The 67-year-old visitor, whose identity has not been made public, was reported missing on Friday in the vicinity of the Zimbabwe Victoria Falls National Park. At the time, authorities announced that sniffer dog searches were being conducted.
According to Tinashe Farawo, a spokesman for the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the missing visitor is male and was last heard from on February 17.
The traveler was staying at a posh lodge approximately 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the rainforest area. He was traveling alone. On February 17, he informed the lodge management that he was going to the park, according to Farawo.
But according to later-reviewed CCTV footage, the man was not observed entering the park and was not counted among those who were documented as entering, as is customary for security and accountability reasons, according to Farawo.
“We have rewatched the CCTV footage, our search team has been scouring the rainforest, and physical records at the falls’ entrance show no evidence of his entry. According to Farawo, there is no indication of him.
He stated, “It appears he never entered the rainforest, so we are looking at other leads.”
Farawo said that investigations are still ongoing but provided no further information.
Similar incidents are uncommon in Victoria Falls, a popular tourist site drawing thousands of visitors from all over the world due to its magnificent water curtain that cascades more than 350 feet (108 meters) from the powerful Zambezi River to a valley below, creating a mist that is visible for miles.
To locate the Australian visitor on Friday, the parks service sent out a squad that included police, rangers with sniffing dogs, expert ground trackers, and drone operators, according to Farawo.
In other parks, a few cases have been reported. Three days after going missing in October of last year, a German visitor to northern Zimbabwe’s untamed Matusadona National Park was discovered alive and in good condition.
