Kafuntas Social Responsibility

We take the Corporate Social Responsibility of Kafunta Safaris seriously. As being part of the Luangwa Vallye and it’s community Kafunta knows the importance of integration and support of the people who permanently live in the vicinity of this wonderful piece of earth. We try to employ mainly staff from within the area and train them accordingly. But besides this we want to involve the community in various areas and give them a foundation to create a good future for themselves.

Download our responsible tourism statement here! Kafunta Safaris Responsible Tourism Statement

Project Luangwa

Project Luangwa is run by member lodges and Kafunta Safaris is one of the founding members and trustee of the project. This charity is registered in the UK, USA and Zambia and it’s aim is to help local communities improve their long term economic prospects whilst avoiding a negative impact on the environment and wildlife. By using a co-ordinated approach to improving the standards of education and schools in general, Project Luangwa can help families to have the chance of a lasting and sustainable income. To ensure the long term future of the project Kafunta Safaris and the other members have introduced a Conservation and Community Fund, a fixed contribution fee is built into our rates and this is split evenly between conservation and community projects.

Project Luangwa:
•        Builds and renovates classrooms
•        Provides desks & chairs, teaching aids and text books
•        Arranges pupil sponsorships and teacher’s training
•        Builds and supports community schools
•        Funds additional teachers
•        Builds and populates school libraries
•        Sinks bore holes for clean drinking water
•        Arranges conservation safaris for local kids
•        Sponsors school tree planting schemes

Project Luangwa supports over 25 Government and Community Schools and has arranged sponsorship for over 100 school pupils in 2011 alone, as well as many students in tertiary education.
The managers of Project Luangwa live and work in the South Luangwa community and are happy to come and talk to Kafunta guests about their work in the area. They can also arrange for you to visit a local school and meet the teachers and pupils
Project Luangwa relies on the generosity of their supporters many of whom are past visitors. 100% of every donation is guaranteed to go to your nominated project and is not used on administration.

Kids in the Wild

In conjunction with Project Luangwa Kafunta Safaris offered 24 local kids a 4 days stay at Kafunta River Lodge in December 2011. For many of these kids from the local communities this was the first chance to stay at a Lodge or even to go into the National Park.

Together with Project Luangwa we filled the days with lots of fun and educational activities, the kids could take turns being the guide, enjoyed the Lodge style meals and the swimming pool was the all time favourite! Read a detailed report:
Kids in the wild 2011 report
More information on Project Luangwas Website: Kids in the Wild

 

Do good when packing

Another project we support is Pack for a purpose

You can make a big impact on the lives of children around the world.
Use available space in your luggage to provide supplies to communities you visit. For 5 pounds (2.27 kilos), you can bring:

• 400 Pencils, or
• 5 deflated soccer balls with an inflation device, or
• A stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff and 500 band-aids

Very often little things and gestures can make a difference in peoples lifes.

South Luangwa Conservation Society

Kafunta Safaris supports the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS), which is a non-profit community based organisation. South Luangwa Conservation Society is committed to the conservation of the local wildlife and natural resources of the South Luangwa National Park, Zambia and surrounding Game Management Areas.

Various projects are initiated and monitored by SLCS. We know that unless we protect our environment and create an awareness within the visitors and the people living here, a valuable and necessary piece of earth may be lost or destroyed. Creating a future for coming generations is protecting nature.

Activities and Projects of SLCS

Anti-poaching and anti-snaring patrol

Snaring is one of the worst kinds of poaching as it is indiscriminate and targets virtually every species. Although most snares are laid to catch smaller antelope for meat, many snares are set for buffalo and hippo and more often than not other animals such as lions, hyaenas and elephants are also caught.

Snaring is also one of the most gruesome ways to kill an animal, as unlike shooting where death is usually immediate, death by snaring can take anything from days to weeks and sometimes even months. The pain will be excruciating and the animal eventually dies from starvation and infection.

Anti-Snaring Campaign

In partnership with the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and the community, SLCS are promoting the anti-snaring awareness campaign to sensitize children and adults within local schools and villages. A combination of drama, raffle competitions and sports days are held and slide shows and are presented.

SLCS also runs a darting programme that enables us to chemically immobilize animals that have been snared, so that we can remove the snares and treat the wounds as necessary. Over the years we have managed to save many elephants, lions, hyaenas, puku and other animals that would otherwise have died.

Uyoba Community School

Uyoba Community School, based about 5km’s from the South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, was founded in 1994.

The school was initially set up to assist parents in the area who had difficulties raising the necessary school fees, and to create a learning environment where no uniforms or shoes are required.

For many years teachers held their classes under a wild mango tree but to date, with the support of SLCS, the school has three classrooms and two teacher offices. We are currently fundraising to build two teachers houses.

Village Scout Training

SLCS supports 46 Kakumbi Village scouts with technical support, uniforms, rations, deployments, all patrol equipment, housing, incentives and bonuses and at the same time provides salaries for 36 scouts. These scouts conduct regular patrols in and around the national park and have removed thousands of snares over the years that they have been operating.

Chilli Fence Project

Human animal conflict is becoming an increasing problem in South Luangwa partly due to the ever increasing human population just outside the national park. South Luangwa does not have any man made boundaries and animals have the freedom to move outside of the park.
During the farming season, fields are regularly devastated by elephants and hippos. Grain storage facilities within villages are also poor and often demolished.

SLCS is trying to address this situation using the chilli fence method. This is a simple cost effective way of deterring elephants, hippos and bushpigs using sisal rope, used engine oil, grease, old bits of cloth and crushed dried chilli. The paste is mixed applied to the string surrounding the fields. Elephant dung bricks are also made using elephant dung and crushed chilli, and are set alight during the night to smoulder and deter elephants.

Workshops are held in the field and SLCS uses a “real” field for demonstration. It is essential that farmers accept ownership of the fence and do not rely on SLCS to continue to provide materials. To achieve this SLCS also supply farmers with seedlings for growing chillies.