History of Friends of Hwange
Friends of Hwange was formed on the back of the extreme drought of 2005 that severely affected Hwange National Park. The National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe, plagued by lack of funding and a decrease in tourist arrivals, did not have the funding to keep enough borehole pumps going. As a result, only a handful of waterholes had water. Countless animals died of thirst.
Hwange National Park has no perennial rivers and very little natural surface water. Today most of the water has to be pumped from boreholes in order to sustain the current animal populations. Since its inception in October 2005, the Trust has been responsible for 10 waterholes in Hwange National Park. This has involved raising funds to purchase diesel as well as repairing and maintaining the diesel engines, boreholes and troughs.
- FOH Mission Statement
- to develop and maintain water resources in Hwange National Park for the benefit of its wildlife, in collaboration with the Authorities responsible for the Park;
- to develop and maintain opportunities for the conservation and sustainable utilisation of natural resources in the Park so that it will be enjoyed by the generations to come;
- to assist in the attainment of national objectives for wildlife conservation, with particular reference to Hwange National Park.
- Aims
Short Term:
- Crisis management: To ensure that FOH does every thing in its power to prevent animal deaths owing to lack of water or poaching activities.
- To assist National Parks in carrying out their duties in terms of deployment of rangers on anti-poaching duties as well as maintenance of roads and fireguards in the park.
Long term: - To work towards a situation where there are sufficient well-distributed waterholes in Hwange National Park pumping water through eco-friendly cost-effective means such as solar and wind power. This will remove pressure on areas of the park where animal (especially elephant) traffic is high which causes long term destruction of grazing areas.
- To expand our efforts in conservation issues such as anti-poaching and research.
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Wildlife: a Precious Resource
Hwange National Park is one of Zimbabwe’s most valuable resources. The tourism industry relies heavily on wildlife as its major attraction and revenue earner. During Zimbabwe’s tourism peak, Hwange and its surrounding areas boasted up to 30 camps. These camps provided employment for 10 to 30 staff per camp as well as significant help with anti-poaching, maintenance of roads and general upkeep of the park. Some day soon tourism will once again be Hwange National Park’s main bread winner, but in the mean time help from other sources is needed.
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What We Do
Since 2005, FOH has been responsible for 10 key northern waterholes in Hwange National Park. These are Kennedy One, Kennedy Two, Makwa, Sinanga, Tshebe Tshebe, Mabuya Mabena, Shumba, Tshompani, Inyantue and Shapi.Owing to the expense of diesel (a single borehole engine uses around 500 litres a month) alternative methods of pumping have been explored. Since 2007, five Poldaw windmills have been established at Kennedy One, Shumba, Mabuya Mabena, Shapi and Tshompani waterholes. Whilst the windmills are robust and affordable, their pumping capacities are limited. Their function is to provide a head start for the waterholes so that they are at least as full as possible by the start of the long dry season, thereby reducing diesel requirements for the drier months.
In the dry season (July – November) the pressure for available water increases, especially from elephant. The Lister engines are kept running continuously and the need for diesel is at its maximum.
- Goals for 2010
- the continued pumping of the FOH-sponsored 10 waterholes
- to move two out of our five previously-installed windmills to areas that will be better suited to wind power. This will involve FOH extending its “web” of waterholes to two additional sites
- to install two solar pumps at Kennedy One and Kennedy Two pans. These will supply an estimated 45 000 litres per nine hour period of sunlight a day
- to ensure that FOH staff are adequately qualified and trained in the use of tranquilisers so that they can aid stressed and injured animals
- continued assistance in relaying information (such as poaching activities, location of injured / suffering animals) regarding daily activity in the park to National Parks and other organisations (WEZ etc) through our FOH man on the ground in HNP.
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The People of Friends of Hwange
Angus Preston, Gordon Brown, Dave Dell, Beck Edwards and Barry Wolhuter are trustees of Friends of Hwange. Gary Cantle is our resident Hwange NP man on the ground.All trustees are passionate about preserving Zimbabwe’s most precious resources for future generations despite the turbulence Zimbabwe has experienced in recent years. Angus and Beck have been involved in the safari and tourism industry in Zimbabwe for many years while Dave is a keen and talented wildlife photographer and a long-time supporter of Hwange National Park. Barry, a former professional hunter, is an experienced “bush man” and is the manager of The Hide Safari Camp. After many years, Gary finds himself living once again in the Park, having spent his early years growing up there when his father was a warden in the Park.
