Exploring the Potential of Dark Tourism in the Aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani

Abstract

Although places of human-induced death, suffering and torture have aroused great interest in terms of their local, national and global following, a new wave of natural disasters has fuelled and re-ignited research interest in dark tourism. The chapter investigates the potential of dark tourism at the epicentre of Tropical Cyclone Idai that devastated Zimbabwe in March 2019. A household questionnaire survey, interviews and field observations were the main methods applied to generate data. The GIS and document analysis were methods applied to analyse data. Findings are that the dark tourism idea found resonance in government as Cyclone Idai was the worst natural disaster the country ever witnessed. The authorities have decided to put up memorial sites in the three most affected areas of Ngangu, Machongwe and Kopa, all of them in the Chimanimani district. This new development has the potential to attract special tourists in the niche of dark tourism, although some of the artefacts of interest like the ropes that were used to save lives in Kopa were removed from the site. Furthermore, communities that had struggled for years to get quarry stone for construction were mining these at potential dark tourism sites. Hence, the value of the sites was constantly being degraded. Among some of the stones that were at risk from quarrying were those marked as potential sites for the missing dead. The paper concludes that there is a potential for dark tourism in Zimbabwe and steps need to be taken to realise and promote it.