Tourist Missing in African Rainforest, Full Search Efforts Now Underway

An Australian tourist has gone missing in Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls National Park, home to one of the world’s natural wonders, the country’s parks spokesman said.

Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesman Tinashe Farawo told The Associated Press that the tourist went missing in the vast rainforest on Friday.

“We have a fully-fledged team that includes the police looking for the tourist. We have deployed sniffer dogs, drones and trackers on the ground,” said Farawo. He said the tourist was 67 years old but did not share further details.

Such incidents are rare in Victoria Falls, a destination that attracts thousands of tourists from across the globe for its majestic water curtain that tumbles down more than 350 feet from the mighty Zambezi River to a gorge below, sending up a mist visible from miles away.

A few cases have been recorded in other parks. A German tourist who went missing in Matusadona National Park which teems with wild animals in northern Zimbabwe was found alive and in good health three days after he was reported missing in October last year.

The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.