Livingstone hotel to lay off 30 workers if...

DAVID Livingstone Hotel plans to lay off 30 workers this month if the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) does not reduce the K15 gate park fee that local tourists are required to pay at Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park.

ZAWA has pegged gate park fees at K15 and US$10 for local and foreign tourists, respectively, at Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park in Livingstone.

David Livingstone Hotel director Steve McCormick said his hotel has started losing clients to Zimbabwe due to the recently introduced gate park fees by ZAWA.

Mr McCormick, who is also Safari Lodge and Spa Livingstone director, said the hotel is considering closing down because it is losing business as a result of the newly introduced gate park fees by ZAWA.

“We have lost 43 percent of our clients ever since the ZAWA gate park fee was introduced as Zimbabwe is the next alternative,” Mr McCormick said.

He was speaking to journalists shortly after a consultative meeting with the Livingstone Tourism Association (LTA) and Minister of Tourism and Arts Jean Kapata in Livingstone on Saturday.

Mr McCormick said eight companies that take tourists to his lodge and hotel have cancelled their contracts. “The companies that bring us tourists have cancelled their contracts with us and we have lost about eight contracts, which has resulted in us losing 1,000 bed spaces, and at David Livingstone Hotel, we shall lay off about 30 workers if the situation continues,” Mr McCormick said.

He said the companies are now taking the tourists to Zimbabwe instead of bringing them to Zambia.

Mr McCormick also said local people who go to drink beer at the Safari Lodge during the happy hour have stopped. “We have been in this business for over 20 years, and we have been paying ZAWA When the people go on the boat cruise, we shall collect the park fee for them,” Mr McCormick said.

He also dismissed the assertion that the loss of business is as a result of the department of immigration asking for yellow fever vaccination certificates from tourists.

Mr McCormick attributed the loss of business to the newly introduced gate park fees by ZAWA. On Friday, Vice-President Guy Scott said local people have been denied access to the river because of the gate park fees introduced by ZAWA. Dr Scott said he is aware that ZAWA needs money but this is not the right way to generate revenue.

“How can you say that tourists are not coming, when you are collecting money like this?” Dr Scott said. Ms Kapata assured Dr Scott that she would resolve the matter.

Source:
Livingstone hotel to lay off 30 workers if... (Zambian Daily Mail 24/06/14)

Mosi-Oa-Tunya Rhino snare removed

ZAWA has reported that it successfully removed and treated a pregnant rhino that was recently caught up in a snare in Livingstone’s Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park.

The Rhino, known as Inonge was caught in a snare set by unknown poachers last week. Since Inonge is eight moths pregnant ZAWA Head of vet Dr David Squarre had to only partially anaesthetise her to avoid any complications that the use of drugs could cause to the pregnancy.

ZAWA is warning members of the public to desist from setting up snares - if caught they will be arrested and prosecuted by law.

Source: Mosi-Oa-Tunya Rhino Rescued (Zambia Tourism, 09-05-14)

Calls for rapid response unit on human-animal conflict

The Post, Zambia
14 April 2013

Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe has urged the Zambia Wildlife Authority to develop a rapid response system for dealing with human-animal conflicts in the district.

And two elephants among the herd that was terrorising people in chief Sipatunyana's chiefdom of Kalomo and Zimba districts have been killed by ZAWA.

Munkombwe, who visited the families of the victims recently killed by an elephant, expressed sadness over the deaths and described them as unfortunate. "The ZAWA should have a system of rapid response so that when an issue like that one takes place, we should be able to respond quickly and assist the people. That elephant could have killed more than ten people but... when they came in they acted swiftly and they killed the animal," Munkombwe said. "It's a very regrettable incident. So as government we will see how we can offer some assistance to the families. I know that the area is devastated by droughts and there are no crops. There is hunger in the area and when a thing of this type takes place it devastates the families, it's terrible."

And Kalomo senior wildlife police officer-in-charge, Kaunda Banda confirmed the killings of the elephants in Simwami area around 16 hours.

However, another stray elephant is reported to have been seen in chief Simwatachela area of Zimba district, still posing a threat to residents in the chiefdom.

Read full article here.

Zambian Tourism Minister clarifies hunting ban and confirms suspension of lion and leopard hunting

The Zambian Minister of Tourism and Arts, Sylvia Masebo, has confirmed in an interview with local media in Livingstone that the general ban on hunting which was annouced earlier this year covers 19 hunting blocks and does not affect privately owned game ranches. It is understood that these 19 hunting concession permits have already lapsed and will not be renewed.

"That ban was specifically for the 19 hunting blocks. As you may be aware, there are many other hunting areas in Zambia beyond the 19. There are some hunting areas where the licences are still valid. If you have a licence that has not expired, we have said we will wait until that licence expires.

"But for those licences that have expired, in particular affecting those 19 hunting blocks, yes that is where we did the hunting ban. What this means in effect is that those who are still having licences in those areas and those licences have not expired, we will respect that," Ms Masebo said.

Ms Masebo said Zambia has 19 official hunting blocks and 36 game management areas where hunting takes place at different scales. "We also have in Zambia game ranches which are privately owned where somebody even has a title deed. These private parks are fenced." Ms Masebo said the hunting continues in those game ranches because they are private. "That is the clarification I wanted to make that hunting in private parks that people own and have even got title deeds and are fenced, they can do hunting,".

The ban on hunting of lions and leopards is, however, countrywide to allow for a detailed population survey. "If we continue hunting, we will end up with a situation where there will be no lions in Zambia, and we said let us stop and carry out a census first. We said let us do a survey for us as Government to understand so that we make an informed policy directive," Ms Masebo said.

The Minister had previously stated that there was more value in game-viewing tourism than trophy hunting, which brought in just $3m (£1.9m) last year, and that the country did not have enough cats for hunting purposes. "Tourists come to Zambia to see the lion and if we lose the lion we will be killing our tourism industry."

Recently Ms Masebo suspended the entire top management at ZAWA and ordered an investigation into the awarding of hunting concessions in the 19 blocks amid allegations of corruption.

Neighbouring Botswana is banning all sport hunting from 2014, while Kenya halted hunting for sport decades ago. [Sources: Zambian Daily Mail, BBC News. Image Credit: AFP]