Impressions from my trip with African Parks

At the end of last year, I announced my support for African Parks and my upcoming trip to Africa. I have recently returned to Europe and would like to share some of the incredible things we experienced in Zambia and Rwanda.

Our group visited Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia and Akagera National Park in Rwanda. We had extremely interesting and informative conversations with Peter Fearnhead, the CEO, who joined us in Akagera and demonstrated how crucial leadership is for a successful organization. 

Ecosystems in Africa can only function and thrive long into the future if people benefit from their conservation. In Liuwa Plain, over 12,000 people legally reside within the boundaries of the park, deriving livelihoods from its resources. When African Parks assumed management of Liuwa Plain in 2003, poaching was rampant, the park employed only 13 people and had no infrastructure or tourism. Only one surviving lioness, Lady Liuwa, roamed the plains. Today, wildlife is abundant in Liuwa, with 12 lions, 500 hyena, 40,000 wildebeest and many other important species. 

Liuwa is now the largest employer in the region with over 90 percent of its workforce consisting of residents. It supports 28 schools serving over 11,000 students and has been featured by TIME Magazine and The New York Times as one of the world’s greatest travel destinations. 

To make this possible, African Parks in partnership with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) and the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) worked closely alongside communities in the park to engage them on the value of conservation. We visited promising community initiatives aimed at building sustainable livelihoods, one of them a beekeeping project, and met with the rangers that work tirelessly to protect the park. We were also able to watch the surgical removal of a wire snare trap from a hyena’s neck, lodged 2 cm deep into the flesh, accompanied by a whole team of carnivore experts. After the successful surgery, the hyena was able to recover quickly.

After Liuwa, we visited Akagera National Park in Rwanda. When African Parks assumed management of Akagera in 2010 in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board, almost nothing remained of the park’s rich biodiversity. In the wake of the devastation of the 1994 genocide, millions of returning refugees and a rapidly growing population almost completely eradicated wildlife in the area. When you visit this beautiful park today, it is hard to imagine the transformation over such a short period of time. In just under a decade, Akagera has become over 80 percent self-sustaining as a result of tourism. 

A highlight in Akagera is the growing population of more than 20 Eastern black rhinos, a subspecies that was previously locally extinct and is critically endangered in Africa. A founding group was initially reintroduced from South Africa, and more recently, five more were brought in safely from European zoos through a successful breeding program to help build a sustainable wild population. It is an incredible undertaking to transport these animals over several thousand kilometers, ensuring their well-being at every step. The population of lions in Akagera, which were reintroduced in 2015, has also increased dramatically and there are now huge herds of elephants, giraffes and zebras as well as countless antelope and bird species. 

The fishery community project is particularly noteworthy: Around 30 jobs have been created together with a municipal cooperative. Under the guidance of African Parks, the fishermen sustainably catch around 110 tons of fish per year and generate over US$200,000 of annual income for the cooperative, which is a huge economic success in this environment.

Back in Europe, our conversations are still dominated by our experiences on this trip. Shortly after our return, African Parks announced that Iona National Park in Angola joined its management portfolio, now spanning 17 parks in 11 countries across 13.5 million hectares. African Parks is a remarkable organization that makes decisive contributions to the conservation of Africa’s unique flora and fauna for the lasting benefit of people and wildlife on the continent. This justifies every effort to support African Parks.