The Bushcamp Company
Conservation & Community
Conservation & Community
As part of The Bushcamp Company’s commitment to the wildlife and people of the South Luangwa, we have been working with the local community to develop projects that help conserve precious resources and generate a sustainable source of income. Back in the 1960s, when Norman Carr first started to operate walking safaris in the Luangwa, he realised that conservation could not work without the local people truly benefiting from the wildlife around them. Today, this approach to responsible tourism is more pertinent than ever.
In 1999, The Bushcamp Company started providing much-needed help to two local schools; Chiwawatala Basic School in Mfuwe and Chilongozi School in a remote area close to our bushcamps. Since our support began, the progress of the schools has been remarkable. With generous donations we have been able to sponsor pupils, pay teachers’ salaries, build classrooms and staff houses, and take the school children into the park on game drives.
We also support other community projects that focus on reducing deforestation and encourage tree planting; for example, one of our guides has set up a successful solar-cooker project and we are helping run food-security eco-initiative workshops in Mfuwe. We run programmes on HIV and AIDS awareness for our staff and we also support a local theatre group, which perform plays to our guests about human-wildlife conflict.
Current schemes that we hope to develop further with funds from the Luangwa Conservation & Community Fund (LCCF) include fruit-tree planting, vegetable market-gardens, solar cookers and ‘rocket’ stoves, bio-fuel briquettes and honey production. Several conservation and community development charities that work in the Luangwa and across Zambia also benefit from our support and fundraising.
Other Support
Conservation
South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS) is a non-profit, community based organisation that is committed to the conservation of the local wildlife and natural resources of the South Luangwa National Park and surrounding Game Management Areas. SLCS is partly sponsored by the safari operators in Luangwa (LSA), but it relies heavily on individual donations to cover most of its costs. The Bushcamp Company helps fund-raise for SLCS and also pay for scouts to conduct anti-poaching patrols in the areas around its camps during the rains.
The Zambian Carnivore Programme is a non-profit Zambian registered trust dedicated to conserving large carnivore species and their habitat in one of Africa’s most wildlife-rich countries. The guides of The Bushcamp Company and Mfuwe Lodge work with ZCP researchers to report wild dog, and other carnivore, sightings as part of the ongoing Luangwa Valley Carnivore Monitoring Programme.
African Carbon Exchange (ACX) is assisting The Bushcamp Company to develop strategies and monitor targets set for reducing its ecological footprint. ACX encourages emission reductions that adhere to internationally recognized standards for both the compliance and voluntary markets, especially through REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).
Community
The U Foundation was established to reach out and help people in Zambia to achieve a better life for themselves. Its aim is to raise finances, by making people aware of the hardship and basic living conditions faced by children in Africa. They have helped provide a borehole, library and school equipment at Chiwawatala School and assist with the production of our annual fund-raising calendar.
Chipembele Wildlife Education Trust is a fun, interactive and contemporary learning facility in Mfuwe for Zambian children. It focuses its programmes on wildlife, the environment and conservation issues in and around the Luangwa Valley and has helped build a library and provide books and teaching equipment at Chiwawatala Basic School in Mfuwe.
SEKA (Sensitisation and Education through Kunda Arts) is a Zambian NGO, initiated and based in the South Luangwa National Park. It uses a unique combination of action research and participatory theatre to sensitise and educate communities on various important social and environmental issues. The SEKA theatre group often performs to guests in the evening at Mfuwe Lodge.
Conservation Science Africa (CSA) is working with The Bushcamp Company to implement an Eco-Initiative to conserve and rehabilitate the areas surrounding the South Luangwa National Park and to enhance the living standards, food security and living conditions of the communities in Mfuwe.
The Luangwa Safari Association Medical Fund was set up by the members of the LSA and enables a doctor to care for the staff and clients in the Luangwa Valley and spend most of his/her time caring for the rural community of Mfuwe at the Kakumbi Rural Health Centre. For more information please contact Gid.
kapani@normancarrsafaris.com
The High Five Club is a group of compassionate individuals who each donate £5 every month to be collectively used to fund a poverty alleviation project in the developing world. They have set up a bio-fuel project in Mfuwe for which Mfuwe Lodge and The Bushcamp Company collects and donates waste paper and wood shavings.
It’s Wild! products are pesticide free, organic and locally produced in Zambia by COMACO (Community Markets for Conservation) and provide a solution to how humans and the environment can coexist. The Bushcamp Company and Mfuwe Lodge currently buy It’s Wild! honey, peanut butter, rice, mielie-meal and other products whenever possible.
Tribal Textiles is a vibrant business in rural Mfuwe that produces a beautiful range of individually designed and locally hand-painted cotton fabrics. Their collection of cushion covers, bed linen, table linen, wall hangings, bags, aprons and children’s products are available at their shops in Zambia, as well as the Tribal Textiles Curio Shop at Mfuwe Lodge.