Maravi

Chief Mukuni receives elephants from Mugabe

Chief Mukuni receives elephants from Mugabe
Written by Edwin Mbulo in Livingstone
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 5:17:45 PM

A ride on an elephant always comes with an exhilarating feeling, especially if it is the first time and on Monday September 7, 2009, chief Mukuni of the Toka-Leya people of Kazungula was not far away from this fleeting feeling when his anticipation for the much-awaited elephants from Zimbabwe arrived in his chiefdom.

On this day, Chief Mukuni rode on an elephant together with his wife Veronica and his co-ruler Anna Siloka Bedyango XVIII.

The elephants are from neighbouring Zimbabwe and that country’s President Robert Mugabe has promised to speed up the process of making the elephants available for tourism purposes to the Mukuni kingdom.

It was an elated Chief Mukuni who received elephants just before a trip to China with commerce minister Felix Mutati.

"It was on 7th July when we had the Lwiindi Lo Kuzyola Mukuni N'gombe that President Robert Mugabe promised that the elephants would be here, today is 7th September and at exactly 07.00 hours the seven elephants had already crossed the Victoria Falls Bridge en-route to the Mukuni Big Five lodge, which has so far received lions and cheetahs from Zimbabwe. When President Mugabe came here, he was accompanied by President Rupiah Banda and Mugabe promised that the elephants would be here soon. Today (Monday), is the seventh of September and I have received seven elephants. I love the number seven," Chief Mukuni said.

There was drama at the Victoria Falls Bridge, where the elephants caused a traffic jam as they were made to stop by their handlers to face the Victoria Falls and performed a saluting performance after one of the aids shouted 'Elephants salute, I,2,3 salute.

At the Zambian border there was one more salutation taken after the immigration, security and customs officers temporarily abandoned there desks to touch and pose for pictures with the tamed elephants.

A third salutation was held at the Sun Hotels resort entrance before the elephants proceeded to the baobab look-out tree where chief Mukuni disembarked and headed for the international airport to fly out to China to join the Zambian delegation that was being led by Felix Mutati.

Chief Mukuni chose to ride on one of the elephants known as Donna and said that he was proud to have been honoured by President Mugabe.

In an interview just after experiencing his first ever elephant ride, chief Mukuni, who was accompanied by his wife Veronica and his co-ruler the Bedyango who also rode on other elephants, said the elephants would be an added incentive to the people of Mukuni Village .

"Annually we hold the Lwiindi in three phases, the July one is to trace the movement of Chief Mukuni N'gombe while the one held in August is to thank our ancestors who must pass on the same thanks giving to God for the good harvest and the December ceremony known as Lwiindi Lwa Basilombelombe is a rain making ceremony at which we ask our ancestors to pass on our request to God for good rains," Chief Mukuni said.

The elephants will be used for elephant rides and animal encounters by school children at Chief Mukuni's Big Five Lodge, where chief Mukuni plans to open up a veterinary training centre buffalos.

"We want to invest in human resources as there is lack of qualified human resource in the village. Mukuni Big Five Safari on farm 9012 has already received lions aged between 13 and 16 months from Zimbabwe and we will also have a veterinary school and a regional centre so that those pursuing degree courses can come for research. We have applied to Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) to allow us to train elephants so they can be in turn sent to all other game parks in the nation. At the moment Zimbabwean elephants are the ones that are in Zambia and South Africa because Zimbabwe had the human resource to train these animals," he said.

He added that intentions to create all these tourism activities is aimed at expanding the scope of Mukuni Village as a tourist destination and also expand the curio business.

"Mukuni Big Five will have elephants, cheetah, buffalo and leopards with walking safaris being only for cheetah and lions while at the village the research centre will have foot and mouth free buffalos. This idea is to conserve all the types of game so that we can stop tourists visiting from going to Botswana 's Chobe National Park," chief Mukuni said.

The lions at chief Mukuni’s Big Five lodge are Muchelewa and Musaka, who are both 18 months old, and Chema and Kakoya both 13 months old. Walking with these kings of the jungle costs US$120; an amount which is inclusive of pick ups in Livingstone and some snacks

He further said that he is still holding consultation talks with Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) to see how best he could train some more Zambian elephants for distribution throughout the country for elephant rides and encounters.

"I'm still discussing with ZAWA to try and see how best we can train more Zambian elephants and Zambian elephant handlers to train these beasts so that we can distribute them to other tourism spots such as Kafue and Luangwa National parks for tourism purposes in elephant rides and encounters. My immediate project is to train about 10 Zambians to do this," he said.

He bragged that while the Litunga of the Western Province has a decoration of an elephant on top of his royal boat, the Nalikwanda, he would be riding on some at his village and would be making a grand entry on the beasts during any Lwiindi ceremony.

"We celebrate Lwiindi in three phases so every time we have Lwiindi in July, August and December I shall make a grand entry into the main arena on an elephant, it's an additional asset to the ceremony. We shall be riding on them here in Livingstone and this shall boost our tourism potential. As for the Lozis who have one on top of there boat, us we have live ones which we shall ride on,' he said.

And Sondelani Ranch chief executive officer Basil Steyn who brought the elephants into Zambia said the beasts were orphaned when he took them on his ranch 100 kilometres north of Beit Bridge in Zimbabwe .

"The oldest elephant is 35 and some were actually born at my ranch where I have an additional 45 remaining there, we did not want them to be killed so we took them in to our ranch as orphans," he said.

He said the seven elephants being received by chief Mukuni were named Donna, Marajata, Tata, Boniface, Sondelani, Bertha and Tongwe.

He added that his association with chief Mukuni is a protracted one, as he has also provided cheetahs and lions to the chief before.

"This programme to have elephant rides would be an added tourism experience and also for educational purposes as the school children can come here and have a close encounter with the beasts of the jungle," he said.

And Sun International Hotels public relations and marketing manager Stella Mulala said that it was awesome to see elephants stop at the Victoria Falls Bridge and salute to the Victoria Falls.

And Chief Mukuni has set aside 80,000 hectares of land near Livingstone for a conservative wilderness in which he intends to introduce wild animals such as lions and cheetahs.

Chief Mukuni says the wild animals which he is keeping at the lodge would be released into the wild once they grow old.

"We are keeping the animals here for tourism purposes but once they grow old such as the lions which are being used for Lion Safari walks and the cheetahs which can be visited in the enclosure would be released in to the conservative, the conservative was still under construction and would be designed in such a manner that the lions and cheetahs would be separated to avoid competition in hunting for food," he said.

During the July Lwiindi Lo Kuzyola Mukuni N'gombe held at Simukale shrine, President Mugabe said that it was his first visit to the village and praised the chief for his zeal of transforming the village into a tourism oriented place.

"I did not know anything about chief Mukuni. When President Rupiah Banda called me on the phone, he said that he had been requested by the chief to allow some elephants to be loaned or given to him so that he could use them here at this centre for the purposes of tourism. I called my Minister of Environment and tourism and he said that he did know about the request and chief Mukuni. And I said that if he had discussed with him he was the best person to handle the matter. But since I came here, I have not seen any elephants, not even one, perhaps they are still to be introduced here. It is important that our chiefs must learn to use tourism for the development of our people here," President Mugabe said.

He said chief Mukuni’s initiative should be emulated by all chiefs.

"Chiefs are custodians of our culture. Surely, there are not many chiefs of this calibre as chief Mukuni. The way he does his initiative, here we are as presidents and politicians and his subjects at this ceremony I think I would not regard you as chief but chief of chiefs. The initiative which has transformed this place is a wonder; if all chiefs are able to do this in their areas, development shall be easier for our people. As for the other chiefs, if you want to know how to operate, go to chief Mukuni across the river there, he has shown how as chiefs and their communities should operate in a chapter of his book," said President Mugabe.

Labels: CHIEF MUKUNI, ELEPHANTS, GAME PARKS, MUGABE

posted by MrK @ 4:18 PM