The Luangwa Valley has a beauty and magic obvious to every visitor but it can be a harsh and unforgiving place too, especially for the local people, many of whom live by traditional subsistence farming. Most of the safari operators and lodges in the South Luangwa valley have individually supported a community or conservation project over the years and probably the best known of these is the Kawaza School Fund, initiated and supported by Jo Pope at Robin Pope Safaris (RPS).

Jo and Robin Pope have recently stepped back from running RPS although they remain directors and torch bearers. This, coupled with the effects of the global recession, caused Jo to worry about the future of Kawaza and the many other Lodge instigated projects in the area. There were fewer tourists visiting South Luangwa and some lodges were cutting back on staff. Visitors had less to spend and donations to conservation and community projects were falling.

Jo then set about rallying the lodge owners to come together for a co-ordinated approach to running the many individual community projects in the area, arguing that as one body they could achieve more than the sum of their whole. This initiative would be a registered charity and act as an umbrella under which Kawaza and the other projects would be managed by a dedicated manager instead of lodge staff who already had busy schedules with their other work. Released from day to day project management Lodges would be able to devote more time to the all important task of raising funds.

This new charity is called Project Luangwa (PL). The overall aim is to improve the long term economic standing of the community through developing and improving education in the area. Whilst the initial emphasis of our work will be with schools we will also look at creating a vocational training centre and supporting the micro-financing of small businesses.

The Kawaza School Fund is now wholly managed by Project Luangwa and still receives the same high degree of support from our team and those at Robin Pope Safaris that it always has had. This does not mean that we can succeed without your continued support. So please continue with your generous donations.

Project Luangwa has its own dedicated website at www.projectluangwa.org.

Karen Beattie
Manager, Project Luangwa