Grant Announcement: Wilderness Wildlife Trust

Empowers Africa is excited to announce a grant of USD 6,000 to support Wilderness Wildlife Trust’s (WWT) endeavors in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. Wilderness Safaris and WWT have long been crucial arbiters of wildlife protection and ecotourism throughout southern Africa. Their current efforts in Hwange demonstrate their commitment to conservation and community empowerment.
One of the projects the Empowers Africa grant will fund is the Hwange Game Water Supply Project. Covering an expansive 17,000 square kilometers, Hwange is home to enormous wildlife populations. However, the fencing surrounding the reserve severely restricts animal migration. When seasonal changes jeopardize natural water supply, the animals rely on Hwange’s 57 boreholes, 18 of which were drilled by (and are currently powered by) Wilderness Safaris camps.
This grant will also support the Hwange Elephant Movement Study, which is aimed at determining how higher elephant densities and individual dominance status may influence how far from water elephants will go to forage, how this influences the quality of the patch in which they forage, and how easily they can access water.
The third project in Hwange that will benefit from this grant is the Hwange Anti-Poaching Project. Due to the economic hardship in Zimbabwe, local people living near the border of the park are increasingly snaring animals for food. Unfortunately, larger animals including elephants, buffalo, and zebra are caught in these snares and suffer fatal wounds. Wilderness Safaris Wildlife Trust provides the equipment and drugs for staff to dart the injured animals, remove the snares and treat the deadly wounds.
For more information, please visit www.wildernesstrust.com