Kasanka National Park Covid-19 appeal

Your Donation will allow:

• £80 - will provide rations for a 10-day anti-poaching patrol in the park
• £100 - will provide training for a family to sustainably protect against elephant crop raiding
• £200 - will allow us to keep essential staff onboard
• £500 - will support a 10-day anti-poaching patrol undertaken by 5 scouts (including salaries, food, transport and equipment)
• £1,000 - will support ongoing operations & infrastructure projects to improve park management

Zambia has a growing responsible tourism industry and is praised for its ongoing environmental and wildlife conservation efforts. It is a country rich in beauty, in both of its people or its wildlife, a true gem to discover! With the world currently facing this unparalleled COVID-19 crisis, Zambia’s story is quickly changing. Decades of hard work are being lost, the economy is crashing, and the tourism industry has been particularly hard hit. Zambians are losing jobs at an incredibly fast rate and lodges have shut down, leaving people and wildlife in danger. Concern is rapidly growing about the scar that Coronavirus will leave on the countries’ Conservation work.

The Kasanka Trust has been managing the Kasanka National Park and surrounding landscape in partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife in Zambia’s Central Province for the past 31 years. Kasanka National Park is home to one of the largest mammal migrations on Earth – from October to December about ten million straw-coloured fruit bats migrate to Kasanka from across central Africa to feed on abundant indigenous fruits. The park also supports one of Africa’s most diverse populations of bird life (479 species) as well as some rare and threatened species such as the sitatunga antelope.

We work with our partners each day to secure the future of the park’s biodiversity and to support the approximately fifty thousand people living around the park by strengthening community ownership and management of natural resources, promoting sustainable livelihoods and through environmental education.

Our motto is “Tourism for Conservation” and with tourism taking a massive hit this year due to the global restrictions on travel, local communities employed by the tourism industry are facing job losses. The threat to Kasanka’s wildlife has increased as local communities turn to poaching as a means of subsistence. Our resource protection programs have allowed elephant and antelope populations to recover over the years, but the current situation is going to endanger the animals and forests we tirelessly work to protect.

Effectively managing Kasanka National Park and supporting the surrounding communities is an expensive venture, with one third of our operating budget derived from tourism revenue. The period of the year on which the national park relies the most is the bat season between October and December, but we already fear that this season, we will be operating at a minimum level due to postponements and cancellations.

Whether you are a close supporter & friend of Kasanka National Park and are passionate about wildlife conservation or community outreach, or you had planned a well-deserved holiday to Kasanka but have been forced to cancel or postpone, please know that we need your support now more than ever!

If you live in Zambia and are wondering where to travel this year, we invite you to check our booking availabilities and to support us while discovering a magical place, with an experience you’ll never forget. If you live abroad and cannot travel this year, please consider making a donation in-lieu to support our ongoing projects.

With our most sincere thanks, we wish all our supporters and friends to stay safe, and we look forward to welcoming you again very soon!

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