CONCRETE SOLUTIONS FOR EVERYDAY ISSUES
The Zambezi Wildlife Trust (ZWT) is an organisation dedicated to ensuring that communities within the Lower Zambezi Conservation Area benefit from wildlife conservation, and local wildlife tourism.
Established in 2017 and founded upon the knowledge that, while the Lower Zambezi National Park was generally well-protected, key areas that form the buffer zone to the west of the Park suffered higher levels of poaching and infringements. We believe that maintaining the integrity of this buffer zone is integral to ensuring the on-going and future success of wildlife conservation efforts in the Lower Zambezi Conservation Area.
By actively supporting the work of the local authorities (Department of National Parks and Wildlife) we want to empower the communities in the Chiawa Game Management Area (GMA), and those within the Lower Zambezi Conservation Area as a whole. The ZWT recognises that this can only be achieved with the support of local people, who should be active participants in, and beneficiaries of, the local wildlife tourism economy.
OUR FOCUS: CHIAWA GMA
A Game Management Area (GMA) is defined as a buffer zone around a National Park within which licensed safari hunting is allowed. It is intended to be an area where local people coexist with wildlife and as such, are permitted to undertake subsistence farming.
ZWT’s principle aim is to work with the DPNW and other conservation organizations to promote the protection of the Western GMA and enhance community benefits from conservation. The organization aims to promote sustainable conservation practises, partnering with tourism institutions that exist in the Park itself and local area.
Zambezi Wildlife Trust is the nonprofit initiative of Anabezi Camp in Lower Zambezi National Park. While conservation within the park is well-managed, the focus of ZWT is to support the communities living just outside this protected area.
The organization is overseen by a board of directors and governed by the articles of association. The ZWT is headed up by Jealous "Chops" Nyandowo, who, even at the age of 34, is a veteran of conservation in the Lower Zambezi. Chops sits on the board of Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) and is based in the Lower Zambezi on Zambezia Farm. Chops leads a scout team of 6 men and facilitates the ZWT community project initiatives.