After spending 2 days camping at Victoria Falls, we drove deeper into Zimbabwe arriving at Hwange National Park in the late afternoon. We had the campsite completely to ourselves. Hwange National Park was thrown into the public eye in the bout of an intense media storm surrounding the death of one of its animal residents.
The infamous death of Cecil the lion in July 2015 sparked anger and outrage all over the world. It was reported that American dentist, Walter Palmer paid something in the region of $50,000 to shoot Cecil. There were reports that Cecil had been lured out of the park expressly for this reason, as he was shot on a farm nearby. Zimbabwean authorities claimed that Mr Palmer had the correct documentation to hunt Cecil, and so he was never charged, however people all over the world reacted bitterly, mourning the loss of such a magnificent animal all in the name of one man’s desire for a ‘trophy piece’.
I can remember in the UK the story was huge, and the company: TY UK : whom my dad works for, even released a ‘Beanie Baby Cecil’ soft toy lion in commemoration, with 10% of proceeds going to conservation charities.
So with this in mind visiting the park for myself was an odd experience. Needless to say it was beautiful- it was one of the most vibrant landscapes I experienced in Africa with rich, orange earth and trees which bizarrely looked as if they were in Autumnal transition, mixing verdant green and tawny brown. There was also an immense peace in the park, we drove for miles and didn’t seen another 4×4.
Hwange does however, sadly seem to have a controversial relationship with lion trophy hunting. As history seemed to repeat itself in July this year, when Cecil’s son, Xanda was shot just outside Hwange, incredibly close to where his father met an identical fate. There have now been calls for a wider 5km ‘no hunting’ zone around the park in order to offer the lions more protection and freedom to roam.
It just goes to demonstrate the limited capabilities of the national park as a model- they can only do so much to protect and provide a safe habitat for wild animals without stifling them or enclosing them completely- an outcome which is highly undesirable.
Sarah Clews Photography 