The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Reporter
PROFESSIONAL hunter and guide Samuel Nkomo on Thursday morning set out on another pulsating 580 kilometre walk, this time from the majestic Victoria Falls to the border town of Plumtree as part of his wildlife conservation campaign.
This will be Nkomo’s fourth undertaking and he will be walking alongside his Kenyan mentor Jimmy Justus Nyamu, who has for years undertaken such tasks across the continent to raise awareness about the importance of conserving wildlife and nature.
The walk is dubbed Ivory Belongs to Elephants and kicked off at the Victoria Falls municipality offices at 9am and will break for the day at midday at the town’s airport.
“It is a very noble thing this we are doing. We really need to raise awareness about our animals. Some species of animals are on a brink of extinction and not much is being done to prevent that. Governments in Africa should really consider revising laws on poaching and implement stiffer penalties on perpetrators.
‘Our children’s children might not get a chance to see these precious animals and we need to work collectively to prevent our animals from falling extinct,” said Nkomo.
He said they anticipated that they would complete the walk by 4 October, where they would pass through Bulawayo on 25 September.
“We will be sleeping at the airport tomorrow and make a few addresses where there are concentrations. In areas where there are no people we will not waste time and walk we will have to drive. My partner Jimmy says it is pointless to walk through an area with no people and rather save on time and energy, which we can divert to villages and other concentrations,” said Nkomo.
Nkomo needs no introduction in wildlife forums and is perceived as a self-motivated activist who works towards attaining results.
He has had a great impact in conserving wildlife through his 500km rhino walk in 2014 that overwhelmed the world.
Nkomo undertook his first and memorable walk in Zimbabwe in 2014.
His second walk was in Zambia, where he walked for 690 kilometres in 2016.
In 2017 he walked in Botswana from a Village called Kwayi to Maun for 600 kilometres.
@peterkmatika
