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Ishemunyoro Chingwere Business Reporter
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) is set to get a boost in its conservation operations after the Government approved the restart of tourism activities which had been put on ice in March as a means to curtail the spread of Covid-19.
ZimParks relies heavily on tourism receipts for its conservation efforts and had of late began to struggle due to lack of funds.
Over and above several national parks around the country, the authority is also the custodian of Zimbabwe’s premier tourist destination — the Victoria Falls.
In an interview with this publication, ZimParks public relations manager Tinashe Farawo, said the authority hopes to scale up and meet its mandate with the opening of the tourism space.
“Last week the Government gave us the greenlight to open our national parks to visitors, so we have made a decision to open most of the parks,” said Mr Farawo.
“We rely mostly on tourism to fund our conservation activities and this includes law enforcement as well as reacting to human/wildlife conflict incidents.
“Over the past three months, we have been facing serious challenges in terms of responding within reasonable time, to human/wildlife conflict incidents because we were not generating income,” he said.
Mr Farawo said the authority had put in place measures to makesure that the parks will not be new Covid-19 hotspots.
“We are putting mechanisms in place to ensure that our people will be safe, we don’t want to be a source of Covid-19.
“All our staff are undergoing the mandatory Covid-19 tests so that they are ready to receive visitors. We are busy regularly sanitising areas which visitors patronise, we will also be doing the basic screening checks for our visitors.
“We want to assure visitors that as ZimParks, we are doing everything possible to guarantee their safety and thus urge them to visit our parks,” he said.
The opening of the parks comes after the country recorded 1 034 cases and 19 deaths from Covid-19 as of yesterday afternoon.
The Government is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to contain the disease and tough measures are being put in place to stop cross-border drivers from smuggling people, some of them with Covid-19 into the country.
The ailment has disrupted global value chains as countries sealed their boarders and international airports as part of a host of measures to contain the disease.
Online Reporter