Snaring is one of the worst kinds of poaching as it is indescriminate and targets virtually every species. Although most snares are laid to catch smaller antelope for meat, many snares are set for large game such as buffalo and hippo and more often than not other animals such as lions, hyaenas and elephants are also caught.

Snaring is also one of the most gruesome and inhumane ways to kill an animal. Unlike shooting where death is usually immediate, death by snaring can take anything from days to weeks and sometimes even months. The pain will be excruciating and the animal eventually dies from starvation and infection.

Recently SLCS has teamed up with the African Wild dog Conservation Project (AWDC), to form the first wild dog anti-snaring group. The team consists of four newly recruited scouts who specifically target wild dog home ranges to conduct their anti-snaring patrols. Wild dogs are increasingly prone to picking up snares due to the huge distances they cover and the project aims to provide a safer environment for wild dogs. For more information on AWDC, please visit their website at

Uyoba Community School is based approximately 3km's from the South Luangwa National Park. The school was initially set up to assist parents in the area who had difficulties raising the necessary school fees, and to create a learning environment where no uniforms or shoes are required.

For many years teachers held their classes under a wild mango tree but to date, with the support of Elefence International, Nathalie Bouille, Val Brake, Walmley Infant School and Christiaan Van Vorden, the school now has three classrooms, two teachers offices, two teachers houses and a borehole.

The school has five teachers and 270 children who are regularly taken in to the park for game viewing activities.

In 2003 The Honorable Chief Kakumbi gave SLCS a plot of land adjacent to the South Luangwa National Park in order to house the SLCS scouts and build a base camp to operate from..

Currently we accommodate twenty two scouts and other staff at the base who are on call twenty four hours a day for an emergency call out. We also have a control and operations block and an administration block.

In terms of community relations, the base acts as a central location where incidents of human animal conflict can be reported and dealt with accordingly.

SLCS runs a darting programme in collaboration with the Zambia Wildlife Authority, that enables us to chemically immobilize animals that have been snared in order to remove the snares and treat the wounds, and if necessary rehabilitate them. Over the years we have managed to save countless elephants, lions, hyaenas and antelopes that would otherwise have died.

Drugs and equipment for these operations are extremely expensive and darting an elephant can easily cost up to U$500.

Scout support

SLCS supports thirty five village scouts under the Kakumbi Community Resources Board. SLCS provides technical support, management, salaries, equipment, rations, training, incentives, accommodation and transport for the operations of the Kakumbi village scouts. SLCS achieves this through the mandate of an MoU with ZAWA and the CRB.

The scouts conduct regular patrols in and around the national park and have achieved enormous results over the years. Thousands of snares have been removed, hundreds of animals rescued, hundreds of suspects apprehended and firearms confiscated. The law enforcement support SLCS provides to the Zambia Wildlife Authority goes a long way in helping to conserve Luangwa's wildlife and natural resources.

In all areas where people and animals live side by side, a degree of human animal conflict can be expected. This type of conflict is an increasing problem in South Luangwa partly due to the ever increasing human population just outside the national park. South Luangwa national park does not have any man made boundaries and animals have the freedom to move outside of the park.

During the farming season, fields are regularly devastated by elephants and hippos. Grain storage facilities within villages are also poor and often demolished.

SLCS has partnered with Awely - www.awely.org, an NGO based in France, and is trying to address this situation using the chilli fence method. This is a simple cost effective way of deterring elephants, hippos and bushpigs using sisal rope, used engine oil, grease, old bits of cloth and crushed dried chilli. The paste is mixed and applied to the string surrounding the fields. Elephant dung chilli bricks are also made using elephant dung and crushed chilli, and are set alight during the night to smolder and deter elephants.

Workshops are held in the field and we use an actual field for demonstration. It is essential that farmers accept ownership of the fence and do not rely on SLCS to continue to provide materials. To achieve this we also supply farmers with seedlings for growing chillis.

A chilli farming project has recently been initiated in the game management areas as an income generating project for local farmers. SLCS purchases the dried chilli and sells it on to a Zambian company based in Lusaka. Approximately 6 tonnes of chilli is purchased yearly.

SLCS sponsors ongoing village scout training programs using Senior Instructors from the ZAWA Field Training Unit. The scouts attend a 12 week intensive para-military style training course.

To date SLCS has sponsored and coordinated the training of over 120 village scouts from South Luangwa all of who have been fully equipped with a patrol kit and uniform and have been employed by their respective CRB's.