On June 6th, a cool Zambezi morning, a small team from Natural Capital set out on the southern boundary of the Rifa concession in northern Zimbabwe to traverse the area for three days... this heralded the beginning of ZEF's inaugural Trans-Zambezi Walk for Wild Expedition.
The Rifa concession lease from Zimparks has recently been acquired by Natural Capital, an organisation that pairs investors with unique conservation investments across Africa.
The Natural Capital team is led by Steve Cunliffe, who together with Beezie Burden, Tara Van Der Riet and professional guide, Dan Peel, used the opportunity to get to know their new investment on foot.
ZEF is proud to have had African Parks, arguably the most impactful contributors to the conservation of national parks across the African continent, also participate in the Expedition. The Zambezi protected complex is fortunate to have them as major players in support of ZimParks within the Matusadona National Park, where they have been active for the last two years.
The ZEF team caught up with Matusadona National Parks’ tourism manager, Chrispin Chiparaushe at the end of their stage of the Expedition and was delighted to hear how the African Parks team had embraced the Walk for Wild...
ZEF is very grateful to Chris and African Parks for all they do in the landscape and for recognising the necessity for close co-operation and collaboration with other conservation players across the vast Zambezi valley area.
Stage 2 began at the eastern boundary of Matusadona National Park, within the steep-sided Sanyati river gorge.
A team from My Trees Trust spent the night in the gorge before trekking through the rugged hill terrain that frames the Gache Gache concession.
My Trees has invested in the rehabilitation of wildlife and community advancement of this area over the last two years and the results can already be seen in vastly reduced human/elephant conflict and an impressive increase in wildlife numbers.
Day one route included the traversing of the impressive Gache plains – a vast 15km expanse along the shoreline of lake Kariba. Day two and three saw the addition of a team of four, who flew in from Harare to join the expedition: Chairman of My Trees, Andrew Halsted, General Manager, Rory Pilossof, Guy Hammond and Claire Bailey.
Feast your eyes on some beautiful elephants, seen on the Rifa section of the Expedition by the Natural Capital team.
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The Zambezi Elephant Fund (ZEF) supports the active protection of elephants in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe through anti-poaching initiatives and development and placement of systems that ensure the long-term safety of these incredible animals and the security and growth of other wildlife in the area, together with the growth of local communities, protection of the environment and the improvement and sustainability of these efforts.
