Mbamba Village Outreach

Conservation is about building trust and tolerance. Our job is to empower people to be conservationists by providing tangible benefits to the people who live with wildlife. We do this to offset some of the costs of tolerating dangerous and sometimes destructive animals in their midst.

We partner with our neighbours, the Mbamba village community (2,000 people, 420 households) to conserve lions and wildlife in our intensive study area. In addition, through community meetings, the community identifies problems that “Nkuli” (our local name) could help with. We were asked to be “Friends of the Mbamba village school” by the community and are involved in rehabilitating two old colonial era classrooms with new roofs, floors, shutters, doors, desks, and book cases. This project has been such a success that we have been asked to assist with rehabilitation of the village Mosque (the majority of Niassa residents are Muslim). We are also planning to install a water tank for the village clinic and a solar electric light for night births. We provide emergency transport to the Mecula district clinic, which is a three-hour drive away.

Last but not at all least, we sponsor the village soccer team, providing uniforms, transport to soccer matches, and balls. No sport is more popular in Africa than soccer, and this is particularly important to the young men who are often the local hunters. We hope to expand this program to other villages in Niassa and closely link it to conservation action.

No single child from Mbamba village is currently attending secondary school due to cost, so we plan to initiate a scholarship program. These are ongoing projects and part of our commitment to support Mbamba Village through conservation. We would love your help in this effort.