Page 73 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 19

Re-Education

Great Zimbabwe. Photo: Online

say that because of this, people have Apparently, some of the villages are
stayed clear from the rivers, thus located near attractions for example
promoting conservation. Moving the Eastern Highlands, which is rich
on with this line of thinking, illegal in biodiversity. If you are caught as a
fishing was put in its place as marine hunter with the pangolin you will go
life was protected from extinction to prison or pay a fine to the chief.
that is the likes of kapenta. Further- In fact, you will be slapped with a
more, if you went to fetch firewood nine year jail sentence. Thus, ladies
and you bad mouthed the area, or and gentleman this form of IKS has
the animals then you would get into reduced the unwarranted hunting of
a sort of trance and end up spend- animals. For that reason, this will en-
ing the whole day in the forest. sure that the tourists will surely see
Consequently, all this managed to these animals for many generations
reduce the cutting down of trees as to come. Similarly, this is the same
people were afraid to venture into scenario that we are now facing with
the forest dubbing them as “evil the rhino, as we are strongly against
forests.” No one wants to spend the poaching. One can safely say IKS
whole day held up in the wild, so is vital to tourism, as it protects
word got around and people started different species through traditional
worshiping the forests for their mitigation. Arguably, everyone in
sacredness leading to their growth the village up to the children will
in abundance, indirectly promoting grow up knowing the importance of
biodiversity. It can be deduced that wildlife thus preventing extinction.
beliefs, myths and superstition can
affect tourism in a positive way
looking at these issues highlighted
afore.

The Pangolin
The locals have been playing a huge
role through IKS as they were prac-
ticing sustainable management indi-
rectly since the beginning of time.
The preservation of animals is por-
trayed by the pangolin in the sense
that this wild animal is meant for the
chief only. This is because only the
chief has the right to eat it. They say
these are the perks of being royal.
Pangolin. Photo: Pixabay.com

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