- Zimbabwe 2005. Elephant with raised trunk on the banks of the River Zambezi.
Mana Pools National Park,
Sapi
and Chewore Safari Areas (1984)
Zimbabwe
On the banks of the Zambezi, great cliffs overhang the river and the
floodplains. The area is home to a remarkable concentration of wild animals,
including elephants, buffalo, leopards and cheetahs. An important concentration
of Nile crocodiles is also be found in the area.
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Sources and links:
Note about Zimbabwean Stamps and the current hyperinflation
In order to understand the seemingly high face values on Zimbabwean stamps,
I quote below the most important fragments of a discussion on the philatelic
discussion group news:rec.collecting.stamps.discuss,
8th March 2006:
On 2006, January 17, Zimbabwe issued a set of six stamps and a minisheet showing favourite African dishes. To keep up with spiriling hyperinflation, the denominations were (in Z$): $25,000; $35,000; $50,000; $150,000; $250,000 and $300,000.
The government gave civil servants a 230% raise last year. However with 600% inflation, this means they can buy half of what they could a year ago. Almost every civil servant in Zimbabwe makes below the poverty level.
Symptoms of hyperinflation:
Increases in students' fees from roughly Z$1.70 million to Z$17 million (1000%)
and Z$3 million to Z$33 million (1100%). 300% increase in local postage on
letters to Z$25,000
Typical Shopping Basket (The Zimbabwean - 26/02/2006) - prices in Zimbabwe-$:
| Bread | $65,000-$75,000 |
| Old Fashioned Brown Sugar 1 kg | $195,000 |
| regular Brown Sugar - 2 kg | $85,000 |
| Salad Cream - 375 grams | $107,000 |
| Tomato Sauce - 375 ml | $55,000 |
| Yoghurt - 150 ml | $53,000 |
| Milk - 500 ml | $45,000 |
| Mazoe Orange (drink) - 2 litres | $211,000 |
| Mangoes - 1 kg | $62,000 |
| Tomatoes - 1 kg | $80,000 |
| Potatoes - 1 kg | $60,000 |
| Mealie Meal (maize) - 10 kg | $500,000 |
| Tea Bags - 100 - no name brand | $130,000 |
| Kapenta (fish) Dried-750 grams | $360,000 |
| Gent's Bata Rafters (shoes) | $1,000,000 |
| Pineware 2 slice Toaster | $8,800,000 |
| Insect Spray (can) | $414,000 |
It is a lot if you are earning US $5 a day, to support a family of six, and that is dropping by 50% a month in purchase power. Salaries (paid in Zim dollar) are not indexed to inflation.
Imported goods (paid for in USD) are indexed to inflation (+50% a month).
Domestic Goods (priced in Z$ but requiring imported inputs (priced in USD) are partially indexed to inflation
Imported goods include:
petrol (gas) - thus affecting price of anything needing transport;
also includes air and bus fare, mail transport, freight, etc...
- fertilizer for farms - thus affecting price of home grown food;
- many foods - thus affecting price of imported food;
- electricity - thus affecting price of any manufactured goods;
- maize, grain, flour - affecting price of bread and baked goods + mealie meal
(main food for most families).
- medicines.
Particularly about stamps:
It has been asked why Zimbabwe doesn't print stamps with blank value tablets
and get the postal clerk to write the current price when they sell them. The
answer is that they do not need to as people in Zimbabwe do not buy stamps
and save them at home for mailing letters. (they devalue too fast)
They take letters to the Post Office and mail them there. Clerks either frank them with stamps (or increasingly with meters and postage paid indica). Companies use postage meters. This also solves the problem that Zim post offices had with running out of needed denominations due to frequent rate changes.
The latest result, of this chaos, is that Zimbabweans are abandoning domestic letters ($25,000 rate at present) in favour of email and mobile (cell) phones for their communications.
Other World Cultural Heritage Properties in Zimbabwe (on this site). For more information about the individual properties, please refer to the UNESCO-listing, Zimbabwe section.
Revised 20 jul 2006 |
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