Community & Conservation

Our Community

“Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social well-being, and exercise environmental stewardship”
BAN KI MOON

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Employment Through Tourism

As a town predominantly focused on tourism, Victoria Falls has historically provided growth in terms of job creation and income for local communities. Pre COVID-19 employment through tourism in and around Victoria Falls accounted for an estimated 85% direct tourism employment with a balance of 15% in downstream tourism support or related sectors.

Community Development

Tourism in the region plays a vital a role in facilitating community development through infrastructural development, business mentoring and educational opportunities, all of which contribute to local communities in increasing skill and knowledge as well as improving the socio-economic status of the community.

Community Support

During crisis situations such as drought, and the current COVID-19 pandemic, key tourism businesses and partners play a vital role in offering essential support to the surrounding communities, such as food security, health and safety awareness, providing access to clean water etc.

Stone Age

Ancient History

The Victoria Falls area is rich in stone age artifacts; weapons, ornaments and other tools from the era suggesting that there were healthy populations of the Homo habilis in the area dating as far back as three million years although the majority of the artifacts are from approximately 50,000 years ago.

'End of the World"

The "End of the World"

Arab slave traders, who operated throughout the interior of Southern-Africa from the 1200's referred to the waterfall as the "end of the world". Centuries later in 1715 a map produced by French cartogrpaher Nicolas de Fer, indicated the presence of cataracts at the point where the Victoria Falls are located although they only rose to fame once David Livingstone 'discovered' them a century later, even though he was already aware of their existence.

The Batonga

The first Bantu inhabitants of the region were the ancestors of the Tonga people, believed to have migrated from the equatorial forests of the Congo Basin, probably reaching the Zambezi Valley via Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa sometime around the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Despite their de-centralised and less warlike society, making them easy targets for more aggressive tribes, their descendants still live along the banks of the Zambezi above and below the Victoria Falls.

The Toka-Leya

Towards the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries other Bantu peoples migrated south from their original homelands in the southern Congo Basin. The earliest of these tribes to arrive, following the Batonga, was the Toka-Leya, under Chief Mukuni. The word ‘Leya’ means ‘to keep out of troubles’ and the explanation is given that Mukuni led off a number of his followers and settled in the country on both banks of the river above and below the Victoria Falls.

Lozi Kingdom

The Lozi Kingdom

The political organisation of the Lozi Tribe has long centred on a monarchy, whose reigning head, the Paramount King, is known as 'Litunga' which means 'keeper of the earth. Early Lozi oral tradition states that they have always inhabited the area along the Zambezi River from the Victoria Falls upstream, eastwards up the Chobe river floodplain in Botswana, to the Barotse Floodplain in North-western Zambia.

The Nambya

After the fall of Great Zimbabwe Empire in the 15th century, a sub-chief by the name Sahwanga left for present day Hwange National Park with a small group of followers where they established their new home made of stone structures, similar to those found at Great Zimbabwe. By the 1800's their numbers had grown and they occupied land along all the major rivers in the arid area between Hwange and Victoria Falls.

The Makololo

In the 1830's an army that originated in the Tswana-speaking Bafokeng region of South Africa, known as the Makololo, led by a warrior called Sebetwane, invaded Barotseland and conquered the Lozi. Sebetwane and David Livingstone forged a strong friendship and it was the Makololo people that led Livingstone to the Victoria Falls in 1855. In 1864 a Lozi revolt resulted in the Makololo being overthrown and scattering.

The Ndebele

The Ndebele, a branch of the Zulu who rebelled against King Shaka in the early 1820's and moved North through present day Botswana and into Zimbabwe. Led by Mzilikazi, the Ndebele swiftly overpowered the Nambya tribe and while exploring their new domain, which included the lands dropping down from the northern edge of the present-day Hwange National Park, down into the Zambezi valley, had their first sight of the Zambezi River and the falls which they named aManza Thunqayo - ‘the water which rises like smoke’.

Latest Community News

Africa’s Eden In-Destination Travel Show begins in Victoria Falls today

The inaugural Africa’s Eden In-Destination Travel Show began in Victoria Falls today to showcase the expansive and unparalleled biodiversity and world-class wilderness, wildlife and outdoor adventure offering of the region incorporating Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia. As a membership association focused on collaborative efforts to promote the region, Africa’s Eden together with 75 exhibitors from …

February 5, 2022February 5, 2022

Fastjet introduces Victoria Falls to Maun flights

Fastjet Zimbabwe, the award-winning value-based airline, has today announced that effective Thursday, 30 June 2022, the airline will introduce a new service between Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Maun in Botswana. The new route is scheduled to operate four (4) times a week on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Fastjet will operate the route …

January 28, 2022January 28, 2022

Africa’s Eden release Press Statement on recently announced travel bans

Africa’s Eden Tourism Association, a private sector, membership based organisation representing the tourism ecosystem in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, issued a Press Statement today imploring World Leader’s to ‘consider the science regarding the new variant and to understand the cost of travel bans on the communities, conservation and economic recovery’ of the region, before …

November 29, 2021November 29, 2021

Conservation Efforts

“Sustainable development is the pathway to tThe value of biodiversity is that it makes our ecosystems more resilient, which is a prerequisite for stable societies; its wanton destruction is akin to setting fire to our lifeboat”
JOHAN ROCKSTROM

Conservation Efforts

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Ecological Law Enforcement

The Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, The Forestry Commission and a number of private organisations continue to work collaboratively on measures designed to eradicate poaching and the illegal harvesting of natural resources, ensure effective legal frameworks and deterrents against wildlife crime, strengthen law enforcement, and support sustainable livelihoods.

Human Wildlife Conflict Management

With the current human population growth rate, the increasing demand for natural resources and the growing pressure for access to land, conflicts over human–wildlife interactions are present. However, there are ongoing collaborative efforts by a number of organisations to find diverse and inclusive solutions to reduce and offset conflict, turning challenges into opportunities to increase public support for professional management.

Research and Biological Monitoring

Long-term biological monitoring is key to effective, evidence-based conservation management. In and around Victoria Falls there is ongoing research, disease testing, wildlife and biological monitoring with a strong focus on fostering community-based conservation methods.

Zimparks

As the mandated government body, Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority play a vital role in maintaining the pristine ecology and wildlife within the Victoria Falls and Zambezi National Parks.

Forestry Commission

With so much of the naturally forested areas surrounding Victoria Falls falling under the mandate of the Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe they play an integral part in preserving the buffer zones around the National Parks and maintaining the wildlife corridors between these parks.

VFAPU

Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit

The Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of our local wildlife and natural resources. Working in close conjunction with Zimparks and Forestry Commission, the VFAPU scouts carry out daily patrols in and around Victoria Falls removing deadly wire snares, preventing wood poaching and assisting with the immobilisation and treated of any injured wildlife.

Vic Falls Wildlife Trust

Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust

For over a decade The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust has carried out a diversity of projects in the region which include community participation, and visionary and practical management in wildlife conservation, rescue and rehabilitation, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, and research to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases. Working together with Zimparks, Forestry and other conservation organisations, VFWT is synergistically stewarding a culture of coexistence with wildlife throughout the region.

Bhejane Trust

Bhejane Trust is a Zimbabwe registered non profit trust, established in 2010 to assist Zimparks with infrastructural support by managing boreholes, solar pumps, restoring pans, fire management and road network maintenance.

Latest Conservation News

Zambesia Conservation Alliance to host Conservation Games Awards event in Victoria Falls

On the 27th November 2021, Zambesia Conservation Alliance will host the Conservation Games Awards event for the winners of the various categories of the first ever Conservation Games held online in 2020. The Conservation Games, a set of quiz matches played via ZOOM, was held over a series of recorded matches and then released on …

November 20, 2021November 20, 2021

Victoria Falls stakeholders mourn the loss of conservation hero

Victoria Falls stakeholders have this past weekend, been mourning the loss of one of their conservation heroes and wildlife warriors who was killed in a tragic wildlife incident on Friday 8th October 2021. A statement issued by Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit today confirmed the following:- “On Friday 8th October, following a report of a possible …

October 11, 2021October 11, 2021

Tourism Stakeholders feature prominently in CSR Awards

The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Network Zimbabwe held an awards ceremony in Victoria Falls last friday at the close of the 5th Business Summit to appreciate and honour outstanding individuals and businesses who have made positive impacts on community development and environmental management programmes. Running under the theme ‘Celebrating …

October 5, 2021October 5, 2021