EEP | Conservation Lower Zambezi

Education for a New Generation

This year, under an MoU between CLZ and UNZA, we were able to bring in an intern to assist with our Environmental Education Programme. The bright and capable Eglina Mpanga joined us from Lusaka for a month and has enthusiastically immersed herself into the camp lifestyle. Eglina is in her 3^rd year of university, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Education at UNZA.

Read Eglina’s blog about her background and her experience at CLZ:

Since grade one, I have been exposed to the topic of conservation as I joined the conservation clubs and stayed in it until I completed secondary school. I grew up in a Game Management Area, that also influenced my passion towards conservation. While growing up, I had no idea there were courses related to conservation being offered in Zambia, because environmental related programs were poorly advertised, thus I had other ambitions despite my passion for the environment.

Circumstances drew me back to my true passion in 2015, when I was given admission to study Environmental Education at the University of Zambia. Because of the knowledge I had from my experience from the conservation clubs, the course felt just right. Environmental Education is a course that looks at the environment in totality from the ecosystem, society, politics and the economy. I am interested in what I am studying because it covers so many important topics.

In November this year, I saw an advert that Conservation Lower Zambezi was looking for an intern to work with them for one month under the Department of Environmental Education. Environmental education being my passion, I applied with all faith that I would be given the internship space, and once awarded the position, I was very excited to finally visit the Lower Zambezi for the first time and put my skills and knowledge into action.

When I arrived, the thought of having no mobile network made me think that my stay would be terrible, but instead beautiful scenery awaited me. Conservation Lower Zambezi being located in the midst of the bushes means that animal encounters are not a strange story…but to me they were! One evening, I was going to the dining area from my room and I heard footsteps and thought it was a person, so I got closer and guess what I saw? A hippo! At that moment, I did not know whether to stand still or run. I waited until it went away then I exercised my athletic skills.

Up to now, I had only been into one national park in Zambia, South Luangwa National Park. Visiting the Lower Zambezi National Park for the first time was more than awesome. Including the game drive into the park, the boat cruise I went on was something I could have never imagined. Viewing the escapement from the mighty Zambezi River, got me thinking what beauty Zambia has.

I was exposed to the complexities of data analyses through my duties, which is something I was not taught in school, and it opened my eyes to the important issues I never knew about wildlife conservation. Not only has working with and learning from Besa inspired me to acquire more knowledge about wildlife, it has also given me the confidence to work extra hard and educate people on the need to conserve nature and the benefits that comes with doing so.

After completing my studies, I would like to work with organizations within Zambia whose mission is to perfect the wellbeing of the environment.

Quote With time, I might come up with my own organisation

13 years of moulding and inspiring

CLZ has a thriving Environmental Education Programme aimed at getting communities and future generations to take interest and care about their surrounding wildlife and natural resources. The Lower Zambezi Game Management Area holds over 60 schools and the surrounding ecosystem can only thrive if the community is educated on how they can be involved.

CLZs Environmental Educator, Besa Kaoma, single handedly runs the programme. From conducting teacher training to educational outreach within each village and holding trips to CLZ’s basecamp for students to visit and get first-hand experience on what they are being taught. Mr. Kaoma has designed a multi-faceted approach to engaging with the children in various ways.

Besa Kaoma, CLZ’s Education Manager

CLZ takes pride in its EEP because of the long-term results it produces. Here is a heart-warming story of one of our very own EEP students, Rabson Tembo, who now runs CLZ’s Law Enforcement Programme!

Rabson Tembo, CLZ’s Operations Manager

Rabson’s journey with CLZ started as a student, when he was 15 years old and visited CLZ on a school visit as part of his school’s Chongololo Club (Conservation Club) in 2005. He had very little understanding as to why we should look after the environment and while growing up, was taught that animals are dangerous, especially elephants and hippos for raiding crops. Growing up if their family meal had meat, it was bushmeat and they were always told they were not to tell anyone about it. It was only when he came to CLZ that he learnt that bushmeat was illegal and why. It was also at CLZ that he learnt the value of the environment and his role, as a person, in protecting it. The visit to CLZ was an inspirational weekend and changed how he looked at the environment.

In addition, Rabson mentions others from his Conservation Club had been impacted and many from his class chose a path committed to the protection of the environment, including many current DNPW officers, Park Rangers, Safari Guides and Environmental Educators.

Rabson expresses that the work of CLZ and its EEP in the community is critical. Environmental issues are not a one-man show and require everyone’s involvement to achieve the goal in the end.

CLZ had a school visit of 24 students at camp from the Chinyunyu area recently

The children engaged in environmental lessons that were followed up with an activity to reinforce the information they learnt, such as:

The importance of sustainable fishing and a game illustrating what happens when one or more people exploit a river or lake. This game is especially fun because they get to eat the fish (popcorn) after!

Ecosystem services, animal behaviours, and food chains where they get to physically see the connections in a web.

Our education center has thought provoking images throughout it to interest the students to learn more about their surroundings and be inquisitive towards everything:

Learning who eats who in the animal world

Understanding the ecosystem benefits of plants

The school visits also involve extracurricular activities:

Game drives around the Lower Zambezi National Park

Boat cruises along the Zambezi River

These excursions allow the children and teachers the opportunity to see some of the animals that they learnt about, connecting them in a deeper way to their environment and it’s surrounding wildlife.

This Chinyunyu school visit was exceptionally special because it allowed CLZ to pilot its new iSchool tablets. CLZ has been working with iSchool for months on developing a curriculum on tablets in order to engage the students in different and more technologically advanced methods. Through these interactive modules, we found that the children were very focused, enjoyed themselves and learnt a lot! The modules will now be used at every school visit and CLZ is aiming to provide student and teacher tablets to all conservation clubs in the 60 schools that are involved in the EEP.

Enthusiastic students enjoying the tablets

Besa and a student exploring a new tablet

In order to give the children creative ways to engage with the content they learnt, the school visit closes with them writing and reciting poems. This year’s winning poem covered relevant topics on the environment, climate change and the sustainability of our future.