Harare Transportation

David drove us from Harare to Kwe Kwe to Gweru to Shirugni back to Gweru through Kwe Kwe and back to Harare in one day, a trip of over 800km!

We paid for his fuel and US$150 for the day.

I felt very safe on the roads with his capable driving, never went too fast and executed very safe overtaking. A very hardworking young driver, recently married and looking forward to his first child due March 2007.

I suggest paying US$50 in and around Harare and US$150 per day outside, but negotiate with him as you wish.

Staff was recommended to me by a UN press officer and turned out to be everything I was told to expect: honest, reliable, hard working and very easy to get along with. He remained cool and collected during difficult times with police and CID officers and was always on time, whether very early in the morning or late at night, without a single complaint.

His rate is Zim$500/km so we offered him US$50 per day including fuel, which he was happy with for all day Harare driving. If you want to leave town then he'll want his Zim$500 per km (at the unofficial rate this is US$0.50/km)

Staff knows the whereabouts of all the usual government buildings and offices in Harare, and can also advise on money changing, etc.

At the time the rear windows in his sedan were inoperative and I've told him that I'll reccomend him but that he'll need to get them fixed, something he promises he'll be doing next week.

Since fuel is an issue in Zim, you may need to pay him on the first day, at least for the first days work, so he can arrange more fuel for the next day.

Harare is well serviced from the air, with connections from many major cities both inside and outside Africa.
A number of intercounrty buses also connect Harare with regional centres. Nearly all these leave from the Roadport on 4th Street. Tickets in advance can also be booked here. A number of local buses also leave from Mbare musika but reliability and quality can be a problem.
Getting around Harare is fairly easy with numerous buses, emergency taxi's and taxi's. Fixed route buses leave from various points around the city centre. The best way to find the right one is to ask locals. This is the same with Emergency Taxi's or ET's, consisting of old Peugeot's. All these 3 options are relatively cheap but comfort varies widely. Reliable taxi companies include Avondale and Rixi.

Once again we have the typical minibuses running around town. Right as I was leaving, I read an article about how the operators all decided to raise their prices from $50,000 to $80,000 per ride.