Wildlife rangers work under extremely challenging conditions from being exposed to bad weather, difficult terrain and armed poachers. In Kasanka National Park (KNP), the Resource Protection Unit has been instrumental in combatting poaching activities, guarding the protected areas and preventing illegal land encroachment. Our scouts are always on the frontline of conservation, 24/7. Kasanka Trust Ltd (KTL) directly funds each scout's salary, trainings, rations and equipment.
KNP is home to valuable species such as the seasonal colony of 10 million straw-coloured bats. However, poaching and land encroachment have posed extreme threats to its integrity. In 2021 alone, 38 arrests and 1,973 recoveries of poaching accessories were recorded. Since 2018, 2 private corporations have cleared more than 1,200 ha for commercial agriculture in the protected landscape. These current threats require immediate and effective law enforcement to safeguard the park's rich biodiversity.
KTL's 52 scouts are strategically stationed across the Kasanka landscape, ensuring the park is protected from any external threat day and night. The resource protection programme is based on a combination of outposts, checkpoints, patrols, intelligence work and poachers' transformation programmes. With continued funding, KTL ensures that every scout receives the needed training, tools, equipment and salary, as they risk their own lives to protect KNP and its surrounding landscape.
Safeguarding KNP from external threats through effective law enforcement ensures that its exceptional resource values are conserved. KNP is home to possibly the world's largest mammal migration. Up to 10 million straw-coloured fruit bats migrate to KNP from across Central Africa to feed on abundant indigenous fruits. It also has the second longest bird list of all national parks in Zambia and has a healthy and diverse complex of rivers and a unique small-scale diversity of intact habitats.
