1st Year Progress in Mana Pools World Heritage, Zambezi River Valley, Zimbabwe

In 2019, Global Conservation supported Bushlife Conservancy and the International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF) for park and wildlife protection programs, equipment, and support to protect Mana Pools World Heritage Site and adjacent areas in the Lower Zambezi River Valley, Zimbabwe. Additional support was made available to the Zambezi Society for prosecution support and aerial surveillance.

Over the past 12 months, ZimParks Director General Mr. Fulton Mangwanya approved and supported all Global Conservation efforts to deploy Global Park Defense in Mana Pools World Heritage Park, including satellite communications, digital radio upgrades, thermal long-range scopes, and cameras, with a focus on river protection.

Global Conservation has five primary goals in supporting Global Park Defense in Mana Pools and adjacent areas:

1. Deployment of Global Park Defense systems and communications for all Park Rangers.

2. Achieving ‘No Cut, No Kill’ within the park by increasing arrests and jail sentences.

3. Increasing the size of Mana Pools National Park to protect adjacent high-biodiversity areas by 30-50%.

4. Improving core wildlife populations by 1-2 times for endangered indicator species in 5 years.

5. Training of Park Rangers on Global Park Defense technologies and systems and training for rapid response and targeted patrolling.

Working with Bushlife Conservancy

Under the leadership of Nick Murray, the Bushlife Support Unit has been supporting ZimParks patrolling and capacity building for over a decade. Recently, with the support of Global Conservation, Bushlife has been able to multiply its funding and scale up park and wildlife protection.

Bushlife works in close coordination with Parks and Wildlife personnel to help patrol remote areas, identify, detain, and arrest poachers, monitor prosecutions and sentencing, and recover and rehabilitate stolen wildlife.

Implementing SMART Patrol Systems for all Mana Pools and employing a dedicated IT expert to set up and maintain all systems for surveillance, trailcams, patrol maps, digital radio integration, internet and wireless, laptops, and workstations.

Deploying SatSleeves donated by Global Conservation for digital satellite communications.

Image courtesy of Zambezi Society.

Bushlife provides drivers, vehicles, food, and supplies for ZimParks patrolling. These brave young men and women have undergone intensive training with ZimParks and are being deployed on the river and interior of the national park to protect wildlife.

Image courtesy of Zambezi Society

With a dedicated patrol boat from Zambezi Society and three other vessels provided by Bushlife, supported by Global Conservation, river patrols started up in December 2019, netting over 15,500 meters of illegal nets, 25 water beaters, unlicensed fishing lines, and fishing baskets. Two poachers were handed over to the Chirundu police.

Global Conservation believes wildlife poaching incursions across the river from the Zambian side of the border can be reduced by 60% with regular patrolling on the river supported by night vision and thermal imaging equipment. This equipment allows for poachers to be sighted at night and increases the safety of park rangers.

Global Conservation sent Greg Brown, head of security and logistics, to administer advanced weapons and equipment training and begin the implementation of the SMART patrol system.

The SMART Patrol system will include dedicated IT and communications personnel and a rapid response team of rangers, trail cameras, surveillance, Intel, patrol maps, digital radio communication, and an additional command center on the southern boundary. All will be integrated into the existing infrastructure to create a formattable park defense network targeting poachers and improving ranger safety.

Bushlife began elephant collaring in 2019 and with funding from Global Conservation, it has already increased the number of collars purchased for 2020. Long-term, Bushlife hopes to establish a Black Rhino Reintroduction Program once elephant poaching is under control and a viable plan for sustainability is formed.

With Global Conservation support, Bushlife is supplying frozen meat for ranger rations to replace the wild game hunting being done previously by Mana Pools rangers and their families, as well as providing quantities of dried fish for the ranger’s village. The economic situation in Zimbabwe is 1200% inflation on the USD meaning that ranger salaries are barely enough to put food on the table for their family.

In early 2019, Bushlife hired a dedicated Anti-Poaching Manager, who is doing great work with parks and ranger teams. Having been in Zambezi Valley Parks working for the past 12 years, he has really helped to streamline our work, even more so since Bushlife purchased a manager’s vehicle for him to help in rapid deployments, servicing breakdowns, and monitoring of various projects, including engaging in operations with other remotely stationed rangers in need of vehicle support.

Summary of 2019 Patrolling Results:

• Bushlife has three vehicles up and running to reach our remote bases in the park. Vehicle deployments have continued on a daily basis
• On average, a vehicle drives 3000km/month, using 300 liters diesel
• 75 rangers are deployed in the bush on patrol per month per vehicle
• A full time mechanic is employed for working on these vehicles along with a runner in Harare procuring spares

Establishing Remote Bases and Observation Posts

Remote bases help ZimParks rangers combat poachers entering the park from the remote southern boundary and the surrounding highland areas, which are often very difficult to reach due to the terrain.

In partnership with GC, Bushlife will establish three more remote bases, including the command center on the southern boundary road near Mondo Spring. Bushlife has scheduled more road work to be completed in the next few months, including sending in a backhoe to work on river crossings so we will have improved access to the new command center base and provide better patrol routes for rangers.

One more vehicle will be a great addition to help manage these extra remote bases. Another remote base will be established in the Chewore area. The last base will be established in an undisclosed location and will remain hidden for as long as possible. In addition, two existing remote bases will be refurbished to improve living conditions and increase morale.

Police and Private Investigations: Anti-Poaching and Trafficking

A 4x4 SUV was provided by Bushlife and Global Conservation to support the Kariba branch, so we now have two vehicles operational in investigations. A lot of work is being done in the areas surrounding the valley and community reports of poachers coming into the area are being logged and we are able to alert ranger teams who are the boots on the ground. Regular patrolling and the presence of rangers have been a big deterrent to poachers. There have been at least four cases where early warning by informers has kept poachers out of the valley.

Other work by the Bushlife Investigations Unit includes:

• 3 days roadblock checking for contraband with the police
• Patrolling dams for illegal fishing
• 6 fish poachers arrested- 46 kgs fish recovered
• Bush meat poachers with porcupine arrested
• 3 Pangolin recovered and 4 people arrested
• Two incursions into Mana Pools stopped based on intel from informers
• Poachers were sighted in village next to park and discouraged by show of boots on the ground
• 5 fishing vessels were impounded of illegal fishing on lake Kariba

Recently, fifteen (15) new rangers were added to the team of 11, who currently patrol Mana Pools, supported by Bushlife drivers, vehicles, food, and supplies.

Anti-Poaching Patrols

Global Conservation supports Bushlife anti-poaching patrols consisting of 4-wheel drive vehicles, each containing a driver, armed Parks rangers, and two “call signs"—three  Parks rangers each (or six rangers total)—to be stationed at remote camps and undertake daily patrols.

The driver and one armed Parks ranger stay with the vehicle and transport the patrolling rangers from camp to camp in the bush as necessary to respond to poaching reports. Currently, the patrols are covering an immense area of over 4,000 square miles, extending beyond Mana Pools and into the surrounding remote areas of Nyakasanga, Rife, and Sapi Safari areas. These patrols have been extremely effective. We will add three more areas with the addition of the new remote outposts.

With Bushlife supporting the park ranger’s anti-poaching patrols and remote camps, there were few elephant carcasses found.

Providing mobility: by increasing the number of vehicles available, Bushlife has increased the number of ranger deployments, proving to be a major disruption to poaching activity and an essential element in maintaining momentum and expanding the reach of rangers in the entire lower Zambezi area.

Rations for Rangers: Ensuring they have adequate food as they patrol is essential.

Re-Training of Rangers​: Rangers need coaching on the most effective anti-poaching efforts and tactics.

Data Collection:​ Reliable data is key to understanding the current state of anti-poaching efforts and successes. We hope to standardize the collection of data in this region, collate the data, and provide analyses to guide the most effective methods in the prevention of poaching.

Intelligence and Prosecution​: Bushlife, Parks intelligence, International Anti Poaching Foundation, and a number of other organisations in the Zambezi Valley are supporting the increase of overall capacity to gather intelligence and convert this intelligence into effective prosecutions resulting in conviction and lengthy sentences. Intelligence gathering remains the most effective tool in convicting wildlife criminals. Intelligence coupled with modern tools and technology allows rangers and other law enforcement entities to intercept poachers before they can make a kill.

Expected 2020 Outcomes:

1. Increased ground coverage of rangers to further disrupt poaching activities; enhanced ranger confidence due to retraining protocol
2. Improved data collection
3. Improvements in intelligence and prosecutions
4. A decline in number of elephants lost to poaching
5. Stronger stakeholder presence building trust and acting as a deterrent to poaching activity, plus improved planning for rainy season hot spots for poaching activity
6. Implementation of modern technology

Images courtesy of IAPF / Adrian Steirn

Supporting Akashinga and IAPF Lead Ranger Training

Global Conservation supports both the Akashinga and IAPF Lead Ranger Training programs.

Akashinga is a community-driven conservation model led and implemented by IAPF, empowering disadvantaged women to restore and manage large networks of wilderness areas as an alternative economic model to trophy hunting.

The program was started in the Phundundu Wildlife Area and vast wilderness encompassing the southern border outside the Mana Pools Park boundary. It builds an alternative approach to the militarized paradigm of ‘fortress conservation', which defends colonial boundaries between nature and humans. While still trained to deal with any situation they may face, the team has a community-driven interpersonal focus, working with rather than against the local population for the long-term benefits of their own communities and nature.

The vision of Akashinga is to replace trophy hunting as an area management tool for conservation in Africa. This achieves landscape conservation at scale: a balance of ecology, economics, ethics, and politics for the long-term preservation of large wilderness areas.

Images courtesy of IAPF / Adrian Steirn

Akashinga aims to recruit 1,000 women, protecting a network of 20 former hunting reserves by 2025—wilderness reclaimed from trophy hunting and run by women.

The women who have graduated into this program received the same law enforcement training and fulfill the same role as a male ranger, learning skills such as leadership, armed and unarmed combat, patrolling, camouflage and concealment, first aid, dangerous wildlife awareness, democratic policing, search and arrest, intelligence gathering, human rights, crime scene preservation, crisis management, firearm safety and use, and conservation ethics.

Their duties are to work with the community in order to stop illegal wildlife crime. They patrol within and around the reserve, interact with the community, liaise with local authorities, conduct regular training, and maintain a high conservation ethic. The armed unit working inside the wilderness area is supported by an unarmed village scout program that works inside the communities. The village scouts operate from their own homes each day. This gives flexibility for women to rotate around, spending more time working from home when required.

Arrested and Confiscated: Four Elephant Tusks for Sale

On the night of 20 November 2019, the Akashinga team was contacted with information about two sets of elephant tusks being sold into the black market in Zimbabwe’s Lower Zambezi Valley.

The IAPF rangers teamed up with the Minerals Flora and Fauna Unit (MFFU) of the Zimbabwe Police for the operation in Magunje. A location for the buy was arranged. Upon meeting the buyers, they were arrested, and four ivory tusks were recovered without incident. The two male suspects (aged 39 and 44) were taken into custody for processing. IAPF is pleased to be part of another successful joint operation with the MFFU.

Supporting IAPF LEADRanger Program

In 2019, Global Conservation made a $20,000 grant to IAPF for Zimbabwe to provide training for Zimbabwean leaders in wildlife protection in four areas:

Resilience​: Ranger Life Saver (field trauma care); Preventive Medicine; Stress Management; Survival & Sustainment.

Law Enforcement​: Law & Ethics; Patrolling; Ranger Defensive Tactics (use of force and associated unarmed techniques); Standard Operating Procedures; Tracking; Logging and Reporting; Emergency Procedures.

Biodiversity​: Conservation; Bush Firefighting; Wildlife Poisoning.

Investigation​s: Wildlife Crime Scene Preservation; Investigative Interviewing; Witness Statements; Basic Criminology.

For more information on International Anti-Poaching Foundation (IAPF) and Akashinga, see:

The Guardian: Zimbabwe’s Anti-Poaching Success- Women on the Frontlines

Akashinga Women Rangers Fight Poaching in Zimbabwe

Supporting the Zambezi Elephant Fund (ZEF)

The Zambezi Elephant Fund (ZEF) works collaboratively with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority, NGOs, and the private sector to develop, implement, and manage: anti-poaching operations, field equipment and supplies for rangers and support teams, anti-poaching ranger training, conservation security planning and implementation, information systems and networking, and technology and systems for anti-poaching operations.

The primary use of funding in 2019 was to conduct regular aerial patrols and surveys across the Middle and Lower Zambezi Valley (implemented by Flying for Wildlife) to track all cases of arrests for wildlife poaching in the Lower Zambezi Valley and support prosecutors in succeeding in legal cases resulting in jail and fines.

Mana Pools World Heritage: ​Outstanding Universal Value to Mankind

Mana Pools National Park is 676,600 hectares in the heart and core of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed, in conjunction with the Sapi Safari Area (118,000 ha) and Chewore Safari Area (339,000 ha) in 1984.

Mana Pools is located on the Lower Zambezi River where the floodplain turns into a broad expanse of lakes after each rainy season. As the lakes gradually dry up and recede, the region attracts many large animals in search of water, making it one of Africa's most renowned game-viewing regions.

Mana means ‘four’ in Shona, in reference to the four large permanent pools formed by the meanderings of the middle Zambezi. These 2,500 square kilometers of river frontage, islands, sandbanks, and pools, flanked by forests of mahogany, wild figs, ebonies, and baobabs, are one of the least developed national parks in Southern Africa.

Mana Pools National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that includes the adjacent Sapi Reserve and Chewore Parks Estate.