News / Local
Communal residents benefit as wildlife 'pays its way'
06 Sep 2012 at 19:04hrs | Views
Bulawayo - Armed with the realisation that communal areas in Matabeleland, which are a "Treasure trove" of wildlife, Mark Butcher and his colleagues established a safari company with the sole aim of ensuring that local villagers fully benefit from the natural resources in their communities.
In pursuit of achieving this goal, Butcher set up numerous safari camps from Tsholotsho to the iconic Victoria Falls.
The aim was to establish a symbiotic relationship between these businesses, the people and wildlife; a development that saw the local people taking good care of the wildlife and thus, boosting the tourism industry in the province.
Founded in 1992, Matupula Safaris has made notable progress in realising its "dream", thereby bringing positive change and hope in the communities in which it operates.
"The idea was that we saw a niche for the need in tourism within the communal lands. Up until that time, there had been a lot of tourism in Victoria Falls and in Hwange National Park and its vicinity. There was a big boom in the tourism industry at that time. What we perceived, my partners and I, was that there was a huge vacuum in the communal lands. Poor rural communities living close to protected areas weren't being involved in tourism. Tourists were around the area. A lot of tourism was going on, but the rural people were not actually involved. So we made our mission to firstly get access to establish tourism outlets inside the communal lands, which was a huge hurdle to overcome," said Mark Butcher.
The safari outfit was established soon after the birth of the Communal Area Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) project by the then Government.
Campfire was an initiative from the Department of National Parks and was supported by a Department of Social Studies at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and USAID.
Matupula established leases with Rural District Councils (RDCs) and the modus operandi on how they were to operate their safaris within the communal lands and how they were going to pay concession fees and royalties to the RDCs. The company indicated its desire to see 85 percent of its royalties being ploughed back to the partner communities, the communal areas.
"We operate within the Tsholotsho Rural District Council, which has 27 Wards. Four or five of these Wards are at the border with the Hwange National Park. They are the ones that bear the brunt of problems from lions and elephants that come from the park and are also the most remote within the district, so have the least services being delivered to them.
"Our idea was that if we put tourism in those areas and make sure the revenue goes back to the people, they would see the benefits of tourism. Now they are actively involved in tourism. The long-term view is that when they get the benefits of tourism they will start conserving resources." he said.
The business entity operates the only distinctly community based lodge in the Victoria Falls-Hwange region. Gorges Lodge, situated in Sidobe Ward in the Hwange Communal lands, provides most of its revenue for the benefit of local people. Another lodge, Bomani, in the Ngamo area of Tsholotsho, is operated with the same concept.
Mark Butcher and his colleagues also work with foreign tourists who have expressed a desire to conduct voluntary community work in these communal areas. These are their constant customers who have spent most of their adult lives visiting the country to conduct safaris. The tourists contribute funds towards the resuscitation of schools, health facilities and domestic water supplies.
"Mainly the projects we do with them are focused on three different aspects. First is education. The schools in that area were terribly run down. We built new classroom blocks, we built teachers' accommodation, we have refurbished old teachers' accommodation. We have done a lot of work with domestic water supplies, which is obviously linked to health. Again we repaired broken down wells and where there was a shortage of wells, we dug new wells. We have got one vehicle which was originally purchased by one of our clients. It goes around the communities repairing boreholes, just like what DDF used to do," said Mark.
The apex of this was when they managed to bring into the country a team of dentists from Spain late last year, to conduct a mobile dental clinic from Tsholotsho to Hwange. The private entity worked hand in glove with the Ministry of Health in bringing in a team of 13 Spaniards to work within the borders of this wonderful country. Over 1173 villagers were given assistance in the dental related ailments.
"We had 15 people on this expedition last year. They are all high-class professionals who volunteered their services. We only provided them with accommodation and other expenses. The Ministry of Health provided us with a provincial dental surgeon, Dr Saka, who came along with his team to assist the Spanish dentists. They might be coming back this year, if all goes well. Out of the 13 that came last year, 12 have indicated that they want to come again this year.
The Spanish team was headed by Doctors Diego Romero and Sergio Morante, and the dental safari was under the theme "Sonrisas para Zimbabwe", which is Spanish for Smiles for Zimbabwe. The mobile clinic visited 5 centres in both Hwange and Tsholotsho, where the villagers received them with much jubilation and relief. The expedition carried out over 4 500 dental procedures such as pulling teeth, filling teeth and doing root canal work.
Prior to this mobile clinic, Matupula has been actively involved in empowering the locals. Mr Butcher said this has helped preserve wildlife as the villagers now feel the obligation to protect and nurture it as they gain more from this than poaching or any other environmentally degrading activities.
Matupula also directly assists schools in the districts. These include Ngamo Primary School where they built two classroom blocks. They also repaired and furnished old classrooms before establishing a secondary school in the area, Ngamo Secondary School. The school now caters for 160 pupils, all pooled from three primary schools within the vicinity.
Matupula Safaris has also provided limited support to Zika, Mlevu and Gapanyana primary schools. In Hwange they provide support to Sidobe, Chisuma and Sidinda primary schools.
The safari operation, with the assistance of a donor, was very instrumental in bringing into the country a faith-based organisation, Living Waters. The United States of America based organisation has been drilling boreholes in Tsholotsho, Matengwe and Matobo in Matabeleland South.
A safari operator, Matupula is biased towards wildlife conversation. In this regard, they administer a programme that supplies water for elephants and other wildlife in the Hwange National Park. The programmes chews up an average of 3 000 litres of diesel per month providing drinking water sufficient for over 2 000 elephants.
The enterprise recently launched photographic safaris under the "Imvelo Safari Lodges" brand name as a way diversifying its operations and in enhancing its service provision.
In pursuit of achieving this goal, Butcher set up numerous safari camps from Tsholotsho to the iconic Victoria Falls.
The aim was to establish a symbiotic relationship between these businesses, the people and wildlife; a development that saw the local people taking good care of the wildlife and thus, boosting the tourism industry in the province.
Founded in 1992, Matupula Safaris has made notable progress in realising its "dream", thereby bringing positive change and hope in the communities in which it operates.
"The idea was that we saw a niche for the need in tourism within the communal lands. Up until that time, there had been a lot of tourism in Victoria Falls and in Hwange National Park and its vicinity. There was a big boom in the tourism industry at that time. What we perceived, my partners and I, was that there was a huge vacuum in the communal lands. Poor rural communities living close to protected areas weren't being involved in tourism. Tourists were around the area. A lot of tourism was going on, but the rural people were not actually involved. So we made our mission to firstly get access to establish tourism outlets inside the communal lands, which was a huge hurdle to overcome," said Mark Butcher.
The safari outfit was established soon after the birth of the Communal Area Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) project by the then Government.
Campfire was an initiative from the Department of National Parks and was supported by a Department of Social Studies at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ) and USAID.
Matupula established leases with Rural District Councils (RDCs) and the modus operandi on how they were to operate their safaris within the communal lands and how they were going to pay concession fees and royalties to the RDCs. The company indicated its desire to see 85 percent of its royalties being ploughed back to the partner communities, the communal areas.
"We operate within the Tsholotsho Rural District Council, which has 27 Wards. Four or five of these Wards are at the border with the Hwange National Park. They are the ones that bear the brunt of problems from lions and elephants that come from the park and are also the most remote within the district, so have the least services being delivered to them.
"Our idea was that if we put tourism in those areas and make sure the revenue goes back to the people, they would see the benefits of tourism. Now they are actively involved in tourism. The long-term view is that when they get the benefits of tourism they will start conserving resources." he said.
The business entity operates the only distinctly community based lodge in the Victoria Falls-Hwange region. Gorges Lodge, situated in Sidobe Ward in the Hwange Communal lands, provides most of its revenue for the benefit of local people. Another lodge, Bomani, in the Ngamo area of Tsholotsho, is operated with the same concept.
Mark Butcher and his colleagues also work with foreign tourists who have expressed a desire to conduct voluntary community work in these communal areas. These are their constant customers who have spent most of their adult lives visiting the country to conduct safaris. The tourists contribute funds towards the resuscitation of schools, health facilities and domestic water supplies.
"Mainly the projects we do with them are focused on three different aspects. First is education. The schools in that area were terribly run down. We built new classroom blocks, we built teachers' accommodation, we have refurbished old teachers' accommodation. We have done a lot of work with domestic water supplies, which is obviously linked to health. Again we repaired broken down wells and where there was a shortage of wells, we dug new wells. We have got one vehicle which was originally purchased by one of our clients. It goes around the communities repairing boreholes, just like what DDF used to do," said Mark.
The apex of this was when they managed to bring into the country a team of dentists from Spain late last year, to conduct a mobile dental clinic from Tsholotsho to Hwange. The private entity worked hand in glove with the Ministry of Health in bringing in a team of 13 Spaniards to work within the borders of this wonderful country. Over 1173 villagers were given assistance in the dental related ailments.
"We had 15 people on this expedition last year. They are all high-class professionals who volunteered their services. We only provided them with accommodation and other expenses. The Ministry of Health provided us with a provincial dental surgeon, Dr Saka, who came along with his team to assist the Spanish dentists. They might be coming back this year, if all goes well. Out of the 13 that came last year, 12 have indicated that they want to come again this year.
The Spanish team was headed by Doctors Diego Romero and Sergio Morante, and the dental safari was under the theme "Sonrisas para Zimbabwe", which is Spanish for Smiles for Zimbabwe. The mobile clinic visited 5 centres in both Hwange and Tsholotsho, where the villagers received them with much jubilation and relief. The expedition carried out over 4 500 dental procedures such as pulling teeth, filling teeth and doing root canal work.
Prior to this mobile clinic, Matupula has been actively involved in empowering the locals. Mr Butcher said this has helped preserve wildlife as the villagers now feel the obligation to protect and nurture it as they gain more from this than poaching or any other environmentally degrading activities.
Matupula also directly assists schools in the districts. These include Ngamo Primary School where they built two classroom blocks. They also repaired and furnished old classrooms before establishing a secondary school in the area, Ngamo Secondary School. The school now caters for 160 pupils, all pooled from three primary schools within the vicinity.
Matupula Safaris has also provided limited support to Zika, Mlevu and Gapanyana primary schools. In Hwange they provide support to Sidobe, Chisuma and Sidinda primary schools.
The safari operation, with the assistance of a donor, was very instrumental in bringing into the country a faith-based organisation, Living Waters. The United States of America based organisation has been drilling boreholes in Tsholotsho, Matengwe and Matobo in Matabeleland South.
A safari operator, Matupula is biased towards wildlife conversation. In this regard, they administer a programme that supplies water for elephants and other wildlife in the Hwange National Park. The programmes chews up an average of 3 000 litres of diesel per month providing drinking water sufficient for over 2 000 elephants.
The enterprise recently launched photographic safaris under the "Imvelo Safari Lodges" brand name as a way diversifying its operations and in enhancing its service provision.
Source - www.zddt.org
