CSL & Sungani: Wildlife Protection in South Luangwa, Every Dollar Matched

Since 2003, Conservation South Luangwa (CSL) has worked in partnership with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) on the frontline of wildlife conservation and human wildlife coexistence in the South Luangwa Valley, working to protect the 1.4 million hectares of largely intact wilderness in eastern Zambia that make up the South Luangwa National Park and a network of surrounding Game Management Areas.

Human populations have more than doubled over the past twenty years and as a result, there is increasing encroachment from human settlement and agriculture, as well as a high demand for protein in the form of bush meat as well as opportunistic and planned commercial hunting forays. Snaring is easy, generates high returns and presents a very low risk to the poacher. With high densities of wildlife, easy access to wire, a large-scale market for selling bush meat and availability of cash in a developing tourist destination, South Luangwa faces enormous problems with snaring that is escalating to critical levels.

CSL practices a multi-faceted approach to wildlife resource management and protection, working in collaboration with DNPW to implement counter poaching and wildlife trafficking measures including anti-poaching foot patrols, aerial surveillance, sniffer dog detection and tracking work, alongside direct community engagement with people living alongside the extraordinary wildlife of the South Luangwa Valley and 24/7 veterinary response and rescue.

Over the last 19 years, the CSL team has removed over 10,000 deadly wire snares from the bush, successfully de-snared over 250 animals and the team has grown to 120 full-time employees dedicated to wildlife conservation, including 93 highly trained anti-poaching rangers, a full-time pilot and 4 K9 detection dogs.

This year, Sungani have donated $25,000 to CSL's work, and in addition have pledged to match donations to CSL's wildlife protection work up to a further $25,000 in 2022 in the hope of inspiring new donors to pledge their support for this extraordinary ecosystem, its habitat and wildlife. Sungani are operators based in the far South of the South Luangwa National Park and have been instrumental in helping make an inaccessible area accessible to assist us with anti-poaching efforts in this remote sector of the park.

Sungani’s commitment is all-encompassing and never-ending: it is their aim to demonstrate through their actions that if we touch the earth gently and with respect, we will all pass on a better future for the people, flora and fauna of one of the few remaining places of natural wonder.

Find out more at www.cslzambia.org and www.sungani.com

Ground Patrols

Anti-poaching ground patrols have been at the core of CSL’s work for almost 2 decades. CSL supports 93 anti-poaching rangers who, together with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife rangers work together to conduct day anti-snaring patrols in known snaring hotspots and long 21-day patrols covering more remote sectors of the protected area. CSL invest significant resource into ranger training and equipment as well as ongoing logistical support for patrols. This includes specialised training for the Quick Response Force, investigations unit and the K9 Detection Dog team.

Aerial Surveillance

The sheer size of the South Luangwa Valley poses a great difficulty in understanding the scale of the challenges faced by the CSL and DNPW anti-poaching ground teams. Since 2013, CSL have conducted regular aerial surveillance flights across the protect area, allowing the team to collect valuable intelligence data to inform ground patrol movements as well as provide a consistent deterrent to would-be-poachers.

Wildlife Rescue

CSL is dedicated to providing a quick response to reports of snared and injured animals through our wildlife rescue programme. Dr Sichande has been the on-site CSL veterinarian since 2013 and has an extraordinary affinity with Zambia’s wildlife. He was the first wildlife veterinarian in Zambia to be recruited full time by a conservation NGO and has saved the lives of hundreds of animals over the last 9 year and is on call 24/7 to respond to reports of snared or injured animals.