FUNDRAISING INFO

Walk, run, swim, cycle, skate, row... our virtual “Pump Run" trail across the southern part of Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park. By doing so, you'll discover the water holes where Imvelo Safari Lodges is pumping water to support the area's amazing wildlife. Don't drag behind too much, there are lions, buffalos and elephant about!

Hwange National Park has no perennial rivers so all of its wildlife is reliant on a pumped water programme that has been in effect for nearly 80 years. We accept that this is not ideal in the long term, however it is a situation we have inherited - and until a longer-term solution is implemented, Hwange’s current wildlife population is totally dependent on artificial sources of water.

One of Imvelo’s core missions is to conserve wildlife, and pumping water for animals is a big part of this. Imvelo has 19 wildlife pumps that pump to 16 different pans in Hwange National Park and forestry land. Together, these pumps support over 25% of Hwange's wildlife, and over 10,000 elephants as well as an enormous number of different animals...on average, we pump about 160 million litres of water to wildlife every year!

Twelve of these pumps are run off of solar panels, and the rest are solar hybrid pumps; they pump during the sunshine hours and diesel engines kick-in during the dark hours to continue pumping water for pans that are particularly well visited by wildlife and vulnerable to drying out. Six of these solar hybrid pumps are in remote parts of southern Hwange, where the dry season is particularly harsh.

As the dry season looms, Imvelo carries out its first "Pump Run" of the season to visit these 6 waterholes and install engines, repair any faulty solar panels, repair and maintain troughs, ensure pump attendant cabins are in a good state etc.
Then, throughout the dry season, Imvelo carries out “Pump Runs” every couple of weeks, leaving one of its lodges, Bomani Tented Lodge or Camelthorn Lodge, with diesel, food and maintenance supplies. These Pump Runs are vital as they ensure that its 6 solar hybrid pumps in the southern area of the park are pumping to full capacity, that Pump Attendants on site are fed and happy and that the waterholes are supporting as much wildlife as possible! It is quite the operation but is essential to conserving our wildlife! 

Join us on a Hwange Pump Run! 

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$1,500 raised since 15 Jun 2021.