Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park has faced more than its fair share of problems since it first opened in 1983. Lying next to porous borders with Mozambique and Zimbabwe, the park – which spans more than 1,000 square miles – became a hub for illegal activities such as trophy poaching, bushmeat poaching, illegal mining of gold, and unregulated fishing along the Zambezi River.
With cases of human-wildlife conflict rising, and gunshots heard across the park most nights, in 1994, groups including safari operators and local communities around the park established the charity Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) to help government authorities protect the Lower Zambezi National Park, which is home to an abundance of wildlife including lions, leopards, more than 400 different kinds of bird species, and numerous other endangered species.
