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Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
ADVENTUROUS Samuel Nkomo was on cloud nine on Saturday when he received a heroe’s welcome on his arrival in Victoria Falls after completing a 34-day Rhino Awareness Campaign walk spanning 500km.
The courageous undertaking saw Nkomo, 40, reach out to about 10,000 people, mainly school children, in different communities from Matopo to Victoria Falls.

The adventure has already earned the professional game guide invitations for similar expeditions in Zambia and China.
A sizeable crowed, including senior council and parks officials, cheered Nkomo as he arrived in the resort town with his team for a warm reception at the town council premises around 9AM.

Victoria Falls Mayor Councillor Sifiso Mpofu applauded Nkomo’s gruelling undertaking and challenged                                                               every Zimbabwean to support the initiative to conserve the environment and wildlife, which he said was everyone’s responsibility.

He said Nkomo had demonstrated that there was a need for allocation of more resources to wildlife conservation in the national fiscus.
“It’s our special responsibility to safeguard wildlife. We want to thank Nkomo for raising awareness as he met and educated more than 10,000 people who include pupils and communities on the way.

“He braved the high temperatures and we would want to implore government to allocate more funds to wildlife conservation so that we safeguard our animals from poaching,” said Clr Mpofu.

Parks and Wildlife Management Authority area manager in Victoria Falls, Victor Mkhwebu, who spoke on behalf of the regional manager, said Nkomo had challenged the schools’ curriculum by engaging pupils.

“Today marks the end of 34 days since Nkomo started the walk in Matopo. Just look around and see how remarkable the response is. We cherish Nkomo’s dedication and bravery and this leaves us with a lot of concern that a lot should be done to support such a cause,” he said.
“However, wildlife protection is not the duty of parks or the government alone. We all have a role to play.”

Nkomo’s idea of the walk came at a time when more than 100 elephants were killed by poachers through cyanide poisoning between last year and early this year.

Nkomo, who arrived in the company of Novuyo Mathonsi, a trustee in the Rhino-Elephant Environment Trust and chairperson Gail Sandra Amyot, could not hide his joy on a mission accomplished.

He, however, expressed concern that more than 90 percent of the children he addressed had little knowledge about wildlife despite living close to national parks.

“The journey was fine. I’m happy I reached out to the voiceless but it’s saddening that of the 10,000 children only 200 have been to parks before,” said the professional guide.

“We wonder what will happen to our future if we don’t train our children to love their environment because it is theirs.”
Amyot acknowledged the support her team received from Matopo up to Victoria Falls, adding that the future of rhinos and elephants was in the hands of every Zimbabwean.

“He (Nkomo) will be walking in Zambia as well soon,” she said.
Nkomo started the walk from the Matopos National Park on September 14 and engaged communities on issues of conservation through presentations and videos.

He came up with the idea following the poisoning of more than 100 elephants at the Hwange National Park last year.
On Tuesday, the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe also implored the government to scale up anti-poaching strategies as she officiated at the occasion to mark the cyanide disaster held at Hwange National Park Main Camp.

Environment, Water and Climate Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has said 106 elephants were poisoned between September last year and early this year and the government would not tolerate any more poaching as it was working on modalities to deal with the crime.