Luangwa Wilderness Lodge promotes Eco-tourism in the following ways:

The Garden Club 

The Garden Club is one of our most successful projects so far.
Being located in a National Park, we are not allowed to grow our own vegetables. In order to be able to provide a steady supply of fresh vegetables for our guests as well as for ourselves, we have entered into a partnership with two families at Chitungulu chiefdom. As a matter of fact, their Head Gardener approached us in 2005 with the idea to provide us with vegetables, which we of course gladly welcomed. We assisted the families with start-up capital to enable them to buy seeds and fertilizer. We also introduced them to vegetables that were ‘new’ to them, such as egg plant, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and cucumbers. Along the way, we worked out an agreement whereby the lodge pays for the vegetables but only makes the actual payment at the end of the season. This ‘lump sum’ enables the families to spend the money on something substantial they are in need of. For 2007, the families have decided to buy a ‘treadle pump’, which helps them to fetch water by making use of pedal power. The money earned by selling any surplus vegetables to others in the village is used as an additional cash income for the families.

As a side effect the vegetable supply to the village people improves their daily food with vitamins and all other essential nutrition’s of fresh food. The basic nutrition of the village people is based on maize, beans, fish, seldom meat and a few fresh vegetables only. Providing a more diverse daily ration including different fresh vegetable products improves general health and may contribute to a better awareness of the people about their own nutrition and health situation.

We hope you enjoy our freshly produced vegetables, and should you have any suggestions for new varieties, please let us know!

To Our Guests

Welcome at Luangwa Wilderness Lodge, situated in one of the most precious and remotest areas of the Luangwa Valley.
We have compiled this booklet for you in order to give you insight into the nature of the interactions and various forms of co-operation that the lodge has taken up with Luambe NP’s adjacent communities, so that we can lay a firm foundation for viable, long-term nature conservation.

Luambe National Park is bordered by the Lumimba Game Management Area, which comprises the Chitungulu Chiefdom to the north, and the Mwanya Chiefdom to the south. About 20,000 people live in this area. In line with the commonly accepted view shared by many conservationists all over the world, we believe that co-operation with the local communities that surround our national park is a prerequisite for nature conservation to stand a chance to become successful. It is only when local inhabitants feel that they gain substantial benefit from the presence of a national park, that they will adopt a sympathetic stance towards its conservation and even actively start supporting our efforts to conserve this unique area for future generations.

It is this recognition of the mutual benefits and the need for interaction between the national park and its adjacent communities that stands at the heart of our multifarious projects, which we at Luambe have initiated over the past four years. Most of these projects are only beginning to take effect just now, and whilst there still remains much to be done, we believe that the results we have obtained so far augur well for the future of Luambe NP.

Of course, support and assistance in whatever means is always very welcome. Should you, after reading this booklet, feel there is any way in which you would be able to provide support, please do not hesitate to let us know.
We wish you a pleasant stay in Luambe NP.

The management of Luangwa Wilderness.

Our lodge

The presence of our lodge alone already means a welcome employment opportunity for people in the area. The Luangwa Valley constitutes one of the largest wildlife zones in Africa, where industrial activities are not permitted. Unemployment figures are, therefore, quite high.

At the moment, our lodge provides employment for sixteen people on a permanent basis, and six people on a casual basis.
Our Management Staff numbers four persons. Currently they are: Marc Teiwes from Germany is the lodge’s General Manager, and his wife Carola is the Conservation Manager responsible for the co-operation with the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and the various projects we undertake to improve the living standards of the local communities. Park Manager Marcel Marx from South Africa is responsible for the maintenance of our park’s road network and the workshop. Our Guide Mathews Phiri comes from nearby Mwanya chiefdom, and he will be your host on most of your game drives.

Our local permanent staff further comprises three cooks, one kitchen helper for washing the dishes, four waiters, two barmen, three mechanics and two gardeners. Almost all of them come from neighbouring Chitungulu chiefdom. Most of our people have been with us right from the start, when our lodge was opened in 2003. 

The lodge is a major part of the conservation concept of Luangwa Wilderness e.V., a German based NGO taking care of the Luambe National Park in close cooperation with the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA).

Scouts training

In Zambia, the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), is the central governmental body which is responsible for assigning scouts to patrol the country’s national parks and Game Management Areas (the latter, GMAs, are the hunting areas. Additionally they act as a kind of ‘buffer zone’ between National Parks and the inhabited, cultivated areas of the villages). Patrolling is one of the principal tools to stop poaching and illegal hunting. However due to lack of financial resources ZAWA faces a continuous battle to provide sufficient numbers of well-trained and well-equipped scouts. As a result, most of our national parks are not adequately and efficiently patrolled. For Luambe, with its surface area measuring around 330 km², the number of ZAWA scouts currently stands at 17 which is, obviously, insufficient to make an impact on poaching control. Poaching, whilst considerably reduced since the presence of Luangwa Wilderness Lodge, still is commonplace, particularly along the park’s borders and during the rainy season. Snaring and poisoning are the most common forms of poaching.

Fortunately, our attempts to beef up the number of scouts for Luambe is starting to show results – a positive change which would not have happened without cooperation with the park’s two adjacent Chiefdoms of Chitungulu and Mwanya. In Zambia, each Chiefdom that lies within a Game Management Area has its own Community Resource Board (CRB) which operates in close cooperation with ZAWA. These CRBs are responsible for the protection of natural resources in their areas, and for allocating the funds which derived from these natural resources, such as commercial hunting, to bring forward development within the Chiefdom in terms of social welfare, health care, schooling and employment. When commercial hunting is involved, the CRBs are often able to receive quite a substantial amount of money. Around 45 percent of the income generated from commercial hunting go directly to them (while 50 percent go to ZAWA and 5 percent to the Chief of the area). The internal structure of CRBs is based on three administrative bodies, which are a financial department, a department for the administration of natural resources, and a department that coordinates the various socio-economic projects. Each department has its own chairperson and members of the board are elected every three years, most of them being delegates of the various village headmen groups that form a Chiefdom. The Chief of the area, who is the patron of the CRB, has an advisory role. Considering the creation of employment opportunities the CRBs of Chitungulu and Mwanya acknowledged quickly the need for an increase of the number of scouts for Luambe NP and the adjacent Lumimba GMA. Both CRB´s pledged to employ 20 scouts each, bringing the total number of scouts for Luambe and the GMA to 40 in addition to the 17 ZAWA scouts. In order to improve the quality of their work Luangwa Wilderness recruited the money for sending the CRB scouts to a 10 weeks training course. Agreement on the training programme was reached in cooperation with the South Luangwa Conservation Society. This training, which takes place at the Nyamaluma Training School, combines physical training with important topics and skills such as law enforcement and GPS training. In 2006, Luangwa Wilderness e.V. succeeded in finding a sponsor who was willing to finance the scouts’ training. The programme started in April 2007 with the first batch of trainees sent from Chitungulu. Only 7 out of 20 passed the 10 weeks training, which demands a great deal of the trainee’s perseverance and physical stamina. At the time of writing, the second group of 10 trainees has been sent off to Mfuwe, this time accompanied by 10 trainees from Mwanya area as well. Then the last group, which includes one lady, will be sent in April 2008.

Meanwhile, Luangwa Wilderness e.V. was able to support the 17 ZAWA scouts with equipment necessary to perform their patrolling tasks, including uniforms, boots, backpacks, and sleeping bags and mattresses for camping out in the bush. The scouts also receive rations from the lodge, if ZAWA does not provide enough, such as mealiemeal, sugar, salt, etc., all of which meant to keep their morale up. Furthermore, all ZAWA scouts will be sent on a refresher course in the near future. As for the CRB scouts, they receive, upon successful completion their training, a full uniform and camping equipment. Both ZAWA and CRB scouts work together on an equal standing.

The next step to enhance the scouts’ efficacy involves the setting up of a standardized patrolling system by the use of mobile communication equipment, such as a satellite telephone. This will enable the scouts to communicate over long distances while tracking down poachers and illegal hunters.  

Currently we are looking for a sponsor to fund the rehabilitation of the scout’s accommodation at the gates Chipuka and Chakolwa and the Headquarters at Chanjuzi and Changa-Changa. This rehabilitation includes the scouts’ housing, which needs re-plastering, repainting, and in some cases rebuilding, as most houses are beginning to show the signs of the times after 20 years of service.

Plans for the future include the building of a fifth scout’s camp at the park’s eastern boundaries. Presently there are two scout’s camp, Chipuka and Chanjuzi, bordering the park in the north and two scout camps Chakolwa and Changa-Changa bordering the park in the south.

For the year 2008, ZAWA has pledged to provide a Park Ranger who will take up residence in Luambe NP. The Park Ranger will be coordinating the scout’s activities, amongst others. This would be a welcome development, as up to now the Park Ranger has been based in the district town of Lundazi, some 180 kilometres to the east, and was only able to visit Luambe a few times a year only.

All together, we are glad to be able to report that considerable progress has been made with regard to the patrolling of our park’s borders. More and more scouts are receiving a proper training, and we feel confident that high standards now have been set and can be maintained. Much remains to be done, however, in order to provide a truly safe haven for our precious animal, bird and plant life.

The Women’s Clubs

The Peter Hankens Memorial Women’s Club at Chitungulu has a history that dates back to 1992, when the Club was founded in memory of Mr Peter Hankens, who was a safari hunter living in Chitungulu for many years.

The concept of the Women’s Club is to generate income in order to support widows, orphans and disabled persons in Chitungulu. The Club has 14 permanent members. In 2005, the Club approached Luangwa Wilderness for support. That year we were able to provide baking tins for the Club’s bakery. The freshest and most delicious buns in Chitungulu are now baked by them.

Recently, we helped to set up tailoring as means to generate much-needed income. In 2006 we donated two tread sewing machines. A local tailor was temporally employed to introduce the women into the skills of tailoring. The Club has now started to produce school uniforms that will be on sale in 2007. The Club is highly respected in Chitungulu as it answers the call for help from people in need.

In 2007 another women’s club started working. Eleven women came together and formed a club called Tigwilizane, what means “organized”. The members are trying to generate money independent from their husbands or families. Their idea is to produce souvenirs, which shall be sold to tourists in the lodge. Please see their products like necklaces, bracelets and water jug covers on the shelf in the dining area which are for sale. With our help they also would like to sell their goods in other lodges all over the valley. We will support them with that and hope in their interest that many tourists like their hand made products and choose to take some home