Sioma Ngwezi Conservancy

Proposed Sioma Ngwezi Conservancy

Motivation

Sioma Ngwezi represents one of Zambia’s great under-developed conservation and wildlife-economy opportunities.

At its heart is a large, relatively intact landscape with exceptional ecological connectivity. The national park sits between the Zambezi and Kwando systems and forms part of the wider KAZA landscape.

The central proposition of the Sioma Ngwezi National Park Conservancy would be:

To turn the land surrounding Sioma Ngwezi National Park from a largely passive buffer into a thriving community conservation economy that protects wildlife habitat, secures ecological corridors, creates sustainable livelihoods and establishes Sioma Ngwezi as a new KAZA tourism and investment destination.

This is particularly compelling because Zambia already has an established institutional mechanism through its Game Management Areas and Community Resource Boards. DNPW’s mandate explicitly includes working with communities to manage wildlife resources in GMAs and developing a strong wildlife-based tourism industry.

The proposed NPC should therefore not seek to replace the existing GMA, DNPW, traditional leadership or community structures.

Instead, Rewilding Africa CIC propose’s a destination, development and investment layer around the existing conservation framework already in place.

The strategic opportunity

There are five interconnected objectives:

1. Protect the park by making the surrounding landscape economically valuable

The long-term security of Sioma Ngwezi National Park depends upon what happens outside its boundaries.

Rather than treating surrounding communities as a threat to the park, the NPC model treats them as the primary custodians and economic beneficiaries of the wider conservation landscape.

The surrounding GMA can become:

A living conservation buffer → wildlife corridor → community enterprise zone → tourism destination → investment platform.

This is particularly important in Sioma Ngwezi because wildlife movement is transboundary and the park is unfenced.

 

2. Create a community led conservation Sioma Ngwezi Conservancy destination

At present, the landscape contains a collection of individual conservation assets rather than one clearly marketed destination.

The NPC would create a unified brand:

SIOMA NGWEZI CONSERVANCY

The destination could encompass:

• Sioma Ngwezi National Park

• West Zambezi GMA

• Zambezi River

• Kwando wildlife corridor

• community conservation areas

• traditional cultural landscapes

• Ngonye Falls

• community tourism enterprises

• safari concessions

• wilderness camps

• walking and photographic experiences

• fishing and river experiences where appropriate

• cultural tourism

• conservation expeditions

• community-produced goods and services.

Ngonye Falls is particularly interesting because existing work has already identified community tourism potential there, while improved road access between Sesheke and the wider area could improve connectivity to the destination.

3. Give communities an economic reason to conserve

This should be the central philosophy of the project.

The question should not simply be:

“How do we stop communities damaging wildlife habitat?”

It should become:

“How do we make wildlife, wilderness and conservation the most valuable long-term land use available to communities?”

 

4. Establish an investable land-use framework

In phase 2, the NPC would consider undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the land surrounding the park.

 

5. Connect Sioma Ngwezi to the international KAZA conservation economy

This is potentially the biggest strategic opportunity.

Sioma Ngwezi is not an isolated Zambian national park.

It sits within the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, alongside major conservation destinations in Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Angola.

The strategy should therefore position Sioma Ngwezi as:

Zambia’s western gateway to the KAZA wilderness economy.

That allows the destination to benefit from travellers already visiting:

• Victoria Falls

• Livingstone

• Chobe

• Okavango

• Bwabwata

• Zambezi

• Liuwa Plain

• Barotse Floodplain.

Instead of trying to build Sioma Ngwezi entirely from scratch, the strategy would connect it to an existing international tourism circuit.

The Sioma Ngwezi National Park Conservancy will create a thriving community conservation landscape around Sioma Ngwezi National Park, transforming the surrounding West Zambezi landscape into a globally recognised nature-positive destination where wildlife conservation, community enterprise, tourism and responsible investment work together to secure the future of the landscape.

The NPC will help build on the existing Sioma Ngwezi Management Complex and the 2024 co-management arrangements, rather than creating a parallel conservation structure, working hand in hand with the Zambian Government, private sector and existing conservation partners.