Dispatches
Chiawa Cultural Village – Zambia (African Wildlife Foundation)
March 6, 2009
In Zambia on the invitation of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) to report on the opening of the Chiawa Community Cultural Center, we arrive after sundown at the bush camp that serves as headquarters for Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) just across the legendary river from Mana Pools in Zimbabwe. Bags over our shoulders, we head to our tents on quiet pathways lit by the moon.
I was awakened at 2 am – outside, the slow crunch of great weight against the earth, followed by thundering defoliation that sounded like whole trees were being wrested to the ground. After scraping myself off the mosquito-netted ceiling, I looked out and could see the figure in the shadows.
An elephant.
Of course.
With the profusion of wildlife in this lush riparian habitat, Lower Zambezi tourist lodges are popular vacation destinations for adventure travelers. River and land safaris offer scenic, up-close views of many of the continent’s most impressive animals who, in all their otherworldly charm, are not necessarily viewed as good neighbors by the local population. Elephants stomp through crops and wreak havoc and destruction when they thunder through nearby villages. Hippos greet river visitors with what sounds like a guttural, sinister laugh – truth in advertising from one of the most aggressive animals on earth and, who knew? FAST – considered to be amongst the most dangerous creatures in Africa. Then there are Nile crocodiles that make riverbank fishing a potentially lethal endeavor. The sum effect is that wildlife are viewed by the local population to be a threat to livelihood, even life itself and an income or food source when…“neutralized”.
“Preserving a culture, conserving wildlife.”
AWF has worked in Africa for almost 50 years, embracing the challenges of the Zambezi Heartland (which includes Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique) for the last 7 years. AWF believes in conservation with and by the people of Africa for Africa, uniting locally managed enterprise with sustainable ecological policy is vital to preserving both land and culture in Africa.
The Chiawa Cultural Village was born of a partnership between conservation organizations (with Africa Wildlife Foundation as a key strategic partner), Lower Zambezi Lodges and the Goba people of Chiawa, championing a cultural tourism enterprise prototype that empowers local people to benefit directly from the tourism trade generated by the profusion of wildlife in the region.
At the Chiawa Cultural Village, visitors learn about the lives of the Goba people, their traditions, trades, tools, edifices and arts including dance, song and handiwork of local craftspeople. What is made clear in the Cultural village is that the Goba people are very much a present day community with a vital connection to their history. In dance and song one comes to understand that the Goba are both fueled by and embattled with the Zambezi. The river that is their nemesis is also their lifeblood. The Zambezi feeds; the Zambezi floods – it is parent and provider as well as a merciless spirit and destroyer. You can hear in their stories, it reverberates in their dance and drumbeats.
All profits from the Chiawa Cultural Center project will go back into local healthcare and sanitation efforts. Visitors will learn about the lively traditional community adjacent to a flourishing natural wonderland and, in turn, that same traditional community views wildlife as a partner, not an adversary, in the economic success of their region.
One of the best views of the river at the Chiawa Cultural Village is from the elephant lookout – a simple wooden tower on the far end of the property that offers a 180 degree view of the banks of the Lower Zambezi. Built as a traditional watchtower, manned with sentries to sound alarms for elephant interlopers, visitors can ascend its steps in hopes of a sighting of these regal beasts.
This watchtower is doing more than ever imagined by its original designers: allowing divergent cultures to see through each others’ eyes, an exchange that offers a glimpse of resident and visitor perspectives – physical views influencing, shifting internal views, preserving culture, ensuring livelihoods and conserving wildlife.
