Shot in the arm for community wildlife management

THE Mahenye community which comprises mainly of Tsonga (Shangaan) people, recently received a donation of $25 000 from Community Conservation Fund Africa.

The donation will help the community to initiate tourism programmes.

Mahenye community is located near Gonarezhou National Park where Zimbabwe’s longest inland river, Save and Runde river, which has a source in the midlands meet in Chipinge South.

The community has a world record of being the pioneer of a community conservation programme named Communal Area Management for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) which operates in communities adjacent to a national park.

Under CAMPFIRE, such communities receive proceeds from wildlife sport hunting. The money from sport hunting is managed by the local rural district council on behalf of CAMPFIRE Association. Mahenye has a strong anti-poaching unit.

Mahenye CAMPFIRE started in the 1980s. Decline in tourist arrivals in the 2000s did not deter Mahenye form conservation. Today, the community has committed 8 000ha for photographic tourism under the name Jamanda Conservancy.

Chairperson of Mahenye CAMPFIRE project, Mr Liberty Chauke, said that the donation would be used for non-consumptive tourism.

Said Mr Chauke: “We shall build lodges inside Jomanda Conservancy, a cultural village and fishery project in the community.

“We are grateful for the support that we are receiving from the local authority, Chipinge Rural District Council and that of the traditional leadership. Without them, our conservation programme would have hit the rock long ago,” he said.