ABCF Conservation projects

Mitigating human-wildlife conflict remains a core focus for our foundation as we constantly strive to find ways to support the communities living near our national parks, protecting their livestock from wildlife and reducing revenge killings and animal poaching in the national park.

We have recently completed erecting an elephant-safe barrier around the school garden at Maunga primary.

A herd of elephants passed through the village and ate all the produce grown in the garden, which was the much-needed supplementary meals for the feeding scheme running at the school. The fencing of the school with elephant spikes made from stones will prevent the elephants from entering the garden as the edge of the stones creates a pricking sensation on the soles of the feet of elephants.

This method is safer for the elephants and the children at the school as opposed to the electric fencing of the garden as it causes no harm to the animals. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of our conservation efforts. 

Human Wildlife conflict and co-existing with wildlife remains a critical part of our conservation efforts because the balance between protecting livestock and the livelihoods of the community while protecting wildlife from poaching, remains the key to advancing our conservation efforts in the national park.

We have completed the freezer storage project in Mana pools which will allow us to continue to provide meat rations to 80 rangers and their families in the area. Our ranger ration programs is currently supply 1080KG of beef meat to the community on a month basis. The aim of this project is to reduce wildlife poaching in the nation park which is on the increase as many of the community will turn to poaching wildlife to feed their families. The freezer storage which is powered by solar power will store the meat supply that is distributed to rangers monthly. 

This project will go a long way towards increasing the wildlife population in the area.

Our human-wildlife co-existence project, in partnership with Wildlife Conservation Action (WCA) and Bumi Hills Anti-Poaching Unit (BHAPU), has been in full swing since January 2022.

BOMA Initiative  

Our mobile lion bomas are a critical tool in our efforts to mitigate human-wildlife conflict in the community. Regular assessments, maintenance and repairs were carried out on the lion bomas in the community. We replaced the material covers for most of the bomas to prevent easy access into the boma by lions and other predators. The bomas are heavily affected by the rainy season this year as the weakening of the soil due to muddy grounds causes the structures to sag. We moved the bomas that were affected by the rain to more stable and dryer ground. Moving the bomas remains beneficial in fertilising the soil in the new area. 

Conservation Clubs  

Our conservation club in Mangwara is ongoing, with a club set to open in Mayovhe in July 2022. The Mangwara club has 20 pupils, and we have recently updated the training materials and program at the clubs. The club provides regular training to learners on the importance of conservation and wildlife. Through this initiative, we are equipping learners with the knowledge and skills that they need to play their part in effectively and safely conserving wildlife and natural resources in their communities. These clubs are the critical link between education and conservation as well as bridging the knowledge gap among families and communities on co-existing with wildlife along the border of the national park.  

 We are grateful for your ongoing support and  generous donations towards our conservation efforts in Zimbabwe. 

We have had a very progressive start to Q1 of 2022 with our projects on the ground starting to gain moment after the slow down that we have all experienced with the Covid 19 pandemic and Detla variant. Below are some highlights from the activity on the ground in our conservation project in Zimbabwe 

The 19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on the livelihoods of poor communities and individuals who rely on tourism as a source of income to feed their families. This has a knock-on effect on wildlife as animal poaching is steadily increasing. We are seeing more wildlife shootings in our parks for meat supplies as the community is actively poaching animals in a desperate attempt to feed their families.

In the past two years:

• Animal poaching has increased in our parks
• An average of 20 Elephants are poached for commercial poaching a year
• Small antelope and bushmeat are poached by the community for meat.

We built an additional anti-poaching unit  which will give the National Parks additional capacity. The unit is a fully equipped and resourced anti-poaching operation base. We also launched a Ranger Protein Supplement Program as part of our support to 80 Rangers and their families who live and co-exist alongside the wildlife in the parks. For the preservation of wildlife, we have also stopped the harvesting of animals in the parks by providing an alternative source of protein.

We are grateful for the ongoing support towards our projects and our foundation