Zimparks to bring Big Five close to people

Robin Muchetu

TSHABALALA Game Sanctuary, located on the outskirts of Bulawayo is home to a variety of wildlife and more than 50 species of flora and fauna.

The sanctuary which is managed by the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority offers an exotic safari experience at an affordable cost.

Situated just 10 minutes away from Bulawayo’s Central Business District along the Matopos Road, the sanctuary offers an existing number of activities for the whole family, schools, corporates and individuals.

The sanctuary is suitable for family and group outings, picnicking, braaing, bird watching and game viewing. It is also corporate friendly as it offers outdoor conferencing facilities. It also offers an ultimate bush camping experience and an opportunity to be one with nature.

The sanctuary is a standing example of the integration between man and nature and is now home to the king of the jungle, the lion. At the moment there is one pride the Mafidi pride with one male and two females but management is hoping to increase the prides with time.

As part of its strategic plan of being customer centric, Zimparks walked away with the Most Customer Focused Organisation and Public Sector Leader of the Year awards at the recently held Megafest Southern Region awards. Kwanele Manungo from Zimparks won the top accolade in the Public Sector League category. The organisation, Zimparks, also got the Customer focused award.

The awards, the company said, are testimony to the efforts that the organisation is making in its mandate to protect and manage wildlife. Zimparks said it is trying to target the local market by bringing the Big Five to places near them so that they get value for their money.

The whole idea of bringing the Big Five to parks that are close to town is to make their facilities more accessible for domestic tourism. Zimparks pride themselves as having the most affordable rates for their activities in the region and said they aim to have all locals visiting their sites to have an experience of the wild.

Apart from lions, the sanctuary is also home to a giraffe and other small animal species and visitors can see more of these as they travel further to the Matopos where they can see the black and white Rhino as well as the leopard. Those who want to see the remainder of the big five (Buffalo and Elephant) can visit Hwange National Park.

The Big Five are leopard, lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo. Big game hunters coined the term “Big Five or African Big Five” and it refers to the most difficult five animals to hunt on foot.