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The tourism and hospitality industry in Victoria Falls has come up with a deliberate plan to adopt rural schools as a way of enhancing environmental conservation and promoting sustainable tourism.Often tourists visit Victoria Falls and embark on village tourism on the outskirts of Hwange and Victoria Falls towns to appreciate local culture and natural resources.
This, however, leaves less or no benefits to the rural communities. Individual operators, under the auspices of the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) have since resolved to adopt a school each in Hwange District to empower the centres and surrounding communities through various programmes including greening tourism.
Last week, HAZ Matabeleland North in conjunction with other stakeholders participated at a tree planting at Sizinda Secondary School in Monde. The school was adopted by Imvelo Safaris. A total of 415 trees donated by the Forestry Commission in conjunction with Environment Buddies Zimbabwe were planted at the school while Chikoro Africa donated 190 Form 1 up to Form 4 textbooks valued at $3 000.
Guest of honour, HAZ chairman for Matabeleland North, Farai Chimba, encouraged communities to plant trees to conserve the environment, which is the backbone of tourism in the province.
Tourism is one of the key economic enablers hence it can sustain downstream economies.
“We are moving towards a scenario where each tourism operator is adopting a school in the rural areas as a way of giving back to the community and moving closer to the locals. We need to leave a legacy for our children and protect our homes from natural hazards.
“There is a connection between animals, trees and tourism hence if we don’t plant trees now we may not have water flowing down the Victoria Falls in future. As we interact with visitors, let’s talk about tree planting and also make sure that in our families for every child that’s born we plant a tree,” said Chimba, the incoming chairperson of Victoria Falls Rotary Club.
Luciana Crispim who is co-director of Chikoro Africa with her husband Bruno Crispim, said they chose to empower schools because education was key to life transformation in any community.
“This is the reason why we are helping Sizinda Secondary School,” she said.
Dr Shamiso Mupara of Environmental Buddies Zimbabwe challenged schools to educate children and communities about conservation. There are concerns that human activities are slowly encroaching into the Zambezi River and silting the water body. Organisations such as Environment Africa, Green Line Africa, Lion Encounter, Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, Nyaradzo Funeral Services, Painted Dog Research and Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority have come together to raise awareness on conservation.
Bongani Ndlovu