Zimbabwe: Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

Zimbabwe has more millionaires per capita than any other country in the world. I have done absolutely zero research in making that claim, but I can’t imagine that it could possibly be untrue. Why? Because the Zimbabwean Dollar is currently valued at a black market rate of $6 million ‘Zim’ (as the currency is called locally) to US$1.

In case you haven’t heard, Zimbabwe has been in a state of unprecedented hyperinflation in recent years. ‘Absurd’ is really the only word that comes to mind to describe it. The current “official” government rate of inflation (by far the highest of any country in the world) is 24,470%, but even this falls way short of what a number of independent sources are pegging around 150,000%. In an age where the US Dollar’s place in the world economy is becoming about as unstable as security in Baghdad, it’s nice to go somewhere that a buck will fetch a stack of 12, $500,000 notes (the highest in circulation). The above picture is of the pile of money that you would have received upon exchanging US$30 when I was there in December 2007.

There have been a number of statistics and fun (sad?) facts thrown around lately about how much produce, newspapers, and chicken has gone up in the past year, but I’d like to take an approach that no one to my knowledge has done yet: say you were a wealthy millionaire (by US standards) and had the equivalent of US$10,000,000 locked away in Zimbabwean Dollars in a Harare bank in 2003 and hadn’t touched it since; well, I hope you had an interest rate of 100,000% or more, because otherwise today, in 2008, that multi-million dollar fortune would be worth exactly US$1. That’s right, at one point in early 2003, Z$600 was worth US$1. In 2005, it had passed Z$10,000. In January of ’06, it had reached Z$100,000 and in July of that same year it was already over Z$250,000.

Struggling to cope with rates that were spiraling out of control during these years, the Zimbabwean government responded with a measure to curb hyperinflation that was so baffling in its pointlessness and futility that it showcases the ineptitude that President for Life Robert Mugabe has had in alleviating the plights of his people: in August 2006, a new, revalued Zimbabwean Dollar was introduced that reduced the value of its currency from Z$250,000 to Z$250. Seem simple? It was. All they did was print new money on which the last 3 zeros were dropped. Clearly, this has worked wonders on the economy (all degrees of sarcasm intended), since the rate has since shot up to Z$6,000,000.

It’s only going to get worse. Since my visit this past December, the value of the Zim Dollar has already devalued by 200%, from Z$2 million to Z$6 million.

Here’s a CNN article on the hyperinflation if you’re interested.

This is really only scratching the surface of the problems that Zimbabwe is facing today. Shortages plague the country. Finding decent food in a grocery store is like trying to find a Nintendo Wii during Christmas. You go to a supermarket and find that for every 10 aisles, only a handful of shelves are stocked at all, and when they are it’s usually with giant brown blocks of soap or beaten up packages of muesli that cost as much as a live chicken. Thousands of people go over the border to Botswana to do their shopping. I spoke with one restaurant owner who was telling me about how difficult it is to buy meat since they have to compete with every protein-hungry family in the country, especially around holidays. Of the 20 or so entrees listed on his menu, only 3 were available at the time I visited. Shortages of petrol have meant that buses run irregularly, if at all; instead, everyone has to fight for tickets on the decades-old trains that take 14 hours to go 200 miles.

But I hate to end on a depressing note. Honestly, I loved Zim, I just felt sorry for the people there. Matopo National Park has some amazing rock formations and offers one of the best chances in the world to see rhinos. And since everyone seems scared to travel to Zimbabwe, including the densely packed ‘Overland Truck’ tours which are the bane of every backpacker’s existence in Africa, you have the whole place to yourself. It’s nice to have a break from the obligatory jockeying for position with other safari vehicles in places like the Serengeti. Plus, it’s got one of the most beautiful views in the world: an overlook of the sprawling cascades of Victoria Falls.

Pictures: Nepal

There's something humbling about the Nepalese Himalayas. Sheer size, for one; 10 of the 14 tallest mountains (over 8,000m) in the world are Himalayan. It's things like standing at 4120m (about 2.5 miles) above sea level and still being dwarfed by 360 degrees of snow-capped peaks at Annapurna Base Camp that really put ones size (both physically and metaphorically) into perspective.

Nepal is a kingdom of contrasts where lush landscapes mingle with the barren rocky tundra of the Tibetan Plateau, Buddhist temples brush up again Hindu shrines, and only in recent years are the boundaries of the cast system between social groups being pressed and transcended. Other than the occasional nuisance of a band of tribute-demanding Maoists, the Nepalese are a fantastic people who love to share their energy and vigor.

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Pictures: Egypt

Egypt is every archeology buff’s wet dream; behind every ancient pyramid, excavated pharaoh tomb, and labyrinthine temple lays a piece of a rich 5,000 year old history. Now I don’t pretend to have a profound interest in rummaging through historical rubble, dig sites, or antiques – I’d much rather pass the hours sipping chai and playing backgammon with a thick-bearded, white-robed man named Mohammad at a sheesha bar – but that doesn’t matter in Egypt. Even the most jaded of travelers have to admit a rejuvenated child-like sense of wonder when they find themselves staring head-on at the real life models of the very pictures that filled their elementary school textbooks growing up: the mysterious Sphinx, hieroglyphic-laden walls that tell the tales of a forgotten civilization, and the beaming golden treasures of the legendary Tutankhamen. Egypt: the home of Cleopatra, the Nile River, and the only in-tact Wonder of the Ancient World (the Great Pyramids of Giza). And this is to mention nothing of the bustling markets of Cairo’s Khan El Khalili, the Great Sand Sea of the Sahara, tiny date-farming towns on the desert oases, or world-class scuba diving at the Red Sea’s underwater Ros Mohammad Marine Park.

Check out the pictures