Conservation South Luangwa
At Wildlife Worldwide, the natural world is at the heart of everything we do and care about, and so it follows that contributing to conservation is also of the utmost importance to us. With that in mind, a voluntary donation when booking one of our holidays goes towards our conservation fund.
One of the beneficiaries of this fund is Conservation South Luangwa (CSL), which carries out significant anti-poaching operations in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia and we are delighted to announce our latest donation to this wonderful organisation of £2,500. Every donation counts, and we’d like to thank you for your support – in booking our holidays – which has enabled us to raise this money. Without donations such as this, CSL simply would not exist, and would not be able to carry out its vital conservation work.
The South Luangwa National Park is one of Africa’s premier protected areas and it is also a place of great significance to us all here at Wildlife Worldwide – it was here that Director Chris Breen (a trustee of CSL) began his career in wildlife and conservation before founding Wildlife Worldwide in 1992. And the South Luangwa National Park remains a very special place – thanks in large part to the efforts of CSL which has a K9 team of five dogs, its own aircraft to do aerial patrols, funds a vet and has a huge team of wildlife police officers. It’s dangerous work, carried out by CSL’s dedicated team in incredibly challenging circumstances – one of their most respected scouts was, tragically, killed in action last year.
Wildlife Worldwide’s £2,500 donation, raised from your holiday bookings, will contribute directly to the operation of CSL’s dog team. Detection dogs offer a powerful conservation tool to monitor and manage wildlife and wild landscapes, and have proven themselves irreplaceable across conservation and law enforcement disciplines. In 2015, CSL implemented Zambia’s first wildlife detection dog program to help reduce the increase in wildlife poaching and trafficking.
CSL’s five dogs are all rescue dogs that have been given a second chance at life. They are identified and highly training by Working Dogs for Conservation, Montana. The dogs are training to detect ivory, bushmeat, pangolins, lion and leopard skins, and body parts and ivory. Since the dog programme started, CSL has arrested 111 people, confiscated 60 firearms, 24 pairs of ivory, nine pangolins and searched over 8,000 vehicles as a direct result of the dogs’ work. Keeping the dogs and handlers active, and on road blocks and other anti-poaching operations, is critical to CSL’s anti-poaching programmes. Our donations from previous years have been used to fund a mechanic from Kenya to go to Luangwa and train a team of CSL mechanics so that CSL can repair and maintain its own vehicles rather than having to pay precious money for them to be maintained by others.
Wildlife Worldwide Founder Chris Breen says: “I lead an annual Sacred Combe Safari to the Luangwa – my group and I always spend a little time with the CSL scouts and dogs at their HQ. It’s a wonderful experience for all of us to see cutting edge conservation in action. It’s a fantastic organisation.”
Speaking of dogs, another fabulous bit of news for South Luangwa is the wild dog population. Thanks to the outstanding conservation and research efforts of their Zambian Carnivore Programme, CSL are celebrating a big conservation success. The Luangwa Valley is now estimated to be home to the largest population of wild dogs in the whole of Zambia! Thanks to the collaborative efforts of ZCP (Zambian Carnivore Project), CSL and DNPW (Department of National Parks and Wildlife), wild dog numbers in and around the South Luangwa National Park have been steadily increasing, and there are now an estimated 350 dogs in the Valley.
To find out more about CSL, or to donate, visit their website.
Explore our range of wildlife tours in the South Luangwa - or contact our specialist wildlife consultants to plan your perfect tailor made trip to Zambia.
