City of Victoria Falls Junior Councillors had a team-building three-day camping at Painted Dog Research Centre in Sizinda over the weekend where the young leaders were taken through various learning areas including environmental and wildlife conservation, community awareness and others.
The camping started on Friday and ended on Sunday with all the 18 Councillors attending.
Painted Dog Research, run by Dr Gregory Rasmussen extended the invitation to the City of Victoria Fals for the Junior Council to experience conservation education which is usually accessed by visiting schools.
This marks beginning of some partnership between the City and Painted Dog Research for capacitation of young people and communities in the City, as the two institutions pursue a possibility of entering into sustainable partnership.
The centre specialises in education, research, bush camps, restoration of the environment, wire crafts, conservation camps and others.
The JC members were taken through some conservation models such as agro-forestry, pocket forests, water recycling, conservation, permaculture, water harvesting, and conservation building to capacitate them with understanding of activities that leave less carbon footprint for sustainable development.
They were also taught about Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire), endangered species, importance of conservation to tourism, behaviour of different types of animals, tracking and tranqulising animals and adaptation patterns for both animals and vegetation.
They were taken on a tour of the facility where they learnt about the surrounding environment, how to identify an animal using its bones, teeth and dung among other things.
The Junior Councillors also had a field visit outside the camp where they showed their art skills to draw the surroundings.
Besides interacting with guides from Painted Dog Research, the JC members had an opportunity to meet and share notes with students from the University of Namibia’s Environment Conservation Department who were on a study trip with their lecturer Dr Ekkehard Klingelhoeffer.
The educational camp was not without leisure as the Councillors had a memorable night on Saturday around a bonfire where they sang and danced as part of the night activities.
