By Deliwe Ropafadzo Mhaka
INTERNATIONAL Fund For Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZIMPARKS)’s US$5 million partnership deal has begun to bring forth results with a number of projects already completed and awaiting commissioning at the Hwange National Park .
IFAW and Zimparks signed a five year agreement in 2019 which became effective the following year. According to the agreement, Ifaw is committed to funding Zimparks to the tune of US$1 million annually until 2025.
The ongoing partnership between has already injected US$2 million into the largest national park in the country for infrastructure development which includes the construction of the new Makona Camp which houses staff quarters, offices and an operations workshop already in place.
The road from the Main Camp to Makona Camp has also been refurbished 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 solar powered.
Ifaw funded the construction of 10 semi-detached houses for the Zimparks employees and this development will enable the rangers to react swiftly against poaching in the park. Each of the new homes built at Makona Camp has the capacity to house two families while an entertainment centre is also being constructed for the employees.
Speaking during a media tour of the massive project, Zimparks communications manager, Mr. Tinashe Farawo expressed gratitude to Ifaw for the funding which he said has improved the welfare of staff and will enable Zimparks rangers and reaction units to effectively execute their duties.
“We are grateful to Ifaw for the funding they have provided, it enables 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,” he said.
“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 but now they can live within their area of operation,” added Mr Farawo.
Zimparks Matabeleland North Regional Manager, Mr Sam Chibaya confirmed that Hwange National Park has not lost a single elephant to poachers in the last two years, further highlighting that the only mortalities they experienced were due to natural causes.
Hwange national park has a carrying capacity of 15 000 herd of elephants but it is currently sitting between 45 000 – 55 000 elephants.
The Zimparks officials also revealed that an animal census is planned for this year having last been done 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.
Zimparks has furnished its Mtshibi Camp veterinary laboratory courtesy of the funding . The facility was also equipped with a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) machine and now has a full time doctor on site.
In the past few years, Zimparks would have had to take samples from carcasses to Victoria Falls for testing while also calling in an external doctor whenever necessary.
