Beitbridge Border Crossing – ZA to ZIM

Beitbridge is one of, if not the largest South Africa border crossing into Zimbabwe. And this is meant to be used as a guide for anyone planning on going from Musina, South Africa to Beitbridge, Zimbabwe themselves.

Before you cross I must recommend that you contact someone from the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority to help you cross the border on the Zimbabwe side. Apparently a few years ago tourists were being harassed while entering borders and as a result were no longer coming into Zimbabwe. To combat this decrease, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority now employs people to assist tourists wanting to cross because they want tourists to come into the country. (They’ve also cracked down on the police and we were not harassed by any officers during our trip.) ZTA will assist you for FREE, although they do accept tips if you feel it is necessary. I only have Tawipa’s contact information but I was told there are two official agents and each year they are given two students to assist. That means there are 4 people you can contact at any given time. We contacted Tawipa via Whatsapp at +263 77 623 5500. But he can be found on Facebook as well as Tawipa Mpofu.

First of all, there’s some great information written by DominicanAbroad that we used to get through. It was easy, but since the process has changed slightly, I thought I would post some updated information and photos of what to expect/look for.

SOUTH AFRICA:

1. Get your gate pass at customs.
   • From the parking lot customs will be located on left. We only had to fill out make/model and registration number.
2. Go to Immigration to have passport stamped
   • This is located in a white building outside and around the corner from where customs is located
   • There can be lines depending on if any buses have arrived around the same time as you. We found that morning is best when going northward.
   • BEWARE OF TOUTS who will offer to get you through very quick. They will take your passport and then not give it back until you pay them whatever they want. (And they have your passport so you’re likely going to have to do it.)
   • I did not have to show any paperwork (American Passport)
   • BE SURE TO GET GATE PASS STAMPED if you have one
3. Car Inspection
   • This was a very easy process. You will hand over your passport and vehicle registration.
   • We were using a South African vehicle that we owned outright. But if you are driving a financed vehicle there may be additional documentation that you need from the bank. (Certified copies.) If you are driving a rental, be sure that you have your certificate of registration.
   • The officer did a brief look for required reflectors/stickers. He did not check the inside of our vehicle.
4. Hand over gate pass
   • There is an officer standing at a post just before you cross the bridge who will take your stamped gate pass.
5. Drive across bridge into Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE:

When you enter people will bombard you wanting to help you for a small fee. (Of course they say “small fee” but they will essentially have you pay extra for the process.) DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE! Contact the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority beforehand who will do it FOR FREE. We contacted Tawipa from Zim Tourism Authority via Whatsapp at +263 77 623 5500. He had filled out the paperwork ahead of time and made the whole process very smooth.

If you are using Zim Tourism Authority, they will walk you through the steps, but I did keep a few notes in case you do it yourselves.

1. Enter the Immigration and Customs building
2. Go to the Immigration counter
   • Here you will pay $30 per person for single entry visa and have your passport stamped
   • There can be a line if a bus has just arrived.
3. Go to Customs counter outside
   • We exited the office and headed to a small post outside where we had something stamped. I am not sure what was stamped or why this was necessary.
4. Go to Customs counter inside
   • Here you will pay $50 USD for road tax and third party insurance.
   • If you have a $100 bill that you want to break, this is a good place to get change.
5. Go into police building to get gate pass
   • The building is located directly across from customs. Two flags were flying out front. We entered to the left and went around the back to a small office.
   • You must show a certified copy of registration and letter from the bank
   • The police officer may threaten to send you back to South Africa to get a certified copy. (Or may ask for a bribe.) In our case, we had allowed a South African native to cross with us and he did not have the certified copy. Tawipa was able to talk to them to let him pass without it.
6. Hand in gate pass
   • Officer will look at your vehicle and take the gate pass
7. Exit

Beware of people on the streets wanting to convert money. The new currency is a 5 dollar bond note. At the time of our visit $1USD was worth $15ZBN, but likely will be worth more soon. You will not be able to exchange this money back so you only want to get as much as you need. We exchanged over enough (~$20) to cover tolls as they will not take anything other than ZBN. USD is often accepted places, but they are using bond notes as the official currency.

We also got a sim card from ECONET. Per the locals, Econet has the best service. If you want to buy a sim card, there are people selling them on the side of the street or there is an Econet store in a plaza at -22.202738, 29.992151. The sim card was free. It was 82 bonds for 750mb of airtime and we gave an additional $10USD for 150 more bonds of reserved “airtime.” Can top off by dialing *143# to put that reserve airtime on sim after initial 750mg is done. *125# is to check balance.

South Africa process in photos:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Zimbabwe process in photos:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

PS – if you found this helpful, you may want to find @budgetbirders on instagram. I created a video detailing the process and you can find that in the highlights as “Zim border crossing”