IFAW-ZimParks partnership bears fruit

Simba Jemwa at Hwange National Park

THE conservation partnership between Zimbabwe National Parks (ZimParks) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has begun to bear fruit with several projects being implemented in the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North Province nearing completion.

IFAW and ZimParks signed a five-year agreement in 2019 which became effective in 2020 that was meant to unlock US$1 million per year over five years towards various projects in the park.

In the last two years, IFAW has poured in US$2 million for projects which include the construction of the new Makona Camp where staff quarters and offices and an operations workshop are almost complete.

Another project includes the refurbishment of the road from the Main Camp to Makona Camp while Nyamandlovu Pan was scooped of mud to ensure a reliable source of water at the popular game viewing platform.

Water pumps within the over 14 000 square kilometre park have also been powered with solar.

Officials said IFAW has also funded the construction of 10 semi-detached houses for security personnel from ZimParks who are in the frontline of the battle against poaching within the park.

Speaking during a media tour of the massive project last week, ZimParks spokesman Mr Tinashe Farawo expressed gratitude to IFAW for the funding which he said would enable ZimParks rangers and reaction units to effectively execute their duties.

“We are very grateful to IFAW for the funding they have provided to enable us to become more effective in our conservation efforts. We have since been able to construct houses for our rangers and reaction units at Makona Camp.

We have generally been struggling to effectively manage our conservation efforts because before the construction of these houses, our people had to travel from the Main Camp to Makona Camp but now they can live within their area of operation.

This is cost effective for us and also helps us to better manage conflicts between local communities and wild animals.”

ZimParks Matabeleland North regional manager Mr Sam Chibaya said the park has not lost a single elephant to poachers during the last two years due to robust programmes that are in place to guard against poaching.

“As far as we know, we have not had an elephant die because of poaching in the last two years although we have had mortalities we believe to be due to natural causes,” Mr Chibaya said on the sidelines of the tour.

The ZimParks officials also said an animal census is planned for this year having last had one in 2014. 

Zimparks was previously hamstrung by financial constraints, but now with the funding from IFAW, the exercise is expected to begin in July at the peak of the dry season.

IFAW has also capacitated ZimParks to replace diesel-powered generators with solar power at most of the 102 water sources within the park. In previous years, water troughs within the park were being fed by pumps powered by diesel-run generators which was both costly and labour intensive.

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