Big spoof at African wetland or a daft con trick
Poster offers land and game to contestants
A poster was apparently found last week by a tourist on the gate at Lochinvar National Park in Zambia. Situated on the south bank of the floodplains of the Kafue River, this park, classified by World Wildlife Fund as a ‘wetland of international importance’, does not receive many visitors but those that do go mainly to see the abundant water-birds plus oribi, zebra, wildebeest and Kafue lechwe.
ZAWA is the Zambian Wildlife Authority – a quango charged with the responsibility of Wildlife Conservation in Zambia that receives considerable international funding including, according to the ZAWA website, World Bank, Danish Assistance Development Agency, the government of Norway, African Wildlife Foundation, Frankfurt Zoological Society, Kasanka Trust – UK, Peace Parks (Transfrontier Conservation Areas Initiative), African Parks and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.
The visitor to Lochinvar found this poster alarming. Contestants simply have to SMS the word ZAWA to telephone number 3377. It was not an appeal for extra funds, so what could be the rationale behind a competition with both bizarre and generous prizes for no obvious benefit to ZAWA?
There is no current director of ZAWA, so has someone come up with this “competition” to take advantage of a director-less body for personal gain while (hopefully) nobody is looking?
The perturbed visitor said that if this was a scam and ZAWA was unaware of it, the authority should be compelled to address the issue appropriately.
Note the footnote at the bottom of the competition poster saying “animals are to be hunted down for the winners” – hardly helping to conserve wildlife and promote tourism in Zambia.
In March this year ZAWA refunded the Norwegian Embassy part of the funds that were destined for a road project in the South Luangwa National Park, but whose contract award was queried by Norway, according to a report in the Times of Zambia. The Norwegian embassy had raised concerns regarding ZAWA’s financial management of the road contract. A certain undisclosed amount was refunded.
Valere Tjolle
Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2011 – latest news on the suite at
www.travelmole.com/stories/1145712.php
Valere
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