New Chikomeni wildlife camp to enhance wildlife protection in Lukusuzi National Park

Lusaka, Zambia – 27 October 2023 – The official opening today of a modern facility in the Chikomeni wildlife camp in Lukusuzi National Park, by Zambia’s Eastern Province Permanent Secretary Eng. Benjamin Paul Thole, is a major leap forward in addressing the perennial problem of poaching of wildlife, wood, and other resources in protected areas in the MAZALA landscape. The commissioning event included handing over three Landcruisers, a house for the senior officer, four semi-detached houses for rangers, four motorbike and 20 bicycles by IFAW.

The wildlife camp improves effective law enforcement and protection of the country’s treasured wildlife resources and will accommodate five rangers, in eight bed-sitter housing units for Rapid Response Units (RRUs). The base is now equipped with an office building, a boardroom, a radio communication equipment room, and stores for rations. 

The Chikomeni wildlife camp is a product of the conservation partnership between Zambia’s Department of National Parks & Wildlife (DNPW) and IFAW. This investment will enhance ranger welfare and help strengthen the capacity to combat wildlife crime in Lukusuzi NP, which forms part of the Malawi-Zambia Transfrontier Conservation Area. This is a key anchor landscapes for IFAW’s Room to Roam initiative, where IFAW is collaborating with its partners to ensure viable, stable, and resilient elephant populations by securing and connecting habitats. 

In a speech read on his behalf, national Tourism Minister, the Honourable Rodney Sikumba, applauded the IFAW-DNPW partnership for contributing to the protection of vulnerable species and for allowing wildlife to flourish in the unique landscape, saying that the project is one of many aligned to the government’s strategy to transform the wildlife reserve into a key nature-based tourism destination.

“Promoting thriving wildlife populations is critical for the realization of our broader socio-economic aspirations, and it is therefore essential we join hands with well-meaning partners like IFAW to create safe spaces for wildlife and, most importantly, to ensure that those tasked with protecting the wildlife resources are well-resourced,” said Sikumba.  

“We realise the important work done by our field rangers. Ranger welfare is therefore at the forefront of our conservation work in all the landscapes where we work, and by investing in critical infrastructure such as the Chikomeni Wildlife Camp, we are confident of creating an environment to help rangers carry out their duties comfortably and safely,” said IFAW Zambia Country Director Patricio Ndadzela. 

ENDS  

Media contacts: 

Luckmore Safuli
Communications Officer, Southern Africa
m: +263 77 252 7736 
e: lsafuli@ifaw.org

Christina Pretorius
Director, Communications Africa
m: +27 82 330 2558
e: cpretorius@ifaw.org