Talk:Zimbabwe

Formatting and language conventions For articles about Zimbabwe, please use the 24-hour clock to show times, e.g. 09:00-12:00 and 18:00-00:00. Please show prices in this format: US$100 and not Z$100, $100 or USD100. This is because although the Zimbabwe dollar is the only legal currency in the country, it is not stable and Z$ will fluctuate rapidly. Please use British spelling (colour, travelled, centre, realise, analogue, programme, defence). Phone numbers should be formatted as +263 XX XXX XXXX.

Relevance

What, if any, of this has any relevance for travellers? Is the intention to have us weed this? (WT-en) Tiles 00:50, 8 Aug 2003 (PDT)

The import of the CIA Factbook is only to support in the creating of a real Wikivoyage article. (WT-en) Andreas Holstenson 03:27, 8 Aug 2003 (PDT)

Join the talk at Country article template and/or look at the current example Switzerland (WT-en) Majnoona

I have now copied the original content of the article to Talk:Zimbabwe/CIA World Factbook 2002 import and will cull irrelevant facts and rearrange relevant facts into a country template, so future weeding will no longer be needed. -- (WT-en) Huttite 07:58, 4 Jun 2004 (EDT)

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Could someone comment on this paragraph from the "Stay safe" section:

Though in general Zimbabwe remains a safe place, don't be shocked to see a policeman slap and kick-about a local. It's the rule of law over there. Don't be shocked to see the locals beat up a thief sometimes to the point of death. Its the rule of the law in ALL of Africa, its called public justice over there. They don't go to the police station, the public love to deal with pick-pockets.

I think it needs a bit of a rewrite. What do you think? (WT-en) Jamboo 05:18, 20 March 2008 (EDT)

I'm sure that does happen though I doubt that you average traveler will ever see it. In South Africa there is a phenomenon called Kangaroo Courts where the community will deal with an offender themselves rather than call the police. Generally the offender will be severely beaten up, sometimes fatally. I won't bother with rewriting that the Stay safe section just yet, Zimbabwe elections is around the corner (29 March) and I suspect Stay safe will require a complete rewrite due to country wide violence after the elections. --(WT-en) Nick 06:15, 20 March 2008 (EDT)

Political edits

I have reverted this edit for the following reasons:

1. To avoid starting a political edit war in the Zimbabwe article; some people might really take offence to that statement, especially black Zimbabweans that have lost their farms and white Zimbabweans that have never even been to Europe
2. It is factually incorrect
   • The farms that have been confiscated are definitely not exclusively European dominated. They are owned and operated by both black Zimbabweans (some 1^st to 10^th generation, having come from other Southern African countries) and 3^rd to 9^th generation white Zimbabweans. Confiscations are based entirely on the farmer's support for the ruling government and how many votes they can buy if they redistribute a particular farm.
   • Just being white does not automatically make one European, just as being black does not automatically make one African

Removed portions

I've removed most of the remaining suggestions in the article that Zimbabwe is a challenging but basically safe and interesting destination for foreigners that were still floating around in the article. As best I can tell, that hasn't been remotely true for about six months now. Visiting Zimbabwe is flat-out dangerous in terms of both personal safety and health care. The rest of the text should be a better match for the warning box now. (WT-en) Hypatia 07:37, 30 January 2009 (EST)

I have removed the warning box. The cholera situation seems to have improved. Also, we do not have warning boxes up for countries that are more dangerous than Zimbabwe.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 00:48, 4 February 2010 (EST)

Regions

I've drafted a map for Zimbabwe below, but changed the regions a bit so they're not tied directly to administrative boundaries (although they still largely follow them). Each of the three regions I proposed could be split in two to better suit geography and distances. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much tourist stuff there is to do beyond the cities on the map so further regions may not be necessary based on our 7+/-2 rule.

Proposed region structure for Zimbabwe

Matabeleland The western part of the country with Bulawayo, the second largest city, and the stunning Victoria Falls. This region corresponds to the existing provinces of North and South Matabeleland.

Northern Zimbabwe The capital city, Harare, and Lake Kariba, a popular vacation spot for Zimbabweans. It also includes many national parks, such as Mana Pools National Park and reserves with good opportunities for game viewing. It generally corresponds to the three Mashonaland provinces and the northern part of Midlands province.

Southeastern Zimbabwe A mixed area with the mountains of the Eastern Highlands in the east, the southern part of the midlands in the north and the lowveld in the southeast. Nature is more of the attraction here, with many national parks and the Great Zimbabwe ruins. This region roughly corresponds to the Manicaland and Masvingo provinces with the southern Midlands province and some of East Mashonaland as well. This region probably has the best case for being split since the Eastern Highlands (Manicaland, more or less) is fairly distinct.

- (WT-en) Shaund 20:33, 24 January 2010 (EST)

Three regions just doesn't seem enough for a country the size of Zimbabwe, 4-5 seems right. SE Zimbabwe should be split if you think that's the best case for doing so. Is there enough difference within Northern Zim to split it? (WT-en) AHeneen 21:21, 24 January 2010 (EST)

My first reaction Shaun is that you have an excellent eye for graphic design. Very pleasing look to the map. Onto more mundane matters. Your split seems to make a lot of sense from a geo-cultural viewpoint. I am though slightly concerned that 3 regions for such a large, important country is not enough? I would not like to force that though just for the sake of having more regions. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 21:41, 24 January 2010 (EST)

Thanks for the comments. I wasn't sure about the number of regions either, so I'm glad for the feedback.

I think I could go as high as seven regions, although that might be too many. The first split I'd do, is SE Zim and Eastern Highlands as AHeneen mentioned. The second one would be to split Northern Zim, separating the part along eastern Lake Kariba and the Zambezi River. It's more of a vacation area: less populated than the rest of N Zim with a number of parks and reserves in the area. It is (or perhaps was, given the economic issues) considered a bit of a vacation destination for the locals (Vic Falls being more of an international tourist destination).

That would bring it five regions. Matabeleland could be split into its North and South provinces, but there seems to be little in the south other than Bulawayo, Matobo and the Khami Ruins. A seventh region could be created if I brought the Midlands region back (it fills in the middle), but it seems to be mostly a mining region with few tourist attractions -- I'm not convinced it makes a good case to be a tourist region. (WT-en) Shaund 21:49, 24 January 2010 (EST)

If you just split SE & Northern Zim regions, in my opinion, that's enough. One big thing missing in this map is railroads. Zim is one of just a handful of African countries with decent, operating railroads [1].

Sounds good and thanks for the link. It'll make it easier to pick which lines carry passengers. Railroads actually are on the map but they're a rather faint gray. I'll darken them up so they're legible. (WT-en) Shaund 01:04, 25 January 2010 (EST)

Maybe have look at the dashed line option Shaun, eg here. That format seems to work well on this type of "strong" map, rather than the wispy lines. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 07:29, 25 January 2010 (EST)

I've put the new map on the Zim page, but I'm going to wait a day before I set up the regions, regionlist template, etc. (just in case I need to change the regions or region names). (WT-en) Shaund 12:39, 31 January 2010 (EST)

Format for notating U.S. dollars

I'm seeing US$ in the article. Aren't the standard notations $US (as in "$1 US") or USD? Ikan Kekek (talk) 17:22, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

See WV:$. We use US$:

"If the country or article uses more than one currency, including foreign ones, use the shortest unambiguous form for each. For US dollars, this is US$. For euros, it's €."

Ground Zero (talk) 23:03, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

OK, if that's how you want it. :-) Ikan Kekek (talk) 00:45, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

Um, it's not me; it's our style guide. Ground Zero (talk) 01:21, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

You didn't notice the emoticon? Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:48, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

Got it. ;-) Ground Zero (talk) 13:36, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

New Zimbabwe dollar

The situation with currency in Zimbabwe seems to be in flux. From what I have read, the new Zimbabwe dollar (Z$) became the only legal tender on June 24, 2019, replacing common use of the US dollar and South African rand. prices in WVartidles are generally in US$. But there is little paper money in circulation. The Ecocash mobile transfer app seems to be what Zimbabweans are using. Should we put caution box in Zimbabwe articles to alert readers to this? Ground Zero (talk) 16:27, 5 July 2019 (UTC)

	Note: New Zimbabwe dollar: In June 2019, a new currency was introduced to replace the common use of U.S. dollars and South African rand. While the new currency is the only legal tender, there is a shortage of banknotes. This article shows most prices in U.S. dollars. See Zimbabwe#Money for more information

Currency, time and spelling conventions

Below is a proposed infobox to let readers know which formatting conventions to use in Wikivoyage articles. Do you agree with these proposals? If you have direct knowledge of what is most commonly used in the country, please let us know. Ground Zero (talk) 14:13, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

Moved to the top of this article. Ground Zero (talk) 12:37, 28 December 2019 (UTC)