Prince Harry to pump R118m into Zimbabwe rhino conservation

British royal Prince Harry wants to invest $8m (about R118m) in the next five years as part of a joint venture between his African Parks NGO and Zimbabwe government’s national parks (ZimParks) to revive the country’s flagship rhino haven.

The 1,407km² Matusadona National Park — also known as Kariba National Park — is in the northwest of Zimbabwe on the southern shores of Lake Kariba. It used to house about 35% of Zimbabwe’s black rhino population.

However, years of abandon and syndicate-led poaching destroyed the park, which was created in 1958 when conservationist Rupert Fothergill orchestrated “Operation Noah” and moved animals away from the newly constructed Kariba Dam.

Today, animals struggle to get by. There is diminished interest from tourists, with park chalets and other infrastructure for human habitations destroyed.

It appears the interest of Prince Harry, who was officially named African Parks’ president in December 2017, comes just in time. “We are extremely delighted,” said ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo.

The joint venture between African Parks and ZimParks gives the new investor a shareholding of 49% with the Zimbabwe government, through ZimParks, retaining 51%. Profits will be shared on a quarterly basis.

“It’s a business-structured deal that should see us working together for the next 20 years. Day-to-day running of the park will be an inclusive affair on a rotational basis,” said Farawo.

Considering the damage to infrastructure at the park, the next five years will be mostly dedicated to reconstruction using money brought in by the investor. “They have their own way of sourcing funds and in our contract within the next five years they should have ploughed in $8m,” he said.

Farawo said that the highlight of the agreement is the re-introduction the black rhinoceros, which has been completely wiped out from the park by poaching. The few rhinos that survived at the height of the onslaught were shipped to other secure areas.

Writing in the UK’s Daily Telegraph a few weeks ago, after his visit to Africa, Prince Harry said, “Matusadona is a very special place for Zimbabwe and has a lot of potential for tourism and socio-economic development.”

The deal was signed by African Parks CEO Peter Fearnhead and ZimParks director-general Fulton Mangwanya on Friday, November 1. At the signing, Fearnhead emphasised that his organisation works in 10 African countries and manages more than 10-million animals in 16 parks — and that working in Zimbabwe would be routine.

ZimParks officials said Prince Harry’s profile and wide international goodwill is a major boost for the park at a time when Zimbabwe’s international reputation is in tatters.

Said a senior ZimParks employee, “At a government and diplomatic level things are bad. Our leaders are bickering over sanctions and other things; but at our level, we have a British royal family member working with us. That’s a seal of approval and, as such, tourists have no reason to worry about what politicians say.”