On the boundary of Hwange National Park, a lost animal is a lost year of savings. Strengthening enclosures is one of the most direct interventions we make.
For a household on the edge of Hwange National Park, livestock is not a hobby. It is savings, school fees, food security and standing in the community. A single predation event can undo years of careful accumulation.
This is the part of conservation that is easy to discuss abstractly and hard to live with. Retaliation against predators is not irrational when the cost of coexistence falls entirely on one family.
Starting with the enclosure
Strengthening the kraal is unglamorous and effective. Working with households, we assess where an enclosure is failing and support the materials and labour needed to close the gap.
- Household-led assessment of where and when losses occur.
- Practical reinforcement using locally available materials wherever possible.
- Training on night-time management and safe herding practice.
- Follow-up visits to record whether losses actually fall.
“Since we strengthened the kraal, we have not lost livestock in the way we used to.”
The wider point
Reducing loss changes the conversation. When households are not absorbing the full cost of living beside a national park, conservation stops being something done to them and starts being something they can participate in.
Names, photographs and quotations are published only with the informed consent of the people involved.
