A number of residents in Zimbabwe, Zambia and surrounding countries have expressed concern at the manner in which some media organisations in the West are reporting about the state of the Victoria Falls.
Recent reports by the British media have presented a gloomy forecast about the future of the Falls, which is the world’s largest and one of the seven natural wonders. It is shared by Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the South.
Residents, including Zambia’s President, Edgar Lungu, agree that climate change has had adverse effects on the region, with Lungu having concurred with the Western media reports about the Victoria Falls.
In his twitter post, he expressed gratitude for their efforts to bring to the world’s attention, the devastating impact of Climate Change on the country’s major tourist attraction.
However, most argue that the media reports about the waterfall, have been exaggerated, misleading and seem intentionally crafted to show the driest parts of the falls, while blacking out the sides that still have good volumes of water.
A number of UK publications claim that the Falls has dried up and might be at risk of disappearing one day, if nothing is done to tackle climate change. They further claim that this is the worst drought in the century.
Rejecting media reports
But Jonathan Waters, a Zimbabwean resident, dismisses that, saying, “Certainly the past season was a dry year, but three years in 1990s were worse than the past one.”
Quoting data from the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA), a corporation jointly and equally owned by the governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe, which shows 1991, 94 and 95, as having been worse than the 2018/2019 season, Waters describes such an oversight as ‘disgraceful’.
As a result of the ‘negative’ reports, a lot of tour operators say they’ve lost out on business, as potential tourists have been cancelling their bookings.
“This has started to badly affect tourism in Vic Falls, and people are more likely to believe the British media and their climate change agenda than the actual facts, I’ am afraid, ” Waters observes.
Some critics who have been taking to social media to vent their anger, accuse the journalists who covered the story of having failed to do proper research, while others feel they deliberately left out details, such as how normal it is for water levels at Victoria falls to go down during the dry season and back up in rainy months.The rainy season in this area, is between November and April.
“The days of investigative reporting are bygone – no one researches their topic or has it verified like they used to do,” says Lynne Morze-Langan, a Zambian ex lodge owner.
“Most copy their stories from other media sources without checking their facts, so it does the rounds” she adds.
Debunking The Fears
For Nick Lynch, the former General Manager for Thorntree River Lodge, not too far from the falls in Livingstone, Zambia, using images of the dry Zambian side and pointing to climate change as being wholly responsible, would be a misrepresentation of the facts.
He says the Zambian side tends to get a little more bone dry, because of the river being diverted to the Zambian electricity company (ZESCO)’s power generation plant.
“Having previously lived on both sides of the Falls, I can attest to the fact that [the] river goes up and down each year, as the seasons change and as is perfectly normal; high water and low water,” Lynch explains.
A number of people concerned, have since been taking trips to the Victoria Falls and posting images on social media, debunking the fears.
Source: Africafeeds.com
