How to Start an Anti-poaching Program (5-minute Video)

Mark Haldane from Zambeze Delta Safaris (ZDS) has sage advice for anybody starting in the hunting industry.

Winning the local community over.

The job will get much easier when they feel the absolute benefits of living alongside wildlife.

The most important step was probably the community meat drop.

A small amount of the meat from hunted animals is used in their camps, and the balance is distributed to the community. They receive around 35 to 58 metric tons of fresh meat every season, which equates to about 10 to 15 pounds of fresh meat per household every week.

Employment for the community.

ZDS has 100 permanent employees, including the anti-poaching unit.
Another 150 people are employed seasonally to open the roads, rebuild the bridges, maintain camp, etc.

They helped with subsistence farming operations by supplying fertilizer. They also developed a 100-acre rice farm, which enabled the local communities to provide basic staple food for their families and sell off the excess for a profit.

ZDS has a mobile mill that goes from village to village to mill the corn and cassava.
The company built a three-classroom school, three teachers' houses, an office, and a well-supplied clinic.

The government also returns 20% of the revenue from the concession to the local communities, which is used for community projects.

The ZDS philosophy ensures that the local communities feel 100% benefit from the wildlife resources.