Zimbabwe Travel Essentials: Dollars, Roadblocks, Malaria

Zimbabwe asks more of a visitor’s wallet than its neighbours do, and less of everything else. Money and police trip up first-timers more than anything, so that is where this starts. Everything here was last checked on 18 October 2026.

Do I need ZiG, or will US dollars do?

Dollars. Zimbabwe has run on the US dollar since 2009, and the UK government’s current advice says it remains legal tender and that most suppliers want it in cash. Canada’s advice, updated 13 October 2026, puts it simply: most transactions are made in US dollars.

The local currency is the ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold (code ZWG), launched on 5 April 2024 at 13.56 to the dollar to replace the Zimbabwe dollar. In mid-October 2026 the Reserve Bank’s interbank average was about ZiG 26.6 to US$1. ZINARA and ZERA publish their tolls and fuel prices in both currencies. You can spend a fortnight in the country and never hold a ZiG note, and I would plan on that.

Will the dollar be pulled? Not on your trip. The multi-currency law runs to 31 December 2030, and on 27 February 2026 the Reserve Bank governor dropped even that as a fixed deadline, saying dollar contracts keep being paid in dollars. New ZiG10, ZiG20 and ZiG50 notes arrived from 7 April 2026, with coins returning because small change had run out. Which is the real problem.

Small notes, clean notes

Change is the thing nobody warns you about properly. The UK government says to carry small notes because change is rarely available, and not to accept torn or damaged notes, since shops may refuse them. Expert Africa still reports change handed over as sweets or pens. Expert Africa mentions the bond coins introduced in December 2014, but the Victoria Falls Guide says there are now no coins at all, so prices round up or down.

So bring a thick wad of US$1, US$5 and US$10 notes, with US$20s for fuel and lodges. Newer series, unmarked, untorn. The rand is widely taken too, which helps if you come in through Beitbridge or Plumtree, and in Victoria Falls some hotels take pula and pounds. Canada says you can leave with at most US$10,000 or the equivalent unless you declared more on the blue baggage form at arrival.

Cards, ATMs and EcoCash

Visa and Mastercard work at many hotels, restaurants, garages and supermarkets, and Expert Africa says cards are getting easier to use in Victoria Falls, Harare and Bulawayo. American Express is not taken, says the Victoria Falls Guide. The catch is cash. Dollar notes are short, so the UK and Canadian governments both warn that withdrawing on a foreign card can be very difficult or fail outright, and the UK adds that some businesses, including some medical providers, take no cards at all. The Victoria Falls Guide says bank ATMs do pay out dollars, up to US$1,000 a day depending on your bank, but can run out, so treat them as a backup.

EcoCash, Econet’s mobile money, has a US dollar wallet on *153#. The Herald reported in 2022 that it pays for groceries and medicines, with cash in and out at Econet shops, Steward Bank and OK stores. It needs a registered EcoCash account, so it suits a longer stay more than a fortnight’s holiday.

Driving: roadblocks, fines, tolls and fuel

Traffic keeps left. The UK government says a UK photocard licence is good for 12 months; Canada tells its citizens to carry an International Driving Permit as well.

Roadblocks are the national pastime. In 2015 The Herald reported tourists meeting up to 18 between Beitbridge and Victoria Falls, and a tourism council representative counted 25 on one drive from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls. A police memo in December 2017 cut that to no more than one in 100 km and banned spot fines; the police had already said in 2014 that a Form 265 ticket lets you pay at the nearest police station within seven days. Canada’s advice today: on-the-spot fines are illegal, ask for a ticket. The UK says stop at every roadblock and toll gate and get a receipt for any fine you do pay. South Africa’s cross-border handbook lists two warning triangles, a fire extinguisher and white and red reflective tape on the bumpers as required.

The fines are small. The South African Cross-Border Road Transport Agency’s Zimbabwe handbook (2018) lists US$5 for 6 to 15 km/h over the limit, US$10 for 16 to 25, US$15 for 26 to 35, US$20 for 36 to 50, and court above that. Limits are 60 km/h in towns, and outside them 100 km/h on untarred roads and 120 km/h on tar.

ZINARA’s toll fees since 28 October 2024 (last checked 18 October 2026):

Vehicle	Harare to Beitbridge, Plumtree to Mutare	Other roads
Car	US$4	US$3
Minibus	US$6	US$5
Bus	US$8	US$6
Motorcycle	free	free

The Herald reported in 2021 that toll gates take dollars and rand, and ZINARA asks for small notes. Fuel is priced in dollars by the regulator ZERA: on 9 October 2026 blended petrol (E20) was US$2.05 a litre and diesel US$2.04. The UK says fuel is sometimes unavailable and there may be queues, so fill up whereever you can and keep cash for it.

The UK warns of deep potholes, stray livestock and poorly lit roads, Canada of domestic and wild animals on major roads. The UK says avoid driving outside main towns at night; Canada says avoid driving after dark. When the President’s motorcade comes through, pull off the road, whichever side you are on. Do not photograph police or soldiers, which is illegal.

Bringing your own car? ZIMRA issues a free temporary import permit at the border against your passport, the original registration book and a letter from the owner if that is not you. ZIMRA’s own notice puts third party insurance at US$30 a month and carbon tax at US$10 a month, paid at the border. The US$10 road access fee is gone: Statutory Instrument 113 of 2026, gazetted on 24 July 2026, scrapped it because the toll gates already charge for the road.

Malaria: altitude decides

Zimbabwe’s rule of thumb is height. TravelHealthPro, the UK’s travel health service, rates everything below 1,200 m as high risk from November to June, with tablets (atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline or mefloquine) recommended, and low risk from July to October, when bite avoidance is enough. The Zambezi valley is a risk all year. The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority says the same and names Victoria Falls alongside the valley. The US CDC simply lists all of Zimbabwe, with chloroquine resistance.

That puts Mana Pools and Kariba in the all-year band. Victoria Falls and Hwange (Hwange town sits at 770 m) are in the summer band, as is Gonarezhou and the whole lowveld, which drops to the country’s lowest point, 162 m, where the Runde meets the Save. Harare at about 1,490 m and Bulawayo at 1,358 m are very low risk and TravelHealthPro does not advise tablets there, and the Eastern Highlands around Nyanga and the Bvumba (Wikipedia gives 1,878 m for the range) sit above the line; Mutare below them is a question for your clinic.

The season matters more than usual. The Ministry of Health counted 111,998 cases and 317 deaths in the first 23 weeks of 2025, against 29,085 cases and 51 deaths in the same weeks of 2024. Harare still had 685 cases; Bulawayo’s 67 were mainly referrals from elsewhere.

Tap water, cholera and the clinics

The 2008 to 2009 cholera epidemic, when piped supply to Harare stopped on 1 December 2008, ran to 98,596 cases and 4,369 deaths. A second outbreak began in Chegutu on 12 February 2023 and had 34,549 suspected cases and 718 deaths by the time it was declared over in August 2024. Harare’s water is rationed: the council says only half of the 4.5 million people in the capital and four satellite towns get municipal water, in rotation, from a single treatment works, Morton Jaffray.

Drink bottled or filtered water in towns and ask your lodge where its water comes from. Canada’s advice: boil it, cook it, peel it or leave it, and stay out of rivers and dams because of bilharzia. The UK notes that private clinics will not treat you until you pay, often in dollar cash, so carry some.

Power cuts: are they over?

Possibly, for now. In August 2024 a fault at Hwange Unit 8 cut output from over 1,000 MW to 635 MW and load shedding deepened. In May 2026 the ZESA chief executive told Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee the country had gone 138 consecutive days without it, helped by imports from Mozambique and a US$210 million Afreximbank facility used partly for regional power trading, and promised an end to load shedding by the end of 2026. Canada’s advice, written since then, still calls outages common. Pack a power bank and a head torch.

Phones: Econet or NetOne

Two networks matter, Econet and NetOne, and both sell dollar bundles. NetOne’s tourist SIM is the easiest start: the SIM is free against your passport (registration is compulsory), comes as a physical card or eSIM, is sold at airport shops, lasts 90 days and is loaded through *401#.

NetOne tourist bundle	Data	Valid
US$5	3 GB	2 days
US$10	7 GB	3 days
US$20	15 GB	7 days
US$40	30 GB	14 days

Ordinary USD bundles on both networks run US$1.50 for 300 MB a day and US$4 for 1 GB a week, and NetOne’s MoGigs 10 GB costs US$12 for 30 days. Econet sells an eSIM too (dial *#06#; if your phone shows an EID it works). Don’t count on signal inside Hwange or along the Zambezi between camps. The country code is +263.

Plugs

230 V, 50 Hz. The standard socket is the British three pin Type G, so UK plugs fit and South Africans need the adapter they use for Britain. Wikipedia also lists the older round pin Type D. WorldStandards describes the local habit of forcing two pin plugs into Type G sockets and calls it potentially dangerous. Don’t copy it.

Emergency numbers

Service	Number
Emergencies (Canada’s advice)	999
Ambulance, fire, police (UK advice)	112
From Econet mobiles	112
From NetOne mobiles	114
From a landline	0800 3222 911
MARS air ambulance, Harare	+263 4 771221
MARS air ambulance, Victoria Falls	+263 13 44646

The MARS numbers come from the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, the rest from the UK and Canadian governments. Canada warns that emergency services exist but may be limited.

Tipping

Dollars, in cash, once at the end of each stay. Expert Africa’s figures per guest per day: US$10 to US$20 for a shared guide, US$20 to US$40 for a private guide, US$10 to US$20 into the general staff box. Pounds, euros and rand are accepted too. Give guides theirs by hand.

Time, and the days things shut

Central Africa Time, UTC+2 all year, no daylight saving.

The 2026 public holidays: New Year’s Day, Youth Day (21 February), Good Friday to Easter Monday (3 to 6 April), Independence Day (18 April), Workers’ Day (1 May), Africa Day (25 May), Heroes Day and Defence Forces Day back to back on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 August, Unity Day (22 December), Christmas and Boxing Day. Munhumutapa Day on 15 September was added in September 2026 under Statutory Instrument 148 of 2026, every year from 2026 on. The August pair makes a four-day weekend, so draw cash before it.

Related pages

Visas and the border paperwork are in our Zimbabwe entry requirements guide, and the road itself in the self-drive Zimbabwe guide. For timing, see the best time to visit Victoria Falls and the Hwange gate times.