Kafue River

Certain countries and hotels are repeatedly brought to our attention for the way they train locals, pay for schools, invest in local artists, buy medicine, fund anti-poaching – if it’s not Costa Rica, it’s any number of lodges in Kenya or a resort in Indonesia. But one rather unusual candidate has started popping up in recent months – Zambia.

The Bushcamp Company's Chindeni Camp, South Luangwa

Until a decade ago, Zambia was relatively unknown to travelers looking at Africa as a first-time destination. Its economy small, it didn’t have the resources to fund the kind of international tourism campaigns of South Africa or Tanzania. So it has always come across as an also-ran, second or third choice. Its best national parks, South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi, have also never had the cachet of the Serengeti or the Masai Mara.

Sausage Tree Camp, Lower Zambezi

In a way, though, this off-the-radarness might have contributed to Zambia’s charm today. There are 19 national parks, none of them nearly as crammed with lodges as Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa, with the competition good and yet friendly. The philosophy among operators seems to be less about being cut-throat than about working together towards a common goal. And the goal is to take care of the country without and within.

The SLCS on Patrol

First in a notable series of initiatives is Zambian Horizons, a group of lodges that, despite being competitors, pool their resources to publicize the country. At this year’s Indaba, the huge annual African travel-trade powwow in Durban, South Africa, these camps walked away with most Best Of awards. Working together has worked for them individually.

Inside the country the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS) keeps tabs on conservation at every level. More than a dozen camps and lodges participate, including Flatdogs, Robin Pope Safaris, and Norman Carr Safaris. (See more). Each camp often does its own work too, generating small offshoot projects, and offering trips to local communities or craftspeople. Robin Pope Safaris is a case in point.

The Victoria Falls, Zambia

As in any country with parkland and a burgeoning population nearby clamoring for land, there is a knock-on effect. Animals get poached for commercial reasons, for sustenance, or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some get shot for damaging farmers’ crops.

The School Gets New Chairs

By the early ’90’s, the Zambian Wildlife Authority was struggling to tackle the problem of increased poaching. Local tour operators and lodges offered to help ZAWA by providing scouts, whose salaries needed to be paid and who required uniforms, vehicles, and training. For this they carried out fundraising drives. And so was born the Rapid Action Team – better known as Ratz.

Planting New Trees

Over time the lodge operators and the Ratz team realized there was a lot more they could do, especially in terms of the conflict between humans and wildlife, education, and wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. Ratz became the SLCS, and its programs have expanded and flourished. In 2009, it even started a mini-marathon, which drew scouts, police, farmers, schoolchildren, teachers, and members of the Zambian Air Force. At the last event there were more than 300 runners. This year, it launched an Eco Awards program that is focused solely on local works.

Project Luangwa, meanwhile, is a charitable organization supported by five safari operators in South Luangwa – besides Flatdogs and Robin Pope, there is Kafunta River Lodge, Shenton Safaris, and Crocodile Valley Camp. It aims to help local communities improve their long-term economic prospects while also avoiding a negative impact on the environment and wildlife. By developing and improving schools, creating a vocational training center, and supporting the micro-financing of small businesses, it tries to give families the chance of a lasting and sustainable income.

Working with Chilies

Among Project Luangwa’s innovative projects is one to keep elephants and other wildlife away from crops by using chilies. Yes, chilies. The peppers are used to make fences and are also added to bricks made of elephant dung that are burned at nighttime to keep animals away. Locals are offered chili seedlings to grow themselves. Project Luangwa also builds schools (check out its website to get an idea of its range of activities).

On the Zambezi River

In the Lower Zambezi national park, SLCS’s equivalent is Conservation Lower Zambezi. Members include Sausage Tree Camp and Chiawa. For the past 8 years it has been funded largely by the Danish Embassy, which has allowed it to buy a plane and establish a base camp outside the park boundaries. From its environmental education center, it runs a mobile education unit, media promotion, and safari guide training.

That many travelers to Zambia don’t know about these projects says a lot about the lodges and operators that fund and run them. They could shout their achievements from the rooftops, but they rather focus on giving their guests a great safari, a great time, and a great lodge. Doing good things for the locals they do behind the scenes. For them it’s all in a day’s work.

- Caren Banks

Flatdogs is, in this day of high-end safari lodges, a good and affordable alternative. Owner managed, the camp overlooks the Luangwa River in the South Luangwa National Park.

The Treehouse Master Bedroom

With its choice of chalets, safari tents, and the exclusive Jackal-berry Treehouse, Flatdogs is ideal for many a traveler, from honeymooner to family (it is one of the few children-friendly camps) to diehard return visitor. Guests can drive themselves to the camp or fly into Mfuwe airport and start their safari from there. Many safari camps and lodges have a set menu (albeit with one or two choices per course), but Flatdogs has an a la carte menu that allows guests to choose their meals daily.

The Treehouse

The quality of the safari guiding is well known in the region. The guides, eight of them at present, who all come from the area, are a fund of information not only on indigenous culture but also on the history of the area and local conservation practices.

What They Are Doing

Chiyembekezo is a school that was set up entirely by local people for orphaned and vulnerable children. Kelvin, the founder, was concerned about the number of children he found walking the streets, fishing with their fathers, and generally not attending school. With their own money, he and a couple of other local businessmen hired a teacher (a fantastically committed woman named Dailes, who they paid when they could) and started a school in a small house. From there it has grown, and when it was providing education to fifty children five mornings a week Kelvin asked Flatdogs advice about raising funds.

Impressed with his commitment and initiative, the camp happily offered to help. Through combined fund=raising efforts, the teacher’s salary is paid, uniforms for the children are bought, and educational resources provided. The school uses St Agnes’ Anglican Church for classes, and Flatdogs recently helped install electricity and repainted the interior of the building. Future plans include the construction of a small secure storeroom, the upgrading of the playground, and sending Dailes for further training.

Flatdogs has also assisted Mfuwe Secondary School by building two classroom blocks, and it is raising funds for items such as new desks. At present Flatdogs repairs all broken desks from schools in the area.

Fresh from the Garden

Produce at Flatdogs is locally grown, and the camp has helped finance the installation of a water pump to help a local named Rodgers with his irrigation. In its own garden, the camp grows herbs and vegetables and will be helping Mfuwe Secondary School do the same to encourage kids to learn about conservation-savvy farming practices and about the variety of fruit and vegetables suitable for the local soil.

Wake Up!

Flatdogs makes a careful point of not buying only locally. “Buy too much of a scarce commodity,” it says, “and prices rise beyond the reach of local people. So we try to balance our needs, the demands of the business, and the prosperity of local people.” When Flatdogs requires lots of a product in short supply, it encourages Rodgers to grow plenty of it. So every tomato in camp will be local, but none of the fish will be, because it is a valuable protein source for locals and, says Flatdogs, “we want to keep prices down.”

At Chiyembekezo School

Flatdogs is involved in various women’s projects promoting women’s rights and independence by encouraging continued education and careers. It works with Project Luangwa through Eunice Nakachinda, who runs small projects in local villages, particularly with the aim of getting girls into school. Most girls are keen to learn, but they are often required to stay at home to help the family, so her project is one of educating the villagers on the value of education for all children.

Rodgers at Work

The camp also takes about 100 local children on safari each year to teach them the benefits of animals and to show them how peaceful they are in their own environments, to dispel the fear they have of animals who wander into villages at night. Each of Flatdog’s eight guides takes a vehicle full of kids out in the low season. The children are usually in their last two years of school, and most of them belong to the conservation clubs at their school. “We target these children because a couple of other local tourism operators offer something similar but for younger age groups.”

Besides solar heating for water, Flatdogs has some innovative recycling programs. Paper and cardboard go to schools to turn into bricks for cooking. Cans go to Mango Tree Crafts (based at Tribal Textiles), who use them to make a variety of quirky products. Glass and plastic go to Lusaka.

Click here for a Tribal Textiles video

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Mchenja Camp

Who They Are

Norman Carr Safaris consists of  Kapani Lodge , an eight-room luxury lodge  adjacent to the South Luangwa National Park, and four seasonal luxurious bush camps, dotted in isolated areas of the park, each with its own personality (some tented, some built with reeds). Even though they are called bush camps, they are completely rebuilt every season, all en-suite with open-air showers and no attention to detail spared.

Kapani Lodge

Unlike many camps in the area, which have to be temporary structures because of heavy rains November through May, Kapani is open year-round. Besides game drives and boat excursions, you can take walks from bush camp to bush camp.

What They Are Doing

Education

Norman Carr started the Kapani School Project in 1986 to assist a “casual” school already there. Guests are invited to visit the school (if they express a desire), where they meet the teachers and the children, and hopefully feel inclined to leave donations. The company provides all administration and support, and employ several people to run the administration side of the project. The primary aim is to provide education (including books and clothing) to local children who would otherwise have none.

NCS also looks after the infrastructure of Yosefe School, between Mfuwe and the park, and over the years has built three classroom blocks, six houses for teachers, a fully stocked library, ablution blocks, a laboratory, and a borehole that provides drinking water for the whole community.

Library at Kapani School

In addition, Yosefe also has a tree-planting project that is managed by NCS at the school, but maintained by the children. There are a couple of “plantations” at Yosefe School, and in the past NCS has given trees to the children to plant in their villages, although this has been dormant for a couple of years. The society also manages a community school in the Mfuwe area.

Medicine

NCS supports (along with about ten other safari operators in the Mfuwe area) the Kakumbi Clinic Project, which brings out a doctor from overseas for up to six months and provides health care to the community. The project also maintains the local clinic and provides medicines.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBjUtdpBg7g

Wildlife

NCS is a corporate sponsor and member of the South Luangwa Conservation Society, which works in conjunction with the Zambia Wildlife Authority to protect and conserve natural resources (see video, above). The society funds an anti-poaching team to patrol the park who are trained, fitted with uniforms and anti-poaching gear, housed and fed. Animals that are found caught in snares are darted, the snares removed, and medical assistance provided.

Other

In order to help locals protect their crops from elephants, the society grows chillies that they then teach farmers how to use as a deterrent.

Norman Carr

In Their Own Words

“Ever since Norman Carr first started operating safaris in the Luangwa valley back in 1950, the concept of managing the wildlife and the ecosystem in conjunction with, and for the benefit of, its traditional owners – the local communities – is something that has been very important to our company. He was a pioneer in this approach to conservation and wildlife tourism, and the company is proud to uphold his legacy.”

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The base for Robin Pope Safaris‘ operations is the small, riverside camp of Nkwali, which is close to the central Mfuwe area. Nkwali is one of  Luangwa ’s few camps that is accessible all year round. Further north, Robin Pope’s two substantial, luxurious seasonal bush camps are the much lauded Tena Tena (tented) and Nsefu. Like Nkwali, they offer 4×4 game drives and walking safaris.

Crossing the Mupamadzi in South Luangwa

For small groups and families, RPS runs two stylish safari houses, both close to Nkwali: the two-bedroom Robin’s House and the four-bedroom Luangwa Safari House and both come equipped with their own staff (chef, guides, and 4WD vehicles)  so you may set your own schedules.

Bed with a View, Nkwali

Perhaps the most famous holidays from Robin Pope Safaris are their walking safaris, which utilize small  camps, walk-in tents, mattresses on the ground (with fine linens), shared bucket shower, bush loos). These ‘mobiles’ are organized about 18-24 months in advance, and often sell out swiftly; they run on fixed dates through the year. The properties offer game drives, walking, and boating, all with excellent guides.

Mobile Safari Tent

What They Are Doing

Education

The Kawaza School Fund focuses on education in the Nsefu Chiefdom (an area in the South Luangwa section of Zambia).  Efforts are aimed at building schools, paying for teachers in order to improve the children-to-teacher ratio.  The government does not provide adequate teachers for schools, and there is a shortage generally in the country. Also, it is hard to get teachers to come to

Kawaza School

the rural areas.  They prefer towns, where there is electricity and water. The fund also provides educational equipment and sponsors 50 children to do their secondary and tertiary education. Only basic education is free. There are no secondary schools in the area, and no colleges, so anyone going to either has to find boarding, which is very expensive.  Many poor rural families and the increasing number of AIDS orphans cannot afford to go beyond basic schooling. The fund also has a volunteer program, where qualified people from abroad come and stay at one of the schools and teach.

Medicine

Robin Pope Safaris was the founding member of the Luangwa Safari Association Medical Fund. The lodges in the area pool money and organize for a volunteer doctor to live there and work at the local clinic. Over the last ten years the scheme has raised money to renovate the clinic, build new staff houses, and, whenever there is a need, buy or provide medication for epidemics. Do they also pay for other medicines? Not unless a situation gets desperate. The government provides monthly drug allowance to the clinic.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtzIaeikzDY

Sindabezi Island

Tongabezi is a small, owner-operated luxury lodge on the banks of the Zambezi River. There are five gorgeous chalets set on the river, and five open-fronted houses built into the landscape, some with trees growing through them, creatively using the natural environment to make stunning rooms.  Each one has its own butler to take care of every need.

Sindabezi, a sister property, is located on a private island in the Zambezi, about a five-minute boat ride from Tongabezi and fifteen kilometers upstream from the Victoria Falls. This more remote camp has five open-sided chalets under thatched roofs. Activities at both properties include game drives in the Mosi-o-Tunya National Park, trips to the Victoria Falls, village visits, canoeing, guided bush walks with picnics on local islands. The romantic San Pan dinners are served on a pontoon floating in the river.

Tree House at Tongabezi

What They Are Doing

Education

Tongabezi owners Vanessa and Ben Parker originally started the Tujutane School for the staff and owners’ children but it now has 170 local kids at the primary level.  The school is self-financing and is run by Vanessa, who employs personnel and does fund-raising and everything needed to run the school. Tongabezi provides logistical support, such as electricity and housing for visiting teachers. The school employs over fifteen people.

Tujatane School

Medicine

Tongabezi supports the USAID/SHARE AIDS program.  It has an internally appointed staff welfare committee that, among other things, assists staff who are HIV-positive.  Tongabezi gives  the committee a monthly donation that it can spend at its discretion, and it is currently helping at least four HIV-positive staff members with treatment.  Tongabezi sends several staff to Share AIDS programs, where they learn about AIDS in the workplace and receive training in counseling.

Other

Tongabezi has several smaller projects that include helping staff with soft and interest-free loans to purchase and develop land.  As a result, at least twelve staff members now have plots of land in Livingstone.