Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
ELEPHANT’S Walk Shopping and Artist Village in Victoria Falls is the resort town’s tourism melting pot, with a depiction of various activities that take place around the destination.
Located behind the Post Office between the railway line and Ilala Lodge, the place is like a shorter version of a tour around the greater Victoria Falls.
There are close to 40 operators doing various kinds of business within Elephant’s Walk and literally every tourist that visits Victoria Falls would not leave without visiting the place.
Visiting Elephant’s Walk Shopping and Artist Village gives a tourist a rough idea of what Victoria Falls is like and what to expect both in the resort town and country as a whole.
It is really the hub and melting pot of tourism in Victoria Falls, rich in ancient history, artefacts, art gallery and various works that resemble the whole of Victoria Falls.
Found within the complex is a cultural centre with traditional dancers, an art gallery, a heritage centre, curios, antic books and collectables, photographic shops, pottery shops, fabric and designer shops, embroidery, visual arts, a taxidermy, restaurants including one specialising in Asian and Thai foods, offices for tour operators and ambulance services among others, making the place a mini town.
The heritage centre run by Jafuta Foundation provides access to Ndebele, Shona, Tonga, Tokaleya, Lozi, Makishi and Ndau history and culture with various historical artefacts and writings on display.
The complex operated by Mrs Gail Van Jaarsveldt is really a place not to miss for tourists.
It used to be a hive of activity as tourists visited to view and buy souvenirs, learn about Zimbabwean history, meet and greet locals as part of village tourism and enjoy the hospitality of the local people, an important tenet of Zimbabweans when dealing with visitors.
Inside the complex are various kinds of plants and trees giving tourists a feel of the natural vegetation to expect around Victoria Falls.
The various businesses operating within the complex were not spared by the Covid-19 pandemic as their major clients are international tourists.
Few of them have returned to their shops in response to gradual opening of the tourism industry by Government, albeit without clients owing to restricted international travel and closure of borders.
Mr Piniel Sibanda who operates Prime Art Gallery with his twin brother Pastor Pinias Sibanda said they expect business to pick up when international tourists start coming.
“Our main clientele is international hence our hope lies on reopening of borders to international travellers,” he said.
Mr Cephas Mathe who works at an embroidery shop said at the moment there is no business.
“Our clients are mostly in the tourism industry as we make uniforms for tour operators and guides. From locals we only get orders for school uniforms which is not much hence our hope lies in the return of tourists since airlines have resumed flights,” Mr Mathe said.
Government has announced that inland borders will reopen to travellers starting on December 1.
Airlines resumed flights almost two months ago but there hasn’t been significant volumes of passengers.
A lady at Antic Books and Collectables shop who chose not to be named said she only reopened the shop to monitor the situation in anticipation of the coming of tourists.
Mrs Van Jaarsveldt said all operators at the complex were hard hit but were eager to resume operations.
“We want to pride ourselves at Elephant Walk because everyone has their specialty. We are slowly beginning to open and trying to get a bit of activity here but there are no clients yet. We are just encouraging people to open so that the place looks busy. I think the country is moving in the right direction by reopening the industry but there are still extremely tough times ahead of us due to Covid-19.
“While reopening of domestic and regional tourism is welcome, it won’t enable us to operate as before because our traditional tourism base and market is the US and Europe and as long as those haven’t started coming things are going to be tough hence we anticipate hard times ahead,” she said.
Mrs Van Jaarsveldt said she used to collect beads, artefacts and other cultural items while traveling around the country and continent.
There are traditional beads for literally every tribe in Africa and artefacts from the Ndebele, Shona, Tonga, Lozi, Tokaleya and Ndau tribal groups dating back to many years ago.
“Most historical artefacts are leaving Zimbabwe but I can’t lose these because they tell a rich history of the country and are a draw card for tourists. Some of them are from as far back as 5000BC and were picked from Sahara desert,” she said.-@ncubeleon
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter