Greetings!
From the release of rescued wildlife back into the wild to watching our youngest conservation leaders inspire audiences at an international conference, the last two months have been a period of impact and progress for VFWT.
Our teams have advanced lion and vulture research, strengthened collaborations to counter wildlife crime, and celebrated new leadership on our Board.
Every effort brings us closer to safeguarding Zimbabwe’s biodiversity and empowering future conservation leaders.
Thank you for being part of it. We’re excited to share some recent highlights below.
For Wild Africa,
Jessica Dawson
Executive Director
From Rescued and Rehabbed - to Released
This month, we celebrated two successful releases. Our long-term resident python was returned to the wild in Victoria Falls National Park. After careful consideration, we selected an ideal habitat where it can thrive (above), and we are confident it will adapt well to its new surroundings.
We also released a juvenile ground hornbill that had been recovering from serious injuries after being hit by a car. These birds form strong social bonds, so it was important to return it to its original flock near Hwange National Park’s Main Camp.
Meet our inspiring young international speakers!
This month, two of our young Conservation Club ambassadors, Alex Bunjira and Ashley Musiringofa, had the extraordinary opportunity to speak at the COP15 RAMSAR meeting in Victoria Falls.
Nancy Mutungwazi, VFWT Conservation Education Officer, talked us through the occasion: “Seeing our two Conservation Club students confidently present their speeches to an audience of 150 people at the RAMSAR Conference was one of the most rewarding and fulfilling moments for me. I felt incredibly proud not only of their courage and eloquence, but also of the growth and passion they demonstrated for conservation.”
The students presented speeches themed “A Wetland Love Story: Guardians of the Water’s Embrace” and showed how connecting children, school networks, and shared global experiences can spark hope and inspire action to protect our wetlands and secure our planet’s future.
“My experience of doing a speech at RAMSAR was very exciting and a bit scary – but after I got the hang of it, it was all okay.
It has boosted my confidence a lot and I have learnt so much about wetlands.”
Alex Bunjira
Lion News
Lion dynamics in Zambezi National Park have shifted significantly over the past months. Following the tragic loss of the dominant pride female to snaring and wildlife trafficking in March, the younger females in the pride have managed to survive and hunt successfully. However, the dominant male was unable to defend the territory when a coalition of three young males entered the park. These new males have now taken over, mating with the pride females and reshaping the social structure. The dominant male was pushed out of the park and is now often along the periphery in the adjacent Safari reas.
Our research team continues to monitor these changes closely. Spoor transects are underway as part of a regional lion population survey across Zambezi, Kazuma, and Matetsi Safari Areas. This long-term data is vital to understanding how lion populations have evolved over the last decade and how best to protect them.
Vulture News: Investigating the effects of a new railway line
Our vulture research team has been hard at work in the field this last month doing the annual assessment during breeding season, assessing colonies and monitoring interventions. Encouragingly, wire mesh installed five years ago to protect key nesting trees is still proving effective. Maintenance on some of the mesh will be carried out later in the dry season to ensure the protection continues.
On a broader scale, the team is working with regional partners to inform policy around the proposed development of a railway line along the Botswana border. This infrastructure could impact a major white-backed vulture breeding colony. By sharing science-based data, we aim to influence decision-making and safeguard this critical habitat.
Countering Wildlife Crime
VFWT’s countering wildlife crime programme is gaining ground. By strengthening investigative capacity, building collaboration with government and NGO partners, and supporting prosecutions, we are seeing meaningful results. A recent bushmeat case saw sentencing increase from the usual three months or community service to nine months’ imprisonment – an encouraging step toward stronger deterrence. Bringing stakeholders together across the landscape is central to our approach. Shared intelligence and coordinated action are essential to tackling the complex, transboundary nature of wildlife crime.
Mobile bomas boost harvests
This 2024/2025 season, VFWT supported 284 farmers across twelve mobile bomas, providing each with 2kg of sorghum and 2kg of millet seed. A recent assessment revealed encouraging results despite the below average rainfall for the season: crops grown on fields fertilized by manure from the mobile bomas produced 50% more millet and 30% more sorghum compared to non-fertilized plots. These gains highlight the power of nature-based solutions to strengthen food security and support communities living alongside wildlife and we hope that with improved rainfall crop yields will only improve.
Board News
Finally, we are delighted to welcome Shelley Cox to VFWT’s Zimbabwe Board. Shelley brings over 15 years of experience in conservation and tourism leadership, having worked with various leading regional tourism brands as well as founding a successful eco-tour agency. She has served on multiple advisory boards including ATTA and Zimbabwe’s Forestry Commission, and consulted for IFC and World Bank on major tourism development programs.
Born in Zimbabwe, Shelley’s passion for wildlife was shaped early through family time in Hwange National Park and exposure to conservation initiatives. Today, she champions collaboration as the key to securing Zimbabwe’s natural heritage for generations to come.
Thank you for reading our news! Remember to follow along on our social media channels for our most recent news from the field.
Until next time, we’d love to share some highlights from Ashley Musiringofa’s, rousing and passionate speech which she gave at the recent COP15 RAMSAR meeting in Victoria Falls, as one of our Conservation Club ambassadors:
VICTORIA FALLS WILDLIFE TRUST
PO Box 159, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe | +263 782 799 006
PO Box 23183, San Diego, CA 92193 | 619-602-1725
9 The Clock Tower, Redlers Waterside, Dudbridge Rd., Stroud GL5 3LH, UK
+44 (0)74 76 227 684
Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust | PO Box 23183 | San Diego, CA 92193 US
