SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Nsonga Game Management and Lodges strongly believe in supporting and uplifting our local community.
With this in mind, Nsonga has pledged ZMK 360 000.00 per annum, plus a further ZMK 125 000.00 for Resource Monitoring, Fire Management, Community Relations, and Human-Wildlife Conflict, all of which goes to the communities surrounding us.
Over the past ten years, we have undertaken various Community projects and provided a number of bursaries. We have paid to put two young women from the Kaingu and Chikaza Manyama communities through Nursing degrees, and one of them, Mary Namaambo, now holds the position of senior nurse at Bushinga Clinic in the Kaingu Community; the other, Linda Shimbuwa, is currently looking for an opening at one of the rural clinics in our area.
In building the lodge, we used locally sourced materials and engaged community members to source them for us. In addition to employing staff from our local community, we have also provided them with many new skills when we started our Lodge building project.
Teaching on the job is an ongoing process. Itumbi-Kaingu Trust has built a primary school that serves approximately 250 children. The trust has also provided the school with running water.
We have built a teacher’s house. There are many ongoing projects that we are involved in. We contribute ZMK 86 000.00 per annum to assist with the anti-poaching efforts in the Namwala GMA.
We have purchased 5 buffalo bicycles for Game Ranger International Scouts so that they can patrol our area, and have supplied them with camping equipment. Game Rangers International assists us with our anti-poaching efforts. We frequently supply diesel fuel and rations to DNPW/ GRI Officers and scouts to assist with patrols and removal of illegal encroachment. In 2024, they removed more than 3500 illegal farmers from the hunting area, and this year, they have already removed hundreds of illegal miners from the Hunting area.
In 2026, we will be building a Scout camp and putting in a borehole, which will both cater for the scouts and provide a waterhole for the game. The borehole drilling was made possible by the kind donation of an SCI grant.
To assist with communications between Mwengwa gate, where GRI is based, we put in Starlink last year and pay the monthly subscriptions.
We have watched our game population grow exponentially over the past 10 years despite the constant challenges we have with illegal encroachment.
We paid for Trinah Muleya of the Kaingu Community to do her last year of Nursing and paid all her exam fees for 2025. She has been working in her spare time at Itumbi Clinic in Itumbi Village, Kaingu Community, along with her husband, Mike Shimanvule, who has completed his Midwifery, and we are currently sponsoring him in an Advanced Diploma in HIV Nurse Practitioner.
We have also sponsored bursaries for a number of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Officers to further their education. For example, Harrison Kabelenga, with our assistance, has completed his BSc Wildlife Management Studies.
Talison Tembo is to complete his Bachelor of Development Studies.
We also purchased a laptop for Kevin Sipiso, the Ranger at Nalusanga. We are committed to continuing with our bursary programs.
Apart from this with assistance from our clients and the Amy Bell Foundation “The Blue Bag” we were able to give a considerable donation of School Reading Books, Stationary, Footballs, Pots and Plates to the Itumbi Primary School last year.
With assistance from our Clients and friends, we have also managed to drill and put in 3 community boreholes in the very water-scarce areas of Namwala GMA and supplied a tank and stand for a borehole already installed. We will continue to annually put in boreholes for the community. We have also installed 2 boreholes in the hunting area where there are dry areas, and will be putting in another 2 boreholes in the hunting area this year.
We have assisted with ploughing community fields as the rains start each year.
At Nsonga Game Management and Lodges, our team is family. In February 2025, following an accident where team member Dickson Kabaza lost the lower part of his leg, we were proud to support his recovery by providing him with a prosthetic limb. We are thrilled to see him regain his mobility and safely return to the work he loves.
Thomas Wilken
Professional Hunter
We lost our very experienced PH, Greg Michelson, who was tragically taken by a wounded Buffalo in another concession in August 2024. However, we have a wonderful youngster, Thomas Wilken, who has stepped up to the plate and has had many very successful hunts in our area over the past few years.
It’s been the best ten years of our lives, and we look forward to another ten years of animal conservation through trophy hunting.
