Eminently EveHelloooo “Intimacy With Nature” Family 🙂 Happy 2023!!! Can you imagine it’s January again already, Wow!
I always like to start January with the topic, “money” because I believe that good financial decisions equals successful stress-free travel expeditions. So every January we run with the hashtag #TravelAndMoney and the topic for this January is, 4 Ways to save money when travelling in Zimbabwe.
Just a recap, the previous years in January we have talked about 8 Ways to make money in Zimbabwe which do not require capital. This was followed by 4 Money habits that allow us to save for our trips in Zimbabwe. Then finally we talked about 5 Travel Money Mistakes to avoid when going on a trip in Zimbabwe.
At the planning stage of a trip or during the trip, there are certain things that can be done to ensure that we are not making our trips way more costly than they need to be and these include:
1. Taking note of destinations/ service providers who have seasonal discounts
While everyone else was travelling in December, I am now ready to go out and enjoy some peace & quiet, with hardly anyone else at the destinations and at the same time paying way less money in comparison. Most destinations actually have no choice but to offer discounts during off peak seasons because not many people are thinking of travelling during this season. So in order to entice us and make it worthwhile, they try to offer discounts. Some discounts are even as high as 50%. It is therefore a tip that I believe will help you save some coins if you coordinate with your loved ones/ travel buddies to ignore the holiday travel hype and instead travel off season.
2. Exploring one region extensively instead of doing multiple ‘2 night trips’ to the same region.
In November my husband and I had a blast. We travelled from Harare to Kwekwe and checked out An Eye for the Wild, then proceeded to Gweru where we stayed at Antelope Park for a few days. We then went to Bulawayo and checked out a couple of places before heading to Matobo National Park where we spent a few days as well. On our way back we went to a place in Inyati Matabeleland North and spent some days there, then finally we came back home.
So instead of doing 5 separate trips which are to destinations that are essentially in the same direction, we did the trip once and saved a lot of money in fuel. November is also off season so the prices were not as high as they were in December.
To make this travel strategy work though, there is a need for research to be done to know what each region has to offer. This is exactly why here on my website, on the menu bar, I grouped the destinations in provinces and districts so that one knows the places they can visit that are in the same district/province and in close proximity to each other.
3. Staying at cheaper accommodation without luxurious perks but still enjoying the perks at nearby fancier establishments.
I am someone who always loves to live within my means. My means at the moment dictate that I stay at self catering accommodations because they are a lot more affordable compared to hotels. Though once in a while I will stay in a hotel. The self catering accommodations are perfect in what they offer, the only difference is that some may not have swimming pools, restaurants and other amenities.
So if I feel like swimming or not cooking I just go to nearby establishments and have my meals there. I have never visited one which does not allow me to swim because I’m not a resident client. Of course the priority is & should be given to the resident clients but because I travel off season when there are hardly any resident clients, the hosts are more than happy to have me swim after a meal and enjoy the other services that they offer, be it spa treatments or others.
4. Making use of ‘other-purpose-visits’ such as visiting relatives or friends, travelling for school or work to explore the country
My first time ever visiting the majestic Victoria Falls I had visited my sister in Nkayi in Matebeleland North which is just 390 km from Victoria Falls compared to our home town Mutare which is 1000.7km from the falls. Usually when you visit friends or relatives in a new town they are extremely keen to show you around. My sister showed me so many incredible sites in Nkayi. Unfortunately at the time I did not have this blog site to document everything but it was a great experience.
When the talk about visiting Victoria Falls came up everyone was on board. We had such an amazing time and we also passed through Hwange National Park, the largest game park in Zimbabwe.
Of course I carried my weight financially so when using this tip please do not be a burden on people expecting them to pay for your travel expenses when they are already hosting you.
On a different occasion I had gone to Masvingo for the first time as an adult for an industrial attachment interview and I took that opportunity to visit Great Zimbabwe with friends who were hosting me.
I also took advantage of working in Vumba to explore that part of the misty highlands the same way I did with Chimanimani whenever I visited my maternal grandmother. There are so many examples I could give but I think you get the point.
These are some practical tricks I use to explore our beautiful country without turning it into a complete financial nightmare. I do hope that you find them helful too. I believe that it does not help to constantly use the economy & other factors as an excuse for not enjoying our country (not that they are not valid excuses because they are) but at the end of the day we only have this one life & we have to do the best we can to make things work for us.
Remember to have a little intimacy in your life & as always I’m talking about Intimacy With Nature
