2006 Archives
These pages have been compiled from various news reports relevant to conservation, wildlife and environment in Zimbabwe since the beginning of the 'Accellerated Land Redistribution' campaign in 2000. They have been arranged in chronological order and are being compiled in order to achieve a more holistic view of what has happened in Zimbabwe over the last four years--from a conservation perspective. We have been somewhat selective in the posting of these reports to avoid tedious duplication, or misinformation but if there is something we have missed please contact us.
November/December 2006
28 December - 700 Families to Be Relocated... About 700 families of the Chitsa clan, who have been living in the Gonarezhou National Park since 2000, will be relocated to alternative land at the end of the cropping season, the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has said.
[Ed: I've heard this story before - 20 Oct 2005 to be precise]
28 December - Ivory Sales Remain Suspended... Ivory sales remain suspended for the fifth month following the industry's failure to produce a proper working document to be used in the monitoring and regulation of ivory trade.
28 December - Blitz Nets 16 290 Gold Panners... At least 16 290 gold panners have been arrested countrywide while about 3,2 kilogrammes of gold worth over $51,7 million and 4 876 pieces of diamond have been recovered since the launch of Operation Chikorokoza Chapera/Isitsheketsha Sesiphelile, police have said.
25 December - Environmental Protection Vital for Africa... The scale of environmental challenges that Zimbabwe and Africa faced in 2006 was huge with the environmental sector reeling from budget cuts, sprawling land development patterns, pollution, veld fires, poaching, toxic dumping to biodiversity loss and the consequences of global climate change.
25 December - WDC expresses its concerns over Zimbabwe diamond sector.... The World Diamond Council (WDC), led by Chairman Eli Izhakoff, has expressed its concerns to the incoming Chair of the Kimberley Process Karel Kovanda regarding the current situation in southern Africa amid reports that rough diamonds from Zimbabwe’s kimberlite River Ranch mine and alluvial diamonds from Marange, Zimbabwe, are possibly being smuggled illegally into South Africa for official export with the validation of a Kimberley Process Certificate.
24 December - Zim’s woes swell flood of illegals... The number of Zimbabweans trying to escape their country's economic meltdown by making an illegal exodus to South Africa grows every night. And the hunger of Zimbabweans and Mozambicans who live close to the Kruger National Park (KNP) has pushed up the number of poachers invading the park in search of food.
22 December - Life After Farming.... A stunning new highly-gifted local wildlife and landscape painter burst upon the Harare art scene last Thursday with a one-man exhibition of oil-on-canvas studies at Richard Rennie Galleries, Belgravia. Barry Thomas (32) took up painting seriously after being thrown off Tsandzwa, the Doma tobacco, maize, cotton and cattle farm his family had owned for two generations.
22 December - Zambezi Fishing Ban... All fishing in the 2 000-kilometre-long Zambezi River has been banned until the end of January 2007 after it was discovered that the river is highly polluted with bacteria that cause potentially fatal food poisoning.
20 December - Lion P.R.I.D.E. Initiative Reaches $100,000 Milestone for Lion Conservation and Research... The African Wildlife Foundation and internationally recognized artist John Banovich partnered to launch the Lion P.R.I.D.E. Initiative. Banovich is among the most renowned wildlife artists in the United States, and his art is appreciated by collectors internationally.
19 December - Living off Rats in Zimbabwe.... Twelve-year-old Beatrice returns from the fields with small animals she's caught for dinner. Her mother, Elizabeth, prepares the meat and cooks it on a grill made of three stones supporting a wood fire. It's just enough food, she says, to feed her starving family of six. Tonight, they dine on rats. [Ed: CNN feature about an desparate 'bushmeat' habit]
13 December - Operation Launched... The Environment Management Agency and the Zimbabwe Republic Police in Mashonaland East province have embarked on a programme aimed at curbing illegal activities that cause land degradation.
13 December - Zambia blocks Vic Falls development... Zambia vetoed a $200-million project on Wednesday for a South African firm to build a hotel and golf course inside a national park near Victoria Falls after fierce opposition by environmentalists.
11 December - KZN hunters prepare for 'leopard lotto'... [Ed: an article about leopard hunting in Kwa Zulu Natal, but last line was of interest... "There had also been reports of hunters visiting Zimbabwe and smuggling leopard skins into South Africa, hidden |in the inner rubber tubes of car tyres."]
8 December - Museums Set to Assist Ornithology Students.... The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with BirdLife Zimbabwe (BLZ) to assist students studying ornithology at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) in Bulawayo.
7 December - Countries agree on new transfrontier game park... Five southern African countries have agreed to establish a second transfrontier wildlife park, a development that will boost regional tourism and conservation efforts and facilitate cross-border travel. Tourism and environmental ministers from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia converge on the resort town of Victoria Falls on Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the establishment of the second transfrontier park mainly along the Zambezi River, which straddles all five countries.
30 November - Activists target Shearwater... HARARE - Shearwater Adventures is faced with protest from wildlife activists campaigning for a boycott of its flagship adventure tourism investment in Zimbabwe. A group calling itself Zimactivism has been sending e-mails to tour operators asking them not to sell Nakavongo Range as a tourist destination due to the company's unspeakably cruel and traumatizing manner in which it is handling wildlife.
30 November - Funding refused for Zim sector of Transfrontier Park....
Multilateral agencies and conservation groups are refusing to fund the Zimbabwean component of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, one of Africa's most ambitious conversation project, because of the lawlessness of President Robert Mugabe's regime.
29 November - Work Together, Nhema Tells Safari Operators.... SAFARI operators need to closely work together and mobilise financial resources needed to fulfil their obligations in the wildlife sector, Environment and Tourism Minister Cde Francis Nhema has said. He was speaking during the first annual general meeting of the Safari Operators' Association in Bulawayo last Friday.
29 November - Take water conservation seriously say experts.... Water experts attending the just-ended Zambezi Basin Wide Stakeholder Consultative Conference said Southern Africa should take water conservation seriously in order to deal with inefficiencies in water management.
28 November - Falls from Grace.... Despite being one of the region’s most popular tourist attractions, the spectacular Victoria Falls on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia risks losing its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site if developers in Zambia get the go-ahead to build a massive hotel complex near the Falls.
20 November - Anti-Malaria Drive Gets Boost.... ZIMBABWE will receive 70 tonnes of DDT to strengthen ongoing programmes to combat malaria, a World Health Organisation official has said.
20 November - Zim safari operators held on graft charges.... Harare - At least nine safari operators have been arrested in Zimbabwe for allegedly violating exchange control regulations for the sale of hunting trophies, the Herald newspaper said on Monday.
15 November - New wave of panning in Marange.... Panners evicted from the popular Chiadzwa diamond fields in Marange in Manicaland have rushed to the Dowa and Four Roads areas near Mutare, hoping to strike "gold" from emerald deposits thought to exist there.
14 November - Elephant calves seized from the wild in Zimbabwe, say animal protection groups.... HARARE, Zimbabwe: At least 15 young elephants were captured in a Zimbabwe national park and were to be trained take tourists on rides by private safari operators, according to animal protection activists who say the transfer was cruel and exploitative.
12 November - Zimbabwe, ‘outpost of tyranny,’ seeks tourists... How does a pariah state convince the rest of the world to come visit on their next vacation? Zimbabwe’s tourism industry surely would not pose the question that way. But that is the near-insuperable marketing challenge the country - which Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice classified as an "outpost of tyranny" last year - has faced since its autocratic president, Robert G. Mugabe, started a scorched-earth campaign against all vestiges of Western colonialism six years ago.
11 November - Zim-Botswana Ties Under Spotlight... THE 24th session of the Botswana/Zimbabwe Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security ended in Masvingo yesterday after intensive deliberations on critical bilateral issues ranging from cross-border trading, illicit trafficking of minerals, firearms and curtailing general crime along the common border, among other issues.
[Ed: Peace parks and donation of Black Rhino Mentioned]
8 November - Zim Committed to Wildlife Conservation - Nhema... ZIMBABWE is committed to conserving its wildlife heritage as it plays a critical role in the development of the nation and alleviation of poverty, the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Cde Francis Nhema, has said.
6 November - UNESCO censures Zambia, Zimbabwe over Victoria Falls management .... LIVINGSTONE -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is concerned that Zambia and Zimbabwe have allegedly failed to follow laid down recommendations on the management of the Victoria Falls as a world heritage site.
3 November - Conservationists in Nicaragua and Zimbabwe win 2006 National Geographic/ Buffett award.... WASHINGTON (Nov. 3, 2006)--A leading Nicaraguan environmentalist and a sustainable farmer and water conservationist from Zimbabwe are this year's winners of the prestigious National Geographic Society/Buffett Award for Leadership in Conservation. Jaime Incer, president of the Fundación Nicaraguense de Desarrollo Sostenible, is the recipient of the award for leadership in Latin American conservation, and Zephaniah Maseko, founder of the Zvishavane Water Project, wins the award for leadership in African conservation.
3 November - South African ornithologist Ken Newman dies.... Ken Newman, the author and painter who sold a million books on the birds of Southern Africa, has died in Johannesburg at the age of 82.
September/October 2006
31 October - Donated Wild Dogs Released Into Hwange National Park... THE 16 endangered wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) donated to Zimbabwe by the South African National Parks were yesterday released into the Hwange National Park after five months of rehabilitation.
30 October - Rhino Poached in Sinamatella.... We have a report of one incident of rhino poaching at Sinamatela IPZ. The rhino was killed last week, in the Robbins Camp Area, some distance outside the IPZ. We are informed that the rangers had an encounter and exchange with the poachers, one of the poachers was injured but managed to escape. More..
27 October - Hunting 'has conservation role'.... Rifle-toting tourists hunting exotic animals could actually help protect Africa's vulnerable species, a leading conservationist has suggested. Elephant populations had benefited from a permit system that allowed sport hunters to kill a limited number of the beasts, according to Eugene Lapointe.
27 October - Wheeler Catches Biggest Tiger.... 150 boats last week converged on the mighty Lake Kariba to compete in the 45th Kariba Invitational Tiger Fish Tournament with Charter X being dethroned by Remmington Gold and Ian Wheeler catching the biggest tiger.
27 October - 45 Percent Increase in Tourist Arrivals.... Zimbabwe recorded a 45 percent increase in tourist arrivals in the first nine months of 2006 compared to the same period last year, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has said.
27 October - Parks Authority Completes Road, Builds 3 Lodges.... The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has completed the construction of three lodges and a 170km road that links centres in Gonarezhou National Park.
22 October - Zimbabwe recovers 22 tusks, poaching on rise.... Zimbabwean officials have recovered 22 tusks after suspected poachers killed 11 elephants in a state wildlife park (Chizarira), official media reported last week, adding that cases of poaching were on the rise.
20 October - NIT Wants Rangers' Land for Industrial Development.... The National Investment Trust (NIT) will soon approach government and the Parks and Wildlife Authority of Zimbabwe requesting the game rangers to cede part of large swathes of land it controls in the resort town of Kariba for industrial development, business digest established this week.
19 October - Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force report Oct 06.... Eye witness account of National Parks staff hunting game in Chirundu; Volunteers on a game count witness a rhino being shot for its horn in Hwange; Gold panning unabated in Umfurudzi.
18 October - How we benefit by conserving the Blue Swallow.... The Blue Swallow is an ambassador for a vital South African ecosystem namely grasslands. The South African grasslands form the major portion of our water catchment areas. More than 60% of the Grassland Biome has already been modified - forestry and agriculture playing largest roles. In South Africa only 2,23% of the Grassland Biome is formally conserved. The Grassland Biome is the least conserved, most transformed and therefore most highly threatened of South Africa’s 7 biomes.
18 October - Forestry Commission Steps Up Marketing Strategies.... THE Forestry Commission has stepped up its marketing strategies to attract tourists who will visit the region for the 2010 World Cup soccer finals.
18 October - Report highlights plight of Zimbabwe's wildlife.... A new, independent report depicts emptying nature reserves staffed by ill-disciplined, poorly equipped rangers cruelly killing the animals they were meant to protect. Wildlife has become another victim of Zimbabwe's economic chaos.
18 October - At war with elephants... GOKWE - Precious Nyoni, 35, surveys his garden. The vegetable and sugarcane stalks are flattened, and half-eaten crops lie all around. This was his only livelihood, and in one night, it is all gone. "(Zimbabwe's) liberation struggle ended in 1980. But now we have another war, with the elephants. We are not allowed to kill them, hence we just frighten them, but look, where am I going to get the food to survive when everything has been trampled by these creatures?
13 October - Zimbabwe wants you!.... Zimbabwe opened an international tourism fair on Thursday to promote its once booming resorts, lying largely deserted over President Robert Mugabe's controversial politics. The southern African country's tourism revenues have collapsed in the face of a crumbling economy, chronic fuel shortages and Mugabe's standoff with Britain and other Western nations that oppose his policies.
12 October - International Conservation Asian, Caribbean, African projects receive support to protect wildlife.... Washington -- A census of elephant populations in Zimbabwe, equipment for scouts in a game management area in Zambia, and research on re-establishing a viable population of tigers in southwest China are just a few of the wildlife conservation projects around the world receiving support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
6 October - Thousands join Zim diamond rush.... Harare - Thousands of Zimbabweans have joined a diamond rush in a remote eastern district of the country, cutting down trees and digging pits and gullies in a desperate attempt to strike it rich, a weekly newspaper reported on Friday.
5 October - UN Delays Ivory Sale.... GENEVA, Switzerland, October 5, 2006 (ENS) - Three African nations will not be allowed to sell some 60 metric tons of ivory, the United Nations announced today. The one-time ivory sale has been postponed because UN environment officials need more information on the status of African elephant populations and on poaching rates.
2 October - Four Rhinos Handed Over to Conservancy... [The] Government has handed over four rhinos to a private conservancy as efforts get underway to reintroduce the animal in this resort town to boost tourism.
2 October - Government sanctioned hunting... Disturbing reports have been received of government sanctioned hunting, operating in Zimbabwe's part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.
2 October - President's elephants suffer .... Zimbabwe's wildlife continues to suffer terrible atrocities. Snaring is reported to be rife, with the country's larger, stronger animals (such as the elephant) sometimes managing to break free of these deadly wire traps, and later seen with hideous wire injuries.
27 September - Should This Man Be Taken Seriously?... SHOULD this man be taken seriously? That is the question exasperated Zimbabweans must be asking following the ridiculous attempt by Agriculture Minister Joseph Made to pass the buck on to a monkey for the collapse of the agricultural sector and his failure for the umpteenth time to plan ahead for the next planting season.
[Ed: When all the white, gay british foreign correspondents moonlighting as aid agency workers that are striving to undermine Mugabe have left the country who'se left to blame? Why a monkey of course!]
27 September - Matetsi bidder fails to pay up... THE ownership wrangle of the lucrative Matetsi Unit 3 Concession in Matabeleland North has taken another twist following the failure by the highest bidder of last month’s auction to honour his $710 million bid.
25 September - Forgotten lowveld... For the past few weeks we have concentrated the articles on areas around Zimbabwe which we have termed "The forgotten regions". Hopefully we have managed to sway at least a few people to go out and visit these areas and experience Zimbabwe as a package deal and not just as a one-stop option. Our final forgotten region brings us to the dry, hot Lowveld region of south-eastern Zimbabwe - home to private game farms, sugar-cane plantations and several National Parks.
[Ed: a useful guide to who is still in business]
24 September - Safari Hunting in Gonarezhou... Local tourists who were booked in at Sumaweni camp at Buffalo bend in the Southwest of GONA RE ZHOU were refused the camp and had to move to another camp close by, because a safari company VICTORIA FALLS HUNTERS had been allocated their camp.
20 September - [Namibia] Millionaire Frustrated With Land Reform... Gert Joubert, the Cape Town based multi-millionaire and owner of Erindi ranch in Windhoek, has reiterated his view that Namibia can be ranked among the top five richest countries in the world if only its land reform policy is changed to allow foreigners to buy land. "Foreigners do not want to invest if they are cannot resell the land, in which they have invested," he said.
[Ed: it seems like the land ownership issue extends beyond Zimbabwe's borders and foreign investors are shy of deals involving land ownership].
20 September - [Mozambique] American Millionaire Invests in Mozambique... Gregory Carr, an American millionaire, is investing about 30 million Euros (about 39 million US dollars) to restore the Gorongosa National Park, in the central Mozambican province of Sofala.
[Ed: this kind of model is simply off the cards for Zimbabwe under the current regime but may be worth exploring in the post-Mugabe Zimbabwe]
18 September - In Zimbabwe, loyalists of wild kingdom rush to the rescue.... HWANGE NATIONAL PARK, Zimbabwe -- Wildlife guide Mike Scott followed footprints of one large animal after another -- elephant, buffalo, kudu, leopard, lion -- and then stopped suddenly, sniffing the air. ``Shall we follow our noses?" he said, heading toward a powerful stench that grew more noxious by the step.
18 September - Parks appoints new board... THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has appointed a new eight-member board, with Mr George Pangeti bouncing back as chairman.
18 September - WHO reverses policy, recommends use of DDT to control malaria... The World Health Organization, reversing an earlier policy, has now approved the use indoors of long-banned insecticide DDT in the fight against mosquitoes that spread malaria.
15 September - Human drugs stop croc chlamydia... An antibiotic used to treat chlamydia in humans may be the answer to a deadly bacteria threatening far north Queensland's multi-million dollar crocodile skin and meat industry.
8 September - Pioneering Conservationist dies.... One of Southern Africa's most noted conservationists, Clem Coetzee, died after suffering a heart attack at his farm in southern Zimbabwe, family members and friends said on Thursday. He was 67.
5 September - Engines and pump for Hwange... Hwange National Park has received two "very generous" donations of goods from Duncan Paul of Dunadventures and Rob Melville and Syd Kelly of Valverite in South Africa. July/August 2006
July/August 2006
30 August - Angola To Set Up Cross-border Biodiversity Conservation Area.... Luanda, 08/30 - A cross-border biodiversity conservation area called "Okavango-Zambezi", involving five southern Africa countries, will be created soon under the National Strategy and Action Plan on Biodiversity (NBSAP) of the Angolan Ministry of Urbanisation and Environment.
25 August - Kenya: Maasai Mara Among World's Top 10 Tourist Sites... According to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature's website, the game reserve is among the 10 ideal places that tourists should visit this month. WWF ranked it as the fourth best tourist attraction. Located in the southwest corner of Kenya and bordering Tanzania, the reserve, which covers 1,510 square kilometres is considered one of Africa's greatest wildlife reserves. It was gazetted in 1961. Brazil's Amazon Rainforest tops the list with the Great Barrier Reef of north eastern Australia and the Himalayas following closely at second and third positions.The Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA, was ranked fifth, while Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls was sixth.
25 August - DDT makes a comeback in effort to halt malaria... Swaziland // Men in blue coveralls and white surgical masks began their annual trek into the countryside here last week. Methodically, they sprayed one home after another with a chemical most Americans probably thought disappeared from use long ago: DDT.
[Ed: It seems that the US feels that the environmental risks posed by DDT outweigh the benefits - can anyone provide an informed comment?]
25 August - The Eastern Highlands: Nowhere More Beautiful in Africa'.... Our quick trip for this weekend takes us to The Eastern Highlands that was once described by the late Queen Elizabeth of Britain, the Queen Mother, as: "Nowhere more beautiful in Africa" when she visited Zimbabwe way back in 1960.
24 August - Mozambican National Found With Two Elephant Tusks.... Two elephant tusks were found in the luggage of a Mozambican aboard a bus coming into Harare. Wilson Saize Hofise (36) was arrested on August 17 along the Mvurwi-Harare road after being found with the two 50-cm tusks said Mashonaland Central provincial police spokesman Inspector Michael Munyikwa.
23 August - Community-Based Measures Vital to Counter Bio-Piracy.... Recent reports that travellers, posing as tourists, stashed away some wild animals into their bags expose the fact that illegal trade in wild plants and animals continues to flourish and the smuggling boom is proving hard to control worldwide.
21 August - Parks And Arex Embark On Massive Quelea-Spraying... The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, in conjunction with the Department of Agricultural Research and Extension Services (Arex), has embarked on massive quelea bird-spraying in Beitbridge, an official has said.
22 August - Zimbabwe: Meeting On Resumption of Ivory Trade Delayed... The six-member committee set up by the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and the Zimbabwe Ivory Manufacturers Association to come up with a working document to be used in ivory trade, is still to hold its first meeting, thereby delaying the resumption of trade.
22 August - Zimbabwe's tourism on road to pick up... After experiencing a major recession over the past seven years, Zimbabwe's tourism industry is showing signs of recovery. The most obvious evidence of the pickup is perhaps that the tourist arrivals to the country in the first half of this year increased by 33 percent compared with the same period of last year, which means that more than 1 million tourists visited Zimbabwe during the period.
18 August - South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe open border to animal park...--Kruger NP South Africa (AP) -- The presidents of South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe officially opened a new border crossing Wednesday in a small but significant step toward creating the "world's greatest animal kingdom" -- a huge national park spanning the three countries.
17 August - Matetsi Tender Won.... Kanetuta Safaris won the tender to run the Matetsi Unit 3 hunting concession near Victoria Falls after making the highest bid at an auction conducted by the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority in Harare last week.
11 August - Relax With Presidential Elephants... It is normal practice, however, to keep a healthy distance between man and the beast. But there is a place in Zimbabwe where one could connect with elephants, just as one would with old friends.
7 August - Authority to Establish Protective Zone in Park... The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority will soon establish a rhino protective zone in the Gonarezhou National Park in its efforts to curb poaching of the animals.
7 August - Zimbabwe poachers 'kill 9 black rhinos'.... Harare - Poachers have killed at least nine rare black rhinos in a conservation area in central Zimbabwe, the state- controlled Herald reported Monday.
5 August - Recreation Park Slowly Disappearing... The great wild site of Harare, Cleveland Dam Recreational Park, is an incredibly valuable leisure sanctuary now under siege from water polluters, wood and animal poachers, and veld fires.
4 August - Zimbabwe: Zim Donates Black Rhino To Botswana... Zimbabwe yesterday donated a black rhino to Botswana's Khama Rhino Sanctuary in an effort to boost the breeding population of the endangered species in Southern Africa.
22 July - Falls Paradise... As a born and bred Zimbabwean, if someone had suggested to me six years ago that Zambia would become the hottest new tourist destination in southern Africa, I would have laughed at them. We Zimbabweans tended to have a rather dim view of our large northern neighbour across the Zambezi. We saw it as a wild, under-developed, somewhat backward extension of the Congo. True, it had copper mines, and shared with us half of the great river and the majestic Victoria falls, but it wasn't even the good half of the falls. Which helped explain why nearly three million tourists visited Zimbabwe every year until the late 1990s, while most ignored Zambia.
20 July - Beijing goes hunting for a continent's wealth... In the past seven months, Chinese dealers have bought 30 tonnes of ivory from Zimbabwe's Parks and Wildlife Management Authority - representing the tusks of about 2250 elephants.
20 July - Zimbabwe: State Seeks To Ban Cropping That Disturbs Wildlife Management... GOVERNMENT is seeking to make the wildlife land-based policy operational by banning extensive cropping that disturb viable wildlife management in various conservancies in the country. In an interview yesterday, Environment and Tourism Minister, Cde Francis Nhema said the conservation of wildlife was being threatened by lack of knowledge of some people resettled in the wildlife hub areas.
19 July - A Numbers Game: Managing Elephants in Southern Africa... KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa, July 19, 2006 (ENS) - Southern Africa just had one of the wettest summers on record, turning its usual adobe brown sun-burnt landscapes into verdant green paradises. In South Africa's Kruger National Park, vegetation has grown thick and dried riverbeds have flooded. Wildlife haven't had to wander too far in search of food or water.
19 July - Cocktail of livestock diseases stretch veterinary services... HARARE, 19 July (IRIN) - Hopes that Zimbabwe could resume beef exports to the lucrative European Union (EU) market before the end of this year have been dashed by a widespread outbreak of highly contagious diseases the veterinary services are struggling to contain.
18 July - Parks Authority Increases Fish Poaching Fines... THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe has introduced heavy fines of up to $50 million to curb poaching of fish in the country's lakes.
18 July - Land and peace - Where next for land reforms in Africa?.. When white farmers in Zimbabwe started being driven off their farms at gunpoint by intrepid settlers, the country's controversial agenda of land reform was thrust into the international spotlight. But what happens after the news teams leave? An answer to this question is being sought in an ambitious £500,000 research project that is bringing together African researchers and colleagues at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex. Funded by the UK government and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), it will investigate the results of land reform not only in Zimbabwe but also in Namibia and South Africa.
16 July - Vulture numbers are cut to the bone... South Africa's national lottery is claiming an unlikely victim: vultures. Local people - convinced these birds' superb eyesight gives them the gift to see the future - are eating vulture meat to acquire the power of clairvoyance. And they are not alone. In neighbouring Zimbabwe, voters fearful of supporting the losing side in recent elections ate vulture meat, mainly heads, talons, eyes and hearts, believing this would enable them to pick the winning party. Then there has been the rise of traditional medicines, for which vulture parts are highly valued, as well as soaring cases of poisoning and shootings by starving farmers in East and West Africa.
14 July - Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce update ... Since September last year, we have been concentrating on solving the problems in Hwange National Park. With the help of various donors including the Hwange Conservation Society (UK) and the SAVE Foundation of Australia and the assistance of Friends of Hwange, WEZ and National Parks, we hope to have the park fully operational by the end of this month (July).
12 July - Safari Operators Raise Concern Over Hunting Quotas Allocation... SOME safari operators are up in arms with the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority over the allocation of hunting quotas which they allege are not being conducted and awarded in a transparent manner.
7 July - Resettled Farmers Harm Timber Industry... ZIMBABWE'S timber industry is under threat from resettled farmers causing fires in woodlands or illegally cutting down timber from plantations, the Timber Producers Federation (TPF) said this week. TPF chairman, Joseph Kanyekanye, said the resettled farmers were illegally harvesting timber and destroying trees through fires in timber plantations when clearing land for farming activities, leading to the collapse of the industry.
1 July - Hwange Update from Zimbabwe Conservation TaskForce.... Since September last year, we have been concentrating on solving the problems in Hwange National Park. With the help of various donors including the Hwange Conservation Society (UK) and the SAVE Foundation of Australia and the assistance of Friends of Hwange, WEZ and National Parks, we hope to have the park fully operational by the end of July this year. This is an ongoing project and we will continue to try and raise funds for fuel for the water pumps etc. In order to avoid a repetition of last year's water crisis, we need to supply 10 000 litres of diesel per month to the park to keep the pans full of water. Any assistance towards this will be greatly appreciated.
May/June 2006
June - Rebuilding The Wildlife Sector in Zimbabwe: A Pre-feasibility Study and Proposals for Action By Donors and NGO's.... A decade ago Zimbabwe was one of the leading countries in wildlife conservation and management. The sector earned over US$ 300 million per year through conservation generated by protected areas belonging to the state, rural community run wildlife management areas and private game ranches and reserves. Sadly most of this has been destroyed or severely damaged within a few years of political lawlessness and corruption led by the Mugabe regime. Wildlife however, has a great ability to recover within a relatively short period of time, provided the natural habitats remain intact, sound protection and wise management can be reintroduced. The formerly thriving wildlife sector can be restored, but to achieve this, a newly established democracy will need the assistance of bilateral and international donors and “hands-on” conservation NGOs.
[Ed: A paper written by Dr. Rolf D. Baldus and Dr. Graham Child and originally published on African Indaba]
28 June - The Destruction of Property Rights and Resulting Wildlife Catastrophe in Zimbabwe.... Last year was Africa’s year, with the continent enjoying the attention of the EU, G8 and UN. Most of the focus was on aid and debt relief; each rich nation or bloc eager to give more in fiscal support to overcome the myriad tragedies on the continent. But Africa provides many of the most important reminders of why countries grow rich--and as importantly, why they don't, which is directly, not just indirectly, related to the likelihood of how they’ll protect their environments. For as the Commission on Africa said last year, lack of “good governance . . . is what we believe lies at the core of Africa’s problems.”[1] More specifically, it is governance in the form of the institutions of free societies that matter most.[2]. By looking at the tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe, this paper provides empirical support for the notion that property right protection is vital for development and conservation in that country and probably in the rest of the continent.
[Ed: A paper presented by Roger Bate of the American Entreprise Institute at the sixth annual Property Rights and Environment conference at Aix-en-Provence, France]
25 June - Dramatic twist to Nkomo lodge row... Bulawayo - Heavily armed police have sealed off Jijima Lodge in Gwayi, Matabeleland North, following the eviction of a prominent businessman who has been locked in a land dispute with Speaker of Parliament and ruling party chairman, John Nkomo. The businessman, Langton Masunda, served with an eviction order signed by National Security, Lands, and Land Reform and Resettlement Minister Didymus Mutasa a few days ago, has left the lodge currently cordoned off by armed policeman but has vowed to fight to the bitter end.
25 June - Agreement signed on Limpopo transfrontier park... A pact for a new transfrontier game park straddling the borders between Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe was signed yesterday. The environment ministers of the three countries endorsed the agreement in Botswana on the dry bed of the Shashe river. Once proclaimed, the Limpopo-Shashe Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) will cover 4 872km2, almost a quarter the size of the Kruger National Park.
[Ed: note this should not be confused with the Zim-SA-Mozambique park mentioned below]
23 June - Country Lags Behind On Transfrontier National Park Project... THERE is little activity towards developing the Gonarezhou National Park in the south-eastern Lowveld and insignificant progress to merge it into the proposed Transfrontier National Park despite an allocation of $100 billion for the purpose in this year's budget.
22 June - "In Zimbabwe, ragtag scouts vs. poachers'... VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE – We smell the buffalo before we see him. When we find his massive body, it's clear he has been dead for some time. Nobody has used his meat. "It looks like the shooter was aiming for the heart, but he shot low and it may have gotten the bottom of the lungs here," points out Charles Brightman, coordinator of the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit. "That's why this buffalo's been able to run so far, and then died later from its wounds. What a waste. It's a nice old big bull, hey?"
14 June - Cattle farmers say, 'Not in my backyard' ... Francistown - Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and cattle rustling have left ranchers along Botswana's border with Zimbabwe feeling less than neighbourly. Farmers in the FMD-hit villages around Maitengwe, north of Botswana's second city, Francistown, and Bobirwa to the east, near the border, told IRIN they were "fed up" with Zimbabwean thieves. They accused the government of failing to provide adequate border security and were demanding compensation.
13 June - Parks Authorities Need 5 000 Litres of Chemical to Control Quelea Birds... THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority needs 5 000 litres of queletox to enable it to deal with the perennial problem of quelea birds, Parks spokesman Mr Edward Mbewe said yesterday. Queletox is a chemical that is sprayed on fields to kill the birds. "As the season approaches, we need sufficient volume of queletox chemical to effectively deal with quelea birds and 5 000 litres will ensure that we carry out our operations effectively," he said. Mr Mbewe said the authority was working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, which, through Agricultural Research Extension (Arex), would supply the chemical.
8 June - Hunger and Economic Chaos Threaten Zimbabwe's Wildlife.... In some parts of Africa, wildlife is being destroyed not only by poachers and hunters, but also by hungry people in rural areas. Such is the case with Zimbabwe, where experts say there’s been a widespread slaughter of wild animals since the government began redistributing white-owned land – including game reserves and conservancies – five years ago. Under the program, the government handed over land owned by white commercial farmers to landless blacks and to government elites with little or no training in ranching or farming. Militias, or “war veterans,” connected to the state occupied much of the land. They also occupied privately owned game reserves and conservancies that had been encouraged by the government years earlier to protect wildlife.
7 June - State Monitoring Tourism Recovery Plan, Says Nhema... The Government is monitoring the Tourism Recovery Plan (TRP) targets to ensure that its proposals are being implemented, a Cabinet minister has said. In an interview last week, the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Mr Francis Nhema, said the Government was monitoring the implementation of the TRP to restore viability. "The Tourism Recovery Plan is being monitored by our ministry as each and every stakeholder in the sector is doing his or her part to achieve success," he said.
6 June - 'Kariba Fisheries Fail to Pay for Permits'... The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has threatened to withdraw fishing permits from various holders in Kariba for non-payment of permit fees. Each fishing permit holder was expected to folk out $300 million, a figure most of them said was not sustainable. In an interview, the authority's spokesman Retired Major Edward Mbewe said players in the industry were not paying for their permits as agreed and that could force the authority to withdraw the licences. "Some of them have not paid their dues. These people have not been forthcoming. They should have paid by the end of May, 2006," said Rtd Maj Mbewe.
5 June - SA Donates 16 Hunting Dogs to Zim... The South African National Parks has donated 16 painted hunting dogs (lycaon pictus) to the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe through the Hwange-based Painted Dog Conservation Project. Environment and Tourism Minister Cde Francis Nhema yesterday received the 16 painted dogs at the Painted Dog Conservation Project's rehabilitation centre at Hwange National Park. "We are glad to receive these painted dogs," said Cde Nhema. "This will assist in our efforts to restock the country's wild dog population, which has been disappearing from our wildlife scenery," he said. Cde Nhema commended South Africa and Painted Dog Conservation's funding partners from the Netherlands and volunteers from other countries for making the transfer of the painted dogs to Zimbabwe a success.
6 May - ZAWA kills two elephants in Siavonga... Zambia Wildlife Authority, ZAWA, has shot dead two Elephants which have been terrorising villagers in the area. [Ed: the elephants were straying from Zimbabwe where there population has exploded].
5 May - Zimbabwe: Parks Takes Steps to Protect Lions... LION hunting remains Zimbabwe's cash cow in the safari hunting sector, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has said.[Ed: I think that this poorly written article is trying to communicate that lion hunting quotas have been reduced by 50% in Matabeleland and further reductions are anticipated].
4 May - FMD campaign needs concerted effort Chakalisa... GABORONE - There is need for a multi-sectoral approach and a concerted effort in dealing with the foot and mouth disease outbreak, particularly along the border with Zimbabwe. Speaking at a national foot and mouth disease control task force meeting in Gaborone, Permanent Secretary Mathias Chakalisa of the Ministry of Agriculture said there was need for visibility of the Botswana Police Service and the Botswana Defense Force (BDF) to deter movement across the border, which is more likely to have contributed to the outbreak.
3 May - Lions and People Must Learn to Get Along, Experts Say... The king of beasts may soon be dethroned, as conflicts between African lions and humans contribute to the big cats' population decline. Now, to improve the lions' lot, conservationists are trying to rekindle an age-old aspect of life on the continent, when lions and people lived relatively peaceably side by side.
1 May - Farmer watches cattle burn... Francistown - A subsistence farmer in Maitengwe village in the Northeast watched painfully on Friday as Botswana authorities killed and burnt his cattle after they were retrieved from neighbouring Zimbabwe. Officer Commanding Number 15 Police District, Senior Superintendent, Foreman Baganetswe confirmed the incident on Saturday revealing that his officers received a report on April 14 from a Maitengwe farmer that 20 of his cattle went missing since March 12. "He told the police that when he followed their tracks, they ended somewhere along the Botswana-Zimbabwe border in the Maitengwe area," explained Baganetswe.
[Ed: the cattle were burned because they may have contracted foot and mounth disease in Zim]
March/April 2006
30 April - Zimbabwean Police Bust Elephant Poaching Syndicate... Zimbabwean police have bust a poaching ring suspected to have killed elephants in the Mukwichi Game Park, about 200 kilometers northwest to Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, the state media reported on Sunday.
29 April - Culling: The reality... From the 1960s to the mid-90s, culling was the principal tool of wildlife managers across most of Southern Africa. Vegetation needed to be maintained and culling was believed to be the only solution to prevent some species from compromising others. Methods varied from country to country - in Zimbabwe highly skilled sharpshooters tracked elephants on foot; in South Africa, culling teams relied more on helicopters.
27 April - Matobo National Park: History And Nature In Harmony... BULAWAYO, April 27 (Bernama) -- One of Zimbabwe's main tourist attractions is the Matobo National Park, where the Matobo Hills that depicts some of the world's majestic granite scenery, is located.
[Ed: Nice PR piece on Malaysian news service, is this part of the look east policy?]
22 April - Harare investigates Chelsy Davy's father... THE FATHER of Prince Harry's girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, is facing the threat of punitive fines and even possible imprisonment as well as financial disaster after the Zimbabwean government announced it was investigating him for illegal currency dealing. Charles Davy has accumulated a multimillion-dollar fortune through his big game hunting business, HHK Safaris, which survived the wholesale seizure of white-owned farms and game conservancies under the Zanu PF government.
21 April - Free market says "Happy Earthday"... Max Borders: Another year, another Earth Day. It's also the fifteenth anniversary of the publication of Free Market Environmentalism, the book that changed the way many people look at environmental issues. Joining us today is Terry Anderson, co-author with Don Leal of the book that defined a generation of newer environmentalists, a generation that is friendly to markets, to green values, and to the idea that these are not mutually exclusive. Welcome, Terry.
[Ed: Interview covering hunting, property rights and conservation].
21 April - Zimbabwe: Mujuru, Shamu Cross Swords... UNRELENTING interest in HHK Safaris, the hunting business linked to Policy Implementation Minister Webster Shamu and Charles Davy, has led to revelations about a fallout with the powerful retired general Solomon Mujuru, who charged that HHK was part of a consortium that sought to monopolise the arcane but lucrative industry.
20 April - Zimbabwe: Families to Be Relocated... OVER 750 families living in the Gonarezhou National Park since the days of the land occupations, are finally set to be relocated after the Government clinched a deal with their representatives.
13 April - Zimbabwe: Parks Hunting Season to Begin Next Month... THE Parks and Wildlife Management Authority hunting season -- which begins next month -- is expected to be a success, says the authority's public relations office. "We are expecting to have a transparent hunting season this year as we are going to closely monitor the hunts by allocating rangers to accompany the hunters," said spokesman Retired Major Mbewe. "In the past year we have experienced situations where people granted hunting concessions overhunted, that is to say they killed more animals than they were allocated.
10 April - 241 Poachers Arrested Countrywide in March... 241 POACHERS were arrested countrywide in March as the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority intensifies efforts to curb illegal hunting and fishing in Zimbabwe, Parks public relations manager Retired Major Edward Mbewe has said.
3 April - Zimbabwe: Poachers Kill 209 Jumbos in 4 Years... There was an increase in poaching activities between 1996 and 2000 with the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority having experienced high incidence of the scourge, the House of Assembly heard last week. This resulted in the loss of 209 elephants, 138 buffaloes and 108 impalas. Chairperson of the portfolio committee on Public Accounts, Ms Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who is also MP for Glen Norah (MDC), told the House last week that an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General had shown an increase in poaching.
[Ed: I'd love to know how they got their numbers: these reported poaching incident numbers are potentially skewed by factors such as fuel availability, manpower and thus are not comparable between years]
30 March - Zimbabwe: Tourism Registers 49 Percent Decline...The tourism industry has again failed to live up to expectations, registering a 49 percent decline in earnings in 2005 to US$98 million. Last year the sector earned US$198 million.
30 March - Hippos Destroy Crops in Masvingo... Rampaging hippopotamuses have destroyed crops belonging to resettled and communal farmers near Mutirikwi River in Masvingo over the past few weeks.The worst affected farmers are in the Hwendedzo and Mazare resettlement areas to the east of Masvingo District and Zano in Chikwanda communal lands in Masvingo Central. The hippos also damaged irrigated maize and beans at Stanmore Resettlement Scheme in Masvingo, leaving most plot holders facing food shortages. Some farmers at the irrigation scheme yesterday said they had now lost hope of harvesting anything this season after the hippos destroyed most of their crops.
29 March - Zimbabwe: Settlers Burn $62 Billion Timber ... Timber could join the growing list of materials in short supply in Zimbabwe after Border Timbers Limited (BTL), the country's top timber producer, lost 3 000 hectares of timber at its Eastern Highlands estates.
25 March - Fish Poachers, Co-Operatives in Running Battle... POACHING of fish has reached alarming proportions at Lake Chivero, where registered co-operatives are fighting running battles with poachers, whose clandestine activities are threatening to wipe out the fish population. With tonnes of fish being poached daily for ready markets in Harare and beyond, registered co-operatives have now taken it upon themselves to protect the dam after seeing that law enforcement agents were failing to cope. As a result, physical fights have broken out between co-operative members and poachers over the past few days.
25 March - Zimbabwe: Police Round Up Panners, Impound 40kg of Gold Ore... Police rounded up 85 gold panners in Mazowe on Thursday night and impo-unded 40 kilogrammes of gold ore and an assortment of mining equipment, as they intensify their campaign against illegal mining. The panners, who included nine women, were arrested along Mazowe River under an operation code named "Operation Environment Friendly," which was recently launched to curb rampant gold panning. Among the impounded mining equipment were 20 shovels, nine steel rods, five axes, eight hammers, 12 picks, one chisel, two wooden panning dishes, one plastic bucket, one steel tube and two ropes.
24 March - Zimbabwe: Promote Tourism, Ambassadors Told... Zimbabwean ambassadors based in various countries should make a greater effort to promote tourism, Ambassador Tendai Mutunhu has said. He made the remarks during a three-day Fifth Annual Review Conference organised by the Centre for Peace Initiatives in Africa last month.
11 March - State to ban gold panning... Government will soon come up with legislation banning gold panning, which has resulted in serious environmental degradation in some parts of the country, chief mining commissioner Mr Fredson Mabhena has said.
10 March - Zim gold panners die in heavy rains in Mozambique... At least seven illegal gold panners have died in the past week just over Zimbabwe's border with Mozambique after heavy rains brought chaos to the area, reports from eastern Zimbabwe said on Friday. There are fears the casualty figure could be much higher.
10 March - National parks blocks 11 billion equipment... THE Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority has blocked the distribution of equipment worth over US$60 000 ($11 billion) donated by an international organisation to Hwange National Park where dozens of elephants died last year due to water shortage.
9 March - The Lion's Share... While most of the world's tourists have been giving President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe a miss for the last five years, nothing stops the hunters. About 300 operators flooded into Harare last week from America, Britain, South Africa, Spain and Zimbabwe for the government's annual auction of hunting concessions.
9 March - Zim Appointed Secretariat to Conservation Project... ZIMBABWE has been appointed the secretariat to the Okavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, a new concept that will see the improvement of wildlife conservation in five Southern African countries. The project, which is expected to gobble up millions of dollars in foreign currency, will make an immense difference in the protection and management of wildlife and environment in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
7 March - Showdown Looms in Chimanimani... A SHOWDOWN is looming between the Chimanimani Rural District Council and the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority over the council's decision to peg alluvial gold mining claims within a wildlife sanctuary. On Tuesday last week, council employees were barred from entering Chimanimani National Park to peg mining claims and were again blocked for the second time two days later.
3 March - 'Cropping Threatens Wildlife Conservation'... GOVERNMENT is seeking ways to make the land-based wildlife policy effectively operational by banning extensive cropping that stalls proper wildlife management in various conservancies countrywide.
January/February 2006
27 February - Nhema Calls for Deterrent Penalties On Wildlife... GOVERNMENT is worried about lack of deterrent penalties for wildlife and environment-related crimes and is now engaging the judiciary for a solution, Environment and Tourism Minister Cde Francis Nhema said yesterday. In an interview, Cde Nhema said despite major challenges facing the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, whose mandate is to protect natural resources, there is no end in sight for crimes perpetrated on wildlife and the environment.
22 February - Fishing Permits to Cost $1bn... FISHING industry operators will have to fork out $1 billion a year for a fishing permit at Lake Chivero, the Parks and Wildlife Authority has announced.
21 February - Zim/SA Ivory ring suspected... Musina - A Zimbabwean ivory-smuggling syndicate may be getting help from South Africans. Police are investigating a possible cross-border operation after two Zimbabweans and a South African were arrested and charged with the possession of ivory at the Beit Bridge border post on February 18.
19 February - Killing for Joy... ZIMBABWE'S wildlife industry is a huge money spinner. Hunting alone brings in at least US$25 million annually. But corrupt government officials are plundering the resource -- hunting any animal with no adherence to controls, even on endangered species.
7 February - Man freed in crocodile tug-of-war ... Villagers in Zimbabwe formed a human chain to rescue a man trapped in the jaws of a crocodile, reports say. Letikuku Sidumbu was crossing a river when the crocodile seized his arm, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports.
5 February - Fear of poaching as SA moves to introduce culling... An elephant that strayed into a village from the Aberdares in Kenya. Anti-elephant sentiments run deep in rural areas that are witnessing intensified human-wildlife conflict. The likelihood of South Africa reintroducing the culling of its elephant population has raised fears that the move could set a trend and lead to a rise in poaching in countries like Kenya, which have large but not unmanageable herds.
5 February - Crocodiles die of hunger at Zimbabwe Tourism authority chef's farm... Johnny Rodriguez a member of the Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce has said the death of 12 crocodiles from hunger while another 258 are close to dying, is more evidence that most people who have been given commercial farms do not have any knowledge of farming but are just driven by greed.
5 February - Zim readies new mining law.... Harare - Zimbabwe is to unveil a new law this week that could help rejuvenate its once burgeoning mining sector by dispelling the uncertainty over ownership. The economically-ravaged country's mining sector is currently reeling under a plethora of woes which have led to the closure of at least 13 mines in the past six years, according to the Chamber of Mines.
3 February- Army takes over Kondozi... An army takeover of Kondozi farm in Odzi to resuscitate the former horticultural exporting concern has taken the spring out the surrounding community's stride. The military takeover followed failure by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) to breathe life back into the enterprise expropriated by the state under the controversial land reform programme two years ago.
20 January - Zim's Tourism Sector Eyes European Market ... ZIMBABWE'S tourism sector has joined the rest of the Southern African region in working towards diversifying into Europe's tourism market by exploiting a facility initiated by the European Union-Sadc Tourism Investment Partnership Promotion.
18 January - Government blocks distribution of US$500 000 donation to save wildlife... The Zimbabwean government has allegedly blocked the distribution of over US$500 000 worth of auto and engine spares sourced from well-wishers to avert the wholesale deaths of animals at Hwange National Park. The donation includes spares for the authority's broken down water pumps, motor cars, tyres meant for the grounded fleet of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and other small pieces of equipment.
14 January - Shoot to Kill... The hidden links between American hunters and Zimbabwe’s dictatorship. (Newsweek investigates).
13 January- Saving the African lion...A new strategy to save the King of Beasts, the African Lion in eastern and southern Africa, was agreed at the conclusion of a workshop convened by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Wildlife Conservation Society in Johannesburg, South Africa. Stakeholders from range state governments, local community representatives, lion biologists and safari hunters attended the meeting.
12 January- Heavy rains bring Armyworms... More armyworm outbreaks were reported in some parts of Manicaland, Bulawayo and Harare yesterday as the moths drift further south with the good rains. Farmers are spraying affected fields and control measures are being bolstered.
10 January - 700 families to make way for game park.... Zimbabwean authoriities will relocate 700 families from villages in the southern Chiredzi area to make way for a transfrontier game reserve, an official said yesterday. Parks spokesman Edward Mbewe said the villages fell under the proposed Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park on Zimbabwe's borders with Mozambique and South Africa.
9 January- 700 Families will move to make way for park..Zimbabwean authoritites will relocate 700 families from villages in the southern districts of Chiredzi to make way for a transfrontier game reserve, an official said on Monday.
January - Hippo Haven.. A great Smithsonian piece about a courageous Zimbabwean couple defending hippos...