Musekese Conservation – working across parts of Kafue National Park and two large GMAs (game management areas) – says that while significant challenges remain, equally significant strides have been taken to protect Zambia’s largest and oldest wildlife haven. In its 2023/4 annual report, it shows how boots on the ground, increased equipment, community partnerships and citizen science can all come together to preserve, monitor and understand the game that lives and passes through the area.

Resource Protection

One of the biggest outcomes over the past two has been the more than doubling of the staff complement, from 60 to 135 members. Law enforcement operations also moved from the national park itself to the Mumbwa and Kasonso-Busanga GMA, both of which are under pressure from illegal encroachment and resulting deforestation and poaching. In Mumbwa, an area of 3 380km² / 2 411mi², about 50ha / 123 acres was being lost to deforestation daily.

Kasonso-Busanga is an even greater area at 7 790km² / 4 840mi² and is an important elephant corridor to West Lunga National Park with major miombo carbon sinks. It is also an internationally recognised RAMSAR birding wetland.

To counter illegal activities in these two important GMAs, Musekese Conservation embarked on legal awareness training especially of explaining the Wildlife, Forestry and Fisheries Acts. This was backed up by a visible field presence thanks to more staff, a rapid response system (especially to counteract illegal logging and charcoal production), aerial surveillance and technological integration. A notable outcome of all this extra activity is the reduction of deforestation by 50%.

Thirty-five recruits were sent for a community scout training course at Chunga while 14 existing scouts received their first ‘refresher’ training in a decade.

Other notable outcomes include:

  • 14 anti-poaching teams
  • 135 individuals supported
  • 2 deployment bases
  • 12 095 patrol man days
  • 26 802km / 16 654mi covered on foot
  • 99 apprehensions
  • 33 firearms recovered
  • 195 traps and snares removed
  • 562kg / 1 239lb of bushmeat recovered
  • 1 909 bags of illegal charcoal recovered
  • 503 charcoal kilns destroyed
  • 215 illegal logs removed

Community Partnerships

There can be no successful programmes without involving the very people who live and work on the land. Over 940 people were involved in annual general meetings across the Mulendama, Kabulwebulwe and Chibuluma chiefdoms. In addition, work with was done with the Kabulwebulwe Women’s Farmers Group while 12 pupils from four schools were taken on the Kids in the Kafue project with Classic Zambia. This sees village youngsters enjoy a safari and learn more about why preserving wildlife is so crucial.

Research

Much of the research and monitoring team’s work stayed within the national park, where they teamed up the Zambian Carnivore Project and Panthera to monitor large carnivores (lion, wild dog, hyena, leopard and cheetah); check the herbivore population and prey availability; and reduce human-caused mortalities of large carnivores.

This involved setting 200 camera traps at 100 locations to cover 1 044km² / 649mi² of the Musekese-Lumbeya (ML) region of the park. They have collared individuals in seven prides (only the Mufolo lions remain uncollared), six wild dog packs and six different cheetahs.

Collaring of known cheetahs has led to a whopping 525% increase in sightings between 2023 and 2024. That said, their camera trap occurrence rose only marginally from 12% in 2022 to 15% in 2024 (but camera-trap methodology and the habitat both do not favour capturing cheetah).

In 2023 106 individual wild dogs were known across nine packs but this sadly declined to 75 across seven pack a year later because of predation by lions, snaring and drivers colliding their cars with dogs crossing the M9, which separates ML from the GMA. This is parallel with a drop from 58% to 53% in camera-trap activity.

The western ML has a very high leopard density of nine per 100km² / 62mi² (the highest in the Greater Kafue Ecosystem and the same as the famous Sabi Sands Game Reserve in South Africa). The area is prime leopard habitat with occupancy data rising from 82% in 2022 to 92% in 2023 and 2024.

On the other end of the scale, spotted hyena are very seldom seen and are estimated to have a low density of 1.88 individuals per 100km² / 62mi².

Other notable outcomes include:

  • 346 research field days
  • 363 research drives
  • 400 camera traps
  • 106 individual leopards identified
  • 66 individual lions identified
  • 123 individual wild dogs identified
  • 14 individual cheetahs identified
  • 26 829km / 16 671mi driven

Citizen Science

Just as residents need to be a part of the conservation story, so do guests and travellers. Working with Classic Zambia, safari goers to Musekese Camp had the option to help match carnivore sightings to individuals using identification cards. The number of cat sightings by game-drive parties increased from 175 to 250 by 2024. Moving forward it is hoped to include all camps and lodges in the region.

As an enormous area comprising various habitats, Kafue is difficult to patrol, monitor and administer effectively without several parties coming together and working together. For more in-depth insights, you can read the full report here.