Beneath the Baobab

In this special episode of  Beneath The Baobab , Gordon Buchanan brings together powerful stories from across southern Africa, exploring the challenges and solutions of human-wildlife coexistence. From reintroducing species to managing livestock protection, addressing water scarcity to balancing tourism and trophy hunting, this episode dives deep into the complexities faced by communities liv...

In this final episode of the series, presenter Gordon Buchanan heads home to Scotland to see the work that the Beaver Trust is leading to “regenerate the beaver species to regenerate the landscape”. The Beaver Trust is a charity working to restore animals to habitats where they thrived in the past, building climate resilient landscapes across the UK and we speak to Elliot McCandless from the chari...

In this episode, we travel to Zambia to investigate a different – and lesser known – wildlife conflict to the ones already explored in the series.   The hippo affects many lives, often tragically, and we meet local people with their own stories to tell; both of hippo attacks and injuries caused by elephants in the country.   The Luangwa Valley sees dramatic seasonal variations and with a...

Kasungu National Park forms part of the trans-frontier conservation area between Malawi and Zambia. The area used to have a thriving wildlife population but due to poaching, it was left depleted with the resident elephant population coming close to extinction. A translocation plan, put in place by the Malawian government, IFAW and African Parks, has returned the elephants to the park. Despite a po...

In this episode, we meet the Chizvirizvi community in Zimbabwe – a latecomer to the CAMPFIRE programme, compared to the Mahenye featured in episode 5. Chizvirizvi is somewhat different as it’s not operated by the Rural District Council. Instead, authority for the utilisation and management of wildlife has been conferred to the community or collective resettlement scheme plot holders. And with the...

In this episode, we visit the Mahenye community and Jamanda Conservancy in Zimbabwe where the hope is that tourism revenue will aid those living alongside dangerous, and sometimes life-threatening, wildlife. The Jamanda Conservancy is the location for the first Communal Area Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) and today boasts an upmarket tourist lodge called Chilo Gorge Safar...

In this episode, we travel to Botswana to discover how innovative methods, and the role of organisations, are aiding the coexistence of people and wildlife. We visit the Chobe enclave, where despite a thriving tourism economy, the wildlife from the nearby National Park can cause life-changing and sometimes devastating challenges to local residents.   Mr Mwezi is a community leader, a chief an...

In this episode, we remain in Namibia to look at the human wildlife conflict that takes place in, and around, conservancies and discover how, despite some horrific stories, governments and communities can come together to create an effective co-existence between humans and wildlife.   We visit the Nakabolelwa Conservancy in the Zambezi region to hear how it can be flooding, rather than drough...

In this second episode, we travel to Namibia and visit the #Gaingu conservancy to explore human wildlife conflict and effective coexistence and mitigation methods.   The landscape around the conservancy is flat and arid, in the shadow of the Spitzkoppe mountain with the main wildlife resources being kudu, gemsbok, springbok and leopard. But these species can cause great problems and hardship...

In this second series of Beneath The Baobab, we visit communities living alongside African wildlife – and explore the daily challenges of coexistence with them.   In this episode, we visit the western border of Kruger National Park in South Africa where the species causing the most conflict are buffalo, lion, elephant, hippo and crocodile.   South African National Parks (SANParks) offers...

Beneath The Baobab - the communities and conservation podcast from Jamma International - returns with a new series on Thursday 7th March. Presented once again by documentary maker, Gordon Buchanan, we get even closer to the coexistence challenge and explore the issues by visiting communities who live alongside African wildlife; taking in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia...

"We are all dependent upon the air that we breathe, the water we drink, the soils that we grow our food on. To mismanage them and treat them badly as we have done for centuries: we can't go on that way." In a special final episode for the series, Gordon meets up with Mike Daniels of the John Muir Trust in Scotland. They take a walk through the beautiful landscape of East Schiehallion in Perthshire...

Dr Rodgers Lubilo grew up in a village next to  South Luangwa National Park , Zambia where wildlife, human life and livelihoods have always coexisted. It was in the mid-90s when Rodgers became interested in local CBNRM initiatives. He then led a movement that convinced his family and village leaders to follow in experimental and innovative sustainable use programmes. As a pioneer of CBNRM in...

From government office to grass-roots campaigning, Malidadi Langa has long been a leading force in Malawian wildlife policy.  In this episode he chats with Gordon about how he’s used his experience in economics to become an international voice in rural development and decentralisation. They discuss the problematic impact of “fortress” conservation policies that historically isolated communiti...

This time, Gordon chats with scientist, conservationist and broadcaster  Professor Adam Hart  about how we can move international public understanding of sustainable use forwards. Adam shares his story, from young entomologist to sustainable use convert and co-director of a successful volunteer programme in South Africa. He also discusses the wider consideration of habitat when working t...

In this episode of Beneath the Baobab, Gordon meets pioneering Zimbabwean conservationist  Dr Clive Stockil. Since childhood, Clive has been living with and serving the same community. It’s his life’s work to continue forging and building coexistence benefits through sustainable conservation projects. The 1990s saw him founding the  Savé Valley Conservancy,  one of th...

Gordon Buchanan meets two of the pioneers of CBNRM or Community based Natural Resources Management in this episode of Beneath the Baobab. Dr Brian Child  and  Dr Shylock Muyengwa  have teamed up from their homes on other sides of the world for years, conducting fieldwork and research with communities to help develop increasingly sophisticated models and practises for wildlife conser...

For too long a crucial voice has been missing from the international conversation around how to face the biodiversity crisis: the communities and indigenous peoples who live together with wildlife are central to the approaches and success of conservation going forwards. This time Gordon Buchanan’s talking with Lesle Jansen  to discuss how resource rights are also human rights. Lesle’s backgro...

How can wildlife be safeguarded and valued whilst the dignity and rights of people are respected?   Shane Mahoney   @cv_insights  is an internationally recognised wildlife expert and conservation advocate – and is the Founder and President of Canadian enterprise  Conservation Visions. Born and raised in Newfoundland, Shane has a unique insight into the inter-relationship of wil...

In this episode of Beneath the Baobab, Gordon Buchanan takes a look at the human dimensions of conservation.   Dr Dilys Roe   @dilysroe  and  Sam Shaba  share examples of models for supporting livelihoods and wildlife to thrive in shared spaces, from ecotourism and carbon credit schemes to incentivisation of the sustainable use of natural resources.  Dilys is Chair of...

Facing up to the threats of biodiversity loss and the climate crisis needs the participation of communities whose culture and livelihoods have been connected with wildlife for generations.  Dr Moreangels Mbizah   @MoreangelsM  has dedicated her life to protecting the livelihoods of rural African communities in human-wildlife conflict and is world-renowned for her work with lions and...

In this episode,  Professor Amy Dickman   @AmyDickman4  chats with Gordon Buchanan about the complexities of developing community-led conservation and some common misconceptions that can trip up wildlife-lovers around the world. Amy’s the join CEO of  Lion Landscapes  and one of the co-founders of the Pride Lion Conservation Alliance. Her dedicated career and wealth of on...

How would you grow food with an elephant in your backyard? Would you send your kids to school with lions on the roam? These are the kinds of real decisions faced by families living with wildlife around the world. Fortunately, innovative work is taking place in such communities to build safe and sustainable livelihoods and economies whilst cherishing and protecting local wildlife. In the first epis...

Right now, up to 1 eighth of the world’s species are at risk of extinction and its down to us to act now or lose them forever. In Beneath the Baobab from Jamma International, wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan hosts cutting-edge conversations about conservation work led by communities around the world. Gordon hears from people living and working alongside wildlife; from elephants to lions, rh...