I'm advising people to take only the minimum amount they'll need for their visa and a few dollars extra. I hold the the trophy fees anyway and we can put their staff tip if they choose to leave one on their final invoice. Going in or out of the country with only a thousand dollars should not be problem.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
If your cash gets stolen, as happened to me, and if the police find the culprit, as in my case, don't expect to see a penny of it. The police divvy whatever's left of it up among themselves.

To be safe, don't take any cash at all to Zimbabwe other than enough to pay for your "visa" and maybe a burger and coke on the way back.

What about tips you may say? Wire the money to your PH/operator and let him hand it out. You are going to be wiring him a bunch of money anyway for the hunt. He is not going to stiff his trackers, that's like stiffing your wife. You have to live with her. And you are not going to stiff your PH as he has your trophies.

I thought the problem was a shortage of actual cash. If cash is available, no problem. But if cash is not available, the people who can least afford it are stuck even if intentions are good.

Am I missing something here?

Larry, I don't think you're missing anything. You recognize the heart of the problem. A shortage of greenbacks. My PH and outfitter do not have the cash to pay my tips much less anything more. And starting Oct 1, if you wire them dollars to a Zim bank account, in all likelihood they're going to get the new "bank notes", not greenbacks from the bank. Carrying large sums of cash is just part of the risk of hunting in a cash economy like Zim. Common sense practices significantly mitigate the risk but you can't eliminate it, but that's true most anywhere you go in the world. I have personally never felt unreasonably insecure with cash in Zim.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201606240427.html



Zimbabwe: Safari Operators Buckle Under Liquidity Crunch

By Kudzai Kuwaza



Safari operators have been hard hit by the current acute cash shortage further threatening their viability, businessdigest has learnt.

The country is facing an acute cash crisis that has resulted in long winding queues outside most of the country's banks. So dire is the situation that some banks have resorted to giving a maximum daily withdrawal of as little as US$50 instead of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) stipulated daily maximum withdrawal of US$1 000.

Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe (Soaz) chairman Emmanuel Fundira told businessdigest that the impact of the cash shortage on safari operators has been "terrible".

"Our international clients are coming into the country and cannot get any cash from the ATMs," Fundira said. "This means that foreign currency generation in the country has been blocked and this does not help our efforts to improve inflows in the country."

Fundira said the cash shortages had also affected their outfield teams who operate in camps .The operations of the outfield teams, which are heavily reliant on cash, has been severely hampered by the cash crisis. The limitations in cash withdrawals, Fundira said, has made planning very difficult.



He said that the omission of tourism players from the priority list of importers further compounded the sector's woes.

Fundira said the planned introduction of bond notes by the RBZ in October was a cause of concern for their clients.

"There is concern by clients over the introduction of bond notes," Fundira said. "It is very difficult to instill confidence in an economy where people lost their earnings through the introduction of bearer's cheques."

He said there were concerns over various issues by clients, including whether they could redeem the bond notes adding that there is need for the RBZ to intensify awareness campaigns on the introduction of the new notes.

The development comes at a time Soaz is reeling from the effects of an ivory import ban by the United States, which has severely affected its revenue base.