I recently received an urgent appeal from Sally Wynn at the Zambezi Society. Sally contacted me some time ago about the imminent launch of her Wilderness Awareness Programme, but has recently informed me of an acute budget shortfall for the September 2006 course offering.

Please take a moment to learn about the Zambezi Society and to make a donation if you have the means. The non-profit organisation Curriculum Safari Earth, for which I am an officer, has been supporting the Zambezi Society for several years now (http://www.cse2000.org). These are not bunny-huggers! They are a serious conservation group. Any support you give to the Zambezi Society will be an excellent investment in African wilderness conservation.

Information on the Wilderness Awareness Programme can be found directly at http://www.zamsoc.org/html/newspage.html#news2

Donations may be made through Curriculum Safari Earth. Our mailing address is:

Curriculum Safari Earth
P.O. Box 33
Merion Station, PA 19066

Donations may also be made via the Zambezi Society website at http://www.zamsoc.org/html/activities.html

The following is an update to this posting. It is a recent e-mail I received from Sally Wynn, coordinator of the Zambezi Valley Wilderness Programme....

Dear Ken

On behalf of The Zambezi Society, I would like to thank you and Curriculum Safari Earth for your part in helping us to bring a dream to fruition for wilderness conservation in the Zambezi Valley.

Dick and I are just back from an extremely successful first Zambezi valley-based training course in Wilderness Awareness and Management (or Wilderness Concepts and Practice, as our training partners in the Wilderness Action Group like to call it). We are all of the opinion that it was a resounding success, due to incredible enthusiasm from our 20 Parks Authority participants (15 from Zimbabwe and 5 from Zambia). The combination of officers from the two countries worked better than even I had anticipated and the interactions that occurred were quite amazing, particularly with regard to trans-boundary wilderness planning initiatives.

What was interesting about the course participants was that many of them were young people, newly qualified but inexperienced. It seems that the Parks Authorities in both Zimbabwe and Zambia have taken a turn in the recruitment of their personnel and are now focusing on quality, with young, qualified and enthusiastic people, rather than people appointed for their "connections". This is an extremely encouraging step and we found these young people extremely receptive and engaging.

The Zambezi Society and the Wilderness Action Group are very excited about the momentum created by this course, and we are busy trying to develop another such course to be held in Zambia next year (at the specific request of the Zambian participants, who have agreed to assist with the search for funds).

Ken, I have put together a 4-page initial Summary Report for you (attached) which will hopefully give you a quick overview of what transpired, along with a few pictures.

I will be out of the office now, for a couple of weeks, taking a short break), but will be back on Oct 23rd if you would like any further details.

But I want to thank you and Curriculum Safair Earth ONCE AGAIN, for your part in helping to make this all this possible. I really believe that we have started something big in this region in terms of wilderness awareness and conservation. It is very exciting.

Best regards

Sally Wynn
Wilderness Programme Co-ordinator


The Zambezi Society - Head Office
P O Box HG 774, Highlands, Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263 (0) 4 747002-5
E-mail: zambezi@mweb.co.zw

Ken

What do they do?

Hi John:

I think the simplest explanation is that the Zambezi Society is dedicated to the preservation of wilderness -- including animal species diversity -- in the Zambezi River basin.

They are a very hunter-friendly organization. The society is not opposed to trophy hunting in the Valley, as they are in favor of the "sustainable-use" conservation paridigm (i.e. allowing the off-take of a sustainable number of individuals each year in exchange for some economic and social benefit).

Trophy hunters bring in high-dollars, and are low-impact on the ecosystem.

You can find out more about the big game hunting connection from some of the folks at African Hunter magazine. They are very familiar with the Zambezi Society, and some are directly involved.

Thank you very much for asking

Ken

Certain “Hunter-friendly†NGO’s may be necessary as they attend some of the same conferences as the many Anti–hunting NGO’s, can speak their language, and often have the academic credentials that are required for credibility by certain seats of power. Be that as it may, “Hunter-friendly†is not “Pro-huntingâ€.

I have come to the conclusion that “Hunter-friendly†usually means that hunting is acceptable only as a kind of necessary evil, and then only for as long as it brings in revenues which are used to promote programs which conform to their own agenda. And I suspect that since their stated goal is the preservation of species, they don’t care if hunting is allowed or not and would (in many cases – not necessarily this one) be happier if they could achieve their goals and ban hunting at the same time.

Also, since they often rely as much (or more) upon the “Anti’s†for their funding, they must cloak their “Hunter-friendly†position behind terms such as “Sustainable utilization†hidden deeply within their project statements. They can then work both sides off the street.

Additionally, I believe that the astonishing growth of Non-Profits in the world is anything but a force for good. They don’t care where their money comes from; they answer to no one, and they don’t have to produce any results. Indeed, they are often better off if the problems they purport to be solving only get worse, as they can then demand, with increasingly frantic voices, greater contributions from their well-meaning but often truly ignorant supporters. Indeed, from what I have read, the vast majority of NGO efforts in Africa have met with disaster; whether for wildlife, poverty, peacekeeping or anything else.

Personally, I think Africa’s wildlife would do fine solely under the management of the Hunting Safari Outfitters and Game Ranchers and their own representative organizations (with appropriate governmental oversight and a little anti-poaching assistance).

Maybe, as I stated above, we need a few NGO’s on our side in this battle; then again, maybe not. As far as I’m concerned, the very best thing one can do to help save any of Africa’s endangered (threatened, vulnerable, etc,) species, is to go to Africa and shoot one.
S.

Seq,

You are correct, the conservation and economic benefits of properly managed trophy hunting are unbeatable. However, we still need to stay in the game to inform the 95% of the population who don't realize this. I have usually combined my African hunts with other activities (horse/photo/boat safaris) and the other participants start out being horrified that I have actually hunted and killed some of the same animals they are now taking photos of.
Nearly all of them have come around when I have explained how the African hunting system works. Most will change their minds, just be prepared to get some cold stares at the beginning. A few will always hate my guts, but I don't mind having a few enemies of their type. It speaks well of my character.
The Zambezi Society isn't perfect but they are deserving of support.

You can borrow money, but you can't borrow time. Go Now!