Tourism and Environment

Australian oil and gas firm Invictus gets contract to protect Matabeleland North forests

Published

2 years ago

October 13, 2022

BY RYAN TRUSCOT

Australian firm Invictus plans forest protection projects covering more than 300,000 hectares, or 741,000 acres, of indigenous forest in Matabeleland North, which the company says will more than offset emissions caused by its exploration and eventual extraction of oil and gas hundreds of kilometres away in the north of the country.

The Gwayi, Sikumi and Ngamo forests, where long-living hardwood trees like Zambezi teak (Baikiaea plurijuga), mukwa (Pterocarpus angolensis) and leadwood (Combretum imberbe) grow in the region’s deep Kalahari sands, are already designated state forest reserves.

Barry Meikle, Zimbabwe country manager for Invictus, says that while all three forests are protected on paper, they’re not as well protected as they should be.

“Gwayi is probably the most vulnerable. It’s become an ‘island forest,’ it’s not contiguous to the other two. It’s surrounded by people and is under a lot of pressure.

“That’s the one we’re going to be focusing on because it needs the most help,” he says.

“Inside the forest, there will be measures like fire prevention, fire guards and anti-poaching, and reforestation.

“But of course we have to work with communities outside to give them alternatives to using the forest for firewood and grazing and for poaching.”

Invictus was awarded the contract for the REDD+ project via an international tender published in February by the state-run Forestry Commission of Zimbabwe.

It will run the project jointly with the commission through a division known as Miombo Forest Carbon Investments.

The company says the two will share future profits from the sale of anticipated carbon credits and use some of those proceeds to support improved health care, education, roads and water supply for communities surrounding the forests, which are in Matabeleland North province.

The region suffers from severe economic hardship and underdevelopment.

Invictus says the three forests in Matabeleland North can potentially absorb 1 million metric tons of carbon per year over the 30-year life of the contract.

Meikle says Invictus won’t claim carbon credits based on what already exists in the area.

“A carbon credit project must be designed to protect what’s there and increase the forests and improve their ability to absorb carbon,” he says.

“The system works by rewarding us for investing in these projects to conserve and protect the forests, by allowing us to claim credits based on our positive impact.”

The REDD+ program is still being drafted, but Invictus will initially fund the projects itself until it can obtain verification and start to accrue carbon credits, Meikle says.

The company plans to get its REDD+ project certified by the Washington, D.C.-based Verified Carbon Standard, or Verra.

It says it hopes the project will help make its oil and gas drilling project in Muzarabani, a remote district in the Zambezi Valley around 750 kilometers (470 miles) to the northeast, “one of the first cradle to grave carbon neutral oil and gas projects in the world.”

Invictus says its oil and gas exploration will only produce 15 million metric tons of carbon during its entire life cycle.

Experts calculate that dry woodlands like Ngamo, Gwayi and Sikumi sequester only around a third of the carbon per unit area than moist tropical forests: 6 kilograms per square meter (1.2 pounds per square foot), compared to as much as 18 kg/m² (3.7 lbs/ft²) in the Amazon or Congo Basin.

By comparison, REDD+ projects run by Carbonfund.org, which cover an identical area as Invictus’s — 300,000 hectares of lowland evergreen forest in Brazil — will reduce more than 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over their first 10 years, according to that company’s estimates.

But regardless of the carbon-storing capacity of the forests, Invictus plans to work with in western Zimbabwe, Francis Vorhies, director of the African Wildlife Economy Institute at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University, says he struggles with the concept of paying landowners (including government agencies) not to further degrade or deforest an area.

He says it presents a “moral hazard,” whereby the authorities could one day turn around and say, “If you don’t pay us, we will deforest and degrade the reserve.”

Vorhies says his preference is for managers of Southern Africa’s dry forests to explore alternatives that include developing community-based systems for wild harvesting, such as foraging, fishing and hunting to provide wild foods, medicines, fuel and building materials.

“That’s the wildlife economy approach to restoring and conserving landscapes,” he says.

Trevor Lane, an ex-staffer of Zimbabwe’s Forestry Commission and co-founder of Victoria Falls-based conservation group the Bhejane Trust, backs this approach.

Like Vorhies, he questions what added value a REDD+ project can bring to the region.

“Ngamo and Sikumi are not under threat in any manner or form whatsoever from deforestation,” he says.

Both are well stocked with wildlife, and support photographic and hunting safari operators, he says.

And it’s in the interest of these operators to protect the area from wildfires and poachers.

On the other hand, he confirms that Gwayi forest has been overrun by poachers. “It used to have the best plains game you’ve ever seen,” Lane says.

“If they [Invictus and the Forestry Commission] fenced off part of Gwayi Forest, and restocked it, and made it into a wildlife area, that would be fantastic. That would be a multimillion-dollar project, which would be incredibly valuable.”

The Forestry Commission did not respond to questions about the offset project.

With Invictus’ REDD+ project still in the planning stage, the impact of the company’s imminent oil and gas extraction 750 km away will raise concerns over its potential to cause pollution and biodiversity loss there.

An environmental impact assessment has been completed; Invictus declined to share the entire document with Mongabay, but did provide excerpts.

These recommend, among other things, minimizing disturbance to natural vegetation in the area, which consists of mature “cathedral” mopane and acacia woodland; restoring areas that are cleared for the drilling rigs; curbing air and noise pollution; preventing conflict with wildlife; and reducing the impact of roads and campsites used by its workforce.

The EIA also calls for mining teams to strictly adhere to local traditions to prevent coming into conflict with Muzarabani’s human communities, and for strict measures to prevent ground pollution and oil spills.

Meikle says Invictus has “implemented or is following almost every measure mentioned.”

Under the initial phase, only two wells will be drilled, and minimal areas of land disturbed, he says.

Topsoil removed to accommodate the rig and other equipment at the initial Mukuyu-1 drilling site has been stockpiled. If gas isn’t found, the topsoil will be replaced and planted over.

Meikle says that last year, as the company cleared tracks through the bush to carry out seismic surveys, bulldozers went around trees whenever they could.

To avoid spills and waste, Invictus has chosen to use drilling muds that are water-based, rather than oil-based, and therefore less hazardous to the environment, he adds.

The drilling cuttings will be placed in sealed reservoirs that will then be dried out and covered.

“There’s nothing to leach, and it will remain sealed and covered up,” Meikle says. “The water-based mud we’ll be using can’t contaminate rivers or underground water.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, through its Sovereign Wealth Fund, is a partner in the gas-drilling project, and is likely to get 50-60 percent of production, according to Invictus, though a production-sharing agreement is yet to be finalised.

Ahead of elections set for next year, the government will likely see the project as a fulfillment of its mantra to leave “no one and no place behind.”

A story in the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper in late August covering Invictus’s quest for gas appeared under the headline “Muzarabani on cusp of transformation.”

Invictus has told investors that it expects its mining concession to yield 4.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Meikle says even if the company doesn’t find oil and gas in Muzarabani, it will still push ahead with the REDD+ project in Matabeleland North. – Mongabay

Tourism and Environment

Met Office Warns Of Heavy Rains Across The Country

Published

4 months ago

January 11, 2024

Admin

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has warned about the strong rainfalls throughout the country, which will be accompanied by lightning and strong winds from today until next week.

MSD in a statement said the main watershed will cut across major towns from Mutare to Harare, Harare to Bulawayo, Bulawayo to Plumtree and Harare to Masvingo.

“The ITCZ [InterTropical Convergence Zone] which has been active over the northern parts of the country is expected to combine with a cloud band which is moving from the west to the east covering the whole country and as a result the combined effect of the two should result in precipitation amounts in excess of 50mm in areas along the main watershed,” the MSD rains alert said.

Additionally, hail storms and lighting might be experienced in some parts of the country which might lead to destruction of infrastructure, the department said.

According to the Civil Protection Unit director, Nathan Nkomo, lighting has killed almost 50 people in the country since October last year.

“Lightning strikes remain a threat to humans and livestock, as well as property. Heavy rains may reduce visibility, especially at night.

“Rivers and wetlands may be flooded, even by rains from upstream. Excessive moisture may cause poorly constructed buildings to collapse, please reinforce some structures of questionable stability,” the MSD said.

The department also called on people to avoid crossing flooded rivers, swollen streams, areas where flash flooding has occurred or where flowing water is above ankle height.

“Noting that, a 30cm depth of flowing water may sweep away large vehicles, waiting for the water to subside before attempting to cross, even though flooding is caused by heavy rains that occurred somewhere.

“Do not hide under trees or in isolated sheds during thunderstorms as these are prone to lightning strike.”

Tourism and Environment

The well-heeled mini state that is bucking the trend in Zimbabwe

Published

10 months ago

July 12, 2023

Admin

BY DOUGLAS ROGERS

One writer returns to the country of his birth to discover how a ‘Wonder of the World’ is transforming tourism in troubled times.

It was 4pm in Zambezi National Park, a few miles from the majestic Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and the watering hole was quiet. A fireball sun dipped over the borderlands to the west. From our timber-built hide, my son Whitaker, aged 12, panned his binoculars across the landscape and saw a cloud of dust on the horizon. “There’s something coming,” he said.

Steve Taylor, our Zimbabwe-born guide, took a look. “Good spot, Whitaker,” he said. “Buffalo. Hundreds of them!” He checked his watch. “They’ll be here in 45 minutes. Anyone fancy a sundowner?”

Sure enough, exactly 45 minutes later, 300 Cape buffalo stood drinking at the pan and, like a post-work stampede for happy hour, other animals began to appear – antelope, warthog, a dozen elephants, a lone giraffe. Somewhere nearby, hyenas howled.

“Ten years ago, you wouldn’t have seen game like this here,” said Taylor, founder and owner of Askari Safari, who splits his time between the United States and a new home in Victoria Falls. “The area was in trouble, and there were few animals because of poaching and mismanagement. Now, all that is changing.”

The reason is the establishment, in 2011, of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (Kaza), or Five Nations Peace Park. Kaza is the joining together of 36 national parks and three World Heritage Sites on the borders of five countries – Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe – making it the largest transboundary wildlife system in the world. The size of France, and home to half of Africa’s elephants, Kaza has shown how cross-border cooperation on wildlife management, anti-poaching and community conservation can transform animal populations

Tourism is making a comeback, too, and Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe’s spray- drenched colonial river town, a Wonder of the World within Kaza – is booming. Helicopters buzz the cataracts, white-water rafters and luxury river boats ply the Zambezi and people like Taylor, who left Zimbabwe in the bad old days, are buying property there or moving back permanently.

This was my first post-Covid trip to the country of my birth, from my home in the United States. Part of the reason was to attend a memorial service for my late father in eastern Zimbabwe, where I grew up, but it was also a chance to spend a week’s holiday with my extended family in the Falls, on the opposite side of the country.

I love coming “home”, but Zim is a mess. Inflation is rampant, prices are exorbitant, roads and other infrastructure are crumbling. The exception is Victoria Falls, which might as well be another country. My first glimpse of it was at the impressive airport built by the Chinese in 2015. International flights arrive from seven countries and the energy and excitement at arrivals far exceeds what you feel when landing in Harare, the capital. “We have a saying here: ‘Turn left for Victoria Falls, turn right for Zimbabwe’,” said our transfer driver as he turned left out of the airport on to a smooth, newly built road towards the regenerated town.We had booked a thatched four-bedroom Airbnb named Acacia, in a leafy suburb, and that afternoon did what every self-respecting visitor to the Falls does: have high tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel. I confess, I was braced for disappointment. Built in 1904, the grandest of southern Africa’s grandes dames offers spectacular views of the steel railway bridge across the Zambezi Gorge, but my last visit there 15 years ago had been a complete disaster. With political turmoil and hyper-inflation at their height, there was no electricity, my room was full of cobwebs and I paid my bill with a backpack full of Zimbabwean dollars.

This time around, much to my surprise, the hotel was undergoing a multi-million-dollar renovation – and it looked immaculate. We were swiftly ushered to the Stanley Terrace, fronting lush green lawns where cucumber sandwiches, scones and a dozen types of cake were being delivered in style on three-tiered silver platters.

Far from rejecting its colonial past, the hotel honours it with an entire hallway of framed photographs of British Royalty. All around us, well-heeled Americans and Europeans were enjoying their afternoon teas and quaffing their pink gins.

But it isn’t just tourists who are coming back to this trend-bucking corner of Zim. An estimated five million Zimbabweans have fled the country since 2000, and most of them continue to live abroad. Of those returning, many choose to settle in the Falls. To get a glimpse of this local scene, Stephen Taylor suggested I visit Loretta’s Coffee Caravan, just around the corner from our Airbnb.Five years ago, the cafe’s owner “TK” Musungwa was running a driving school in Stockport, England, his family having fled Zimbabwe for Manchester in the early 2000s. On a visit to Harare, he met his now wife Loretta – a barista – and on a trip to the Falls, they discovered that they couldn’t find a decent cup of coffee anywhere. TK said farewell to England and Loretta’s Coffee Caravan was born, serving a chocolate-rich blend of Zimbabwean, Rwandan and Tanzanian beans as well as fruit smoothies.

“Vic Falls feels like an island far removed from the madness of Zim,” TK told me, “a small town where people can reinvent themselves. England is an easier place [to live], but this is the home I love.”

I certainly loved Loretta’s – a bustling coffee shop with tables set under a mahogany tree, frequented not by commuters seeking their caffeine fix but by khaki-clad game guides, armed park rangers, dashing river rafters and real-estate agents cashing in on the property boom.

On our third day, we hit the rapids. The Zambezi below the Falls arguably offers the greatest white-water rafting in the world, so I booked a trip with local outfit Shockwave.Its river outings are not for the faint-hearted. First comes an hour-long trek into the boiling belly of the gorge with the unsettling knowledge that an even steeper climb (up) awaits you down river. Tackling Grade 5 rapids with names such as Jaws of Death and Washing Machine is both terrifying and exhilarating. We were lucky to have as our guide Pilani Moyo, the owner of Shockwave and the first black Zimbabwean to own a rafting business on the Zambezi. He spends the off-season guiding on the greatest rivers in the world and has a home in Colorado, in the United States.

More sedate by far was the four-hour dinner cruise we took on the lush upper reaches of the river, a mile or two upstream from the Falls. I recall taking a “booze cruise” here years ago – on a rusty junk of a vessel filled with rowdy passengers drinking warm beer. This was very different. Our boat, Pure Africa’s Zambezi Explorer, was a sumptuous three-deck vessel with designer sofas, hand-woven Ndebele-patterned chairs and a staff of mixologists, waiters and chefs in addition to the boat captain.Dinner was served at sunset as we cruised past long-tusked elephants grazing on the riverbanks, with hippos snorting in the shallows and a fiery sun setting over towering palm trees upriver. To our immediate right was Zambia, with Botswana, Namibia and Angola beyond. My all-American children were wide-eyed with wonder, and I thought of all the fellow Zimbabweans I had met who had opted to return home. As I write this, I am looking at properties online and thinking seriously about following them. Something must come up.

Essentials

Douglas Rogers was a guest of Askari Safari (askarisafari.com), which offers a five-night Victoria Falls tour taking in Zambezi National Park from £4,000pp. It includes a guided visit to the Falls, three adrenaline activities, a river cruise plus all breakfasts and dinners, but not flights. In 2025, he and Askari’s owner, Steve Taylor, will lead Storyteller 2025 – a two-week literary safari with talks by game guides, writers and artists.

Five reasons to visit Victoria Falls

Wildlife wonders

The Falls themselves are wild – but the resurgent animal population is another reason to visit. The region comprises two national parks and is on the edge of the great Hwange game reserve. For the best viewing close to town, take a guided or self-drive trip to Chamabonda Vlei, a narrow plain dotted with watering holes within Zambezi National Park. While you are in town, book a visit to the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust (vicfallswildlifetrust.org), a non-profit organisation that rescues animals wounded by poachers.

Luxurious lodgings

The refurbished Victoria Falls Hotel offers the ultimate in Edwardian era refinement (victoriafallshotel.com; doubles from £420 per night). Ilala, with its gardens and thatched roofs, has a timeless, classic safari lodge feel (ilalalodge.com; doubles from £380). Newly opened Drift Inn is a budget nine-room B&B offering great breakfasts, artisanal coffee, a swimming pool and a yoga, massage and reflexology studio (driftinnvicfalls.com; doubles from £75).

Glorious food

Chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Sarah Lilford serves up Zimbabwe’s most exciting culinary offering at Dusty Road (dustyroad.africa). The daughter of white farmers who lost their land in the early 2000s, she set up her restaurant in working-class Chinotimba township offering authentic Zim dishes – beef stew, chicken in peanut butter, grilled bream – cooked on wood fires. Enjoy them on the veranda or under trees in the backyard. Don’t miss the dried mopani worm snack or the vodka cocktail made with baobab powder. In town, the Three Monkeys (3monkeyszw.com) serves a great tomahawk steak. Next morning, order a flat white at Loretta’s Coffee and Smoothie Caravan on Reynard Road.

4. Thrills and spills

Victoria Falls is Africa’s adventure sports capital. Shockwave (shockwavevictoriafalls.com) offers exhilarating white-water rafting trips, while Wild Horizons (wildhorizons.co.za) operates the heart-in-mouth gorge swing and zip-line right in front of its uber-stylish Lookout Café (thelookoutcafe.com). Shearwater (shearwaterbungee.com) pioneered bungee jumping off the Vic Falls bridge. For more leisurely river adventures, Pure Africa (pure.africa/experiences) offers elegant sunrise, sunset and dinner cruises on the Zambezi in a fleet of luxury vessels.

Art and history

Renowned artist and conservationist Larry Norton has a gallery at the Victoria Falls Hotel (larrynorton.co.za), showcasing his giant, hyper-realistic wildlife paintings. The hotel’s open-air Stone Dynamics Gallery (stonedynamicsgallery.com) displays and sells the work of some of Zimbabwe’s leading sculptors, including Dominic Benhura. Meanwhile, historian Chris Worden from Footsteps of Livingstone (footstepsoflivingstone.com) gives a mesmerising one-hour talk on the life of David Livingstone that could almost be a one-man play in London’s West End. The Telegraph

Tourism and Environment

African Sun Hotels donates US$21K to a conservation organisation in Victoria Falls

Published

10 months ago

June 30, 2023

Admin

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

The African Sun Hotels group has donated US$21 000 to The Victoria Falls Anti- Poaching Unit, a non-profit wildlife organisation to cover salaries and medical aid for game scouts.

During the handover ceremony held in Victoria Falls today, African Sun Hotels’ head Marketing, Public Relations and Innovation Charleen Mtezo said this is part of their Corporate Social Responsibility in order to fulfill and meaningfully impact the communities in which they operate, as well as contribute towards the achievement of the United Nations agenda 2030 for strategic development goals.

“The town of Victoria Falls is located in one of the most beautiful environments,” she said.

“However, the beauty of the location comes with some heavy burden of human and wildlife conflict. The Victoria Falls Anti Poaching Unit tries to ease some of the burdens by protecting the wildlife and habitat from poachers, as well as rescuing and rehabilitating injured animals.

Additionally, they train ex- poachers in new skills so they find alternative avenues of revenue creation to give them a sustainable income without doing harm to flora and fauna. It is against this background that the African Sun Limited, we saw fit for us to assist the Victoria Falls Anti Poaching Unit, so that they are able to carry out the challenging tasks at hand.”

She said the donation of will cover salaries, medical aid for scouts for a period of 12 months.

“l wish to invite other corporations to join us safeguard our precious environment and transform the lives of our communities. Lastly, I applaud those who are already on the ground doing the same.”