Monday 3 November 2014

Kazangula Border and Victoria Falls Airport delays

Operators are experiencing very long delays at both Kazungula Border (crossing into Zimbabwe from Botswana) and Victoria Falls Airport.

The main reasons for this are that:

1) We are in peak season so points of entry are busier than normal but without the commensurate increase in immigration officials to process visas. Victoria Falls Airport now has 3 flights landing within 30 minutes of each other which adds to the congestion in the Immigration Hall. Kazungula is also experiencing a lot of overland trucks coming through and as these travel in large groups their visa processing takes a lot of time adding to the delays.

2) The system of visa issuance is manual and cumbersome, i.e. one person issues a receipt, hands over to the next official who writes out the visa.

This week we have experienced up to 3 hour delays and when checking with other operators they are experiencing up to 4 hour delays.

Bushtracks Africa have petitioned to the authorities to try and elevate the situation and hopefully they will rectify this but until then we feel it is very important to advise your clients of the situation. Pick up times will be monitored and clients informed of any changes to make sure that clients make their flights in time.

Although we are not allowed into the restricted areas, we are doing everything to make sure that our clients are comfortable when they clear the Immigration Hall. Cold water and scented towels are given out as a matter of course at both the border and Victoria Falls Airport. We have also provided our Botswana office with the Zimbabwe exit forms to that this can be completed before they arrive at the border to help save some time.

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