The Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit (VFAPU) golf day will tee off this Friday with 36 teams comprising of 144 players, in support of sustainable tourism for development, Africa Albida Tourism (AAT) chief executive, Ross Kennedy has said.
BY CHARLES LAITON
The event, which is one of the most anticipated on the local golf calendar, brings together a wide cross-section of corporates and individuals, who recognise the importance and urgency of protecting wildlife resources.
Kennedy said this year’s annual golf day fundraiser is the 17th since the anti-poaching unit was established in 1999 and will be set against the backdrop of the World Tourism Organisation’s International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
“In what has been a turbulent and rocky economy for many in the last 18 years, we have been supported and honoured by so many amazing sponsors year after year, as well as new ones coming on board each year,” he said.
“We are immensely grateful to have had such wonderful support from a variety of people since the inception of the golf day.”
Kennedy said the designation of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the World Tourism Organisation was a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the contribution of sustainable tourism to development among public and private sector decision-makers, as well as the public, while mobilising all concerned parties to work together in making tourism a catalyst for positive change.
“The prizes will include accommodation in Harare, the Eastern Highlands, Gonarezhou, Hwange, Victoria Falls and Kariba,” he said.
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“The exciting range of prizes on offer include a return air ticket to Dubai [courtesy of Emirates], two return tickets to any regional route excluding Mauritius [courtesy of BA Comair], two return tickets to Durban or Cape Town [courtesy of South African Airways], accommodation vouchers in Zimbabwe’s tourist destinations, meal vouchers and food hampers.”
Since it was established in 1999, together with AAT’s flagship property Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, the VFAPU has arrested nearly 750 hardened poachers, and removed over 22 000 snares from its area of patrol, while close to 200 mammals injured by snares, have been treated and released back into the wild.
