Chongwe River Camp and Chongwe River House are very proud to be involved in a number of community and conservation projects as a company. We help canvas for donations for some of their projects but on a purely voluntary basis.

Chiawa Partnership Park Chongwe River Camp spearheads a project with the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and local community to reclassify hunting land.  This area is a pilot site for a National plan to reclassify certain areas for the benefit of conservation and local communities. It is essentially a community project where the project is conservation of game for profit in the form of gate fees and lease fees within the park so the community realize revenue just like the government does from a National Park. Chris has led the discussions with the community on this concept starting 10 years ago. Chris is a member of the board of trustees for the “Chiawa Partnership Park”. Chongwe has pledged $30,000 per year to the trust – an enormous sum for our small company and one we are extremely proud to offer.

This revenue will be committed to the management of the park and community projects like protected farms to lessen the friction between the villagers and elephants. This is a cracker of a pilot project that if proves successful will be implemented in other parts of Zambia and Africa. Just think – taking land away from hunters and handing its management to locals for photographic operators and the resultant revenue to its community.

We are appealing to all our guests to aid this project by requesting a voluntary contribution of $10 per person per night. If you do not wish to contribute then this is not a compulsory surcharge.

Chiawa High School

Chris Liebenberg is chairman of the board for our (only) local High School at Chiawa Village which turns away pupils every year because of a shortage of class room space. Chitende High School in Chiawa serves the population of more than 6000 pupils from 7 schools in our area on the Lower Zambezi. The school caters for 230 boys and girls and we had to turn away over 90 students this year who qualified for high school. These are students with excellent grades, students who should have the right to more than just basic education, students who want to enter High School and it just seems sad to think that  willing students cannot continue their education because of a lack of classroom space and no they can’t squeeze up anymore – there are already more than 60 in some classes. Chongwe River Camp is raising funds to build full basic classrooms but to start with and get students in; we are building a temporary structure in the meantime so that students are not turned away.

Tsika Island Camp

Chongwe River Camp has now also started its own community partnership project called “Tsika Island Camp”, on a beautiful island near the village of “Mugurumenu” (this means pulling teeth, by the way). We plan to start a canoeing Camp that guests can canoe to and from while also affording the opportunity for a real community experience with visits to the Mugurumenu Basic School and the Tsika Cultural Village on the nearby mainland. Instead of Chongwe leasing the Island for a set amount in which we become only tenant and landlord, the community have pledged the use of the Island to Chongwe River Camp and we in turn pledge $50 of each bed night to the community so they are directly and materially linked to the success or failure of Tsika Camp and therefore we will be real partners.

Conservation Lower Zambezi

Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) is a long standing NGO (non governmental organisation) that assists the Wildlife Authority in all spheres of operations with its chief purpose to safeguard the natural resources, namely wildlife and the habitat of the Lower Zambezi National Park and surrounding Game Management Area including the Chiawa Partnership Park. It specialises in promoting the protection of fauna and flora in the LZNP and community empowerment in the surrounding GMA. 
With three main programmes in operation, namely anti poaching  in support of Zambian Wildlife Authority, an environmental education programme and Safari Guide training for the local tourism industry, Chongwe, as founder members and committee members, is proud to be active in both fundraising and operations for CLZ.
Chongwe is happy to guide our guests should you wish to visit any of the above projects whilst staying with us.

Chongwe is happy to guide our guests should they wish to visit any of the above projects whilst staying with us.