Everyday practical information for Zimbabwe

Power

• Type G sockets, the British three pin, at 230 V and 50 Hz. A UK plug goes straight in; most of Europe needs an adapter.
• The socket is not the problem, the supply is. Blackouts are frequent and sometimes long, and there is water rationing in parts of the country. Ask the hotel or tour operator what its schedule looks like, and charge everything whenever the power is on.

Clearing customs

• Green route if you are carrying nothing dutiable or restricted, red route if you are, and red route if you are not sure. On the red route you complete declaration Form 47 and a ZIMRA officer assesses the duty.
• All used personal effects come in free under the total rebate, but ZIMRA excludes things like radios and cameras from that definition.
• The partial rebate is USD200 per person, once a calendar month, on the date of your first entry that month. The goods have to be properly declared and not for resale.
• Alcohol: 5 litres per traveller, of which at most 2 litres may be spirits, and you must be 18 or over.
• Excess over the allowance is charged at 40 per cent in ZIMRA's own worked example.

The exclusions that catch people

Some goods attract duty regardless of value, so bringing them in under USD200 does not help:

• stoves, refrigerators, blankets, beds and mattresses
• cooking oil, laundry bar soap
• flour, maize meal, sugar, meat, fish, powdered milk, yoghurt, cheese, eggs, corn puffs, jam and honey

That list is not arbitrary: it is the basket of goods people carry in from South Africa, and it is written into the rebate to stop that. A visitor is unlikely to be caught by it, but anyone bringing gifts to family should read it first.

Office hours, if you need the Department of Immigration

• The Department's two sites disagree with each other. The Department of Immigration site gives 07:45 to 16:45 Monday to Friday; the e-visa platform gives 07:45 to 16:00. Both exclude public holidays. Plan on the earlier close and arrive in the morning.
• The head office is the Chingaira Building, corner Leopold Takawira and Herbert Chitepo, Harare.

Small things that make the first day easier

• Carry small US dollar notes for everything. The visa, the taxi, the tip, the water. Change is the scarce commodity.
• Download offline maps and your booking confirmations before you land. The mobile network is unreliable and blackouts take telecoms with them.
• Do not photograph the airport. It is on the restricted list and the police enforce it.