PEOPLE spot dreadlocks to show that they are Rastafarians; while some don locks just as a style.
However, in some African tourist resort areas, wearing dreadlocks is done to sexually entice elderly and young rich white men and women by young black men.
Trapped by enticing marriage announcements on internet sites, chat rooms, or even classified sections of certain magazines, a number of young black men and women have found themselves caught up in a web of sex tourism and pornographic networks in Western countries.
Indeed, the bodies of these young women and men have become sexual objects.
They are engaging in some of the most revolting and twisted wicked sexual appetites of some white men and women.
To the rich white elderly tourists, young dreadlocked black males, some as young as 15, or younger, are abused.
They provide cheap sex, similarly white rich old men have pounced on innocent girls and subjected them to sexual slavery.
An investigation in the resort town of Victoria Falls showed that sex tourism has become ‘lucrative’, especially during the festive season.
Although many people have flocked to the resort area to enjoy the splendour of the mighty Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls), the smoke that thunders, unsuspecting young men and women have ended up entangled in the web of sex tourism.
Apparently, most Western white women prefer unprotected sex with blacks.
Girls offer themselves to ‘agents’, mostly tour guides, who are in constant touch with rich elderly white tourists and other clients.
The girls are later introduced to potential ‘high paying’ foreign and local clients for sex and the ‘agents’ are later paid a percentage from the girls’ earnings.
So closely knit is the tourism sex network, that it is hard to notice what goes on behind the scenes, however, the higher female and male dreadlocked population easily gives away the illicit trade.
Those involved in sex tourism have confessed of harrowing tales at the hands of cruel white men who subject them to inhumane sexual acts.
Some of the cruel acts include chaining the women on beds and lashing them with leather whips; some have had their private parts twisted with metal thongs while pornographic videos are shot.
Fear, confusion and mutual lack of understanding combine to perpetuate the abuse and exploitation of these young people.
Disturbingly, sex tourism is on the increase with those involved conspiring to keep it a secret.
The victims in most instances, are ashamed to report and if they do, the authorities have not been quick to act or the tourist ‘vanishes’.
The high level of sexual exploitation has resulted in the mushrooming of brothels under the guise of guest houses.
While most of the attractions for sex tourists seem to be the bars in Victoria Falls and along highways, they are definitely not the only red light districts.
There are a number of secret ‘massage parlours’ in town that are, in reality, brothels.
Some of the young men openly boast of having had sexual intercourse with elderly white women in exchange for money, trips to Europe and flashy gadgets like mobile phones, cameras and clothing.
Some have even married these rich elderly white people in order to migrate to Western countries.
There are also reports of young men who have been ‘married’ by the white women and have been taken overseas, while the unlucky ones are bed-ridden or suffering from sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV and AIDS.
A study carried out in 2010 in Africa’s tourist cities described ‘rampant’ male prostitution with middle-aged northern European women known as ‘sexual buyers’.
It is estimated that 650 000 Western women have engaged in sex travel since 2000 with a good number of them going to island countries such as Jamaica.
The law-enforcement agencies and the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) have failed to stem the scourge of sex tourism because of different legal statutes in individual countries.
While there is a Tourism Police Unit in Victoria Falls, they have often found it difficult to deal with this vice for lack of clear laws on the matter.
The number of sex workers in transit to other cities has also made it difficult to monitor who the culprits are.
For instance, during the night, hordes of young women and males flock from nearby Livingstone in Zambia to Victoria Falls where they spend the night and leave in the morning.
The presence of teenage patrons in bars and nightclubs has also greatly contributed to this moral decay and sexual exploitation.
There seems to be no age limits to patrons even in the five star hotels as they attract wealthy white customers to the places.
The growing rate of sex tourism in Africa’s tourist destinations is a worrying trend which promotes sexual exploitation of Africa’s young generations.
It has also put a damper on the HIV and AIDS fight in the respective tourist destinations.