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1982

• Formation of the Society
  The Zambezi Society was formed as a lobby group in opposition to a proposal to flood Mana Pools with the building of a dam on the Zambezi River at Mupata Gorge.
• Saving Mana Pools (-1985)
  The Society helped mobilise international support against the dam at Mupata Gorge and drafted Zimbabwe’s application for World Heritage Site status for Mana Pools. This was successful. Mana Pools was subsequently also designated as a National Park. The Mupata Gorge dam site was abandoned in favour of an alternative site at Batoka Gorge between Victoria Falls and Kariba.

1983

• Saving Mana Pools (began 1982).

1984

• Saving Mana Pools (began 1982).

1985

• The Rhino Survival Campaign
  The Zambezi Society initiated the Rhino Survival Campaign which drew worldwide attention to the plight of the black rhinoceros which was in danger of extinction in Southern Africa, and to raise funds for an Emergency Black Rhinoceros Action Plan.
• Saving Mana Pools (began 1982).

1986 Top

• The Rhino Survival Campaign (began 1985).

1987 Top

• Monitoring Oil exploration (-1990)
  The Society closely monitored an oil exploration exercise in the Zambezi Valley, undertaken by a large multi-national company and was instrumental in negotiating exploration methods which, although more expensive, ensured that environmental damage was kept to a minimum.

1988 Top

• Community natural resource management (-present)
  The Zambezi Society became involved in a CAMPFIRE project in Muzarabani District in order to gain some experience in rural community resource management. Since 1988, the Society has been represented on the management committee of the Mavuradonha Wilderness Area, over 500 sq. kms. of valuable Zambezi escarpment flora and fauna - the only protected area which lies within communal land and is administered by the local community. The Society has been instrumental in sourcing funds for a variety of community wildlife management projects in this area many of which seek to address the elephant/human conflict issue. The Society has now extended its community work into neighbouring Guruve District, and into the Tete Province of Mozambique, which lies just across the international border.
• Monitoring Oil exploration (began 1987)
  

1989 Top

• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Monitoring Oil exploration (began 1987)

1990 Top

• Black rhino dehorning (-1992)
  The Society was heavily involved in raising funds and providing voluntary help and practical support to the Department of National Parks and the Veterinary Services for an emergency programme to remove the horns from the country's fast-diminishing black rhino population.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Monitoring Oil exploration (began 1987)

1991 Top

• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino dehorning (began 1990)

1992 Top

• Black rhino protection (-present)
  Since the establishment of the Black Rhino Intensive Protection Zones in 1992, the Society has channeled millions of dollars into black rhinoceros protection, providing equipment, supplies and T&S to National Parks' stations and staff for anti-poaching operations. The majority of the funding for this programme has been sourced by the Society's fund-raising branch in the United Kingdom.
• Cheetah trans-location (-1994)
  The Society aided the Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Management Authority in the experimental translocation of 15 “problem” cheetah from farmland in Zimbabwe’s Lowveld to the Matusadona National Park. Over a three-year period these animals were released into the Park, after being held for several weeks in a natural "boma" specially-constructed with funds provided by local tour operators, The Zambezi Society and international donors. The Society then began a research and monitoring programme for these animals.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino dehorning (began 1990)

1993 Top

• Zambezi Society (UK) (-present)
  The Zambezi Society established a branch in the United Kingdom known as The Zambezi Society (UK) with UK Registered Charity status. Staffed only by dedicated volunteers, this branch has undertaken many successful fund-raising and awareness initiatives and has provided increasingly valuable support to the Society's projects and activities in the Zambezi Basin.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Cheetah trans-location (began 1992)

1994 Top

• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (-2002)
  The society began a sustained media campaign lobbying for better tourism planning at the Victoria Falls. The Society supported the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in calling for a moratorium on tourism development at Victoria Falls until a Master Plan for the area is in place. Although this did not happen, the process for developing a Master Plan was initatied with funding from the Canadian government and the Society informed this process notably with its research findings on the importance of wilderness values to tourism.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Cheetah trans-location (began 1992)

1995 Top

• Zambezi Basin Convention (-present)
  The Zambezi Society has been calling for a coordinated, regional approach to the planning of the whole Zambezi Basin area through the political mechanism of a Zambezi Basin Convention.
• Tse-tse control and conservation (-present)
  The Society was invited to sit on the National Coordination Committee for Tsetse and Tripanosomiasis Control and has retained this seat ever since, ensuring that the conservation objectives of the Society are incorporated into decisions on tsetse control within the Zambezi basin area.
• Sites of botanical interest (-present)
  The Zambezi Society formed a partnership with The Biodiversity Foundation for Africa (BFA) in identifying 80 sites of high botanical interest within the Zambezi valley. Twenty of these have been prioritised for urgent conservation action and the Society continues to work with local communities to develop ways of using the natural resources within these areas as an incentive to conserve them.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (began 1994)

1996 Top

• Inputs to CITES (-2000)
  The Zambezi Society undertook an extensive consultation exercise with its membership in order to establish a firm position at the CITES COP 10 held in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1997. The Society took part in the conference as a registered observer, supported the Zimbabwe government in its successful call for the downlisting of the elephant to Appendix II, and was able to make the views of its members known to all international delegates. The Society maintains its seat on the Zimbabwe CITES technical committee and continues to liaise with the Zimbabwean government and the Parks Authority on CITES issues.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (began 1994)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)

1997 Top

• Wetlands biodiversity evaluation (-2000)
  The Zambezi Society with its partners the Biodiversity Foundation for Africa (BFA), has undertaken an evaluation of the biodiversity value of four wetland areas along the Zambezi River - the Barotseland Floodplains in Zambia, the Chobe/Linyanti area of Botswana/Namibia, the Lower Shire in Malawi and the Zambezi Delta in Mozambique. This activity was part of the World Conservation Union (IUCN)’s wider Zambezi Basin Wetlands Conservation and Resource Utilisation Programme.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (began 1994)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)

1998 Top

• Cheetah survey Part 1
  An initial assessment of the success of the Zambezi Society's cheetah re-introducation project in the Matusadona National Park in Zimbabwe, four years after it was completed, was undertaken by Gianetta Purchase. The study concluded that although the existing population of cheetahs was viable and the translocation had been a success, an increase in the cheetah population to more than 25 was unlikely because of restrictions in the availability of suitable habitat and the high density of lions in the Park.
• Wilderness Survey (-2000)
  The Zambezi Society undertook a survey of visitor perceptions and attitudes towards wilderness in four tourist “hot spots” on the Zambezi River. The aim of the survey was to find out what people felt about wilderness and to assess its value to them. The results of the survey, which underscore the high value of wilderness to Zambezi tourism, have been made available to Zimbabwean and Zambian tourism industries and planning authorities to assist in the development of future tourism policy, including the Master Plan for Victoria Falls. They, together with the results of later survey work on the attitudes of rural communities to wilderness, helped develop the Zambezi Society's Wilderness Conservation Programme.
• Black rhino support and breeding programme (-2002)
  The Society in collaboration with the Zimbabwean Veterinary Services Department and the Department of National Parks launched a carefully-structured programme of research and veterinary support for the future long-term management of black rhino in the Matusadona National Park Intensive Protection Zone. The research programme included the establishment and running of a Black Rhino Breeding and Reintroduction Facility at the Tashinga headquarters of the Matusadona National Park Intensive Protection Zone. About a dozen black rhino were reared and released into the wild through this programme. They are now themselves breeding successful in the Park. A good deal of the funding in support of this breeding programme was raised locally by a Junior girls school in Harare - Chisipite Junior School as well as by the Zambezi Society's UK branch.
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (-present)
  The Zambezi Society, having established a working partnership with a well-known British-based conservation organisation, Flora and Fauna International (FFI) embarked on a basin-wide conservation programme entitled the Zambezi Basin Initiative together with FFI and the Biodiversity Foundation for Africa. The pilot phase of this study was directed at the Cabora Bassa/Zambezi Valley trans-border area, where the borders of Zimbabwe Zambia and Mozambique meet.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (began 1994)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Wetlands biodiversity evaluation (began 1997)

1999 Top

• Cahora Bassa biodiversity & wilderness evaluation (-present)
  The Zambezi Society and the BFA have completed a biodiversity and wilderness evaluation of the land around Lake Cabora Bassa in Tete Province of Mozambique. This work, undertaken at the request of the government of Mozambique and the Ford Foundation, is assisting the Mozambican authorities in making long-term development and planning decisions for the area.
• Elephant monitoring project (-2001)
  The Zambezi Society attached radio-tracking collars to 18 elephants in Muzarabani and Guruve Districts of northern Zimbabwe and monitored their movements on the Zimbabwe/ Mozambique border. Valuable information was gathered on the behaviour of this shared population. This enabled the Society a) to make recommendations to the districts on managing their elephant resource, including maintaining an elephant movement corridor identified by the research; b) to help the authorities in both countries develop a collaborative cross-boundary elephant management strategy.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (began 1994)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Wetlands biodiversity evaluation (began 1997)
• Wilderness Survey (began 1998)
• Black rhino support and breeding programme (began 1998)
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (began 1998)

2000 Top

• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (began 1994)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Wetlands biodiversity evaluation (began 1997)
• Wilderness Survey (began 1998)
• Black rhino support and breeding programme (began 1998)
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (began 1998)
• Cahora Bassa biodiversity & wilderness evaluation (began 1999)
• Elephant monitoring project (began 1999)

2001 Top

• Dry forest study
  The Zambezi Society undertook a study of selected rare and threatened “dry forest” (jesse bush) sites in Northern Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Valuable data on the biodiversity and ecological condition of these isolated vegetation patches was collected and recommendations made for their future conservation.
• Transboundary Workshop
  The Zambezi Society presented the findings of its research on elephant and habitat conservation at a very successful transboundary workshop with 50 high-level political and community representatives from Zimbabwe and Mozambique at Kanyemba on the Zambezi River. The meeting provided the Society with a mandate to pursue collaborative cross-border wildlife and habitat management initiatives.
• Inputs into World Commission on Dams
  The Zambezi Society contributed to consultations held by the World Commission on Dams in compiling its report on the impacts of large dam projects worldwide, with particular reference to Kariba and Cabora Bassa and future Zambezi dams. The Society continues to make inputs into the process as a member of IUCN’s Task Force on Dams.
• 7th World Wilderness Congress
  At the invitation of the US-based WILD Foundation, the Zambezi Society attended the 7th World Wilderness Congress held in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and presented a paper entitled: The Zambezi River: Wilderness and Tourism.
• Community eco-tourism initiative
  The Zambezi Society assisted Guruve and Muzarabani rural district councils in Northern Zimbabwe to develop a joint initiative for eco-tourism in their districts, with the aim of encouraging conservation by increasing the benefits to communities from valuable natural and archaeological resources.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (began 1994)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Black rhino support and breeding programme (began 1998)
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (began 1998)
• Cahora Bassa biodiversity & wilderness evaluation (began 1999)
• Elephant monitoring project (began 1999)

2002 Top

• Wilderness Programme (-present)
  Informed by its own research and networks established at the 7th World Wilderness Congress, the Society began the development of a long-term programme for conserving the wilderness values of the Zambezi river. This includes training custodians of wild places in the Zambezi region through a regional wilderness management training programme in partnership with the South-African based Wilderness Action Group; establishing a set of wilderness stewardship guidelines to encourage "wilderness-sensitive" operations and activities in Zambezi areas; providing incentives for good wilderness stewardship and monitoring the effects of all these activities on the tourism wilderness experience.
• Lobbying for tourism planning at Victoria Falls (began 1994)
  The Canadian government suspended all progress on the development of a Master Plan for Victoria Falls. The Zambezi Society made a strong objection to this policially-motivated action and urged both the Zimbabwean government planning authorities and the Canadians to keep the planning process open. However, lack of funding and an unfavourable investment climate in Zimbabwe has prevented the Plan from being completed and the Victoria Falls biodiversity and wilderness values continue to suffer from lack of co-ordinated planning.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Black rhino support and breeding programme (began 1998)
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (began 1998)
• Cahora Bassa biodiversity & wilderness evaluation (began 1999)

2003 Top

• Identifying Zambezi conservation priorities (-2004)
  In partnership with The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)'s , "Living Waters Programme", The Zambezi Society undertook a "needs analysis" aimed at identifying conservation priorities for the future conservation and management of the Zambezi River Basin and its associated wetland areas.
• Four Corners biodiversity information project (-2004)
  The Society, with its BFA partners has undertaken a biodiversity evaluation and information dissemination exercise for the African Wildlife Foundation's "Four Corners" transboundary project. Centred on Victoria Falls and Livingstone towns, the Four Corners area encompasses four countries and includes the Okavango Delta, Chobe, Victoria Falls, Hwange and South Kafue National Parks. Biodiversity data has been gathered, interpreted and packaged in user-friendly formats for planners, policy-makers, NGOs, academics and media in the region with the aim of influencing development decision-making to take biodiversity values into account.
• Black rhino monitoring programme (-present)
  After a two incidents in 2002 in which two black rhino were poached in the Matusadona National Park Intensive Protection Zone, the Zambezi Society shifted its support focus away from the breeding and re-introduction programme and concentrated on protection of the existing population as its highest priority. The Society established a long-term programme of intensive monitoring and recording of the black rhino in the Matusadona, employing experienced trackers who work with the National Park's scouts to strenghten anti-poaching activities and gather research data which informs a regional black rhino conservation project.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (began 1998)
• Cahora Bassa biodiversity & wilderness evaluation (began 1999)
• Wilderness Programme (began 2002)

2004 Top

• Cheetah survey Part 2 (-2005)
  A second follow-up survey of the cheetah re-introduced into the Matusadona National Park in Zimbabwe between 1992 and 1994 was undertaken by Dr Gianetta Purchase. The results show that a viable cheetah population of some 20 animals has been successfully established within the Park as a result of the translocation, and that the surrounding human communities have not suffered any adverse effects.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (began 1998)
• Cahora Bassa biodiversity & wilderness evaluation (began 1999)
• Wilderness Programme (began 2002)
• Identifying Zambezi conservation priorities (began 2003)
• Four Corners biodiversity information project (began 2003)
• Black rhino monitoring programme (began 2003)

2005 Top

• 8th World Wilderness Congress
  Again at the invitation of the WILD Foundation, the Zambezi Society attended the 8th World Wilderness Congress in Alaska with a team of community representatives from Tete Province in Mozambique. An ambitious Biosphere Reserve land planning exercise is planned for this important area, and the Mozambicans had the opportunity to outline this plan to the congress, learn from their exposure at the Congress and benefit from a pre-Congress wilderness training course.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (began 1998)
• Cahora Bassa biodiversity & wilderness evaluation (began 1999)
• Wilderness Programme (began 2002)
• Black rhino monitoring programme (began 2003)
• Cheetah survey Part 2 (began 2004)

2006 Top

• Black Rhino Minotoring Programme (began 2003)
  The funding for this programme was boosted by a further donation from Save the Rhino International, whose Director and Founder visited the Matusadona National Park with the Society's Projects Director in February 2006. In August, the Society carried out a successful 6-day operation during which eight black rhino were ear-notched or fitted with tracking mechanisms to assist with their monitoring and protection.
• Zambezi Wilderness Training (part of Wilderness Programme) (began 2002)
  In September 2006, The Zambezi Society, in partnership with the Wilderness Action Group of South Africa held the first Zambezi-based training course in Wilderness Concepts and Practice at RIFA camp near Chirundu on the Zambezi River. Twenty senior-level officers from the Zimbabwean and Zambian Wildlife Authorities attended the course, which was very successful. Further courses are planned.
• Partnership Link with Mozambique
  The Zambezi Society assisted in the formation of an environmental conservation organisation in Tete, Mozambique, called (in translation) "The Organisation for Environmental Services of the Zambezi". The Society is represented on the equivalent of a Trustee Board for this organisation and will link to it as a partner through a Memorandum of Understanding. This gives the Zambezi Society permanent representation in Mozambique, the opportunity to share expertise and experience and to provide assistance where necessary in issues affecting the lower Zambezi basin.
• National Lion Management Workshop - Zimbabwe
  The Zambezi Society participated and contributed to the development of the Zimbabwe National Lion Strategy during a workshop sponsorded by IUCN ROSA and Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority on the 30th/31st October.
• Competed a Preliminary Assesment of Trophy Hunting of Leopard in Zimbabwe
  In collaboration with Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, the Society carried out a preliminary assesment of the sustainability of Leopard hunting in Zimbabwe. Based on the results of the assesment, we intend to extend the project to a nation wide assesment.
• Community natural resource management (began 1988)
• Black rhino protection (began 1992)
• Zambezi Basin Convention (began 1995)
• Tse-tse control and conservation (began 1995)
• Sites of botanical interest (began 1995)
• Inputs to CITES (began 1996)
• Zambezi Basin Initiative (began 1998)
• Cahora Bassa biodiversity & wilderness evaluation (began 1999)
• Wilderness Programme (began 2002)
• Black rhino monitoring programme (began 2003)
• Cheetah survey Part 2 (began 2004)

2007 Top