We all know the enormous strides that Namibia has made in terms of conservation. Not only is it the first country to include conservation in its constitution after independence, but it is the only country that has managed to increase its rhino populations to the point where they can be removed from conservation areas and reintroduced into their state. former. range areas.

Namibia is at the forefront of community conservation, giving local people ownership of their conservation areas and thus ensuring that these animals have more value to them alive than dead, and this has now been extended to include Bwabwata National Park in the Caprivi Strip. . This National Park is unique in that it is home to not only large populations of wildlife, but also large human populations.

Bwabwata National Park is the first in Namibia where communities can live within the National Park and have rights to wildlife, subject to quotas set by the government. This has meant that this region has gone from being a poaching ‘hot spot’ in the early 1990s to one where, after the reintroduction of local species, tsessebe, sitatunga and buffalo are once again flourishing.

The then Caprivi Game Park was originally declared in the 1960s, but no wildlife management was put in place because the area was designated a security restricted zone and many of the locals were conscripted into the military, this and the overflow of the angolan The civil war led to high poaching incidents throughout the park.

A community game warden system was put in place by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) in 1992 and wildlife from the National Park has since been relocated to the newly named Bwabwata National Park. .

Comparative wildlife studies are incredibly encouraging. In 1978, there was only one herd of breeding elephants, with a total of 35 animals. Today there are around 340 animals in the area, with thousands migrating through this area. There were only 1 Saber and 1 Hippo, compared to the 277 and 350 (respectively) found there today.

Local conservation initiatives have a system in place that compensates National Park dwellers in case they lose livestock to predators or damage their crops. The Kyaramacan Residents Association (KA) oversees these processes, along with community tourism developments and employs 27 community game wardens to monitor human-wildlife interactions and also assist the MET with game counts.

Through these efforts and the work done by local communities, Bwabwata National Park is changing the face of conservation and tourism in Namibia!

“We can’t invite tourists to come see our cornfields, but we can invite them to see the wildlife that is so close to us. This is the most important point.”

Chief of the Tembwe Mayuni Traditional Authority (awarded conservator)