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Nothabo Nyathi, Business Reporter
MOBILE communication operator, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, has donated more than $4 000 to the Victoria Falls Green Fund in support of wildlife and tourism conservation.

The money will be used to construct an electric fence at the Victoria Falls dump site to prevent wildlife from scavenging for food where some have died before.

Econet manager for Victoria Falls, Mr George Mahachi, handed over a cheque of $4 319 to Green Fund management yesterday. The fund was raised through Econet and Wild Frontiers sponsored Victoria Falls Marathon as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Green Fund director Mrs Veronica Chapman said: “I am grateful to Wild Frontiers who are the organisers of this event and have contributed a portion of entry fees for charity.”

She said the Green Fund initiative seeks to deal with human-wildlife conflict by erecting an electric fence with plans to also have a bee hive fence to close off wild animals especially elephants from visiting human settlements in the resort town.

“In the next stage of the project we will move to Mkhosana to put a bee-hive fence as a way of blocking elephants from disturbing human activity. Elephants and the bees do not go well together so that’s the thought behind the whole project,” said Mrs Chapman.

Environmental Africa chief executive Mrs Charlene Hewat said the beehive fence concept was borrowed from Kenya where it was effected in three local parks and recorded an 80 percent success rate.

The Victoria Falls Green Fund works in partnership with Green Line Africa Trust, and local rural communities, who are tasked with making the beehives.

The beehives will be placed on trees along Mkhosana suburb’s boundary with Zambezi National Park. Last year environmentalists, tour operators and hotels in Victoria Falls organised fundraising campaign to raise $50 000 to erect the fence, which is already operational.

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