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COMMUNITY & CONSERVATION

Giving Back

At Royal Zambezi Lodge we believe in responsible tourism and supporting the environment around us, giving high priority to the well-being of our local communities and preserving the local ecosystem.

Conservation – at the Lodge we are committed to guiding responsibly, conserving and caring for the local wildlife and natural resources. We are Platinum supporters of Conservation Lower Zambezi, who we are privileged to call neighbours.
Community – we work with the local community in the Chiawa Game Management area of the Lower Zambezi to ensure a good standard of living by providing economic and educational support and empowerment.

Community

At Royal Zambezi Lodge we are committed to ensuring that the people living in the Chiawa Game Management Area of the Lower Zambezi enjoy a good standard of living. We do this by providing financial and advisory support to the local schools and offering employment in the local area. We also facilitate pro-active intervention for many of our guests who want to help. Some features of our involvement with the community are as follows:

More than 80% of our staff are recruited locally – creating opportunity in the area.
We provide training for all our staff so that they can develop within our company or learn a skill when they join us — expertise range from mechanics to storemen, carpenters to cooks, to guides and the front-line staff.
Through the support of Conservation Lower Zambezi, we have helped communities learn about sustainable living and farming practices and also helped locals learn new trades such as jewellery making.
The Royal Zambezi Lodge shop supports local artisans by sourcing product locally.
We regularly donate nights at the Lodge as prizes to raise funds for charities which support the local ecosystem. Each year we give a minimum of 22 nights at the lodge to assist these charities in raising much-needed funds.
In 2015, the KAI Foundation partnered with Royal Zambezi Lodge, to fundraise and build a maternity ward for the community. The project, having been pioneered by Henry Kartagener and the Royal team, is proudly named “The Claire Kartagener Maternity Ward” after Henry’s wife in honour of it being their first project. It officially opened with Henry from KAI and Natalie from Royal, being present to cut the ribbon. Two days later the first baby was born in the new maternity ward, aptly named Claire. The ongoing running and maintenance of the maternity ward have been kept afloat by various generous donations from guests who have stayed with us at Royal. Without them, we would not be able to sustain the tireless efforts it takes to run a project of this magnitude. Going forward, Royal Zambezi Lodge and the KAI Foundation have partnered once again to sponsor, fundraise and initiate a plan to build doctors accommodation for the maternity ward. Once fulfilled, this project will assist the Ministry of Health in placing a clinical office/senior medic at the facility that services around 4000 people from the surrounding villages. Read more about these inspiring projects by visiting the KAI Foundation.

Many of our guests visit the Chiawa village, and some examples of the work we have facilitated at Chiawa with the guests’ help are below:

With support from the University of Washington Alumni, we have been able to install a solar-powered fridge in the small clinic in Chiawa to store perishable drugs.
Some Australian guests provided financial assistance to provide tables, chairs and other building materials to the primary school to enable the children to learn in a comfortable environment.
By harnessing the expertise of one of our guests and the right drugs we have been able to cure most cases of ringworm and the villagers learnt how to administer the medication themselves under the guidance of a professional.
We have provided and installed water pumps in the villages for the community so that they now have clean drinking water.
Australian guests, in collaboration with Royal Zambezi Lodge and Conservation Lower Zambezi, are funding a project to provide Edu-pads/i-school tablets to the local school. Through the coordination of CLZ, the tablets will be pre-loaded with their conservation curriculum to aid in educating the local community.
In conjunction with the German Embassy, a borehole was drilled at the maternity ward to provide clean drinking water.
Fixed and drilled seven boreholes in many communities along the river.

We are also proud members of Pack for a Purpose, an initiative that allows travellers like you to make a lasting impact in the community at your travel destination. If you save just a few kilos of space in your suitcase and bring supplies for area schools or medical clinics in need, you’ll make a priceless impact in the lives of our local children and families. Please click here to see what supplies are in demand for our project.

The KAI Foundation

Visit the Kartagener Associates Inc. (KAI) Foundation here.

Pack for a Purpose Project

Visit the Pack for a Purpose project here.

Conservation

At Royal Zambezi Lodge we believe it is essential to support conservation and actively ensure the preservation of the Lower Zambezi ecosystem. Sustainable use of the local biomass is, of course, something that has always taken place. Our guides are committed to guiding responsibly at all times, ensuring that every wildlife sighting is left as we find it, our footprint as light as possible, and we operate a catch and release policy on the river to ensure the sustainability of our fish population.

Current global problems occurring range from human/wildlife conflict, human encroachment into wildlife areas, deforestation, climate change, plastic pollution, poaching, wildlife trafficking and much more. To actively provide solutions to counter these issues requires endless resources from human to financial support and education. We are proud to partner and support conservation organisations working in the Lower Zambezi in their tireless efforts in tackling these various issues. Read more about the organisations below and the projects they are coordinating.

Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) relies entirely on support from individuals and institutions and Royal Zambezi Lodge are proud to support their tireless conservation and community work.

The lodge is a Platinum supporter of Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ). This Zambian non-profit organisation has been committed to the conservation and sustainable use of the local wildlife and natural resources of the Lower Zambezi, Zambia for 25 years, through wildlife protection, environmental education and supporting local community development.

CLZ implements these values via its three core programmes outlined below:

Wildlife Protection Programme: CLZ supports the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) in their wildlife protection activities by providing support to DNPW scout patrol teams to complete patrols in the Lower Zambezi National Park and surrounding areas. In recent years, CLZ’s approach to law enforcement has become increasingly proactive which is implemented through increased support to DNPW Investigation and Intelligence Units, the establishment of the Lower Zambezi Detection and tracking Dog Unit and the 10-man Rapid Response Unit.
Environmental Education Programme (EEP): CLZ aims to raise awareness within the local community about the benefits of protecting the environment by four main activities; outreach, centre visits, teacher training and facilitating Safari guide training.
CLZ works with 65 schools and reaches over 3,000 students and 50 teachers each year.
Community Engagement Programme: CLZ supports the local community by:
Human-wildlife-conflict (HWC) mitigation and advising and supporting income-generating activities to help the community to benefit further both directly and indirectly from the safari industry.

A few examples of ways in which Royal Zambezi Lodge strives to support CLZ’ efforts are listed below:

A set annual donation in USD is given to CLZ to assist with operations
Sponsorship of some flight costs for CLZ Management and donors coming in and out of the Lower Zambezi
Donation of land on the Royal Airstrip for CLZ to build a hangar for the plane which is vital for their aerial patrols
Logistics assistance in regards to fuel transportation for operations
Our team on the ground are there to lend a hand in the form of supplies that they may be short of
Partnered with CLZ to install a borehole at the Claire Kartagener Maternity Ward in the village
Donation of bed nights for various fundraising events each year – Rubatano Day, Online Auction and more.
Funding of operational support for the Lower Zambezi Fisheries Management project

CLZ recently assisted us with an incident with our resident elephant “Gap”, read about it in our blog post here. Click here to visit the CLZ website to learn more.

BioCarbon Partners (BCP)

Founded in 2012, BCP is a mission-driven forest conservation company, who, along with their partners are jointly trying to address deforestation in wildlife-rich areas of Zambia.

The Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project pioneered REDD+ in Zambia through the protection of 40,126 hectares of forest in the Lower Zambezi ecosystem.

Royal Zambezi Lodge is honoured to be one of the first Green Pioneers in the Lower Zambezi supporting climate leadership and the work of BCP.

The Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project (LZRP) is Zambia’s first Verified Carbon Standard REDD+ project and in 2015 achieved a unique milestone when the Lower Zambezi National Park became the first in the world to go carbon neutral from operations.

This project has also achieved `gold` level validation against all three categories of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard for its exceptional climate change impacts and community and biodiversity benefits. As a result, LZRP is now rated the most impactful REDD+ project in the world.

Read more about BCP & the LZRP HERE.

Plastic Free

1) Replacing plastic straws with reusable straws. Now used at the bar AND available in the shop. Straws from www.suckitstraws.com

2) Using STASHER – a plastic-free and reusable storage bag for foodstuffs. Cook it – Store it – Freeze it. Visit www.stasherbag.com

3) To replace the plastic water bottles, guests assisting us in our green initiatives, are offered a lovely branded reusable water bottle to use throughout their stay and can take home with them as a keepsake.