In Zambia, battle over future of Victoria Falls

For Nalumino Ifunga, a security guard at a quiet campsite and lodge just down the road from Victoria Falls, afternoons often consist of watching vervet monkeys frolic in the trees.

But Mr. Ifunga wonders if those monkeys – and the elephants, hippos, and giraffes that share the woods with them – will stick around after South African hotel developer Legacy Group Holdings opens a controversial new resort next door in Mosi Oa Tuyna National Park, which borders the Falls, Zambia's biggest tourist attraction.

Legacy's plan, which originally included two five-star hotels, a golf course, and 450 villas just a few miles from the falls, sparked a bitter battle late last year between environmentalists, developers, and the Zambian government. It has also posed a dilemma for some local residents, like Ifunga.

"[The hotels] create employment for local people, but on the other hand ... these animals you see here, they will be driven away from their homes," Ifunga noted.

Environmental advocates in this peaceful but stubbornly poor southern African nation say they have staved off the worst after a fierce campaign that persuaded the government to force Legacy to drop the golf course and the villas, while still allowing the group to build the two hotels. But the debate highlighted the uneasy balance being forged in Zambia between the sometimes competing demands of conservation, tourism, poverty reduction, and job creation.

"There aren't so many industries offering job opportunities to the people," says Danny Mwango, a senior inspector for environmental-impact assessment at the Environmental Council of Zambia. "This was one big project that was going to offer 1,000 employment opportunities to the people. At the same time, the government is also thinking of bringing development to Zambia and reducing poverty. And then, we're weighing this against environmental and social considerations."

Mosi Oa Tunya park (which means "the smoke that thunders," the ancient local name for the falls) covers 25 square miles along the Zambezi River's final approach to the falls, where it plummets more than 300 feet. The surrounding town of Livingstone – named for David Livingstone, the 19th-century British missionary and explorer who was the first white man to lay eyes on the Falls – has sought to cultivate an image as the "adventure capital of southern Africa," with bungee jumping, white-water rafting, helicopter rides, and a host of other activities for thrill-seekers available at $100 a pop.

The town is currently enjoying a boom, partly at the expense of neighboring Zimbabwe, which shares the Falls with Zambia and has lost tourists to Livingstone amid the economic decline and political conflict surrounding President Robert Mugabe's authoritarian rule.

But that won't last forever, says Rennie Mushinge, the development director at Legacy's Zambia branch. Mr. Mushinge argues that having a major new resort is vital to the long-term future of Livingstone as a tourist destination, noting that the town still can't equal the hotel capacity of the Zimbabwean gateway town of Victoria Falls, right across the river.

"Victoria Falls is the biggest asset we have to get tourists into Zambia." says Rennie Mushinge, the development director at Legacy's Zambia branch. "If we don't have adequate bed capacity in Livingstone, how are we going to grow tourism in Zambia?"

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