"I have gone through the Sttutory Instrument and the former definition of Mosi oa Tunya NP.
The changes have nothing to do with Legacy (fortunately!) .
They are :
1. Cut off the western end of the park to allow for the land allocated to Imusho Village which was moved out of the park.
2. Move the boundary from the Songwe River to the road, where Songwe village has spread across the river into the park - apparently the villagers thought the boundary was the road and ZAWA has done nothing for years about checking their boundaries.
3. Add a little triangle of Chief Mukuni's land to compensate for the Songwe land. Clare says they were told it was going to be a bigger area, but the chief has a lodge on the other part. Anyway it doesn't look much use.
There are still some anomalies:
1. The fence for the game park was extended years ago to include an area north of the original fenced area (I have labelled it game park extension.). This is still included in the electric fence but has not been gazetted in the national park. There are now houses built right up to the fence - mostly illegal. People keep breaking the fence and going in for firewood.
2. Near the Visitana Gate on the west, the electric fence cuts a corner which is still not legally in the park. The gate was necessary to allow passage up Mbile Drive which is outside the fence but inside the park. It is also the access for Sinde farms.
3. The part of Songwe Village which has been removed from the park is presumably still in the World Heritage site. The added triangle is not.
4. There is a large farm overlapping into the park, on which United Air Charters is situated. The previous draft management plan said this was to be repossessed but nothing has been done.
5. Chrismar Lodge overlaps into the park. There are various other anomalies because the council planners claim they do not know where the park boundaries are!
The description in the SI has some errors.
1. There is no "Livingstone City Boundary". What is meant is the former Livingstone Municipal boundary. Since Livingstone became a district with a much larger area, this boundary is meaningless.
2. After Beacon BK3, the boundary runs at about 238 degrees, not 183. If you draw it as described you end up in the wrong place altogether.
Various maps I have (including the recent ZAWA ones) have variations on the boundaries, especially the area north and west of the Maramba. I suspect this is just careless drawing. I have tried to follow the official descriptions.
I hope we can have some proper planning of the park."
Margaret Whitehead
Livingstone Branch of the Wildlife & Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia
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