ECONOMY-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Solar Eclipse a Mixed Blessing

By James Hall Reprint | | Print |

James Hall

MAPUTO, May 10 2002 (IPS) - A solar spectacle’s economic promise is being eclipsed in some countries by politics.

“What should be a chance for some poor nations to make some money with a once in a lifetime chance to attract tourists is being lost because of political turmoil,” notes Gloria Simelane, a travel agent who specialises in booking European and North American tourists to destinations in Southern Africa.

A solar eclipse will cut a shadowy swath through seven African countries on Dec 4. The second total eclipse of the sun of the millennium will have a maximum duration of two minutes and four seconds, according to the Godard Space Flight Centre.

The phenomenon of an eclipse usually draws both common tourists and a special breed of globetrotting “event tourists”. They travel the globe to be in the path of the moon’s blockage of the sun, when daylight turns dark as midnight, the stars re-emerge and birds are fooled into returning to their nests to sleep. The silvery corona of the sun also flares with the brightness of a full moon around the black lunar disc.

This year’s eclipse will begin over the mid-Atlantic Ocean, at sunrise at that location, and sweep eastward. As visible from space, the moon’s shadow will be an immense black dot covering and then exposing sections of Africa in its path, the ocean south of Madagascar, and the Australian outback, where the sun will appear to be eclipsed around sunset.

It is not from space looking down, but from the earth looking up that excites tourists, tour operators, and national governments hoping to cash-in on an astronomical event that has an almost mystical appeal for viewers.

The eclipse will be visible from some of Southern Africa’s top tourist destinations, such as Kruger National Park in northeast South Africa, which is the continent’s oldest game reserve. The stark beauty of the Central Kalahari Desert, which is seeing visitor numbers growing, will also be traversed by the lunar shadow.

The countries to experience the eclipse will be from west to east Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique.

However, not all the countries in the eclipse’s path will reap the tourism revenues they had hoped to achieve.

“Angola has finally attained a peace accord to end its three decades of civil war, but the country is far from reconstructing itself in time to welcome visitors and reap big tourist dollars,” says an official with the Mozambique tourism industry. “In our country, the tourism infrastructure is not yet up to speed. The eclipse is a missed opportunity.”

Botswana will experience the eclipse in a remote area primarily populated by scattered San bush people. No hotels exist in the swath of desert that will be affected, but tour companies plan to increase their numbers of vehicular safaris, where all materials from petrol to food and water must be transported to a camping site.

Over 30 major tour organisations in the region are offering some form of eclipse viewing opportunity. But local conflicts are changing their itineraries weekly.

Two trouble spots are Zimbabwe and Madagascar.

An announcement by the British Foreign Office advising British citizens to avoid Zimbabwe has prompted the cancellation of several tours and hotel reservations planned for the eclipse. British authorities were reacting to election-related violence. Travellers from Europe and North America are also avoiding the country.

The national tourism ministry is mounting a 7-million-U.S.-dollar marketing campaign aimed at developed world vacationers, and asserting Zimbabwe’s attractions. But with news reports of continuing conflict, and the British travellers advisory in effect, much more damage control will have to be done before December’s eclipse, industry officials say.

Matters worsened for Zimbabwe last week when the management of the South African luxury train Rovos Rail, which is popular with upscale tourists, announced a route change away from the country for the popular Pretoria to Victoria Falls line.

“We are responding to travel agents’ request that the safety of their clients be considered,” the company said in a statement. “Until further notice, the train will not travel to Zimbabwe. Livingston Airport in Zambia will be used as the final destination.”

Zambia, which is struggling with economic problems of its own, looks forward to being a conflict-free host for eclipse tourists. South Africa’s Kruger Park is planning special eclipse-related activities. President Thabo Mbeki will be on hand for the viewing.

Mozambique’s President Joaquim Chissano is among the dignitaries who will be lining the Indian Ocean beaches of his country’s Southern Gaza Province, where the eclipse will be visible for the last time on continental Africa.

However, Africa’s eastern island nations stand to benefit by playing host to cruise ships expected in their waters to watch the eclipse. But negative political developments are threatening the opportunity for the largest island, Madagascar.

Since last December’s unresolved presidential elections, supporters of rival candidates Didier Ratsiraka and Marc Ravalomanana have divided the country. The capital is under siege, and highways are impassable due to sabotaged bridges.

“Cruise ships do not use for a port of call any country where there is civil war. Fighting is anathema to vacations,” says travel agent Simelane.

Whether countries and their tourism boards are ready or not, come Dec 4, the sun will shine – or more accurately, cease to shine – over a cross section of Africa, places of peace and areas of instability, with the former reaping the rewards.