Building a Team

When Victory Wallace and Coe Lewis met in the Winter of 2014, it was their shared horror of the decimation of Africa’s wildlife that compelled them to combine forces and do something about it. Victory was watching it on the ground in Africa at her safari camp, Zikomo Safari located in the Nsefu Sector of Zambia, and Coe (who was raised in Ethiopia) was watching it from afar, remembering what Africa USED to look like...with the game reserves filled to the brim with wildlife. Enforcement was the first “E” in our 3 E’s of conservation.

Nsefu Wildlife officially became a U.S. government recognized non-profit conservation foundation in March of 2015, and we hit the ground running. The very first order of business was to establish an antipoaching ranger team. The team had to be trained by the former Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA), now the Dept. Of National Parks & Wildlife (DNPW) and once trained, started working alongside the government rangers in field operations. We raised funds for our first ranger vehicle, purchased gear for our rangers, and got them in the field to save wildlife!

Like most African countries...Zambia does not have much money to put towards programs like conservation, enforcement, etc. and it is the NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) like Nsefu Wildlife that are providing critical support to governmental agencies to fight the crisis of poaching and wildlife-trafficking. The NGO’s are EXTREMELY important to conservation and enforcement. Our partnership with DNPW has been hugely successful and the government has acknowledged our importance to the region on several occasions, not to mention that our Wildlife Ranger team is the preferred team of His Royal Highness Senior Chief Nsefu. Our ranger team is based at the Milyote Gate in South Luangwa National Park along with DNPW. We work IN and AROUND the park in the Game Management Area (GMA) with operations including long patrols, short patrols, snare sweeping, intel gathering, and more.

Having a full-time ranger team COSTS MONEY. This includes salaries, field gear (i.e. tents) , radios, uniforms and boots, fuel, food, transportation, vehicle maintenance, and so much more. Africa is a VERY unforgiving place, and things get worn out and broken all the time. But the investment is worth it in that we have dramatically reduced poaching and trafficking in the sector. Our ranger program and intel program are pulling dangerous people out of the field. And our groundbreaking programs like, “Weapons for food, “Food for snares, etc. are pulling dangerous tools of death out of the field and saving wildlife! We think “outside the box” and it is WORKING!

We cannot do this without your support. Support a ranger today and save wildlife!