Photography Perils of Zimbabwe
ChrisJ
Registered Users Posts: 2,164 Major grins
I came across this article [nzherald.co.nz] from Google News about the dangers of photography under a corrupt government.
As I sift through film negatives from my 2001 trip to Africa (scanning the better ones), I'm really depressed at how far this country has fallen in four years.
At the time, my wife and I rented a car and drove hundreds of miles around the country. Good roads, good water, good food, incredible wildlife. But even then, we met road blocks every so often, each with intimidating armed guards. If we had not been tourists, we may or may not have been allowed passage.
We felt safer walking around the capital city of Harare than some of the safaris we went on! People were nice and most of them were very hopeful about the upcoming elections and the possible fall of ZANU-PF. Yeah, right...
The signs were all there pointing in the wrong direction: international phone calls would rarely get through, water pumps in rural areas weren't being serviced properly, and most everyone knows about the farming "transition" that had started. The one flight we had on Air Zimbabwe was delayed several hours due to fuel shortages, and everyone cheered raucously when it finally arrived.
Just sad... I was really hoping to get back there with my kids and see more than just Victoria Falls.
Now if only they had oil, or maybe some nukes...
</RANT>
As I sift through film negatives from my 2001 trip to Africa (scanning the better ones), I'm really depressed at how far this country has fallen in four years.
At the time, my wife and I rented a car and drove hundreds of miles around the country. Good roads, good water, good food, incredible wildlife. But even then, we met road blocks every so often, each with intimidating armed guards. If we had not been tourists, we may or may not have been allowed passage.
We felt safer walking around the capital city of Harare than some of the safaris we went on! People were nice and most of them were very hopeful about the upcoming elections and the possible fall of ZANU-PF. Yeah, right...
The signs were all there pointing in the wrong direction: international phone calls would rarely get through, water pumps in rural areas weren't being serviced properly, and most everyone knows about the farming "transition" that had started. The one flight we had on Air Zimbabwe was delayed several hours due to fuel shortages, and everyone cheered raucously when it finally arrived.
Just sad... I was really hoping to get back there with my kids and see more than just Victoria Falls.
Now if only they had oil, or maybe some nukes...
</RANT>
Chris
0
Comments
I took hundreds of shots there last year but i was very secretive around gov't buildings/workers & particularly border crossings.
Just had to remember to keep that flash off.
Our traffic fine here was taken as a bribe.