Lower Zambezi Tourism Association

02/12/2021

Zambia begins its annual 3-month fishing ban today with the closure of all fishing in the Lower Zambezi and other fisheries. The ban protects fish during the breeding season for many Zambian fish species, and allow fish stocks to recover from fishing pressure throughout the other 9 months of the year.

The ban applies to ALL types of fishing in Zambian waters - netting, line fishing and recreational angling, including catch-and-release.

The productivity of the Lower Zambezi fishery and quality of both the artisanal and recreational fisheries in the area indicate that the fishing ban is an effective conservation measure for the area, maintaining the populations of commonly targeted species. It is important that all users of the resource adhere to fishing regulations and respect the ban.

06/09/2021

30/06/2021

Please sign this petition and help us protect the Lower Zambezi National Park.

Save Zambezi, Safe Zambezi

17/06/2021

Please sign this petition. The mining company is free to break ground at this moment. There is no commitment to create meaningful employment and the destruction of a precious natural resource hangs in the balance.

Save Zambezi, Safe Zambezi - People, Water, Land and Wildlife

23/05/2021

May 22nd was the International Day for Biological Diversity. The Lower Zambezi is home to more than forty species of freshwater fish that inhabit a range of habitats, perform a variety of ecological functions and are important for social, economic and cultural reasons to the people that live in the Zambezi valley.

What’s the most unusual fish that you’ve encountered in the Lower Zambezi?

06/03/2021

Thank you for your excellent work, Ministry of Fisheries and Conservation Lower Zambezi - CLZ Lower Zambezi Fisheries Management Project.
This programme is truely engaging stakeholders at all levels for the promotion of sustainable use of the resource.
Tight lines for the 2021 season!

02/03/2021

STATEMENT ON THE LOWER ZAMBEZI NATIONAL PARK BY DR KENNETH KAUNDA - 30TH OCTOBER 2019
My fellow Zambians,
Friends of the environment all over the world,
The Lower Zambezi is a story of resilience.
I am concerned about the people and their natural resources in and around the Lower Zambezi National Park. This rich ecosystem has supported people for time immemorial. Allow me to highlight some of the important points in the area’s history:
• The Nsenga Luzi people under Chief Mburuma lived in the Lower Zambezi Valley for centuries managing the land and resources well, wildlife thrived.
• When the Portuguese arrived and settled at Feira at the confluence of the Luangwa and Zambezi in 1546, Chief Mburuma’s people guarded the valley jealously and protected the wildlife from their avaricious hunters.

• British hunters arrived in the late 1800’s and hunted thousands of elephant and other large species, the wildlife survived.
• In the early 1920s Nagana arrived and wiped out most of the wildlife and the disease carried by tsetse fly began to infect the people but the wildlife recovered.
• In the mid 1950’s the Colonial Government moved Mburuma’s people out of the Lower Zambezi Valley to Chitope hoping to break the sleeping sickness cycle, the wildlife survived.
• Much of the Liberation war in Zimbabwe took place in the Zambezi Valley but the wildlife survived.
• As soon as the war was over I declared the Lower Zambezi a national Park and the wildlife thrived.
• Slowly tour operators began investing in photographic safaris in the National Park and the wildlife thrived.
Today Lower Zambezi is one on Zambia’s most popular destinations for tourists, both local and International, generating more and more income for government and livelihoods for the people of Zambia. The Lower Zambezi valley also provides a critical biodiversity link between the animals in Luangwa valley and the Kafue basin. It was recently discovered that male lions move through this protected area from Luangwa to Kafue thus maintaining the diversity they require.
The proposed mining operation in the middle of the National park poses the biggest threat in history to the wildlife and pristine wilderness that has survived so many centuries of challenges and supported generations of Zambians.
I am happy and relieved that the Minister of Tourism, Honourable Ronald Chitotela has seen the opportunities for the people living around the Park to build viable natural resource-based economies that can sustain them and their descendants well into the future and I urge him and the Cabinet to consider this as a more holistically sound alternative to the proposed mine.
Our people have a deep history and knowledge of managing their natural resources sustainably, perhaps better than anywhere else in the world. My government recognised this strength in 1984 with the introduction of decentralised wildlife management under the LIRDP pilot in the Luangwa and later Admade and I’m pleased that this policy has been mainstreamed and extended to forestry and fisheries through Acts of parliament.
Much more needs to be done to re-build robust community-based resource management structures that involve and benefit every man, woman and child and contribute to building viable sustainable economies in each catchment across Zambia.
Let us imagine what the kind of life every Zambian wants, be clear about how the environment must look like to produce such lives and plan our management towards that context so that no more time is wasted chasing false promises from the extraction industry.
In line with Honourable Chitotela’s vision, we all need to mobilise efforts to help the people of Luangwa, Rufunsa, Chiawa and Chongwe districts to regenerate their natural resources and build a truly sustainable economy that can serve as an example to the rest of the country.
Thank you and God bless us all.

02/03/2021

Let’s remind everyone how important this issue is to us!
Please sign this petition to save the Lower Zambezi National Park.

http://chng.it/2c9XphGqhL

Halt open cast copper mining in Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia!

19/02/2021

May his soul rest in eternal Peace.
Solomon was a champion for the Lower Zambezi Valley.

We are deeply saddened today as we say goodbye to a friend and a true conservation hero, Solomon Chidunuka.

Solomon served as a Ranger to DNPW Warden for the Lower Zambezi for over 13 years and under his leadership the area saw the lowest poaching levels on record. In all his roles from junior officer to Ranger and eventually Senior Warden, Solomon displayed exceptional management and leadership in the oversight of all anti-poaching activities in his respective parks, establishing highly productive intelligence networks, which led to successful convictions of wildlife criminals.

Solomon has been an incredible role model and leader and has gained the respect of his colleagues, the tourism operators, communities and conservation NGO’s through his work as he led from the front and by example and was unafraid to carry out operations himself.

We are all truly grateful to Solomon for the effort and dedication he poured into his roles. He will sorely be missed. MHSRIP.

16/02/2021

In November 2020 Serena Vivian-Neal (connected to us via Chiawa Safaris)auctioned a beautiful painting she had made in order to fund the development of the Kabwadu Ladies Farm.
In a joint effort between Wildtracks Lower Zambezi and Chakanaka farm, the pump has been delivered.
It will now be installed at the farm so that the ladies can pursue commercial farming projects that will yield increased financial gains for the women’s co-operative.

This is yet another project that demonstrates the importance of tourism in rural communities.

Serena’s visits to the lodges in the area inspired her to do more for the people and wildlife she has grown to love. The lodges on the ground ensured that her goodwill delivered tangible benefits.