Co-existing with Zambia’s hippo population

In this episode, we travel to Zambia to investigate a different – and lesser known – wildlife conflict to the ones already explored in the series.

The hippo affects many lives, often tragically, and we meet local people with their own stories to tell; both of hippo attacks and injuries caused by elephants in the country.

The Luangwa Valley sees dramatic seasonal variations and with a dynamic river system, fertile soil and lush vegetation, it’s the perfect home for a wide variety of animals – leading to a co-existence situation that delivers both opportunities and challenges for humans living in the area.

In Lupande Game Management Area (GMA), increased human population has led to the expansion of human settlements into protected areas, constricting many species’ ranges and an increase in wildlife populations has resulted in wildlife straying out of protected areas and into crop and livestock areas.

Rodgers Lubilo is a conservation and rural development expert from Zambia. He has 25 years’ experience in community led conservation in Southern Africa - especially in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. He is a champion of community rights to benefit from conservation. He chairs the Zambian CBNRM Forum and the Community Leaders Network of Southern Africa - a leading voice for local communities and indigenous peoples in the region.

We also hear from Goodson, Tinde and Dennis; all of whom have personal, and often tragic, stories of living in conflict with hippos and elephants.

We speak to them all, beneath the baobab.

Visit the website https://jammainternational.com to explore more international projects.

The video of this episode can be seen here: https://youtu.be/DTS1eRjfVi8

https://www.lukusuziriver.com/index.php/zambia-luangwa-en

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Location-of-Lupande-Game-Management-Area-GMA-in-eastern-Zambia-Adapted-from-17_fig1_263088085

https://www.communityleadersnetwork.org/team_member/rodgers-lubilo/

https://www.cajnewsafrica.com/2023/05/09/zambian-woman-survives-hippo-attack/

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