Rhino Conservation, Empowering Communities: How Imvelo Trust’s Community Initiative is Transforming Zimbabwe’s Landscape

Indigo Earth Foundation
Dec 29, 2025
5 min read

Updated: Feb 12

One of those encounters

Indigo Earth Foundation discovered Imvelo Safari Lodges and their remarkable wildlife conservation and community development work in March 2025.

It was very much a “love at first sight” moment.

The story began with an educational trip that Christopher organized in Zimbabwe. His goal was to inspect the lodges and services for his clients while getting to know the park. But the trip unfolded in an unusual way.

Instead of the usual logistics, such as using the Elephant Express or flying between lodges for comfort and efficiency, Mark Butcher personally drove Christopher across Hwange National Park. These were long, demanding hours on deep sand tracks, but they were invaluable. During the journey, Christopher learned first-hand about Mark’s vision, projects, and the organisation he built.

And it was worth every minute.

The Visionary Behind Imvelo Trust: Mark Butcher

Mark Butcher is a true visionary with an unwavering commitment to wildlife. He has spent his entire life protecting key species. He began his career as a ranger with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management, working on the front line against elephant and rhino poaching.

Between his years in the field and his later managerial roles, he completed a BSc in Biology and Botany at Rhodes University.

He then served as a provincial wildlife officer, overseeing 1.8 million acres of indigenous forest within the Zimbabwe Forestry Commission. In this role, he connected community development initiatives with wildlife conservation, laying the groundwork for the approach he later brought to Imvelo.

Imvelo Safari Lodges now comprises five high-quality lodges, each offering a unique and complementary wildlife experience:

Bomani Tented Camp – on community land next to Hwange National Park
Camelthorn Lodge – on community land within the rhino sanctuary
Nehimba Lodge – a haven for elephants inside Hwange
Jozibanini Tented Camp – deep inside a remote area of Hwange
Tum Tum Treehouse Camp – in a remote area of Hwange close to the 3^rd sanctuary launched in 2025

The entire Imvelo model exists to protect wildlife, especially elephants, and to support the reintroduction of white rhinos on community land adjacent to the park.

The project is built on three pillars: nature, tourism, and community. The goal is simple: create maximum benefit for local communities so they become genuine, empowered custodians of their wildlife.

A Region Facing Hard Realities

This region is surrounded by impoverished communities living under harsh environmental conditions. Unemployment reaches 85–90%, soils are poor, and long dry seasons strain both people and wildlife. With no fencing around Hwange, human-wildlife conflict is constant: elephants destroy crops overnight, while lions, jackals, and hyenas attack livestock. In these conditions, bushmeat poaching is often a desperate attempt to survive.

White rhinos once thrived here, especially after a successful reintroduction in the late 20th century that brought the population to 150. But poaching for the Asian market wiped them out again. The last rhino bull was killed in 2002.

Against this backdrop, the model envisioned returning rhinos to communal land, not to benefit private operators or government bodies, but to empower local communities.

RHINO CONSERVATION: Learning From Proven Success

One of the first steps was to draw inspiration from existing, proven models. This began with a visit to Malilangwe Reserve, founded by investor and conservationist Paul Tudor Jones, where 15 white rhinos and 28 black rhinos were reintroduced in 1998. By 2025, that population has grown to around 500.

Their success is based on two things:

A highly trained, armed anti-poaching unit patrolling the reserve on foot, and
Efficient governance and management.

This is the sad but proven formula for keeping rhinos alive.

Paul Tudor Jones agreed to donate two white rhinos to Imvelo’s project, reviewed and validated the security measures in place to ensure the rhinos’ safety, and approved the subsequent 750-kilometre, 17-hour transport.

This provided proof of concept and marked the start of what is likely to be a long-term partnership.

Building the Rhino Project From the Ground Up

The project still had many hurdles to clear:

Gaining community support
Securing government approval for establishing rhinos on communal land and transporting them across the country
Training a skilled anti-poaching unit (the Cobras)
Constructing the sanctuary and the lodges

It took years of meetings and dialogue to convince the local communities, sharing a project vision of a dedicated rhino sanctuary on communal land that would serve as a buffer between people and the park, while generating financial benefits through a conservation levy for each visit.

Eventually, they committed to the project.

Two sanctuaries now cover 12 km² and are home to four white rhinos under 24/7 protection from the Cobras. A third sanctuary has been built and awaiting the right conditions for additional rhinos planned for 2026, once road access allows their transfer.

All of this sits under the Community Rhino Conservation Initiative (CRCI) and the Imvelo Trust, which manage all related community and wildlife projects.

Challenges vs. Solutions: Real Impact on Community Lives

Issue	Solution via conservation fees or Imvelo Trust projects
Unemployment	Creation of jobs in lodges, the anti-poaching unit, and the sanctuary, now the region’s largest employer
Limited Access to Health	Construction of Ngamo Clinic; salaries, transport, and medicine covered; annual Smile and See free eye and dental care
Limited Access to Education	Community awareness workshops; sanctuary visits; school meals; scholarships; stationery packs; construction of school classrooms and teacher housing
Hunger	Community gardens; new boreholes drilled across the area
Human-wildlife conflict	Sanctuary buffer zone; job creation reducing bushmeat reliance; Cobra patrols; ranger and tourist presence deterring poachers; firebreak creation
Rhino extinction	Reintroduction of white rhinos on communal land
Wildlife conservation issues	Solar pump and water pan installation and maintenance; Cobra protection teams; canine anti-poaching unit; community workshops; employing former poachers
Gender inequality	Sewing workshops; materials provided; women earning income by selling crafts at local markets

Looking Ahead: Scaling Up and Reintroducing Black Rhinos

The project is designed to scale, expanding sanctuaries to form a continuous protective buffer between communities and the park. Future plans include bringing in more white rhinos and eventually black rhinos, a species requiring different, less intrusive protection because of its temperament.

This project was designed as a blueprint to inspire replication across other national parks, support the development of new lodges, and contribute to the long-term survival of rhino species while uplifting local communities.

This is one of the rare projects that truly blends wildlife conservation with human empowerment. Communities benefit directly and independently from the presence of wildlife, especially rhinos, and now have a tangible reason to protect them.