Community Game Drives in South Luangwa

Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park is a world-renowned wildlife area, drawing tourists, film-makers, and the like from all corners of the globe, and supporting a thriving tourism economy. Yet, many of the roughly 100,000 people living along the boundary of the South Luangwa National Park have never been on a Game Drive, let alone into the Park. Many have never seen a lion in the wild or watched relaxed elephant herds in their natural habitat, and most have never experienced the enjoyment of a safari. Understandably, people living alongside wildlife associate lion, elephant and other iconic safari species not with the awe and admiration that much of the world does, but with crop raiding, loss of livelihoods, fear, injury and even death. CSL’s Community department is working hard to help change this through our human-wildlife coexistence projects – which include the Community Game Drives project, in partnership with the Zambian Carnivore Program (ZCP).

This programme was originally designed as a community support programme during the COVID-19 pandemic—supporting unemployed local safari guides to bring community members into the park and share information on wildlife and conservation. But as the pandemic subsides, the impact of the programme has continued to grow.

Since 2020, CSL and ZCP have run weekly Community Game Drives in partnership with local photographic safari operators, NGOs and local schools. We have since taken over 3,500 individuals aged between 3 and 90 into the South Luangwa National Park whilst investing over $25,000 USD into local livelihoods (through safari guide payments and game drive vehicle hire) during a time of extreme uncertainty and financial insecurity. These Community Game Drives have become a valuable part of our community engagement work and we now integrate weekly drives into our annual CSL Community programme.

We are raising the funds needed to continue the Community Game Drives in 2022, with the aim of running 240 drives for at least 1,500 individuals throughout the year. Each game drive costs $100, and our friends at the Africa Hope Fund will match donations up to $10,000!

Support the CSL/ZCP Community Game Drive project in the South Luangwa National Park and help 1,500 people experience, enjoy and protect their natural heritage.