Zambezi River Scenes Which Inspired Livingstone Under Threat

Zambezi River Scenes Which Inspired Livingstone Under Threat

Increasing pressures to develop private tourism concessions in and around the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site exclude local residents and independent safari operators and anger conservationists, even threatening the UNESCO status of Africa's greatest natural wonder.

Peter Roberts, 8 February 2021

'Scenes So Lovely'

In November 1855, whilst David Livingstone was escorted downstream by his Makalolo guides, he was enchanted by the beauty of the island studded river, its forested fringes and exotic wildlife, later recording:

“No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.” (Livingstone, 1857)

This last passage has often been misquoted in reference to the Victoria Falls, but it was the stretches of the river upstream of the Falls which captured Livingstone’s imagination. Of the Falls he would later write it “is a rather hopeless task to endeavour to convey an idea of it in words” (Livingstone and Livingstone, 1865).

Zambezi River above the Victoria Falls. Photo credit: Peter Roberts

Over the generations that have followed, the riverine forest fringes alongside the river above the Falls have been largely protected from development, their value and importance recognised for wildlife and tourism. Despite the huge growth in international tourism, development of hotel complexes and tourist infrastructure, the riverside sections above the Falls have remained largely protected and undeveloped, and tourism is still promoted to this day on the basis of the Falls environment being natural and pristine, untouched and undeveloped by man, and as Livingstone first saw them.

Increasing Pressures

Recent decades, however, have seen increasing development pressures on both sides of the river, with riverside hotel complexes, lodges and camps increasingly infringing the rivers margins, together with the development of exclusive island lodges and private camps.

In October 2006 Zambia announced a major new tourism development, the Mosi-oa-Tunya Hotel and Country Club Estate Project, planned on a 550 acre riverside concession bordering either side of the Maramba River, the boundary of the core area of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site. The plans included two five-star hotels, an 18-hole golf course, conference centre and a marina on the Zambezi, all a short distance above the Falls. The plans were so controversial that UNESCO insisted on the implementation of a moratorium on all tourism developments within and surrounding the site, pending the agreement and implementation of a joint conservation  management plan. The development, on such a sensitive site so close to the Falls, was quite rightly abandoned as being incompatible and unsuitable with the World Heritage Listing (Roberts, 2017).

The Victoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya World Heritage Site Joint Integrated Management Plan was signed by Zambian and Zimbabwean counterparts in 2007 (seventeen years after the original designation of the site). The boundary of the site was defined, including the upstream river corridor extending above the Falls up to Kandahar Island, and 500 metre ‘buffer’ zone surrounding the site and covering the riverine forest fringe. The UNESCO imposed moratorium on development was lifted in 2008 in response to the successful adoption of the joint management plan (UNESCO, 2007).

Map showing the World Heritage Site (thicker red line) and highlighting the location of the Maramba River development (yellow line). Note the thick green border around the core of the site - indicating the 500m 'buffer zone.' Also note the river and riverine fringe extending upstream is also included within the World Heritage Site. From p.39 of the Victoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya 2007-2012 Joint Integrated Management Plan.

In 2018, however, Zambia quietly approved the development of the ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya Livingstone Resort’ including two three-floor hotel complexes, three swimming pools, a conference centre, 450 chalets, 18-hole golf course, two river jetties and a slipway on the very same Maramba river site. The development, whilst being significantly down-scaled in the initial development phase, started construction on the site in mid-2020 (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs, August 2020).

The new development sits alongside a mosaic of tourism hotel and lodge developments along the riverside, blocking elephant movements and access to the river, from the Royal Livingstone Hotel and Zambezi Sun Hotel development (opened in July 2001, now renamed Avani Victoria Falls Resort), immediately above the Falls, the David Livingstone Safari Lodge and Spa (opened in April 2008) and Zambezi Waterfront lodge and campsite (December 1999).

Private Concessions

On the southern Zimbabwean side large sections of the river upstream of the Falls are protected within the Zambezi National Park. In January 2021 it was announced that Siansimba, one of a handful of public campsites within the National Park, popular with local residents and independent wildlife and fishing tours operators, was to be developed as a private safari concession, together with an associated development at a pristine wilderness site known as Siansimba Springs.

"Tusker Investments (Pvt) Ltd t/a Sansimba River Lodge, a duly registered Zimbabwean company, intends to establish a safari camp in the Zambezi National Park. The company has secured a lease from the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, to lease a portion of the Zambezi National Park, measuring about 0.5 km2, located at the confluence of Sansimba River and the Zambezi River. The proposed camp will be mainly for photographic safari, picnics, bush dinners & game drives. The camp will result in the construction of semi-permanent tourist accommodation facilities with a capacity to hold not more than 24 beds. It will also see the establishment of supporting infrastructure such as site offices, ablution facilities, a central communal area which will be used as a dining or cooking area and also some staff quarters, accommodating up to 6 staff. All structures at the camp will be semi-permanent in the forms of tents." (Facebook, January 2021)

The lodge is the latest in a number of new riverside safari camps and lodges developed as private safari concessions located within the Zambezi National Park over the last decade, including the Victoria Falls River Lodge (opened in April 2012), Pioneers Camp (opened in July 2013), Zambezi Sands River Camp (opened in October 2014), Chundu Island Lodge (opened in November 2017), Old Drift Lodge (opened in May 2018), Mpala Jena Camp (opened February 2019) and Tsowa Safari Island (opened in August 2019). 

It leaves only one remaining pubic campsite available within the National Park, Kandahar, although rumours indicate it may also have been allocated as a private concession (Victoria Falls 24, February 2021).

In 2016 there was even a proposal to use Cataract Island as a private concession for tourism trips, which was thankfully dropped by the tourism company involved following widespread negative reaction (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs, December 2016).

The Siansimba proposal has received similar negative criticism from local residents and small independent tourism operators, who yet again face loosing access to a popular camping site, which they can all use for reasonable park entry and camping fees, and further restricting access to the Park for residents and independent travellers. A Save Siansimba Facebook group has been created appealing for the campsite to remain open to the public, available to all, and an Save Siansimba online petition opened for people to register their support against the development.

View of the Zambezi River from the Siansimba campsite (Image credit: Save Siansimba Facebook group).

The Environmental Impact Assessment public consultation process, by which time people can submit their views on the proposal, closes on the 15th February.

"On behalf of the proponent, the consultant is requesting all those who might be affected by the project or those interested in the project to send through their comments/ suggestions regarding the socio-economic & environmental impacts of the project. Kindly email your comments to info@greenspace.co.zw or WhatsApp at +263 772 618 130 on or before the 15th of February 2021." (Facebook, January 2021) 

Please also consider signing the online petition against this development.

[Update - Deadline for comments on this proposal has been extended to 28th February]

Yet Another New Development

Of even greater concern, however, is yet another new proposed development, this time much closer to the Falls and located close to the famous 'Big Tree' along a popular public road known as Zambezi Drive. The riverine forest section here is again protected within the National Park, and includes a 500m conservation buffer zone alongside the river for the specific protection of the forested fringes - and a specific requirement of the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing.

A post on a local Facebook group, Victoria Falls Enviro Watch, in December 2020 showed photographs of piles of road building materials which had arrived at the location, and to which a Victoria Falls Enviro Watch spokesperson responded:

"I met with the Area manager of national parks Victoria Falls this morning to ask about the development in front of the Golf course. He has confirmed that the development is a 24 bed semi-permanent tented tree lodge. He confirms that thorough EIA's have been done that address the concerns of the animal corridors. The lodge is unfenced and will allow animals to continue to traverse through that area" (Facebook, December 2020)

The plans apparently include the development of a river-side road, connecting Zambezi Driver upstream to the commercial jetty sites and boat club, running through the riverine fringe surrounding the Elephant Hills Golf Course. This riverine section has been largely untouched and undeveloped to date, and is a haven for bird and wildlife, including acting as an important elephant corridor connecting the riverside section along to Zambezi Drive, and where they access the islands above the Falls and also cross the river at low water to Zambia.

It remains unclear how a 'thorough' Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been completed without any public disclosure and consultation process - part of the legal requirement of an EIA.

Threat to World Heritage Status?

In 2016 the two 'State Parties' to the UNESCO Victoria Falls World Heritage Site, Zambia and Zimbabwe, submitted a new five-year Joint Integrated Management Plan for the conservation and management of the site (UNESCO, 2016). The plans included maps re-drawing the boundaries of the World Heritage Site, reducing the area of the river upstream of the Falls included within the core site, as well as reducing the buffer zone surrounding the site from 500m to 50m, along with other changes. It remains the case, however, that the boundaries of the World Heritage Site can only be amended through due and proper UNESCO procedure, and it is unclear therefore if the current management plan for the site has been accepted by UNESCO in its current form.

The amended map of the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site submitted as part of the 2016-2021 Join Intergrated Management Plan. Note the significantly reduced stretch of river corridor included within the site, and the two halves of the map do not even match up correctly. From p.15 of the Victoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya 2016-2021 Joint Integrated Management Plan.

If the aim of the UNESCO World Heritage Site listing and Joint Integrated Management Plan is to conserve and protect the Falls and surrounding environment from overdevelopment then it is clearly failing. Rather than controlling and regulating development, the Plan appears to have been increasingly used by the State Parties to justify and allow developments rather than to protect and conserve them, with conservation measures weakened, protected areas reduced and development pressures rising, the State Parties appear to be on an inevitable collision course with UNESCO over their management of the site and its World Heritage Site status.

Zambezi River above the Victoria Falls. Photo credit: Peter Roberts

References

Facebook (December 2020) Post on Victoria Falls Enviro Watch, 15th December 2020

Facebook (January 2021) EIA StakeholderConsultation For Siansimba Tented Safari Camp - Zambezi National Park. 8th January 2021

Livingstone, D. (1857) Missionary travels and researches in South Africa. London.

Livingstone, D. and Livingstone, C. (1865) Narrative of an expedition to the Zambesi and its tributaries and of the discovery of the lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864. John Murray, London.

Roberts, P. (2017) Footsteps Through Time - A History of Travel and Tourism to the Victoria Falls. Zambezi Book Company / CreateSpace Independent Publishing.

UNESCO (2007) 2007-2012 VictoriaFalls/Mosi-oa-Tunya Joint Integrated Management Plan. [pdf, opens in a new window]

UNESCO (2016) Zambia/ZimbabweVictoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya 2016 State of Conservation Report to UNESCO (including 2016-2021 Joint Integrated Management Plan) [pdf download]

Victoria Falls 24 (February 2021) Battle To Save Last Remaining Public Campsites In Zambezi National Park. 5th February.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (December 2016) Cataract Island threatened by tourism development. 6th December 2016.

Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs (August 2020) - New Hotel Development Threatens Livingstone's Elephants. 12th August 2020.