Bhejane Trust
Bhejane Trust is a leading Zimbabwean wildlife conservation group that runs various game water programs throughout Zambezi National Park, Kazuma Pan National Park, and Sinamatella and Robins Areas, Hwange National Park.
Background
Trevor Lane established and manages the Bhejane Trust, a nonprofit group that seeks to protect elephants, rhinoceroses, and other large mammals in Zimbabwe parks. Several years ago, Lane and a fellow conservationist established the Bhejane Trust (“Bhejane” is a Ndebele name for "black rhino"), a nonprofit group funded by donors whose primary goal was to monitor—along with other organizations—the black rhino population in the Sinamatella area of Hwange National Park. Since then, however, Bhejane’s goals have expanded, and so have its successes.
Hwange National Park Coal Mining Activities
The coal mining environmental impact in Hwange emerged after Bhejane Trust, a wildlife conservation group published evidence that some Chinese companies were already "drilling core samples for coal" after the government "allocated (them) two coal mining concessions" in the middle of Hwange National Park.[1]
The Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) filed court papers warning that the park would turn into a "site for drilling, land clearance, road building and geological surveys" if coal exploration went ahead. And after the court application the Minister of Information, Monica Mutsvangwa, announced the ban on mining with immediate effect.[2]
Borehole Drilling
The wildlife rights group drilled a 15 000-litre per hour borehole in the vast Hwange National Park to address water challenges and supplement supplies for pans which normally dry up during the dry season. Bhejane Trust has drilled another borehole in the Chamabondo Vlei. This is to supplement other pans as sometimes up to 600 elephants come for night drinking and the existing pump cannot keep up, as it is giving 39 000 litres per day against a demand of possible 60 000 litres per day. The trust operates and maintains a network of more than 34 boreholes, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, GroupElephant and the Conservation and Wildlife Fund.[3]
