In Zambia, battle over future of Victoria Falls

LIVINGSTONE, ZAMBIA - For Nalumino Ifunga, a security guard at a quiet campsite and lodge just down the road from Victoria Falls, afternoons often consist of watching vervet monkeys frolic in the trees.

But Mr. Ifunga wonders if those monkeys – and the elephants, hippos, and giraffes that share the woods with them – will stick around after South African hotel developer Legacy Group Holdings opens a controversial new resort next door in Mosi Oa Tuyna National Park, which borders the Falls, Zambia's biggest tourist attraction.

Legacy's plan, which originally included two five-star hotels, a golf course, and 450 villas just a few miles from the falls, sparked a bitter battle late last year between environmentalists, developers, and the Zambian government. It has also posed a dilemma for some local residents, like Ifunga.

"[The hotels] create employment for local people, but on the other hand ... these animals you see here, they will be driven away from their homes," Ifunga noted.

Environmental advocates in this peaceful but stubbornly poor southern African nation say they have staved off the worst after a fierce campaign that persuaded the government to force Legacy to drop the golf course and the villas, while still allowing the group to build the two hotels. But the debate highlighted the uneasy balance being forged in Zambia between the sometimes competing demands of conservation, tourism, poverty reduction, and job creation.

Jobs vs. the environment

"There aren't so many industries offering job opportunities to the people," says Danny Mwango, a senior inspector for environmental-impact assessment at the Environmental Council of Zambia. "This was one big project that was going to offer 1,000 employment opportunities to the people. At the same time, the government is also thinking of bringing development to Zambia and reducing poverty. And then, we're weighing this against environmental and social considerations."

Mosi Oa Tunya park (which means "the smoke that thunders," the ancient local name for the falls) covers 25 square miles along the Zambezi River's final approach to the falls, where it plummets more than 300 feet. The surrounding town of Livingstone – named for David Livingstone, the 19th-century British missionary and explorer who was the first white man to lay eyes on the Falls – has sought to cultivate an image as the "adventure capital of southern Africa," with bungee jumping, white-water rafting, helicopter rides, and a host of other activities for thrill-seekers available at $100 a pop. The town is currently enjoying a boom, partly at the expense of neighboring Zimbabwe, which shares the Falls with Zambia and has lost tourists to Livingstone amid the economic decline and political conflict surrounding President Robert Mugabe's authoritarian rule.

But that won't last forever, says Rennie Mushinge, the development director at Legacy's Zambia branch. Mr. Mushinge argues that having a major new resort is vital to the long-term future of Livingstone as a tourist destination, noting that the town still can't equal the hotel capacity of the Zimbabwean gateway town of Victoria Falls, right across the river.

"Victoria Falls is the biggest asset we have to get tourists into Zambia." says Rennie Mushinge, the development director at Legacy's Zambia branch. "If we don't have adequate bed capacity in Livingstone, how are we going to grow tourism in Zambia?"

Last year, the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) opened up a small slice of the park for tourism development, part of the Zambian government's effort to make tourism a key driver of economic growth. Legacy moved in and negotiated with the Zambian government to secure an even bigger chunk of land.

When environmentalists and civil society groups got wind of the proposed deal, they were incensed, in part because the proposal would threaten an important habitat for the hundreds of elephants that cross the river from Zimbabwe into Zambia each year. They also complained that the extra land had been granted in a secretive fashion, raising questions about the transparency of the environmental review process in Zambia, where the government continues to struggle with bureaucratic corruption, especially in the allocation of land.

Lure of investment

But the promise of jobs and cash from foreign investors is a powerful motivator for citizens and politicians in Zambia, where only about 20 percent of the workforce is formally employed.

Legacy won support from some local residents – and the local chief – who argued that job creation must accompany conservation. The project would "create space for us to find work. It's a very good idea," Victor Mweela, a young taxi driver, says as he waits for customers outside a recently built Livingstone shopping complex catering to affluent tourists. "Maybe we'll find jobs. I don't like to be a taxi driver."

But conservation and civil-society groups called this a dangerously short-term outlook, given Zambia's reliance on its national parks for revenue. After raising their concerns at a contentious public hearing last fall, they used Internet blogs to keep supporters updated and to spread the word internationally.

It worked.

Safari tour operators in Britain threatened to boycott Legacy. The US Environmental Protection Agency wrote to the Zambian government to voice its concerns. The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) let it be known that the project would put in jeopardy the World Heritage site status that the Falls and the park currently enjoy.

In December, the Environmental Council of Zambia (ECZ) handed down a compromise decision. Noting that the Legacy proposal would have "far reaching environmental consequences," the ECZ said that the golf course and villas would have to go. Legacy could keep its two hotels, but would be prohibited from putting up animal fencing or building their hotels higher than the treetops.

"It was a huge victory," says Mike Musgrave, a South African-born businessman and president of the Livingstone chapter of the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia. "It's the biggest environmental campaign ever run in Zambia."

Legacy lost an appeal to the government, and its investment into Livingstone will now drop to $50 million from a planned $260 million, Mr. Mushinge says. "Thanks to our environmental guys," he says with a laugh.

Legacy may buy up private land to expand their site. And rampant development continues to threaten the Falls, international observers say.

Still, Mr. Musgrave says he is encouraged that at least in this instance, policy-makers took the long view and concluded that development – in the name of tourism – might actually drive away tourists.

"We need to keep the Falls in the way that Livingstone saw them," Musgrave says. "That's what tourists come to see." 

Source: In Zambia, battle over future of Victoria Falls (21/03/07)

Zimbabwe: Don't Turn Victoria Falls Into Concrete Jungle

OPINION, January 24, 2007

THE Victoria Falls is Southern Africa's top tourist destination and there needs to be development near the falls to ensure that tourists are adequately catered for. But it must be emphasised that the day when the whole Falls area becomes a concrete jungle, and where nature takes a back seat to buildings and roads, the tourists will stop coming. After all, they have enough concrete jungles in their home countries, which explains why they travel thousands of kilometres for a glimpse of nature. Let us not forget that the Falls also lie on an international boundary. This means there will always be an element of rivalry between the two countries to see how they can get a fair share, or a little bit more than their neighbour when it comes to tourism dollars. No wonder the experts in both Zimbabwe and Zambia pressed so hard for the Falls to be registered as a World Heritage Site with Unesco.

Once that designation was won, the two countries would be forced to co-operate to retain the status. It is sad that since the day Zimbabwe and Zambia signed up with Unesco, the standards laid down and the requirements for maintaining the status have been ignored on both sides, or at least been very laxly enforced.

A Unesco team has returned, and neither country's planners have escaped the acid pen of the international experts. Of even greater concern was the placing on the back burner of a joint plan. Everyone agreed it was a good idea, everyone agreed it was vital, but no one actually seems to have started drawing it up. Now both countries have six months to do this. It will not be that difficult.

Everyone knows that development close to the Falls now has to be banned and that as much as possible has to be done to the south of Victoria Falls town on the Zimbabwe side and north of Livingstone on the Zambian side. This is what the two national plans already in existence already infer, and all that is really required is amalgamating them. In other words, the area between the existing zones of development must be left alone. At the same time there is need to create clearly demarcated zones of development so as to reduce the burden on the Falls.

Visitors coming to the Falls area can, after all, only spend a limited amount of time gazing at millions of litres of water cascading over a cliff. They want to round off their holiday with game viewing, fishing, boating, whitewater rafting, and having fun. There is no need for much of this activity to be done within sight or even sound of the Falls. Correctly planned, new development can dramatically increase tourism revenue while reducing human pressure on the area near the Falls. But a far larger area needs to be incorporated into the plans for this to be possible.

Both Zambia and Zimbabwe are aware of what is required of them and have both already started applying the brakes. Zimbabwe has suspended all development plans for some islands and Zambia has told a major hotel group that they have to dramatically reduce and modify plans for a new mega hotel. What is now required is a joint team of professionals to put together a sustainable development plan, one that can be extended and modified as time goes on. This plan will formalise and harmonise the existing national plans. It will also help identify which areas can be developed for the benefit of the tourism industry along the common border. Most importantly, the plan should ensure that the great falls remain one of the seven natural wonders of the world, rather than come to look like something in Las Vegas. 

Source: Zimbabwe: Don't Turn Victoria Falls Into Concrete Jungle (The Herald, 24th January 2007)

Statement on the wild elephant capture by Shearwater

Zimbabwe National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ZNSPCA)

As our only concern is the welfare of animals and the enforcement of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, ZNSPCA has patiently remained silent in the midst of a barrage of defamatory press releases, whilst at the same time having received letters from Atherstone & Cook, on instruction from Shearwater, threatening to bring charges of malicious prosecution against the Society.

In response to reports of possible cruelty taking place during the capture of 12 wild elephants in Hwange Game Reserve, which was witnessed by visitors to the park, ZNSPCA initiated an investigation.

On 11 January 2007 on a follow-up visit to Victoria Falls to check on the reported improved conditions for the elephants, the ZNSPCA Inspectors were denied access to the elephants. A charge of obstruction has been laid against Shearwater.

In order to be fair and reasonable and in order to give Shearwater time to improve conditions and the opportunity to allow ZNSPCA Inspectors to check on the alleged improved condition of the elephant, although Inspectors are not required to have such permission, we have waited 7 days in order for permission to be granted and have withheld making any statements to the press in this regard at the behest of Shearwater. It is therefore most regrettable that permission has not been granted.

We have heard that there have been apparent improvements in the condition of the elephant and the boma, but our Inspectors are unable to ascertain if this is true.

This is the first instance where our Inspectors have ever been denied access to premises housing wildlife in captivity. It is the duty of SPCA Inspectors to ensure the welfare of any wild animal in captivity.

In addition, Shearwater refers to a report by two veterinarians that was CONFIDENTIAL and not for release to the media. Regrettably Shearwater has breached that confidence and has been selective in quoting from the report.

Many remarks contained in that report clearly indicate that in our opinion cruelty was taking place at the time of report.

Our Inspectors will continue to conduct their duties in this regard without fear or favour, in spite of being subjected to verbal abuse and insults, having their every move monitored and all other efforts to discredit their motives which have been appearing in the media.

Source: Statement on the wild elephant capture by Shearwater (24/01/2007)

More:

Shearwater statement on Hwange elephant capture (24/11/2006)

Outcry over capture of wild elephants (12/11/06)

Elephants sent into Safari Slavery from Zimbabwe’s World Famous Hwange National Park (08/11/06)

Further Reading:  Captive Animal encounters: are they ethical? 


More from this blog: elephant-back safaris 

Zimbabwe: Vic Falls Projects Frozen

The Hearld (Harare), January 23, 2007.

ALL developments near the Victoria Falls have been frozen following international representations that both Zimbabwe and Zambia were flouting international standards.

Victoria Falls came under the spotlight following massive developments in Zambia and the proposed upgrading of several islands on the Zimbabwean side. In 2002 the two countries, who share the Falls, agreed to work together in formulating an integrated plan on how they planned to use the land around the Falls, a World Heritage Site.

"This plan was supposed to have been in place before Zambia had started building a hot air balloon base and a 500-bed lodge. We were also expected to monitor all activities on our side and some developments were overlooked," director-general for the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority Dr Morris Mtsambiwa told a media forum at the weekend. He said reports of mismanagement of the falls had led the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to send a team to investigate operations around Victoria Falls. "We were very much concerned because this meant that the tourist attraction could be de-listed from its World Heritage status. This would be a shame to us because we presented this area as deserving such a status. "To try and regain that status, if it happens that we lose it, would actually be almost impossible," Dr Mtsambiwa said. He said the team assessed the situation on the Zimbabwean side where the falls are more spectacular and made several recommendations, which included putting a moratorium on the proposed developments on the islands.

On visiting Zambia the team found a wide range of developments including a colossal lodge, whose construction Zimbabwe had not consented to. Dr Mtsambiwa said the two countries were given an ultimatum to come up with an integrated plan by June this year.

Zimbabwe, which still has to aggressively market this premier tourist destination, has resisted plans by prospective investors to build exclusive hotels opting to preserve the fragile ecosystem around the falls. Despite this, Victoria Falls still attracts more tourists than the downstream Lake Kariba, Mana Pools and Great Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls, popularly known as "Mosi-wa-Tunya" (the smoke that thunders) in the local vernacular, is often marketed by regional broadcasting channels, including the Tourism and Trade Channel in South Africa and various other foreign-owned websites, at Zimbabwe's expense. 

Source: Vic Falls Projects Frozen (The Herald, 23/01/07)

Victoria Falls 'at risk', UN warns

Victoria Falls, one of the world's greatest natural wonders, may cease to be a World Heritage Site as a result of the chaos in Zimbabwe.

Known locally as Mosi oa Tunya, or "the smoke that thunders", the falls are more than a mile wide and 420ft high. They have been a tourist hotspot since 1905, but Unesco is now considering listing the site as "endangered" because of mismanagement that has allowed the once prosperous resort to deteriorate.

Furthermore, over-zealous Zambian developers are proposing to build 500 chalets in a national park overlooking the falls, prompting warnings that the plan could lead Unesco to remove the site'sWorld Heritage status immediately.

Control of the Victoria Falls, named by the explorer David Livingstone in 1855, is at the centre of a turf war between two government bodies - the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management - both fighting over rights to manage one of the country's last remaining sources of valuable tourist revenue as hyperinflation touches 1,100 per cent.

The Zambezi river, which plunges over the falls, forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Most Western tourists used to stay on the Zimbabwean side, attracted by top-class facilities such as the Victoria Falls and Elephant Hills hotels, but the surrounding decay, and safety fears after the often violent land seizures initiated by President Robert Mugabe, have seen tourist revenues plunge by more than 70 per cent to $98m (£51m) last year from $340m in 1999, before land reforms started.

Unesco is also alarmed by Zambia's efforts to benefit from Zimbabwe's disarray. In a reversal of the traditional position, most foreign visitors now approach the falls from the Zambian side, even though the view is less spectacular. The tourism industry in Zambia is booming, with the number of overseas arrivals doubling between 2003 and 2005, bringing the country much-needed income, and new hotels are springing up near the Zambian town of Livingstone.

Source: Victoria Falls 'at risk', UN warns (07/01/07)

Concerns mount over World Heritage Site status

Zambia's only listed World Heritage Site is under threat by plans to build a multi-million dollar resort near the world-renowned Victoria Falls, a local environmental organisation is claiming. The government has awarded 220 hectares of land in the 66 sq.km Mosi-O-Tunya National Park at a cost of US$9 million, plus an undisclosed recurring levy, to South Africa's Legacy Group Holdings for development over a 75-year period under a tourism concession programme.

The national park is a World Heritage Site shared with neighbouring Zimbabwe, with the waterfalls as an international tourist drawcard. In the past, Zimbabwe was the main port of call for those wanting to visit Victoria Falls, but Zambia has become the preferred destination as a consequence of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, which has seen annual inflation levels topping 1,000 percent - the highest in the world - with commonplace shortages of fuel, energy and food. "We have benefited so much from the booming tourism here but we may lose out, as UNESCO [United Nations Educational and Scientific and Cultural Organisation] has already indicated to us plans of withdrawing the status of Victoria Falls as a World Heritage Site, should the construction of a Legacy hotel be allowed to go on in the park," Nicholas Katanekwa, chair of the Livingstone Tourism Association, told IRIN.

Chairman of Legacy Holdings International Bart Dorrestein said the company would spend about US$260 million on building two hotels, 500 chalets and an 18-hole golf course. The proposed site is six kilometres upriver from Victoria Falls and lies between the Zambezi and Maramba rivers.

Donald Chikumbi, chief executive officer of the Livingstone-based National Heritage and Conservation Commission, said, "We have not received any correspondence from UNESCO to do with the allocation of this land in the Mosi-O-Tunya National Park to Legacy Holdings, but what we have received is a notice letter from UNESCO, informing us that a delegation of officials from UNESCO and the IUCN [International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources] will be coming to Livingstone on 20 November this year. "They are coming to do a ground inspection on how far Zambia and Zimbabwe have gone in terms of upholding the various protocols that have a bearing on the status of the Victoria Falls as a World Heritage Site but, of course, their coming might have been influenced, in a way, by whatever is being said and circulated about this World Heritage Site," he said.

Maureen Mwape, spokesperson for the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), declined to comment on the allocation of the land to Legacy Holdings. The Zambian portion of the World Heritage Site is jointly managed by ZAWA and the National Heritage Heritage Conservation Commission.

At a July meeting of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, the committee cited concerns that "the integrity of the property [Mosi-O-Tunya National Park] remained threatened by uncontrolled urban development, pollution and unplanned tourism development."

Tourism has been designated a key sector for job creation and poverty relief by Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa's government. His pro-market economic policies have endeared him to western donors, but have had little impact on addressing dire unemployment levels. Zambia, with a population of about 10 million, has about 400,000 formal-sector jobs, while two-thirds survive on $1 or less a day.

A recent World Bank report, 'Challenges of African Growth: Opportunities, Constraints and Strategic Directions', indicated that despite vast natural resources, and political stability since independence from Britain in 1964, income levels had regressed."Zambia's and Cote d'Ivoire's per capita incomes have hardly progressed relative to their levels in 1960. Zambia's per capita income on average retrogressed at -0.6 percent per annum over the past 45 years and, as a result, its 2004 level of $902 in 1996 international prices is 23 percent below the 1960 level of $1,167", the Bank said.

The Environmental Council of Zambia, a governmental watchdog, called a meeting in Livingstone, the tourism capital of Zambia, last Saturday to discuss the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report. The period for objecting to the proposed resort will close on 20 November.

Council spokesperson Justine Mukosa said the EIA encouraged "as wide participation of stakeholders as possible. Then, based on what all stakeholders say, and indeed on our own independent investigations and assessments, we shall soon come up with our final position on why the project should go ahead or not go ahead - we shall approve or disapprove the project."

The resort's promise of creating 2,000 jobs has elicted strong support for the project among local residents and organisations. "We, the people of Livingstone, want development. We want Legacy because we have suffered too much with joblessness and poverty," said Shadrick Mabote, a representative of senior chief Mukuni, in whose chiefdom the Victoria Falls is located. "We are ready to take any action against those opposing the project, and we can even walk up to State House [the presidential residence] in protest if anything is done to disturb Legacy from constructing the project in this land."

Livingstone, with a population of about 200,000 people, has not been spared the ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic - about one in five sexually active adults is infected.Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union deputy secretary-general Michelo Chizyuka told IRIN that "Each one of us keeps at least three unemployed dependants in our homes because of many factors, including HIV/AIDS. So it is a question of who puts food on our tables. Here is the opportunity for our relatives to be employed; should we give more regard to conserving the environment at the expense of fighting our own poverty honestly?"

UNESCO declared a 30km radius of Zimbabwean and Zambian territory around the Victoria Falls a World Heritage Site in 1989. Since then Zambia has ratified a number of international treaties, including the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and the Convention on Biological Diversity.Zambian law on land tenure vests all national parks and gazetted sites in the hands of the state, and any lease of such land is subject to normal tender procedures.Sonny Mulenga, Zambia's first qualified land valuation surveyor and a former minister, said the land had not been advertised or subjected to any tender procedures.

"We are setting a very bad precedence for the future generation - land which is gazetted, as a World Heritage Site should never be given out for a song. No records have been given on who evaluated that land, and the amount in question is a mockery."

Environmental activists say the indiscriminate allocation of land to developers has contributed to the reduction of water levels in the Zambezi River, which feeds the Victoria Falls. Although local environmental regulations require development to stop at least 50m away from the river banks, several lodges have been constructed on the river's banks.

"The Victoria Falls is not as forceful as it should be and the Zambezi River is no longer flowing naturally, due to so much uncontrolled developments. We have disturbed the water cycle, and we shall pay heavily for this as a country," said Benjamin Mibenge, a local environmentalist and game ranger with over 20 years' experience. "Going by the high levels of river pollution, structures constructed on the banks, and the overcrowded boat-cruise companies, we may not boast of any tourism just a few years from now."

Source: Concerns mount over World Heritage Site status (The New Humanitarian, 14th November 2006)

Golf resort hits rough

The Sunday Times (London)
December 03, 2006

A group of British tour operators is urging a boycott of a hotel group in protest against the planned construction of a luxury resort complex at the Victoria Falls World Heritage Site in Zambia.

The South African-based Legacy Hotels Group, which owns five-star hotels, safari lodges and bush camps in Africa’s most popular safari destinations, has admitted that the vast 18-hole golf resort, comprising two hotels, 500 chalets and a country club in an important elephant habitat on the banks of the Zambezi, will cause “irreversible ecological damage” in the area.

Unesco has told the company that the development is “irresponsible” and has promised a worldwide campaign to discourage tourists from visiting the area.

The British safari operators Expert Africa, Rainbow Tours, Dragoman, Okavango Tours & Safaris, Aardvark Safaris and Wildlife Worldwide have pledged to support the boycott, proposed by the ecotravel specialist Tribes.

The director of Tribes, Amanda Marks, said: “We think that a campaign to stop this development should begin before construction gets under way and the prime elephant habitat on the banks of the Zambezi is bulldozed.” 

Source: Golf resort hits rough (The Sunday Times, 03/12/06)