It has been decades since there were zebra on the Simalaha floodplains. September 24, 2014 was a key day for Simalaha when 50 zebra were captured in the Salambala Conservancy in the Zambezi Region of Namibia and transported to the Simalaha Community Conservancy in Western Zambia.
The capture and release of the zebra were witnessed by members of the Kadans Foundation, which, with its partners Hitachi Data Systems and Hercuton, is funding conservation agriculture in the conservancy. The translocation of the zebra was funded by the Swedish Postcode Lottery.
Representatives of the chiefdoms of Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta and Chief Sekute, along with members of the community, came to witness the release of the zebra into the Simalaha’s wildlife sanctuary. A year ago, 135 wildebeest and 100 impala were brought in. Simalaha is one of Zambia’s first conservancies and will be an important area in KAZA TFCA to re-establish wildlife populations and their migration routes while stimulating community benefits through wildlife and tourism development.
In a speech read out on behalf of Zambia’s tourism and arts minister, Ms Jean Kapata, the ministry’s permanent secretary, Mr Stephen Mwansa, thanked Peace Parks Foundation for its unwavering support to the Simalaha Community Conservancy and for facilitating funding support from conservation agencies such as WWF Germany, MAVA Foundation for Nature, Swedish Postcode Lottery, Kadans Foundation, with Hitachi Data Systems and Hercuton, Cleveland Zoological Society, PIFWorld and Stichting Energo.
The minister pledged to provide further wildlife species to Simalaha, through the Zambia Wildlife Authority. The species to be provided will comprise 300 impala, 200 lechwe, 20 kudu, 100 wildebeest, 100 puku, 50 waterbuck, 20 eland and 10 giraffe.
The district commissioner for Mwandi District, Ms A Chabi, gave the vote of thanks and pledged the support of the Zambian government to the chiefdoms of Senior Chief Inyambo Yeta and Chief Sekute to further develop the Simalaha Community Conservancy.
Story by Alan Sparrow
Technical Adviser: Simalaha Community Conservancy
