Safari camp operators in Zimbabwe challenge oil drilling at world heritage site

Mana Pools, is designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

• Safari camp operators in Zimbabwe are challenging oil exploration
  in Mana Pools, a world heritage site.
• The operators charge more than R20 000 a night, they argue
  the exploration would worsen global warming and biodiversity loss.
• Mana Pools s known for the wildlife in the area, including
  lions, cheetahs, leopards, elephants and buffalo.
• For climate change news and analysis, go to News24 Climate Future.

The operators of safari camps charging more than $1 000 (~R20
000) a night have lodged objections against a planned oil exploration programme
in Zimbabwe’s premier wildlife area, Mana Pools.

African Bush Camps, which offers destinations across the
country including at Nyamatusi Camp in Mana Pools, said in a 15 May letter to
the Mining Affairs Board that granting Shalom Mining the permit would
exacerbate global warming and biodiversity loss. Wilderness Safaris, which
operates three camps in Mana Pools, also said it has objected.

Mana Pools lies on the southern bank of the Zambezi River
that serves as the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. The river braids across
a flood plain, attracting herds of elephants and buffalo and providing habitat
for lions, cheetahs and leopards.

Mana and surrounding areas have been designated as a World
Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.

READ | World heritage site in Zimbabwe targeted for oil
exploration

“Thousands of tourists come to Zimbabwe every year to
experience the beauty and wildlife and especially the gem that is Mana Pools,”
African Bush Camps said in the letter. “Any notion of prospecting will
erode tourists’ confidence, not only Mana Pools, but in Zimbabwe as a whole.”

Nyamatusi charges tourists as much as $1 185 a night. Wildnerness
charges $1 500 per night per person sharing at its Chikwenya camp.

The heritage site
covers 676 600 hectares, spanning the Mana Pools National Park, Sapi and
Chewore Safari areas. Shalom has applied for an exploration license over an
area of 130 000 hectares. Friday was the last day for objections to be lodged.

“We have received responses and these will be tabled
before the Mining Affairs Board,” Deputy Mines Minister Polite Kambamura
said in an interview. A date for the board to meet is yet to be set, he said.

In parliamentary debates this week lawmakers asked why the
permit was being considered when there is a policy of not allowing mining in
protected areas. Kambamura said in parliament that part of the application
covered an area that wasn’t protected and it had to go through due processes.

Zimbabwe scrapped coal exploration permits in 2020 that had
been granted in the Hwange National Park in the north west of the country after
objections by environmental activists.