British royal Prince Harry wants to invest US$8m (about
R118m) in the next five years as part of a joint venture between his African
Parks organisation and Zimbabwe government’s national parks (ZimParks) to
revive the country’s flagship rhino haven.
The 1,407km2 Matusadona National Park - also known as
Kariba National Park - is situated in the north-west of Zimbabwe on the
southern shores of Lake Kariba. It used to house about 35% of Zimbabwe’s black
rhino population.
However, years of abandon and syndicate-led poaching
destroyed the park, which was created in 1958 when conservationist Rupert
Fothergill orchestrated “Operation Noah” and moved animals away from the newly
constructed Kariba Dam.
Today, animals struggle to get by. There is diminished
interest from tourists, with park chalets and other infrastructure for human
habitations destroyed.
It appears the interest of Prince Harry - who was
officially named African Parks' president in December 2017 - comes just in
time.
“We are extremely delighted,” said ZimParks spokesperson
Tinashe Farawo.
The joint venture between African Parks and ZimParks gives
the new investor a shareholding of 49% with the Zimbabwe government, through
ZimParks, retaining 51%. Profits will be shared on a quarterly basis.
“It’s a business structured deal that should see us working
together for the next 20 years. Day-to-day running of the park will be an
inclusive affair on a rotational basis,” added Farawo.
Considering the damage to infrastructure at the game park,
the next five years will be mostly dedicated to reconstruction using money
brought in by the investor.
“They have their own way of sourcing funds and in our
contract within the next five years they should have ploughed in US$8m,” he
said.
Farawo told SowetanLIVE's sister publication TimesLIVE that
the highlight of the agreement would be to reintroduce the black rhinoceros
which has been completely wiped out from the park by poaching. The few rhinos
that survived at the height of the onslaught were shipped to other secure
areas.
Writing in the UK’s Daily Telegraph a few weeks ago, after
his visit to Africa, Prince Harry said, “Matusadona is a very special place for
Zimbabwe and has a lot of potential for tourism and socio-economic
development.”
The deal was signed by Africa Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead and
ZimParks director general Fulton Mangwanya last week on Friday. At the signing,
Fearnhead emphasised that his organisation was working in 10 African countries
and managing more than 10-million animals in 16 parks and working in Zimbabwe
would be routine.
ZimParks officials said Prince Harry’s profile and wide
international goodwill was a major boost for the park at a time when Zimbabwe’s
international reputation is in tatters.
“At government and diplomatic level things are bad. Our
leaders are bickering over sanctions and other things but at our level, we have
a British royal family member working with us. That’s a seal of approval and,
as such, tourists have no reason to worry about what politicians say,” said a
senior ZimParks employee. Sowetan
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