Lodges within Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, have introduced a voluntary conservation levy, effective from January 2016.

Concerned conservationists and stakeholders of Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park region have created a collaborative group: The Conservation & Wildlife Fund (CWF). The objective of CWF is to work together with the wildlife authorities in Zimbabwe to raise awareness, adequately resource local authorities and promote the sustainable use and management of wildlife.

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The CWF aims to tackle critical conservation issues. Over the past three years, some African nations have lost over half of their elephant populations, tens of thousands of wild lions and a great number of rhinos.

The founding stakeholder lodges, including African Bush Camps, The Hide, The Amalinda Collection and African Luxury Hideaways, have introduced a voluntary conservation levy of US$10 per person per night. The levy applies to all new bookings and will not affect confirmed bookings prior to November 1, 2015. In 2017, the CWF intends to increase the levy to US$20 per person per night.

The voluntary levy will be shown in the invoice as a separate line item as revenue collected by the safari camp and will be passed on to CWF where it will be managed by the Trust through a private committee comprising the local stakeholders and founding members. The finances and activities of the Trust will be audited by a reputable international auditing firm.

CWT appealed to the industry to support the levy, which aims to put aside a wildlife war for the sustainable management of Africa’s wildlife resource. CWF resources will go directly towards funding national parks and wildlife authorities and embark on supporting the outer communities and conservation areas surrounding the Hwange National Park.

Will you support the conservation levy in Hwange? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.