The Zambezi Society will continue its work alongside the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority in monitoring the endangered black rhino in the Matusadona National Park Intensive Protection Zone. “Members of our new management team made two trips to the Matusadona during December 2009 and January 2010 to assess the situation on the ground and to meet with the new Area Manager, Hardwork Chikumba and his staff,” read a report by the organisation.
Thanks to extremely generous donations from Redan Petroleum and the girls of Chisipite Junior School, members of the society were able to hand over a total of 580 litres of fuel and 56 mosquito nets for the staff at the station.
The major problems for ground operations in this important Intensive Protection Zone are that funding provided by the Parks Authority is woefully inadequate, access is difficult to this very remote area, there are insufficient vehicles and very little fuel for field operations and there is no mechanic on station to repair broken equipment.
During its recent fact-finding visits, The Zambezi Society made a list of priority requirements for assistance to this very important Intensive Protection Zone.
“We discussed these with the Parks Regional Manager, Doris Tom, who is happy that, in addition to our continuing role of closely monitoring the black rhino in the Park, we will seek help from local and international donors and the business community to assist the station to achieve at least the basic tools it requires to function adequately in protecting the Park’s black rhinos. In doing this, we will work closely with other conservation organisations so that effort is not duplicated or wasted,” read the statement.
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