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Langton Nyakwenda
WHILE there has been emphasis on Zimbabwe’s fauna with the country being home to the Big Five, less attention has been directed towards the nation’s flora.
Plant life remains an unexplored treasure that has capacity to rake in millions of dollars through various channels. Zimbabwe prides itself with national heritage sites, wildlife as well as mineral resources which attract millions of business, leisure and adventure tourists every year.
But, there is an untapped area — the traditional medicine-based tourism.
There is a hidden link between flora, traditional herbs and medical tourism, which traditionalists believe can be unpacked for the economic benefit of the country.
Popular traditional healer Kamwelo Banda, who is also known as Sekuru Banda, has become the country’s ambassador on that front.
He was recently in Turkey for the Global African Traditional Healing Conference, where the significance of traditional medicine was highlighted.
“I have been to 15 international conferences in America, Asia and Europe but the latest one in Turkey left me meditating a lot on how Zimbabwe can benefit from its flora.
“People from abroad are interested in our African herbs. Americans and Europeans visit me here in Zimbabwe seeking help. They don’t leave the country without visiting our resort areas, making use of our hotels and thus boosting our economy with the much-needed foreign currency,” said Sekuru Banda.
The traditional healer has been raising the Zimbabwean flag high on the international arena since his admission into the Global African Traditional Healing Conference.
He has opened a school of traditional medicine in Harare, which caters for up to 20 students from Europe and America at any given time.
“We need to preserve our forests as they are home to various treasured herbs that are valued by the world. When we tell people to preserve their culture, eat traditional food and use traditional medicines, it is not like we are telling them to visit sangomas, we are merely advising them to stay healthy.
“But, for the country to have these natural herbs, we have to preserve the natural resources, which in turn can become a source of income for the nation,” said Sekuru Banda. The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) head of corporate affairs Godfrey Koti said the authority acknowledges the potential of traditional medicine-based tourism.
“Medical tourism is growing the world over. It is another form of tourism, just like religious tourism and others. As the ZTA, we would like to work with traditional healers to increase our receipts. India, China and South Africa are thriving because of this kind of tourism, surely, we can leverage on it too.
“We have popular traditional healers who attract clients from as far as the America, Asia and Europe. Our aim is to facilitate smooth entries so that we increase the number of tourists,” said Koti.
He added: “We have been pushing for the preservation of forests through our agency, the Forestry Commission, and we believe we can create partnerships with traditional healers on this front so that they can benefit when their herbs are preserved. The country will also benefit when foreigners who visit these healers touring our facilities.”
Online Reporter