

in and around Victoria Falls

In Zimbabwe the Victoria Falls Conservation Area is bounded by the Zambezi River and Zambia to the north and Botswana to the west.  It includes 3 National Parks - Victoria Falls, Zambezi and Kazuma Pan, two Safari Areas - Matetsi and Deka plus four forest areas.

In Zambia, Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park is located along the Zambezi River between the Sinde River and the Songwe Gorge. The park is bounded by the Zambezi, Dambwa Forest Reserve to the north, the municipal area of Livingstone to the east, and trust land to the south.

The smaller confines of Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park and Victoria Falls National Park were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1989.

This area as a whole and in particular where the main Victoria Falls and Livingstone populations are settled is under immense pressure with inevitable human/animal conflict and environmental poaching on subsistence and commercial scales.  Tourism demand on Victoria Falls brings some reward but adds pressure to the balance.

There's a large number of exceedingly dedicated individuals working through various public and private conservation and environmental bodies aimed at the preservation of the environment and people around Victoria Falls.

Notable entities in need of well-deserved support include:

Wild Horizons Wildlife Trust is a non-profit organization aiming to advance and promote environmental conservation in Southern Africa through hands-on wildlife research and management of a wildlife medical care facility and orphanage. The company also focuses on education and empowerment of indigenous resources through active involvement in conservation training and community outreach programs.

Based at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, the Trust is dedicated to protecting the area's unique indigenous fauna and flora, in collaboration with appropriate authorities, local communities and other stakeholders. Projects include but are not limited to, rehabilitation of injured or orphaned wildlife, anti-poaching and wildlife veterinary assistance where required, assisting with community-based projects, and a children's conservation education program.

"The objectives of the Wild Horizons Wildlife Trust are first and foremost the care and rehabilitation of wildlife, and to impart knowledge and skills of conservation of natural resources to communities"

The projects focus on four areas: Communities Outreach, Wildlife Research, Wildlife Orphanage, and Conservation Training.

The projects that fall within the Communities Outreach program are conservation-orientated projects such as an education conservation program for school kids.  These projects are designed to raise community awareness about the importance of conservation in the hope to reduce poaching.  

Wildlife Research projects aim to find sustainable ways to protect wildlife such as the elephant. These projects incorporate ways of releasing animals and finding solutions to the human-wildlife conflicts in the community.  

The Wildlife Orphanage programs are set up to protect, rescue and rehabilitate animals that are either endangered or have been injured, abandoned or orphaned through human interference.  Release of these animals is also an issue that is addressed.
Conservation training includes a variety of courses about topics ranging from guiding to anti-poaching.  These courses are provided to either individuals, internal employees or the private sector.  

The overall aim of all the projects is to promote conservation through community awareness as well as starting at a very basic level of rescue and rehabilitation.