WATERING WILDLIFE & COMMUNITIES

ORGANIZATION  | THE WATER4WILDLIFE TRUST

LOCATION | HWANGE NATIONAL PARK, ZIMBABWE

FUNDING REQUEST  | $15,000

The project will help provide water for wild animals in the southern part of Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park while also supporting the communities in establishing irrigated and fenced communal food gardens. Given this year's drought and the increased competition between people and animals for water and food, these activities will be fundamental in limiting and alleviating human-wildlife conflicts in the area.

 The Issue:

People living along Hwange National Park’s southern boundary are predominantly subsistence farmers living in a geographically and socially isolated area of poor soil fertility, erratic rainfall and intense human-wildlife conflicts. In hard times, desperate people have turned to bushmeat poaching in the Park to feed their families. It is important that we work hard to reduce this. With very limited natural surface water, Hwange National Park relies on NGOs to pump groundwater to the surface for animals to drink. Imvelo and the Trust have over 25 pumps both inside and around the Park that sustain thousands of animals. Most of these pumps have solar hybrid units. These units need constant maintenance and require services and repairs. In certain areas, this set-up requires specific “pump attendants”, who need to be both paid and fed, to be stationed at remote locations to manage the pumps. 

 Grant Award Use:

Funding from ATCF will be crucial in supporting key conservation and community initiatives in southern Hwange. The grant will help cover the salaries and food packs for pump attendants at remote watering holes, ensure repairs for solar hybrid units that pump water for wildlife, and provide a solar pump and irrigation system for a communal food garden. These efforts will empower local communities to become self-sufficient despite drought conditions, reduce human-wildlife conflicts, and sustain the area's iconic wildlife, including large herds of elephants, enhancing both conservation and cultural harmony in the region.

 What Would a Successful Project Result In?

The Project will limit the number of animals and particularly elephant deaths, the number of elephant raids in the communal lands, and provide extra water and food security for local people.

Voices From The Community:

This project focusses on two parallel elements: (a) keeping wild animals, including thousands of elephants, inside Hwange National Park and providing them with plentiful water by pumping at several watering holes along the southern stretch of the park and (b) empowering local communities to grow their own food by improving access to water and facilitating irrigation schemes. During a drought year like the one we are currently enduring, these sorts of activities have never been more important and more impactful and we are incredibly grateful for support for these projects.

Hannah Tranter, Water4Wildlife Trust

  • Jan-Mar 2025

    Funding was received mid December 2024, during the rainy season in Hwange. At this point, rains had been disappointing and so we were having discussions already about pumping extra water for wildlife as well as how best to support the communities with food production. Local villagers depend heavily on the rains to grow food, but given that these are becoming more and more unpredictable and erratic, their harvests are vulnerable.

    From December to March, progress on the wildlife water project consisted in discussing the dry season ahead, designing pumping systems and upgrades for our pumping sites in southern Hwange National Park as it became obvious these would be necessary, getting quotes from different suppliers to carry out this work and planning implementation, including timing of this.

    In terms of community water projects, a fence was purchased for an irrigated food garden site. This included a pedestrian gate and potential for upgrade with electrification later if necessary. The communities pitched in with wood droppers to reinforce the livestock-proof fence and some labour also.

  • Apr-Jun 2025

    Despite a poor 2024-2025 rainy season, April saw a 5-day period of intense rains, flushing the vegetation and filling up the seasonal pans. In terms of wildlife water projects, we implemented upgrades to the existing pumping sites in southern Hwange. This meant reinforcing existing pumping units with bigger batteries and more efficient solar panels, to store more sunlight during the day and have longer periods of pumping during the night. The total cost of this work was over $20,000 and so ATCF funding contributed to this. This was done in June given the late April rains.

    In terms of community water projects, the drilled hole started producing water for domestic water supply and for the domestic livestock, awaiting putting in a solar pump, panels and frame, solar tank and stand and irrigation system.

  • July-Sept 2025

    During Zimbabwe’s dry season, the project in and around Hwange National Park has made meaningful progress in supporting both wildlife and local communities. With ATCF funding, water has been continuously pumped for wildlife at four sites across southern Hwange, including through the night thanks to newly installed backup solar batteries—providing critical access to water for thousands of elephants and other species during peak dryness. In addition, a village water well has been upgraded with a solar-powered pump, and an irrigated community food garden has been established, improving local food security and productivity in the dry months. As the season progresses, the team will continue to maintain wildlife water pumping operations and ensure the new community garden becomes fully established and thriving.

    In terms of wildlife water projects, with the dry season well underway, we monitored the new pumping units and noticed a few elements that needed to be fixed. We carried out a number of pump runs to do repairs and maintenance, including fixing the trenches (to stop elephants destroying equipment) and troughs (damaged by elephant pressure as they congregate to drink the freshest water) and making sure solar units, including invertors, were all working properly. We do these runs for checks usually weekly or bi weekly.

    In terms of community water projects, we put in a solar pump, panels on frame, tank and stand at a food garden to start proper irrigation at site. We worked with very excited community members to get this up and working.

  • Oct-Dec 2025

    Update