2009

I completed my Bachelor of Environmental Science (Honours) degree in Wildlife and Rangeland Management at Bindura University of Science Education in 2005. In August 2006, l then joined Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority as an Ecologist and was deployed to Hwange National Park (Main Camp). It is the largest national park in the country and the third in Africa; hence there is great opportunity for exposure to many issues regarding conservation. My keen interest has been in monitoring the impacts of sport/trophy hunting, particularly on the lion population. Therefore, have been more involved with the Hwange Lion Research project which is endowed with a dedicated and highly technical staff. The project is directed by Dr. Andrew Loveridge (WildCRU member) and was conceived in 1999 following a realisation that sport hunting practised in concessions surrounding the park was impacting heavily on the lion population of Hwange National Park. Thus, there was a great need to reconcile sport hunting with lion conservation through well regulated hunting practices. This is largely because the major objective in trophy hunting is sustainable harvesting of high quality trophy animals for sale at high prices.

This will only be achieved when we know the number of lions that can safely be removed without inflicting biological damage on the population of this endangered species.

As such, we have been able to collect various scientific data on the ecological, economic and social impacts resulting from sport hunting. This has been, and continues to be, fundamental in providing management and decision makers with broad scientific data that is critical to making well-informed decisions, especially when allocating hunting off-take quotas as well as implementing conflict mitigatory measures.

It is to my best understanding and deep feeling that this Post-Graduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice offered by the WildCRU will certainly equip me with adequate skills to significantly contribute towards the sustainable utilisation and conservation of this emblematic species in my home country. This is made possible by the holistic approach followed by WildCRU which is so empirical, inter-disciplinary and collaborative.

Testimony

‘l have had a tremendous experience at Tubney House as part of the WildCRU family, Thus, l can confirm that there is nowhere else l could have amassed the wealth of knowledge and skills pertaining to wildlife conservation practice than l did here. Truly, this has been an academic quantum leap for me and now feel more confident to significantly contribute towards sustainable utilisation of wildlife resources in my country at higher levels.’ 16th December 2009.

Diploma Projects

• Seasonal population density estimates for ungulates: Management implications for Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

• Spatial distribution of ungulates in relation to habitat type and waterholes, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe